Malataxes

Malataxes was a chromatic Black Dragon born in the year 47 AG, and was best known as being the creature that brought Hralldan Dawncaller companions together.

History

Early Life

His early life remains mostly a mystery. His age is known, and scholars worked backwards from there to determine his birth year. At some point around the year 21 AG, he set up in a cavern nearby the town of Bardpointe. He began harrassing travelling merchants on the road and stealing livestock for food. Then, in the year 20 AG, the mayor put up a bounty for his death. Upon hearing this, he flew into town, and landed on the roof of the town council building, collapsing the roof onto the second floor, killing three. He threatened the town and said if they do not take down his bounty, he will melt their homes and people with acid.

From there, Hralldan decided to take on the bounty himself, and recruited his companions, Jorga Greywing, and Ilyana Torcaryn. The three of them, with the help of Hralldan's sword Dragon's Bane, drove off Malataxes.

Malataxes was next seen several weeks later flying over the city of Duryburg. He nested in the foothills nearby, and went back to his old ways, but was more careful this time. He harassed far fewer merchants, and stole far less cattle. He even agreed to trade occasionally with surrounding townsfolk to keep in their good graces.

Adult Life

It was during this period that the Age of Heroes came about, and he heard of the death of Hralldan. This emboldened him, and he began attacking larger organizations to accumlate more wealth, until eventually, several centuries passed, and he reached adulthood.

After decades of planning, he took the opportunity to break into the Mage Guild headquarters and attempt to steal some valuable research documents. He was surprised to find Ilyana not only still alive, but leading the guild. She recognized him, but she had reached too advanced an age to kill the mature adult dragon, so he made off with the research documents.

Unknown to him, this put a massive bounty on his head, as Ilyana knew how dangerous he was and how dangerous he would become with those documents.

Death

His ultimate demise was caused by his own hubris. The documents he had stolen pertained to re-connecting the Hidden Realm to the rest of the realms by combining arcane and divine magic into a single controlled ritual to open a portal to another Realm. However, an adventuring party of Mage Guild and Martial Guild members appeared in the middle of his ritual and began battling him. During the battle, the documents were destroyed, but the rift managed to be opened, and Malataxes began crawling through it. A young Timur Tilallel, the future head of the Mage Guild, closed the portal with Malataxes halfway through, sending half of his body to a different Realm and keeping half of it in the Hidden Realm, killing him instantly.

Consequences and Legacy

Consequences

The loss of the documents Malataxes stole that were destroyed during his final battle was considered one of the greatest losses of knowledge in all of the history of the Hidden Realm. The combination of divine and arcane magic that Ilyana invented has never been replicated again, nor has a portal to another Realm ever again been opened. Ilyana passed away not long after, and by the end of her life she wasn't able to replicate her own work from decades prior. Malataxes is a hated name within the Mage Guild and is often used in swears and curses by mages within the guild.

Legacy

Malataxes, from a historical standpoint, had a large impact on the world for a dragon who barely made it to adulthood. His hubris early in his life ultimately brought Hralldan and his companions together, which in turn, ended the Age of Gods. Then he also inadvertently destroyed the Mage Guild's chances to reconnect the Hidden Realm to the rest of the Realms using portals by attempting to utilize the ritual himself. His name appears in nearly every historical text about the turn of the age, and is widely known among scholars and well-read individuals.