Imrys

The Darkheart (a.k.a. Chosen of Kormund)

"You're naught but petulant children. You know nothing of what it takes to truly rule this world. You need someone with the power, the knowledge, the force of will to rule this Space. You need me."

Imrys, known as The Darkheart, was a Dracolich of extreme and immense power who existed for much of Korrisia's history. A Chosen of Kormund, Imrys would play a role in the history of the world for thousands of years until his sudden disappearance. Imrys would re-emerge during the Era of Troubles, in 1101, when his darkness would cover the world once more.
Imrys was a master spellcrafter and accomplished scholar, being able to assert his control over massive numbers of undead. Imrys' forces seldom behaved like simple and useless cannon-fodder undead, they could be organized and fight with the skill of trained warriors. Unlike most liches, Imrys kept his phylactery close at hand, some say out of arrogance, some say that it empowered him further.
Much of the events of Korrisia for the Era of Troubles were shaped by Imrys' hands. On two separate occasions the world came to near ruin by his actions, and twice he was beaten back. It was Imrys who caused Eldoria to burn, and it was Imrys who nearly consumed and merged with the Winds of Magic. At the height of his power, the Dracolich was confronted and defeated by The Glade Guardians, a noble adventuring party that existed during the Era of Troubles, and are widely seen as the group credited with ushering in the Age of Heroes.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Imrys' long tale of destruction and violence begins with a scared orphaned hatchling, emerging from its egg to see nothing but death and devastation. Imrys' mother, a Black Dragon named Nightscale, had taken refuge deep in a Dwarven Hold, and made her lair in the Black Lake directly underneath the Mountainhome. The Hold was said to be the site of an ancient Dwarven city known as Khundrukar, led by the Dwarven Smithlord Durgeddin the Black. Long before Nightscale had come to lay claim to the hold, it is said that the Dwarves were massacred by a powerful Greenskin (Orc) army, the King, Durgeddin, forged ancient weapons of massive power out of hatred and anger for what the Orcs did.
Khundrukar sat mostly untouched, some Orcs used the exterior level as a base for raiding, and some Duergar had found their way into the smithy in hopes to utilize the power of Durgeddin's Forge, none of this bothered Nightscale, bodies often found themselves thrown into the pit leading to her Lake, so she had a steady supply of food, and none dared to venture low enough to threaten her. Eventually things would change as a group of unnamed adventurers took the Hold back, and massacred the creatures inside, in hopes of finding the lost treasures of Durgeddin.
One of the adventurers, a Dwarf, was murdered by the Duergar and tossed into the Black Lake, where Nightscale found and consumed her. The adventurers eventually cleared the dungeon and made their way to the Black Lake, where they came across Nightscale. The Dragon offered the adventurers their lives if they left, but the adventurers were driven by greed and anger from their fallen ally, and slayed Nightscale, destroying her and all of her eggs, or so they thought.
The young wyrmling to be known as Imrys hatched weeks later, scared and confused when it found the viciously murdered corpse of its mother, and seeing the smashed remnants of its siblings. It crawled through the empty halls of Khundrukar for weeks, feeding on the dead left by the adventurers or the wild animals that sought to make the abandoned fortress their home, and hiding from frantic patrols of a local Duke, hoping to claim its riches. Eventually the wyrmling was able to see the surface, and quietly escaped further into the mountains. The wyrmling slowly grew, and learned to fly, speak, kill, and fight. It was not until Imrys ambushed an adventuring party that he had discovered a slain wizard's spellbook, and was entranced by the power within. He took the book back to his small lair, and spent months reading and studying the arcane scripture. It didn't take long until Imrys was practicing spellcasting and realizing that his dragon blood could empower him.
As Imrys grew into adulthood, his thirst for more magical knowledge overpowered his other desires. Gold held little meaning, magical gleaming artifacts were nothing but mere trinkets compared to knowledge itself. Imrys' magical power grew to such heights that he stopped caring for the wonders of the Material Plane, but those of others. He started with Astral Projection, wandering as an incorporeal being throughout the many planes of the multiverse, this didn't serve as enough, and he began plane shifting all across the multiverse, plundering for knowledge.
Imrys eventually ambushed a fleet of spelljammers, discovering them to be refugees. These people were not like any he had seen before, speaking of lands such as Irithyll, or Nir Anil. Imrys soon discovered the knowledge of the Crystal Spheres, and he sought to travel outside of what is known as Korrisian Space to discover what else awaited him. Imrys left the Korrisian sphere for almost a century, it's unknown where exactly he went, but it is believed he traveled between several Spheres such as Realmspace and Greyspace. It was not until he happened upon Nir Anil, a dying world, that he was able to plunder immense power. When he returned to Korrisia, he sought to become more than just a legendary dragon, he wanted supreme rule.

Depiction of Imrys by the Calemdarian Artist Baptiste Conflor, a survivor of one of Imrys' many attacks in the Material Plane.
Imrys brought the full force of his magical blood, coupled with the hundreds of years of knowledge he had accumulated and created his own ritual of undeath, becoming something akin to a Lich but maintaining his draconic form. Using this newfound power, he sought to trap a soul in his phylactery powerful enough to satiate the need to ever need to consume souls again. Once this perversion of magic had been complete, Imrys heard a calling. It was a voice that was always there, waiting to speak, holding its breath for the right moment. It beckoned the Dracolich to the deepest and darkest corners of Korrisian Space, to the Far Realms. There the Dracolich arrived at a structure believed to be long destroyed, the Everspire. Imrys would climb the steps of the throne of the fallen Progenitor Deity Kormund, and would hear echoes of this long-dead god's words. When the Dracolich emerged from the tower, he returned to Korrisia not only as a Black Dragon of unimaginable strength, an undead wizard of peerless skill, but the Chosen of Kormund. 
Imrys was given new focus, his adoptive father showed him a future in which he controled all things, Korrisian Space bent the knee to him. When he re-emerged to Korrisia he expected little to no resistance, nothing could possibly match his power. Imrys, this unstoppable force, would collide with an immovable object, Vecna. The two were hated enemies, seeking to counter each other at every turn, yet only engaging each other in direct battle once. After Vecna's destruction at the hands of his dearest friend and lieutenant Kas, Imrys was the uncontended victor of Korrisia, and moved to claim his throne. The Prime Deities knew of Imrys' potential future, of how Korrisia could fall into unending darkness, the gods returned to the Material Plane walking amongst the mortals in disguise. The gods sought to inspire mortals to rise up, to stand against darkness. It was with the Prime Deities' influence that the first heroes emerged. The gods in response to Kormund's treachery named Chosen of their own, these heroes stood against the Darkheart and faced him in mortal combat.
The battle was horrific, the very first heroes could never have been prepared for the sheer terror that Imrys could deliver. Countless heroes were slaughtered, but their final end was not against Imrys, for he could raise them from the ground once more as his minions. Facing their fallen comrades along with the Dracolich, all seemed lost. In a last ditch effort the gods cast down their own artifacts: Ioun's staff, Pelor's Sword, Helm's Shield. One deity sacrificed nearly everything, and manifested in his true form on the Material Plane, the Forgemaster Gond stood with his heroes to end the fight with Imrys. The tide had finally begun to turn, Imrys could not hold back the power of several Chosen heroes now utilizing the divine power of the Gods' artifacts. Imrys knew he could not win, but he refused to allow himself to be destroyed. He separated himself from his Phylactery, casting it into a random and unknown demiplane. Now weakened from being cut off from his source of power, the heroes were able to nearly subdue the Dracolich. Gond, knowing that if they simply killed the creature here, he would return later and prepare himself for their second assault, hurled the Dracolich into a prison of his own make. Intended for Kormund or his Underlords, the Forgemaster had created The Veil, a strange and mysterious prison that none could escape once placed within. This took a massive toll on the Deity as he had expended nearly all of his divine power in one singular act of selflessness and desperation.
After Gond seemingly disappeared, he left his vestige to his most faithful, asking that they only wield his hammer in dire need. Unfortunately, Imrys' shadowy claws still reached far into the world even thought he could not cross back from the Veil. Eventually, the Glade Guardians, a noble adventuring group with the most benevolent of intentions, played into a trap that allowed for Imrys' followers to shatter the veil and release their master once more unto the world. Imrys immediately regrew his power base, and sought to reconquer his world. Instead of taking it by force, and relying on his arcane knowledge and draconic power, he wished to merge completely with the Winds of Magic themselves, which led his view towards Alithanar, the peaceful land of the elves.
The once vibrant and golden lands of Alithanar were stained with the blood of all mortals as Imrys led his undying legions across the land. The ancient marvels of the Alithanaran cities were laid to waste, Elven heads sat along the walls and their entrails filled the streets. Imrys arrived to the Silver Tower with his goal in sight, after the tower was shattered and he began to merge, the Guardians re-appeared to battle him for the last time. Being denied what he felt was his birthright for so long, Imrys gave no quarter. Many of the Guardians gave their lives in the battle against the Chosen of Kormund. When all seemed lost, an unlikely ally had stepped in to assist, Vecna. One of the Guardians drove their blade through Imrys' chest piercing his heart and Phylactery. The once mighty Dracolich was reduced to a rotted husk, Imrys' reign of terror had ended, but the world would never fully heal from the scars he left behind.

Education

Self-educated, taught off of stolen and pillaged books.

Morality & Philosophy

The world is a pathetic and weak place, the childish gods that watch over it, and the even more infant mortal beings that seek to control it will never win. They need a being of might and unquestioning direction to rule, they need me.

Divine Classification

Chosen

Life

2235 RB 3202 DB 5437 years old

Circumstances of Birth

Born as the last wyrmling in Nightscale's horde after a group of adventurers killed her and raided her lair.

Circumstances of Death

Killed on the Silver Tower of Alvendar by the Glade Guardians, had nearly merged his soul with the Winds of Magic.

Gender

Male

Eyes

Vibrant purple

Hair

N/A

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Black scales, rotted flesh

Height

Approx. 20'

Weight

Over 1 Ton

Known Languages

All languages