Malador the Mystic
Malador was born millennia ago in the ancient civilization of Atlantis. He became a promising student, and later, an accomplished master, of the mystic arts. He earned the mantle of Master Mage, but he also became the first to betray his oath and his duty to humanity. Malador bargained with unspeakable evil beings from other dimensions, bound in eternal slumber in realms beyond the ken of mankind. He sought power and knowledge above all else, and he would have gladly surrendered the whole world to his dark patrons. The sorcerers of Atlantis united against Malador and were able to overcome him. They stripped him of his power and bound him in a tomb for all time. Malador cursed all of Atlantis with his final breath, and it was not long thereafter that the island civilization sank in a terrible cataclysm.
Archeologists uncovered Malador’s tomb in the 1930s and unwittingly awakened the ancient mage. One of them, Adrian Eldrich, became invested with the power of an Atlantean sorcerer and has become Malador’s arch foe in the modern era. Malador has clashed with Eldrich and various other heroes a number of times over the years. All the while, the ancient sorcerer seeks to recover the power he has lost and to reclaim the mantle of Master Mage, to reshape the universe in his image and rule over a new netherworld as its Dark Lord.
Once a noble protector of humanity and a scholar of mystical lore, Malador has become mad with powerlust. He wants nothing more than to wield ultimate power and be acknowledged as the supreme master of the mystic arts. Anything in his way must be eliminated, preferably in a manner that demonstrates Malador’s power to any other fools that might dare to challenge him. Malador is supremely confident and assured of his own power and abilities. Minions who question him end up transformed into slavering monsters or simply destroyed, depending on Malador’s mood. He cannot resist an opportunity to gloat once he has a foe in his clutches.
Malador is a master sorcerer, capable of casting a wide range of spells. His arsenal includes bolts of mystic power and magical shields that protect him from harm. He can levitate, allowing him to fly through the air, and he can entrap others in mystic chains, transform people or animals into demonic monsters, magically spy on distant places, and so forth. The only real limits on Malador’s power are his concentration, time, and the amount of mystic energy at his command. He uses magical artifacts and devices to enhance his spellcasting abilities from time to time.
Malador is no longer a living being, having become more of an undead creature sustained by his powerful magic. He no longer suffers from mortal concerns like aging or needing to eat or breathe, and he is immune to most harmful environmental conditions. In fact, Malador’s life force is bound into the golden mask he wears. Should his physical body be destroyed, Malador’s life force enters the mask and waits there until a suitable host-body comes into contact with it. Malador can then possess that person and magically transform their body into a duplicate of his own. More than once, heroes have believed the threat of Malador the Mystic was ended, only to have him return, as powerful as ever.
Comments