Vord Ink-Heart

Among the magical community, none are more universally loathed than Vord Ink-Heart. This animosity is due not to any evil tendencies, but because of his sheer abrasive personality. Still, his brilliance in arcane matters can't be ignored.

Physical Description

Body Features

Vord Ink-Heart is a very large, imposing man, and he is every bit as strong as his broad shoulders would indicate. He has a bald head covered in arcane tattoos, and a short, blond goatee. His throat is marked by a deep scar obtained from a crossbow bolt in his adventuring days. That wound also left him with a deep, gravelly voice.

Apparel & Accessories

Vord is very particular about his clothing in that he very deliberately dresses in the manner of the stereotypical evil wizard. He does this so people will leave him be out of fear. His robes are a very dark grey, nearly black, trimmed with a deep blood-red. His belt features a very prominent buckle the shape and color of a bleached skull.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The Legion of the Manticore kept no records of the infants that were delivered into their care. This policy served a dual purpose: to ensure undivided loyalty in its recruits, and to cover up horrendous and illegal practices such as slavery and kidnapping.
This policy also means that the exact origins of Vord Ink-Heart remain unknown, even to himself. His earliest memory is of lining up in a barracks with a platoon of other small children while a legionaire shouted at him for falling. The training and evaluation was brutal, leading to a great many deaths. In that environment, Vord excelled because he was not only stronger and tougher than his peers, but considerably smarter as well.
At the age of thirteen, when it came time to assign him a role, the Captain's Panel could not decide what his would be. He showed so much aptitude that each captain wanted him in their own unit, to such an extent that the general was forced to intervene. Because the aptitude for spellcasting was so rare, it was decided that Vord would train as a mage.

Education

Despite his intelligence, Vord didn't take to the study of magic as easily as his superiors hoped he would. The simplest of the delicate manipulations of the fabric of magic required took a great deal of effort.
The instructors pushed him with an intensity that bordered on cruelty. Their barbaric training methods worked, although not in the manner intended. In a fit of rage, Vord lashed out with a simple Gust of Wind spell, knocking his teacher off the balcony to be impaled on a weather vane below. That was the moment when the study of magic captured Vord's imagination. He threw himself into his studies with an enthusiastic zeal. He not only met his superiors' expectations, but far surpassed them.
The Legion wasn't interested in his newfound scholarship, however. They were forging a weapon, nothing more. Vord found himself chafing under their rules and limitations, leaving him bitter. His instructors pushed him into the study of the schools of Evocation and Abjuration, but he found more solace in the catacombs among the dead.
He took part in his first battle at the age of seventeen, against a marauding legion of hobgoblins. It was in that moment that he knew he didn't want to spend his life marching in formation and lending his magic to a company that considered him little more than a siege engine. He escaped the company's war camp that very night.

Accomplishments & Achievements

The life of an adventurer didn't come naturally to Vord, but being a deserter from the Legion of the Manticore made it a necessity. He knew they would do whatever it took to capture him and put him to death. So he swore he would be free of them, and have revenge for his foul treatment until no stone of their castle stood atop another.
To do this he needed one thing: power. He signed on with one adventuring party after another to gain the experience and protection he required. These associations rarely lasted long due to both his abrasive personality and the general suspicion for necromancers, and they often ended in bloodshed.
Eventually, he grew in power enough to survive the Legion's hunters with only his undead servitors to keep him company. Still, he didn't have nearly the arcane might to see his vengeance fulfilled. To get it, he searched the darkest of crypts to find ancient secrets or lost artifacts, anything that he could use to destroy his enemies utterly.
This search led to a fateful encounter with a young, inexperienced Eldain Mal'atre. Together, the two discovered a powerful necromantic artifact known as an Ashen Shard, accompanied by its lich protector. The lich explained that the malaise of the centuries led to its abandonment of its task. It would allow him to take it but not before a dire warning about its corrupting influence. He chose to leave it be, much to the surprise of the novice mage.
With no other recourse, he continued his long search. Even after traveling the length and breadth of the Twin Worlds, but he never found anything with the raw magical power of the shard. However, the search, itself eventually granted him the abilities of an archmage. He had the power, but needed a plan.
He returned to that buried crypt and claimed the Ashen Shard. With that dangerous artifact in hand, he marched on the Legion directly with an army of illusory warriors at his back. He raised the shard in his hand, which let out a sickly green glow and then... nothing happened.
The castle's defenders laughed at the wizard, and the general proudly announced that the keep was impenetrable and that his army could stay outside the gates for a hundred years and it would still stand. Vord, however, said nothing, as all the dead in the catacombs rose from their graves and systematically slaughtered the legionaires.
The battle complete, he bound the souls of the two remaining mage instructors as flameskulls to serve him for all eternity. He also commanded the dead of the Legion to raze the castle until no stone stood atop another, finally completing his quest for vengeance.
He began to feel the corruption of the Ashen Shard for himself, so he gave it to Eldain, now almost an archmage in his own right. The elven wizard cast it into the Positive Energy Plane to see it destroyed, or at least sealed away forever.
Now free, he was able to pursue his studies for the sake of scholarship alone. He gained quite the reputation as the greatest researcher in all the Twin Worlds. It was due to his love of books and obvious hatred of everything else that earned him the name "Ink-Heart".
Vord rarely gets involved directly in the events that unfold around him, usually only to protect the place he happens to call home. Most notably, he sided with Eldain in his alliance against Ansarien Ill'conter, and he occasionally works alongside his colleagues in The Arcane Trinity.

Intellectual Characteristics

Vord believes himself to be unequivocally the most intelligent person in all the Twin Worlds, and he makes no secret of it. Unfortunately for all involved, he might actually be correct in that assessment, but that's little comfort to those forced to suffer his condecending attitude.

Morality & Philosophy

He sees himself as being entirely amoral, especially in his research. He pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge and power for the sake of power. To that end, his research can either be incredibly noble, or incredibly cruel.

Social

Hobbies & Pets

Vord has an uncharacteristic love of animals, especially small and fluffy ones. As such, he often has nearly a dozen pets in his tower. The most notable of which being an exotic winged cat that rumor places as a bribe from Eldain in exchange for an unknown service. He also has a familiar that is never far from his side, a weasel named Korrin.

Wealth & Financial state

Because his research requires a great many exotic reagents and valuable gems, Vord often finds himself in need of coin. Usually, he trades his considerable skill as an enchanter with adventurers to obtain these things. Occasionally, in hard times, he even trades basic magics to nobles, although he truly hates funding his research in this manner.
His primary asset is his sanctuary, an ancient tower he discovered during his search for arcane knowledge. The inside is filled with opulent luxury, cared for by skeletal servants, and protected by skeletal guardians. Due to the structure's enchantment, it can be moved wherever Vord wills it. It almost always rests in an out-of-the-way location that varies based on the area's traffic and the needs of its owner's research.

Alignment

Lawful Neutral

Species

Human

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Archmage, Destroyer of the Legion of the Manticore, Protector of the Twin Worlds

Birthplace

Unknown

Current Residence

Mobile

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Blond

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Tan

Height

6 ft 6 in

Weight

245

Aligned Organization

The Arcane Trinity