Perlachio Zenfellon \ˈpər-läch-ē-ˌō ˈzen-fe-lən\ - The Great Teacher

Perlachio appears as a tall human, nearly eight foot in height. He is skinner, has smooth skin, yet his hair is snow white. Long and flowing, his hair falls down to his knees, his mustache disappears into his a braided beard which descends to his waste. He moves slowly, wasting no movement, every action economical and with purpose. Even his words are well thought out and purposeful, often having layers of meaning.
Little is known about the true history of Perlachio before he encountered the Sarloks or trained his final nine students. He is the creator of the 'Great Machine' found at the center of the Sarlok city, and he is also the artificer who supposedly crafted the artifacts possessed by the party.
He refers to his age as measured in the lifetimes of stars and his knowledge and exploits bear this out. His students mention that Perlachio was a legend from the mists of the dark past of their own histories. They also say that he is not from their world.
He had at least nine students, finding all of them as children and raising them together. Rather than teach all of these students similarly, he focused on making each one a master of their own craft, saying it would take a lifetime for each of them to master even the single skills he taught them.
Those students are:
Drakit - Master of the Axe: A barbarian/shaman of unsurpassed skill.
Ottavian - The Traveler: An archeologist of ancient worlds.
Lavinia - Enchantress: Unsurpassed in strategic and tactical planning. She was also considered Perlachio's prodigy, often working closely with him on his various mechanizations of watches and machinery.
Larzunio - The Rope: A master armorsmith and weaponsmith. A disciple who sought and attained physical perfection through body conditioning and martial arts.
Quanicillo - Master of the Hunt: A bowman and unequaled student of nature.
Giosuè - Master of the Spear: Fabled assassin.
Adriana: Night's Daughter: The Thief never caught.
Luca - Disciple of Magic: A master of spellcraft and alchemy.
Ranieri - The Lucky One: Ranieri - The Lucky One. Performer and artist, a most accomplished bard, painter, and sculptor.

These nine are the most recent students he is known to have trained, though it is surmised that other students came before. And though they reached the pinnacle of mortal learning in their fields, they all still recognized Perlachio as a greater master in every aspect of their craft. In his diary, Luca writes of him:

Our leader, our master, our mentor was Peralochio. He was ancient when we knew him. He had mastered many skills – he was the most accomplished of mage-craft, a truly excelled alchemist, the best spear wielder we would ever know, the great artificer of incredible wonders, and a master swordsman. When it came to unarmed combat, he was peerless. Even of the arts, he knew no peer, for he could sculpt stone where it came to life, paint pictures indistinguishable from the real thing – pictures so real they would change reality as it was less real. When asked of his age, he would never respond except to say cryptic sayings like, “My age is measured in the lives of the stars.” He was old when we first knew him, and yet, from a young age we all knew he would live long beyond any of us. We were nine. He trained us in different arts for he said our feeble lifetimes would allow meager accomplishment of only a single skill. For all he taught us in our designated skill, much was left untaught.

Why Luka refers to him as a slightly different name is unknown. Luka would go on to mention that when Perlachio sent them out into the world, he gave them each an item which represented their skill. Other sources indicate that he might have crafted the items with each student as part of their training, the student sacrificing years of blood and sweat to help create an item specifically designed for each of them.
Luka also writes:

As we progressed, he sent us out to explore the worlds around us. He gave us each a gift, a small token he said he crafted with each of our proclivities in mind. For me, he made this book. A great item, it also was a curse – for of the nine, I was the only one to lose my gift. Peralochio was furious.

Luka also writes of the time they were sent out and how they regathered.

When I tried to return, I found that Peralochio had moved on. I found Drakit, master of the ax, who told me that the master had sent us all away. Though I was the first, it wasn’t as a punishment, all were eventually sent out. Drakit and I spent the next century finding the others. Once we were all again numbering eight we set out to find our master – for Ottaviano, the traveler, we could never locate. It was Lavinia, mistress of the great torc, who had been last to be sent out. We always considered her the most favored of the master. She said he had been working on what he called his Great Machine. He had been working on the plans for several millennia. He said it would fix the breach. When Lavinia had last seen our master, he had finished his plans and now needed to create his machine. Knowing this, and using what little our sister knew of the plans, we set out. We came upon this city – a city out of time and phase with all the universe. It was here we found the great machine at the heart of the city. And it was then that we knew that our master was planning for our return, for the outer 5 temples were but cogs of the machine, necessary pieces. When we were worthy, we could pass the temples and move on to the central temple. Alas, We were never worthy. None of us were able to pass the guardian’s of the final temple – our connection to the master was too great. He needed something we couldn’t provide.

Sometime after he had trained his students and sent most of them away, he had formulated a plan to create what he referred to as his 'Great Machine' with the goal of fixing the rupture which had decimated so many worlds, including his adopted world. The world from which his students hailed was the world which he oft referred to as his adopted world. Of his original world, nothing is known. Though, Adriana had repeatedly insisted, according to Luca, that he once referred to himself as a member of some great court.
What is known that he journeyed to the world of the Sarloks and dwelt there for nearly 1000 years, becoming the God King to the Sarloks, where he eventually finished his life's work. It is also known that he had figured out the Sarlok world was not the true world at the center of all problems. At some time, he sent the Sarlok city to Pyrideon in hopes of finding those able to finally use his 'Great Machine.' It was also his evident hope that the curse which was afflicting the Sarloks would be finally lifted once the Great Machine was activated.
Why he didn't travel along is unknown, at least by the writings left behind by Luca. What is known is that he gave his students enough clues where they were able to track the Sarlok city down on the new world and also gave them the means to arrive there.
Once there, the students tried to activate his machine and failed. Realizing it would take natives of that world to operate the machine, the students began making preparations for those worthy enough to pass the test to find their way to the Sarlok city so that the Great Machine could be initiated. Not even the students really understand what it will do. Of the students, like Perlachio, they all disappeared after having set things in motion to make sure that natives of the new world to which they had arrived would activate the Great Machine.