The story of Brona, the Warlock Lord.
Little is known about the Warlock Lord Brona other than that he was once human and carried another name than the gnomish word "master" that he called himself after breaking all ties with the Council.
This is the story of the man he was before he became a menace to a whole world and gave his entire soul to magic in order to extend his life indefinitely.
Once, thousands of years ago, not long after the forming of the first druid council, there was a druid named Karyam. Karyam was a Mystic and a powerful one at that.
The council at this time concentrated their efforts on bringing knowledge back to the world, and wasted no effort on studying the other kinds of magic. The dark magiks. Karyam however, considered this to be foolish. He cherished power above all else.
Karyam had a gift for magic that had helped him advance far deeper into the mystical secrets the druids had only begun to uncover than even Galaphil. And it was this gift and an urge for more power that had led him to study arts that not even Galaphil, the High Druid of the council, dared to study.
Of all the druids and advanced apprentices at the Keep, there were only a few who shared Karyams vision and defied the will of the council so that they could study the Ildatch. The ancient book of dark magic was said to radiate evil, but Karyam and his fellows meant that it radiated nothing, except for pure power, power that was there for the taking if you were strong enough. Karyam believed that he was more than strong enough.
Karyams intentions had never been fully evil, he just wanted power. The Ildatch however, recognised the potential in him and slowly corrupted his mind. The Ildatch used its power to increase Karyams powerlust until it became extreme; it also made him fear his mortality.
The Druids had discovered how to extend short human lives by means of magic, but it was imperfect and gave at most a few hundred years which most considered more than enough.
Karyam continued his studies of the Ildatch's teachings until one day Galaphil himself surprised him while he was performing a ritual of dark magic. Galaphil and the druid council were enraged and when Karyam denied to even consider ending his studies now that he had come so close to solving the riddle of immortality.
The council had no choice but to exile Karyam from Paranor, they were surprised when many of his fellow students decided to follow him into exile however. Karyam also managed to steal the Ildatch.
Karyam went into the north and continued his studies; soon he had wreathed himself in lies. He believed that he was immortal and that he would live forever. Karyam took the name Brona after the gnomish word for "master" and soon he controlled all of the north and the races that lived there.
The rest as they say, is history. Brona tried to take over the world, and failed when he was confronted with the Sword of Shannara that made him see through his own lies. The sword revealed to him that he was not alive, that his whole existence was merely a lie. Brona crumbled to dust and disappeared.
That is the story as the Druids of the council at Paranor told it when they had defeated Brona. However the real story of the man Karyam, the young and brilliant man that was lured by the dark powers of the Ildatch was hidden and forgotten.
The story of Karyam. Druid of the order of the Mystics.
Karyam was standing on the windswept battlements of the Druid Keep of Paranor at midnight, it was raining, but Karyam seemed to be listening to something and he didn't seem to feel the cold. . The wind and rain had soaked his long dark robes and his short hair was plastered to his skull.
His head turned this way and that as he listened to the voice that had started to come to him lately. First the voice had come only in his dreams, then lately it had appeared almost every time he was alone for more than a few minutes. –The druids can not and will not search for a way to stop your ageing beyond what is possible with the Sleep. They say that all things have to die, that they will not interfere with nature. You know that is true, do you not? - Karyam shuddered, he knew that it was exactly what the council would say. "Yes, you are right" But Karyam feared death, he had not until recently, but lately he could not stop the thoughts of his mortality. Not even using the Druid excersises that were designed to calm the mind.
-I can help you, I can extend your life if you are willing to serve me-
"Please, I'll do anything! Just tell me who you are and I will serve you forever." Karyam was sweating, and it took all his self-control not to shout the telepathic words out loud.
-I am the Ildatch-
Karyam screamed in fear.
The Ildatch was an ancient book from before the Great Wars, from Fairy Times it was said by some. The book contained magic that even Galaphil was afraid to touch, magic so strong that it had developed a councioussnes to help protect it from being destroyed. The book was sealed away in a vault deep in the Keep where it could not do any harm. Or so they thought.
"What can you teach me? Can you help me live forever?" Karyams voice was thin and frightened as he entered the dark vault where the Ildatch was stored for safety.
-I can help you achieve eternal life, in return for your unquestioning service-
Karyam studied the Ildatch for a long time, he learned dark arts that no one save perhaps the Demon Lord Dagda Mar –trapped behind the forbidding forever- had deared to even imagine existed.
Slowly he lured some of his fellow druids to fall under the power of the Ildatch, one by one until one day Galaphil surprised them performing forbidden magic.
Galaphil ordered Karyam and the druids that had studied with him to cease their studies or be exiled from Paranor.
The large form of the High Druid stood in the doorway to the forgotten room in one of the corridors beneath the great Keep of Paranor.
"Karyam, what is going on here?" Karyam and the three other druids there spun around at the sound of Galphiles' authoritative voice. They stood unmoving as the High Druid walked wide-eyed into the room.
Where the three druids had been standing was the body of a small girl of no more than ten. The girl had had her throat cut with a knife, but not before she had been tortured in ways no sane person would think of.
"What have you been doing? This is insane, why would you do something like this? Tell me!" Galaphil was a large man and his command of magic was stronger than that of any of the other druids'.
Karyam took a step forward from his accomplices who had already started to step back in fear. There was a fire in his eyes. "What we are doing is our business Galaphil, and if you do not want to end up like this girl here I suggest you go away and forget what you have seen here. If you don't leave now I will be forced to kill you." Karyams voice was calm, as if he was voicing a fact.
Galaphil was anything other than calm though, and he was furious that Karyam tried to threaten him. "You dare to challenge me? Very well, I will kill you now and put your fellow traitors on trial without you."
Galaphil summoned the blue Druid Fire to his hands and prepared to throw it at Karyam, but Karyam had acted faster and had summoned a strange kind of fire to his own hands and he was throwing it at the High Druid. "The Council thinks that it is so powerful. You are fools who do not know what power is! Feel the power of the Ildatch!" Galaphil threw his magic up in a last minute attempt to defend himself, but the black fire burned trough his feeble shield in seconds and knocked him across the room. He ended up against the wall, with a loud snap of breaking bones. When he slumped against the wall everyone in the room could see the burn marks across the Elfs' torso.
"He is dead, but the someone will have felt the magic we used and they will come to investigate. Gather the others, we have no choice but to escape from Paranor before they find us." The three druids nodded feebly, and ran to perform their tasks, their minds were already cowed by Karyams magic.
Karyam blasted the door into the vault where the Ildatch was being kept. He used his magic to render any magical traps useless and then picked up the large black volume. "We will have to leave now Master. Galaphil surprised us during the last ritual and I may have killed him."
-It was bound to happen, our activity here couldn't be kept secret forever. We will make a new stronghold in the northlands. Take me there.-
Karyam and his fellow traitors travelled north and there they fell to the dark power of the Ildatch for good. Karyam took the name Brona and began a reign of terror in the northlands.
Whatever hope had been left for him and the others was lost forever and they became creatures of the night, their bodies altered by magic for combat and striking terror into innocent people.
But their souls could never be destroyed and for hundreds of years their souls were hoping for oblivion and peace in the dark prisons of their own bodies. They found it hundreds of years later when Shea Omshford destroyed Brona and that day many souls finally found their peace.
By: Asbjørn Aasberg
Little is known about the Warlock Lord Brona other than that he was once human and carried another name than the gnomish word "master" that he called himself after breaking all ties with the Council.
This is the story of the man he was before he became a menace to a whole world and gave his entire soul to magic in order to extend his life indefinitely.
Once, thousands of years ago, not long after the forming of the first druid council, there was a druid named Karyam. Karyam was a Mystic and a powerful one at that.
The council at this time concentrated their efforts on bringing knowledge back to the world, and wasted no effort on studying the other kinds of magic. The dark magiks. Karyam however, considered this to be foolish. He cherished power above all else.
Karyam had a gift for magic that had helped him advance far deeper into the mystical secrets the druids had only begun to uncover than even Galaphil. And it was this gift and an urge for more power that had led him to study arts that not even Galaphil, the High Druid of the council, dared to study.
Of all the druids and advanced apprentices at the Keep, there were only a few who shared Karyams vision and defied the will of the council so that they could study the Ildatch. The ancient book of dark magic was said to radiate evil, but Karyam and his fellows meant that it radiated nothing, except for pure power, power that was there for the taking if you were strong enough. Karyam believed that he was more than strong enough.
Karyams intentions had never been fully evil, he just wanted power. The Ildatch however, recognised the potential in him and slowly corrupted his mind. The Ildatch used its power to increase Karyams powerlust until it became extreme; it also made him fear his mortality.
The Druids had discovered how to extend short human lives by means of magic, but it was imperfect and gave at most a few hundred years which most considered more than enough.
Karyam continued his studies of the Ildatch's teachings until one day Galaphil himself surprised him while he was performing a ritual of dark magic. Galaphil and the druid council were enraged and when Karyam denied to even consider ending his studies now that he had come so close to solving the riddle of immortality.
The council had no choice but to exile Karyam from Paranor, they were surprised when many of his fellow students decided to follow him into exile however. Karyam also managed to steal the Ildatch.
Karyam went into the north and continued his studies; soon he had wreathed himself in lies. He believed that he was immortal and that he would live forever. Karyam took the name Brona after the gnomish word for "master" and soon he controlled all of the north and the races that lived there.
The rest as they say, is history. Brona tried to take over the world, and failed when he was confronted with the Sword of Shannara that made him see through his own lies. The sword revealed to him that he was not alive, that his whole existence was merely a lie. Brona crumbled to dust and disappeared.
That is the story as the Druids of the council at Paranor told it when they had defeated Brona. However the real story of the man Karyam, the young and brilliant man that was lured by the dark powers of the Ildatch was hidden and forgotten.
The story of Karyam. Druid of the order of the Mystics.
Karyam was standing on the windswept battlements of the Druid Keep of Paranor at midnight, it was raining, but Karyam seemed to be listening to something and he didn't seem to feel the cold. . The wind and rain had soaked his long dark robes and his short hair was plastered to his skull.
His head turned this way and that as he listened to the voice that had started to come to him lately. First the voice had come only in his dreams, then lately it had appeared almost every time he was alone for more than a few minutes. –The druids can not and will not search for a way to stop your ageing beyond what is possible with the Sleep. They say that all things have to die, that they will not interfere with nature. You know that is true, do you not? - Karyam shuddered, he knew that it was exactly what the council would say. "Yes, you are right" But Karyam feared death, he had not until recently, but lately he could not stop the thoughts of his mortality. Not even using the Druid excersises that were designed to calm the mind.
-I can help you, I can extend your life if you are willing to serve me-
"Please, I'll do anything! Just tell me who you are and I will serve you forever." Karyam was sweating, and it took all his self-control not to shout the telepathic words out loud.
-I am the Ildatch-
Karyam screamed in fear.
The Ildatch was an ancient book from before the Great Wars, from Fairy Times it was said by some. The book contained magic that even Galaphil was afraid to touch, magic so strong that it had developed a councioussnes to help protect it from being destroyed. The book was sealed away in a vault deep in the Keep where it could not do any harm. Or so they thought.
"What can you teach me? Can you help me live forever?" Karyams voice was thin and frightened as he entered the dark vault where the Ildatch was stored for safety.
-I can help you achieve eternal life, in return for your unquestioning service-
Karyam studied the Ildatch for a long time, he learned dark arts that no one save perhaps the Demon Lord Dagda Mar –trapped behind the forbidding forever- had deared to even imagine existed.
Slowly he lured some of his fellow druids to fall under the power of the Ildatch, one by one until one day Galaphil surprised them performing forbidden magic.
Galaphil ordered Karyam and the druids that had studied with him to cease their studies or be exiled from Paranor.
The large form of the High Druid stood in the doorway to the forgotten room in one of the corridors beneath the great Keep of Paranor.
"Karyam, what is going on here?" Karyam and the three other druids there spun around at the sound of Galphiles' authoritative voice. They stood unmoving as the High Druid walked wide-eyed into the room.
Where the three druids had been standing was the body of a small girl of no more than ten. The girl had had her throat cut with a knife, but not before she had been tortured in ways no sane person would think of.
"What have you been doing? This is insane, why would you do something like this? Tell me!" Galaphil was a large man and his command of magic was stronger than that of any of the other druids'.
Karyam took a step forward from his accomplices who had already started to step back in fear. There was a fire in his eyes. "What we are doing is our business Galaphil, and if you do not want to end up like this girl here I suggest you go away and forget what you have seen here. If you don't leave now I will be forced to kill you." Karyams voice was calm, as if he was voicing a fact.
Galaphil was anything other than calm though, and he was furious that Karyam tried to threaten him. "You dare to challenge me? Very well, I will kill you now and put your fellow traitors on trial without you."
Galaphil summoned the blue Druid Fire to his hands and prepared to throw it at Karyam, but Karyam had acted faster and had summoned a strange kind of fire to his own hands and he was throwing it at the High Druid. "The Council thinks that it is so powerful. You are fools who do not know what power is! Feel the power of the Ildatch!" Galaphil threw his magic up in a last minute attempt to defend himself, but the black fire burned trough his feeble shield in seconds and knocked him across the room. He ended up against the wall, with a loud snap of breaking bones. When he slumped against the wall everyone in the room could see the burn marks across the Elfs' torso.
"He is dead, but the someone will have felt the magic we used and they will come to investigate. Gather the others, we have no choice but to escape from Paranor before they find us." The three druids nodded feebly, and ran to perform their tasks, their minds were already cowed by Karyams magic.
Karyam blasted the door into the vault where the Ildatch was being kept. He used his magic to render any magical traps useless and then picked up the large black volume. "We will have to leave now Master. Galaphil surprised us during the last ritual and I may have killed him."
-It was bound to happen, our activity here couldn't be kept secret forever. We will make a new stronghold in the northlands. Take me there.-
Karyam and his fellow traitors travelled north and there they fell to the dark power of the Ildatch for good. Karyam took the name Brona and began a reign of terror in the northlands.
Whatever hope had been left for him and the others was lost forever and they became creatures of the night, their bodies altered by magic for combat and striking terror into innocent people.
But their souls could never be destroyed and for hundreds of years their souls were hoping for oblivion and peace in the dark prisons of their own bodies. They found it hundreds of years later when Shea Omshford destroyed Brona and that day many souls finally found their peace.
By: Asbjørn Aasberg