Cult of Dalmiren
| Cult of Dalmiren | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Philosophic |
| Alignment: | Magic 2, Entropy 5, Destruction 5 |
| Headquarters: | Outskirts of Rune |
| Leader: | None |
Legends tell of a prince named Dalmiren. This man was a powerful prince, nearly a god, and had a beautiful sister named Melandir, as like himself as any brother and sister have been. Soon, war fell on their lands, and princess Melandir became enamored of Prince Karis, the heir to a nearby kingdom who had allied with their own to fight in the war. She was so taken with his valiant prowess that she persuaded her father have her betrothed to Prince Karis. The two kingdoms would be united, and would rebuild after the war. However, the invaders managed a last ditch effort: they summoned a spirit of great malevolence and destruction within the walls of the kingdom and Melandir sacrificed herself to stop it. She used her own life force to fuel the spell which could destroy the spirit and perished. Karis, who was sworn to protect Melandir, was never forgiven by Dalmiren, who blamed him for his sister's death.
In the years after the war, the two kingdoms maintained a harsh rivalry. Dalmiren never forgot that Karis abandoned his sister. He began to obsess over his sister's death, seeking ways to bring her back to the mortal world. He ascended the throne and used his power for his own ends. He traveled to distant lands, sought out long-abandoned rituals, learned powerful alchemy, and consulted with oracles. In his absence, his kingdom suffered. He eventually discovered something which would bring his sister back: the fruit from a tree, found on an island beyond a vast sea whose waters were poison, behind a mountain where he wandered for seven days of darkness. The fruit was rumored to steal the mortality from a person until the day the world ended.
On the return trip, Dalmiren tired and his hand skimmed the poisonous waters. Weakened and near death, he became lost in the mountain, and rather than starve, or die from the poison, he ate the fruit of the tree himself and became immortal. Over the following years, he would try many times himself and through his vassals to once again find the island beyond the poison sea, behind the cavernous mountain, but he never would. Blessed with immortality, he lived for a very, very long time, but his grief and frustration drove him mad, and he turned in desperation to a new goal: death. Over and over he was stabbed, burned, drowned, crushed, beheaded, poisoned, starved, and impaled. Time and again, his wounds would heal and he would regain consciousness in horrible pain. He was immortal, destined to live until the end of the world.
And that was what he sought to bring about. Now, the Cult of Dalmiren seeks to bring about the end of the world for him. They believe that in the Afterlife they will be rewarded, and as the world is plunged into chaos, they will be the only ones to revel in the remaining pleasures.
