PrefectofEternalSolitudeandRelinquishedSouls
The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls
Description: Also known as the Lonely Vagabond and the Warden of the Principium Dictate, the Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls has remained an enigma even to the other Deathlords. The Prefect was one of the initial Deathlords created by the Malfeans. Upon being created the Prefect took on the role of chronicler. A post many of the other Deathlords have seen as pointless because of the inevitability of Oblivion. The Prefect merely continues work on his masterpiece and the study of the magical arts.
The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls stands eight spans and appears as a young man with pale white skin. His ink black hair is braided with weaves of the finest strands of white jade and left to hang down his back and his eyes are the pale blue of a glacier sunk deep into the water. When making an appearance in public or conducting a private meeting the Prefect is adorned in his robe made from the many purposeless ghosts that inhabited the Athenaeum of the Lost Requiem. Most of the Prefect’s days are spent on his throne allowing his ghostly servitor robe to write the Chronicle of the Creation’s End and sending his servants to deal with matters of state. The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls keeps his shadowland small and unassuming. The most able of the ghosts are placed in the Athenaeum’s guard while the rest are placed in scribing positions or made into soulsteel ornaments for the pleasure of the Prefect. The Prefect has turned the craft of forging soulsteel into a high art form, which he puts into use on a regular basis. Many more ghosts are a part of the Prefect’s palace than live in the surrounding shadowland.
The Prefect has attended only one congress of Deathlords since the taking of Stygia and has not made another appearance since. After the congress was disbanded he devoted himself to his writings and his research for what no one knows.He seems only concerned about the deeds of the other Deathlords than anything he could add to the cause of Oblivion. The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls has never shown himself to be aggressive toward Creation, the Underworld, or the other Deathlords. The Deathlords have even called back spies from the Athenaeum because of the Prefect’s apparent apathy to commit toward any action or goal. All of his posturing, or lack thereof, is only a façade.
The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls’ Goals
The Prefect of Eternal Solitude and Relinquished Souls has watched and written every action of his fellows and has a vast network of spies that could make even the Mask of Winters jealous. He has only allowed himself the pleasure of a small guard, but since the audacity of the Mask of Winters he has slowly begun recruiting more ghosts and mortals to join in his growing army. Recently he has also expended himself a great deal in the creation of his first permanent deathknights.
His greatest objective is in his Chronicle of Creation’s End. A seemingly harmless book that has been invested with some of the greatest sorcery known in Creation, but serves a greater purpose than accounting for the end of all existence. Many of the Prefect’s fellow Deathlords see the book as a frivolous effort but if they knew its true purpose the Prefect of Eternal Solitude would one day see himself confronted by the amassed armies of Underworld. The Chronicle is actually a spell that has been growing in power over the centuries since it was first started. The spell that the Chronicle covers up is one that the Prefect will one day use to dominate the Underworld or at least that is what he plans. Every soul that he infuses into the Chronicle itself and into the surrounding Athenaeum moves the spell closer to completion. This is one of the main reasons for his tiny army and under populated shadowland. Even with the noticeable lack of interest in him and his Athenaeum the Prefect has grown paranoid. The recent incursion by a Circle of Solars has inspired the Prefect to enlarge his defenses by creating Abyssals, increasing the population of the shadowland and his army, and the decision to begin the spreading of the shadowland into Creation.
The Athenaeum of the Lost Requiem
The Athenaeum of the Lost Requiem appears, from a distance, to be a simple step pyramid made from obsidian and ivory with a soft glow encompassing the entire edifice. Upon closer inspection the horrible truth is revealed. The ivory that decorates the outer and inner walls of the Athenaeum are actually soulforged statues. Dozens of delicately crafted statues stand watch over the village and shadowland below and the corridors of the greatest library in all of the Underworld. The statues stand moaning at a world just outside of their grasp and they are compelled to alert those that imprisoned them in an eternal hell.
The Athenaeum was constructed just outside fo a small village on the coast of the Sea of Shadows. Its twelve levels overlooks a region that has been stripped barren. The lower three sections are dedicated to the living quarters of the servants and scholars of the Prefect. The fourth through eighth levels house the multitude of books that have been scavenged, taken, and written by the followers of the Lonely Vagabond. The books held in these four levels are mostly mundane works that tell of the First Age, the Shogunate, the Great Contagion, and on through the founding of the Realm. The ninth and tenth levels hold most of the magical power in the Atenaeum. The libraries here are smaller than the ones below, but feature some of the more potent and important treatises on sorcery. A person could spend a lifetime in one section and still not have read half of what is available.
The final two floors are the home to the Prefect and his newly appointed deathknights. These floors hold personal laboratories as well as rooms and guest quarters. The Prefect is rarely seen outside of these two floors. He typically only makes an appearance to the outside world from his personal balcony. The Athenaeum is topped by a pale blue fire that radiates cold that is only known in the farthest reaches of the north. It is also the source of the pale light that illuminates the entire exterior of the pyramid.
The surrounding area is only interrupted by a single fishing village that sits on the shoreline. This squalid little village is populated by a mere eight hundred ghosts. All trying to appear as busy as possible so that they can escape being added to their Master's ghastly montage. The villagers here mainly till the fallow fields and fish a sea that contains all manner of horrors. The villagers have pieced together a small force of one hundred young men to act as protectors from the many creatures of the sea and land. The fishing fleet consists of two dozen skiffs and a junk converted into a pleasure barge if the Prefect ever decides to venture outside of his eerie home.
