The Sackcloth Evangelist Of The Ebon Spiral

The Sackcloth Evangelist of the Ebon Spiral

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/punslinger/Evangelist-Small.jpg

I am the agent
I am corruption
I am the angel
Of your destruction
I am subversion
Sacred desire-
I am the future
Swallowed up in fire

- "Burn," Nine Inch Nails

Vital Statistics

Caste: Midnight Concept: Oblivion's Missionary Motivation: Become the Omega- cast all into the Void before he is consumed in turn Age: 71 Apparent Age: 65 Gender: Male Hair: White Eyes: Black, glint redly Skin: Pale and dry, like parchment Height: 6'3" Weight: 165 lbs. Homeland: Ethanac, originally from Felmorne Birth Name: (Founder) Uziah Anima: The Ebon Spiral- a ravenous singularity of Essence that whips the air to frenzy and seems to draw all light into it with a low roar and a faint moan Permanent Essence: 5

Strength: 3 Dexterity: 4 Stamina: 4
Charisma: 4 Manipulation: 5 Appearance: 0
Perception: 4 Intelligence: 5 Wits: 4

Compassion: 2 Temperance: 4 Conviction: 4 Valor: 2

Personal Essence: 24 Peripheral Essence: 56 Harvested: 20

Total Essence Regained Per Hour: 14 motes from Manse, 2 from Cult.

Abilities and Specialties

Martial Arts: 3 Melee: 3 War: 4 (the Undead, 2) Integrity*: 5 (Counter-argument, 2) Performance*: 5 (Prayer, 3) Presence*: 5 (Intimidate, 2) Resistance*: 4 Survival*: 4 (the Labyrinth 2) Craft: 4 (Wood, Fire, Magitech, Necrosurgery) Investigation: 2 Lore*: 5 (the Underworld, 3) Medicine: 2 Occult*: 5 (Necromancy, 2) Athletics: 4 Awareness*: 5 Dodge*: 5 (vs. Ranged, 2) Larceny: 2 Stealth: 4 Bureaucracy: 4 Linguistics: 3 (Skytongue, Old Realm, High Realm, Riverspeak) Ride: 2 Sail: 1 Socialize*: 5 (Mind Games, 3)

Backgrounds

Artifact: 5 (Mighty panoply of war and more importantly, toolbox)
Followers: 5 (Nephwrack warrior-priests devoted to his message)
Liege: 5 (Chosen agent of The Crimson Weaver of Subtle Venoms)
Necromancy: 5 (Instructed personally by his Liege)
Resources: 4 (Draws a regular salary to augment his activities in Creation)
Manse: 3, 2, 2 (All in Creation- Earth, Air, and Air aligned)
Cult: 2 (Some particularly heretical nephwracks view him as a Saint of Oblivion)
Whispers: 4 (The ravings of the Neverborn echo in his dreams)
Abyssal Command: 5 (Commands an elite unit of Nephwracks as well as zombies in general)
Allies: 5 (Despite the duplicity of his circle, he may rely on several prominent dead)

Combat

Join Battle: 9 Join Debate: 9 Join War: 8 -Magnitude

Health Track
-0 -0 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -4 Incapacitated Dying Dying Dying Dead

Armor: Soulsteel Reinforced Buff Jacket (Frock Coat)
Lethal Soak: 7 Bashing Soak: 10 Notes: Adds 2 to soaks from materials bonus, Adds 5 to Soaks from Abyssal Aegis effect. Collar of Night’s Majesty adds 2 to soaks.

Total Soak:
Bashing: 23 Lethal: 18 Aggravated: 11 Hardness: 6 vs. Bashing or Lethal (or Ag)

Attacks
Extreme Unction: Speed: 4 Accuracy: 15 Damage: 12L Defense: - Range: 50 yds. Rate: 2
Crypt Bolt: Speen 4 Accuracy: 13 Damage: 2L/mote Defense: - Range: 50 yds. Rate: 1
Bare Hand: Speed: 5 Accuracy: 8 Damage: 6L Defense: +2 Range: - Rate: 3
Hideous Sacrament: Speed: 4 Accuracy: 14 Damage: 14LThe_Sackcloth_Evangelist_Of_The_Ebon_Spiral/A Defense: - Range: 50 yds. Rate: 1

Dodge DV Melee: 9 Dodge DV Ranged 10 Parry DV: 5
Mental Dodge DV: 9 Mental Parry DV: 5 Mental Parry DV Mind Games: 7

Charms

Excellencies and the Basics

Lore Overwhelming, Socialize Overwhelming, Athletics Overwhelming, War Triumphant, Performance Triumphant, Occult Triumphant, Dodge Triumphant, Awareness Resurgent, Survival Resurgant, Infinite Dodge Mastery, Dodge Essence Flow, Lore Essence Flow
Ox-Body Technique (x4), Essence Engorgement Technique (x2), Plague Knows Its Master

Flickering Wisp Technique: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Perfect dodge, Flaw of Temperance.
Incomparable Phantom Form: 5m, 1w, Simple, Scene. Persistent dodge, resistant to coordinated attacks.
Spirit-Sensing Technique: 3m, Reflexive, Scene. Able to perceive dematerialized spirits.
Corpus-Rending Blow: 1m, Supplemental, Instant. Able to strike spirits, inflicts aggrivated damage.
Soul-Eating Strike: 2m, Reflexive, Instant. Recovers 10 essence per hit, will permanantly kill spirits.
Ominous Portent Excercise: 1m, Reflexive, Instant. Makes him aware of an attack, does not count as charm for the round.
Spirit-Hardened Frame: 2m, Reflexive, Instant. Sets hardness to 8 for one attack.
Insensate Corpse Concentration: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Roll Stamina + Resistance vs. attacker's Essence for invulnerablity
Flowing Wound Defense: 4m, Reflexive, Instant. Perfect soak, Flaw of Temperance. Appears to sustain damage but re-forms
Falling Scythe Attack: 3m, 1w, Supplemental, Instant. Adds one auto success to strike, doubles post-soak damage. Signature combat move. (quick scything hand gesture)
Heart-Sculpting Oration: 6m, Supplemental, Scene. Performance roll is unnatural, instils intense emotion for a scene.
Dread Lord's Demeanor: 7m, Simple, Scene. Attackers (even social) must make a valor check to dare oppose him.
Soul-Flaying Gaze: 3(2)m, Simple, Instant. Renders a target's Mental Dodge DV inapplicable, costs less if Dread Lord's Demeanor is up.
Heart-Stopping Mein: 10m, 1w, Simple, Scene. Mortals who fail a Valor check take 5L damage. If passed, they remain at a -2 to attack him.
Crypt Bolt: 1m/2L, Simple, Instant. Is DV -2, Roll Dexterity + Athletics + Essence to hit.
Radiant Blight Technique: 5m, Simple, Instant. Roll Charisma + Lore. All within the number rolled in yards take 5L soakable only with Stamina.
Hideous Sacrament: 3m, 1w, Simple, Instant. The Abyssal's Caste Mark Blazes, and he casts A necrotic bolt of Unlight and Failed Dreams at his enemy. This charm is a Lore-based attack. It's attack pool equals (Wits + Lore + Essence). It has a range of (Essence x 10) yards and cannot exceed it. It is undodgeable barring charms that trump applicability. It ignores cover, including shields, but cannot otherwise strike around obstacles. It does a base damage of the Abyssal's (Intelligence + Willpower). It deals aggrivated damage against the Fair Folk and the unshaped horrors beyond the world.
Argument-Slaying Remark: 3m, Reflexive, Instant. Brings to an immediate resolution an extended social interaction.
Heart-Hardening Method: 6m, Simple, Instant. Roll Manipulation + Socialize vs. target's MDV. Each success reduces target virtue for one hour/success. If successes exceed target willpower, loss is permanent.
Scathing Cynic Attitude: 6m, 1w, Reflexive, Scene. Adds Essence to MDV but increases Charisma rolls by 1 difficulty.
Skeleton-Summoning Gesture: 5m, 1w, Simple, Instant. Animates all corpses within 50 yards as loyal skeletons (zombie extras).
Morale-Shattering Method: 7m, 1w, Simple, Instant. Forces one unit within 500 yards to check for rout.

Necromancy and Sorcery

Shadowlands Circle Necromancy

Iron Countermagic: 10m/20m, 1w. Sets up defensive barrier, or ruptures another Shadowlands-Circle spell.
Piercing the Shroud: 10m, 1w. Opens a portal from the Underworld into the Labyrinth.
Summon Ghost: 15+m, 1w. Summons a ghost. Spend more to erode their willpower while summoning them.
Walking War Machine: Varies, 1w. Used in the creation of Spine Chains and the like.
Bless the Rapine Soul: 16m, 1w. Target mortal is rendered pliable to postmortem possession.
Flesh and Bone Winds: 18m, 1w. Adds 1 to melee DV, and 3 to ranged DV. Each 2 bodies added to the maelstrom add 1 more to melee or ranged DV, to a maximum of 5 (from 10 bodies).
Flesh Sloughing Wave: 16m, 1w. Travels 25 yards, all targets within must soak 2x(Essence + Occult) (20 for him).
Mother Darkness: 12m, 1w. Death-taints a one mile radius for one week. Abyssals and ghosts can respire essence within.
Shattered Void Mirror: 20m, 1w. Inflicts twice the target's remaining health levels in lethal damage, only natural soak may reduce this. Target also loses twice her Permanent Essence in motes.
Midnight Shadow Sun: 8m, 1w. Causes an alteration in the border of a shadowland persisting for 5 minutes.
Dusk Eyes: 10m, 1w. Allows the caster to see across the veil- Creation into the Underworld, vice-versa, for one hour, at his current location.

Labyrinth Circle Necromancy

Onyx Countermagic: 15m/20m, 2w. Sets up defensive barrier, or ruptures Labyrinth or Terrestrial Circle spells, or snuffs Shadowlands Circle spells.
Arisen Legion: Varies, 2m. Raises a number of temporary zombies within 100 yards equal to the number of motes spent casting the spell.
Reaping the Fallen: 25m, 2w. For every mortal who dies within a league for the rest of the scene, he regains one mote of essence.
Exquisite Undead Aide: 20m, 2w. Is mostly useful for creating capable lab assistants and death camp guards who don't talk or hesitate.
Infinite Footsteps: 25m, 2w. Cast in the Labyrinth, it enables the caster to reach any location in the Underworld within one day.
Rebirth Into Darkness: 25m, 2w. Chains one ghost to his side, prevents them from seeking Lethe or Oblivion, even if discorporated.
Shadow Stones Travel: 24m, 2w. Permits the caster to travel from the Underworld to Creation or vice-versa at his current location.
Ivory Razor Forest: 25m, 2w. Raises a massive fortification which does 8 unblockable lethal damage to any who touch it.

Void Circle Necromancy

Obsidian Countermagic: 20m/25m, 3w. Sets up a defensive barrier, or ruptures Void Circle or Celestial Circle spells, or snuffs Shadowlands, Labyrinth, or Terrestrial Circle spells.
Dimming of the Light: 80m, 3w. Forever corrupts a willing Solar mote into a new Abyssal.
Forsaken Life Engine: 50+m, 3w. Conjures a great engine that creates a 50mile radius shadowland- must be fed 1000 living beings, can devour them at a rate of 3 per minute, so it takes about eleven hours to succeed. (Book of Bone and Ebony, pgs. 140-141 for more details)
Grandmother Void: 40m, 3w, 1L health level. Becomes an invulnerable portal for 5 turns, summons forth 2 loyal Nephwracks per turn.
Mouth of the Void: 50m, 3w. All living beings save the caster within 40 yards sustain 30 levels of aggrivated damage. See pg. 142 of the Book of Bone and Ebony for flavor text.

Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

Emerald Countermagic: 10m/20m, 1 w. Sets up a defensive barrier, or ruptures Terrestrial Circle spells.
Corrupted Words: 10m, 1w. Vomit maggots, biznitch.
Flight of Separation: 10m, 1w. Becomes a flock of ravens who fly up to 500 yards in any direction.
Flying Guillotine: 10m, 1w. 500 yard range, Roll (Perception + Occult) and add 5 auto successes to hit, inflicts a base damage of 18L.
Violent Opening of Closed Portals: You dare bar your doors to me?

Combos

Entropic Morality Principle 9+m, 1 w
Argument Slaying Remark, Heart-Hardening Method, First Socialize Excellency.
The Evangelist casts a look of withering scorn at his victim and utters one horrible, hideous Truth about her that undermines her beliefs. A silent shockwave signals the death of a small part of her soul, and she weeps tears of blood.

Steal the Wasted Breath 8+m, 1w
Flickering Wisp Technique, Radiant Blight Technique, First Lore Excellency.
Vanishing like a spectre before a breeze, he suddenly reappears next to his foolhardy attacker and spreads his hands, as if giving a blessing. The world seems to shake and the earth moans in agony as death essence lances out in a terrible circle, rotting the living even as they draw breath.

The Void Hungers 4+m, 1w
Soul-Eating Strike, Corpus-Rending Blow, Crypt Bolt.
The Evangelist speaks one terrible, final-sounding word, and a black bolt howls forth from his outstretched hand to whatever spirit offended him. It is surrounded by a dark pall and purple lightnings crackle over it as it suffers the utter agony of all who resist their ultimate dissolution.

Patient Inquisition 9+m, 1w
Soul-Flaying Gaze, Heart Hardening Method, First Socialize Excellency.
Those who would resist the horror that is Truth are fools perhaps, but not beyond help. Through an extended, grandfatherly interview where he mocks his victim with kindness and regret, the Evangelist sneaks past her mental defenses and drives home the blade of honest criticism, whittling away at all she holds dear.

Rite of Consolamentum 9+m, 3w
Hideous Sacrament, First Lore Excellency, Falling Scythe Attack, Flickering Wisp Technique
The skies darken and roil as the Evangelist's anima seems to flow down his arm, encapsulating a splinter of the ultimate Void in his hand. Small objects lose their connection to Creation and attempt to flee Gaia, floating softly upward in the split second before destruction is hurled forth. His hand moves in a quick gesture that speaks of impatience and hatred, and the air recoils away from him with a shriek as the blast of Unlight washes over his victim, wicking away skin and flesh from the pale bones.

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifact Panoply

The Void is My Shield: Artifact 4. Soulsteel reinforced buff jacket in the form of a long leathery (actually soulcrafted plasm) Frock-style, almost military coat that reaches to his ankles. Grants the wearer the effects of Abyssal Aegis (plus four to soaks, negates the "Holy" descriptor from Solar attacks leveled his way). Due to it's lightweight construction it has no movement penalty. Requires the commitment of 5 motes.

Bracers of Disdain: Artifact 4. Soulsteel Hearthstone Bracers (reduce target's lethal and bashing soak by 2 vs the Abyssal, adds 3 to his dodge pool) that also fire +2 accuracy 12L damage Crypt Bolts at a cost of only 1 mote to any Abyssal who can hurl Crypt Bolts, otherwise they cost 3m each. Requires the commitment of 4 motes.

Collar of Night's Majesty: Artifact 2. Wearer never appears rumpled or shabby, though he may appear clad in resplendent tattered ruin if that is his way. Adds +1 to Intimidation rolls, +2 against poisons, and +2 to all soaks. Requires the commitment of 2 motes.

Unveiling Lenses: Artifact 2. The wearer of these spectacles views the world Through Dead Eyes, which is identical to All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight save that rolls for non-death-essence flows are at +1 difficulty. Requires the commitment of 1 mote.

The Book of Dead Names: Artifact 1. This black, leatherbound tome records within the name of any man or woman, god, ghost, or Raksha who is slain, directly or indirectly (to a point) by the Evangelist. It also records the ravings of the Neverborn that echo in the depths of his mind, enabling him to live with the constant whispers. Prolonged reading from this book could well induce severe and numerous derangements.

Steel Pen of Refinement: Artifact 1. Costs a drop of blood and one mote to activate, then adds a die to any roll involving writing for the duration of the scene.

Bloody Ice Comb: Artifact 1. Conjures a supernatural ice storm which attacks any pursuing he who planted the comb in the dirt.

Bag of Harvested Plagues: Artifact 2. Can hold up to 5 diseases, which can then be released upon a hapless victim within 5 yards. Currently holds the Black Death, Cholera, Leprosy, Consumption, and Hysteria.

The Freedom Stone: Hearthstone 3. Water-aligned. The Evangelist cannot be restrained or held in any way, including clinch attempts.

Ice Blade Gem: Hearthstone 2. Air-aligned. Adds three lethal damage to any barehanded or melee weapon attacks made by the wielder.

Gemstone of Surface Thoughts: Hearthstone 2. Air-aligned. Roll Perception + Awareness against the Target's Dodge MDV to read one surface thought. Target remains unaware even if the attempt fails.

Followers

25 Nephwracks follow the Evangelist whenever he permits it, otherwise they linger at one of his Manses, wailing paens to the Void and ever so slowly corrupting them toward the Abyssal. They form a military unit, his honor guard, called Oblivion's Anointed Guard. They are led by an ancient Spectre who calls himself Shepherd of Dust.

In addition, there are scores of desperate and suicidal mortal men and women who have come to the Evangelist, seeking nothing more than a meaningful death. Never one to overlook an opportunity, he puts them to good use before granting their requests.

The Evangelist is also frequently surrounded by a small army of the walking dead, which he can organize into an actual military unit at need, but more often he sends against the farms and outlying villages of a community, seeking to bring it to ruin through a seeming plague of the dead. Since it is a staggeringly simple matter for him to obtain replacements, he has absolutely no hesitation to spend them liberally.

Manse

The Bleak Cathedral: Manse 3. Water-aligned. Provides the Freedom Stone. Hewn from the living rock in the mountains to the north of Avathar by a series of impressive waterfalls, and bordering on the Great Pine Barrens of Elakhan, the Evangelist's chief home in Creation is a soaring stone edifice, amazingly fragile-looking, chisled arched gothic architecture, and intricate carvings. A bitterly cold mountain stream flows beneath, erupting from the base of the structure to plunge over nine hundred feet to a mist-shrouded and likely haunted pool.

The Quiescent Rectory: Manse 2. Air-aligned. Provides the Ice Blade Gem. Set into the lee of a group of hills, this stately brick manor is nonetheless windswept and often ices over, and only brambles and lonely pine trees seem able to scratch out subsistence there. The wind moans and howls around the buildings at all times, but in spite of this it seems to be a place of quiet reflection and introspection. There is little else to do.

The Mission: Manse 2. Air-aligned. Provides the Gemstone of Surface Thoughts. Standing out in the open, this place serves as both forward base and safehouse to the Evangelist when his duties carry him deeper into Kolan. Constructed almost as a longhouse, of sturdy oaken beams open to the wind beneath the eaves for ventillation, it is filled with pews for worshippers and is always kept cleanly Spartan.

Cult

Shepherd of Dust leads a congregation of Nephwracks and spectres, and even desperate and foolish mortals who actively pray to the Evangelist, calling upon him as a living Saint of Oblivion who can intercede on their behalf. Their beliefs are foggy and vary significantly even among the congregation, but hold in common that the Evangelist is a kind of embodiment of Death and Entropy, called by some the Unmaker, or the Black Deliverer.

Their most basic conceit is that since existence is often sorrowful and painful, something must be terribly wrong with it, and it should cease. The root impulse of this faith is destruction. Because the central dogma preaches a fundamental disconnect between body and soul, between the wickedness of the physical world and the purity of the spirit, any serious believer is effectively operating at a severely schismatic mental state, and a mortal who has his mind twisted into this sort of thinking is generally certifiable.

However, since the doctrine is so close to the almost gravitational tug on the withered soul of a spectre toward Oblivion, many of them actually appear less deranged in the general, raving sense, instead displaying a terrifyingly cold dispassion and contempt for the world of the fleshbound- not unlike their Black Deliverer himself.

Abyssal Command

In addition to his own guard unit, Oblivion's Anointed Guard, the Evangelist is officially the second in command of the Apostate Armies of Elakhan, behind the ancient nemmisary general Fist of War. However, the truth of the situation is that Fist of War dares to do little without at least the tacit cooperation of the Evangelist, and would not dare defy him if issued a direct order.

With the Weaver spending less and less time in the Chrysalis of Steel Becoming, the Evangelist is also directly responsible for the defense forces stationed there. These forces include several First Age equivalent machines of war, thousands upon thousands of war ghosts, and innumerable cleverly hidden First Age equivalent weapons like Superheavy Entropic Implosion Bows.

Finally, though he has the ability to command such units, once battle is joined, he tends to give over the tactical command to a second and take the field himself as an independant sorcerer, shielded by his troops but not beholden to their success or failure, so that he can better rain unspeakable Necromancies upon those foolish enough to take the field against him.

Allies

Technically his circlemates should be recounted here, but among them, only Justicar of the Bloodied Thorn feels any genuine loyalty. He has some influence over Scarlet Saint of the Forgotten, who was his daughter Zara before her Black Exaltation, but not enough to have prevented her from running afoul of a crippling Eclipse Oath. The Hammer of World-BReaking Thunders openly regards him as a timid fool, but the Evangelist tends to use that to manipul;ate him into doing what he wants anyhow. The only one who causes him even minor concern is Laughter's Unexpected Shadow, who despite a high intellect, deep cunning, and being less crazed than she seems, is nonetheless fundamentally somewhat unhinged and therefore dangerously unpredictable.

Among the dead, Lord Stalwart is his chief contact on the ruling council of Stygia, as he is for several other Abyssals. Furthermore, he has several well-placed contacts in the bureacuracy of the dead who heed his counsels and offer favors in return when he uses his superior abilities to drag them out of a scrape. It has taken some time, but these working relationships have bloomed into actual loyalties among the dead, which will prove useful when he makes his next power grab in the Underworld.

More interestingly, the Emmisary of Righteous Victory has appeared before him several times to offer cryptic words of advice. It is said that he first emerged from the Stark Monolith on the day when the Evangelist was made the first Abyssal Exalt, and proclaimed his satisfaction. Some whisper that their destinies are linked in the stars of the Underworld, but since the Evangelist realizes that those stars are fundamentally reflections of the Neverborn's twisted desires and no kind of actual fate, he scoffs at such notions. However, he treats the ancient Nephwrack wtih the greatest of respect, as he has served Oblivion since before there was even a Stygia or a genuine Underworld.

Description

The Evangelist appears as a tall, gaunt old man with a mocking aura of grandfatherly compassion that nonetheless hides the worst depths of his abominable malevolence. His black eyes glitter with bleak wisdom and schadenfreude behind his small, rounded spectacles, and his dry skin is cool, almost reptilian to the touch. Both his teeth and nails appear somewhat yellowed, either from age or from corruption, and he often wears supple black leathery gloves composed of wraithly plasm.

He dresses in all black and charcoal save his white collar, and wears a black wide-brimmed fedora-style hat. His sturdy frock-style coat conceals soulsteel plates and shields his frail-looking body from attack. He never appears visibly armed (Even his bracers are concealed by and connected to his coat), save for a small yet wickedly sharp knife he uses as a tool, instead carrying only a black leatherbound tome.

Despite all of this, anyone who beholds him realizes immediately that this is simply an illusion- he appears this way as a courtesy, so his true ghastly appearance does not unintentionally unhinge the mind of unwitting bystanders. For this reason, his Appearance is rated at zero. People who look upon him perceive that he has no real body to speak of any longer, instead somehow existing as an incorporeal spirit of malice. No flesh supports the clothing that seems to gird him, and his eyes burn with inhuman hate for all things. He has stuffed pieces of his vestments with straw to support the illusion that they are full rather than hollow, and from time to time, for example when he is struck, the straw comes loose and blows away on a chill breeze.

While his garments appear whole and well-made, when standing in bright light, the second image of the Evangelist seems to materialize, overlapping the illusion, and people can see that his raiment is indeed every bit as resplendent in its tattered ruin as the tombs of the Neverborn themselves.

Personality

The Evangelist is fundamentally defined by his cold brilliance, his utter contempt for all other things, and his infamous, extreme, impersonal cruelty. Despite these things, he does have a compassionate streak for what remains of his family, and even in the abstract for the poor swarming mortals who wail and shriek as he exterminates them because they fail to understand that it is best, in the long run.

He likes to plan things out long in advance, and develops numerous contingencies for any major undertaking based upon what he finds likely (or even unlikely) to happen. However, he realizes that despite his precautions, it is likely he will be caught off guard at some point, which is why he has also developed his wit to the razor it has become. While utterly brilliant and supremely confident in his own abilities, the Evangelist has yet to sink into real arrogance (perhaps thanks to his close observation of the continuing folly of the Neverborn) and as such remains a vastly more dangerous opponant than your standard megalomaniac- he is willing to accept when he makes mistakes, and learns from them.

He feels intense contepmt for others not because his abilities are so far beyond theirs (though they often are) but because they fail to see the frigid machine-like logic that governs his philosophy. How any man of wit can fail to grasp the inevitability of dissolution escapes him, and he responds with disgust. However, he is also fundamentally a deeply wounded and rejected man, and as such, harbors a deep and secret hatred for everything that lives and loves life. It is a hate as intense as the black radiance of his Caste Mark, and the source of what little joy he derives from continued existence. The pain and suffering of others has been known to cause him to smile, even to laugh his hideous rasping chuckle.

There are also times when it is important to establish that he is in fact a man who is willing to do literally anything that hurts or degrades other people, and here is where his cruelty grows impersonal, almost casual. If a ciy must be put to the torch to further his plans, then he does it with little hesitation and little enjoyment. It is only a means to his ends. The bulk of those mortals who have gone into the furnaces and forges of Za'Ha'Dum to equip his new empire have done so upon his orders, but without any sense of satisfaction save that his quotas are being met. The exception is the almost total genocide of the Reavers of Elakhan, which serves not only to bring together the disparate civilized kingdoms there in the cause of bigotry and hate, but also assuages a deep and personal grudge and even fear he has of the barbarians.

Objectives

The Evangelist is driven to prove that his beliefs are the only rational response to a demented world that doles out suffering and serendipity blindly and in bulk. Life is pain, life is suffering, life is madness- in death one can find release, quiescence, and an eternity of singular nothingness.

He does have a personal dream, kept secret in his thoughts and in his book, to be the last thing to fall into Oblivion. He knows that it is inevitable that all things shall come to it in time, himself included, but he wants one perfect moment, standing on the precipice of ultimate Void, to percieve the most perfect Nothing that anyone has ever perceived, before casting himself into that singularity and rendering the emptiness perfect.

To acheive this, he has numerous short-term goals, varying wildly in their ambition and scope, but uniform in their cuning and patience. First, he must hold Elakhan as his forward base in Creation itself, keeping its death camps open and its bleak engines well-fed. Second, he must sieze control of Kolan and break the power of the Solar Exalted therein, lest they prove to be a perpetual thorn in his side. Third, he must expand his empire northward, encompassing the technological and sturdy Haslanti as well as the security of such a removed and defensible base of operations. Fourth, he must learn to create his own mystically bound and slavishly loyal Abyssals, as well as corrupt hapless young Solars into his service- to this end, he is researching Celestial Circle Sorcery even now. Fifth, he must quietly assume control of every detail of the Crimson Weaver's empire and make it his own, disposing of her and the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears permanently lest they bide their time and tear him down from within. With these things accomplished, the first stage of his dream will have been realized, and he will reign as a Deathlord, save one who yet lives and contains within the spark of Exaltation, and is therefore fundamentally stronger.

Tastes and Preferences

Apart from the color black, the Evangelists tastes are a quiet matter known to very few. He enjoys stark architecture and art, quiet, solitude, and the sound of the wind moaning past his sealed-tight home. Stormy weather without rain or snow pleases him and soothes something deep within his soul, as does the sight of frail, obedient shadowlands mortals who already know their place. He is irritated by the passions of the dead, and bored by the machinations of the Deathlords, and scornful of the foolish petulence of the Neverborn, but the thought of Oblivion iself fills him with religious awe. He dresses much as one from Felmorne would, having never truly abandoned that aspect of his life, and speaks in a clipped faintly accented rasp that crackles with impatience or maleficient humor. He is a fastidious and exacting man, and his penmanship reflects this. His narrow, spidery hand is unmistakable. The sight of green fields and thriving cities rendered unto dust satisfies him that Oblivion is advancing and quells the faint stirrings of his heroic nature, so it comforts him and he seeks to see it more often. He has little interest in women (he is ostensibly hererosexual) and less time for them, but when forced to wed in the past due to social expectations, he sought quiet, pliable women who knew to stay out from underfoot. He loathes Reavers intensely and actively seeks their genocide.

History

The Evangelist was born some seventy-odd years ago in Felmorne to Founder Lakaren, and given the name Uziah. He inherited his father's seat on the council at the unprecedented young age of twenty, partly due to his precocious wisdom and partly due to Lakaren's untimely demise at the hands of the walking dead. He married a pretty young woman whom he came to care for despite his generally dispassionate nature, and they had two daughters whom he also grew to love.

When he was thirty, Uziah went on an expedition to Talon Valley to foster better trade relations between the two kingdoms. His family, protesting that they could not bear to be without their stern but loving patriarch, accompanied him. At a wooded crossroads, their party was beset by a band of Reavers who made short work of the Felmorne farmer-soldiers. His wife and daughters were raped and murdered before his eyes, and though he begged to be killed that he could join them in the Underworld, the Reavers merely laughed and sold him into slavery in Ethanac.

His brilliance caused him to rise to the attention of the Sorcerer-King of Ethanac, the Dragon Blood Akresius. Over time, he rose to prominence as a slave advisor and tutor to the young princes. Commanded by Akresius to remarry (Akresius had learned the source of Uziah's melancholy and insensitively but well-meaningly hoped he would get over it faster if he had a wife), he wed a petty freedwoman named Flowering Hope. They had a son, Jonas, and a daughter, Zara.

The children were free to pursue their own paths despite their fathers status as a slave, and so Jonas rose high in Ethanac's military while Zara became a uniquely skillful and wise savant. Flowering Hope perished after some ten years of marriage, leaving her husband to raise the children more or less alone. Unknown to any of them, she lingered on as a ghost and watched over them.

Ethanac fell to a strangely coherent and nighmarishly large force of the walking dead (secretly led by the nemissary general Fist of War), who rent the capital asunder, tearing sown so that almost no stone remained atop another. Akresius and his family perished, as did Jonas and the rest of the military, but Uziah was taken captive along with several of the other savants- in this way, he was able to ensure the survival of his daughter, the last of his family, as well.

He spent the next two years in the personal captivity of the Crimson Weaver of Subtle Venoms, during which time his bitterness and disappointment in his life blossomed into a Nihil religion of entropy and inevitability. At last, when the Weaver received her seven Abyssal motes, she took Uziah to the Mouth of the Void, and he became the Sackcloth Evangelist of the Ebon Spiral.

Several months later, the Evangelist oversaw the creation of her second deathknight, his daughter, who became the Porcelain Servant of Dreams Deferred. Her subsequent failures resulted in being called before her Neverborn master, and re-titled Scarlet Saint of the Forgotten. Despite his hopes, his daughter has proven to be a weak-willed Abyssal, not truly committed to his cause. Her lack of filial piety irks him, but he does care for her in his own way.

He has since been the chief architect of the plans to expand the Weaver's holdings in Creation- first in Elakhan, and then in Kolan. He has masterminded most of the abominable things ascribed to the Weaver herself, as she has been largely busy with her own ineffable machinations. Without the Evangelist, indeed, the Weaver would have no hold in Creation whatsoever, as it holds little interest for her. He recognizes it as the font of all things that come to the Underworld, the only place where the laws of entropy can be broken, and for that, it must be forever cast into the darkness.