method from madness

[lord_modred]

Before there was the prime material plane, before the demons were created, before the elementals were birthed, before the gods themselves were brought into the world, there was the Far Realm. A place of sheer chaos, a place where madness was law, to even look into a small part of the realm would cause insanity to the beholder and to fully behold the nature of the plan would equivocate death for any mortal. The Far Realm is the space that binds all dimensions and tangent realities to each other, it contains innumerable multi-verses within it’s expanse. This place was the spawning point for all things that exist, be it the gods, demons, or even the planes themselves. An infinite number of entities spawned forth from the shifting and swirling chaos, horrific abominations that could only be imagined in a mad mans nightmares, entities of pure consciousness that drift from one place to another unseen and unknown, massive beings spanning the size of continents drifting through space unaware of the insignificant civilizations dwelling on their hides, beings of unimaginable intelligence and power. The gods themselves were among these creatures. However, these beings did not always stay to their realm, sometimes they strayed to other places, other dimensions and realities.

Among these creatures that strayed from there homes was a rather insignificant one, it was neither the most powerful nor the most intelligent of creatures spawned from the Far Realm, and it normally went from plane to plane unnoticed. It was a creature of pure consciousness, able to inhabit the bodies of corporeal creatures, assimilate their minds, and take control of their faculties. The entity first traveled to a plane known simply by it’s inhabitants as “The Realm”, here it found it’s first host, an elderly priest named, Vaccilian Modred. The entity took control of it’s new host, absorbed the memories and mind of Vaccilian, but something odd happened, a portion of Vaccilian’s personality was also absorbed into the entity. Before this time, the entity was essentially a mindless being, devoid of any personal identity, seeking only to feed itself on the minds of others. But after the assimilation of this first host, the entity became aware of it’s self, it gained ambition, purpose, desire, it became the entity known now as Modred.

The man that the entity had possessed was the high priest of a city named, Nywatre, and in addition he was the soul councilor of the king of this city. Modred quickly gained a taste for power, and he began to abuse it even more quickly. After a very short time people began to notice the change in the high priest’s behavior, and rumors of civil war began to spread through the kingdom. In few months time these rumors came to fruition, a massive war began between those loyal to the king and those under the influence of the self proclaimed dictator, Lord Modred. During the course of this war, thousands were killed in battle after battle, but neither side seemed likely to falter. So Modred began to search for other means to win this war. He gathered to him all of the sages and wizards at his command, he sought to bring forth beings from his home, the Far Realm, and employ their might against his enemies.

After 2 years, Modred had become obsessed with unlocking the powers of the Far Realm, so much so that almost all resources had been diverted to doing so. Modred’s army was all but crushed, his keeps and fortresses were all leveled, he and his sages were forced to live within a network of caves in the mountains. It looked as if the end of the war was near, but Modred persisted in pursuing his research, he was convinced that upon breaching the barriers between the Far Realm and the material plane, he would have all the power he would ever need at his disposal.

On the end of the second year, Modred finally achieved his goal. He and his sages had successfully built a massive stone gate, capable of ripping a hole between the Far Realm and the material plane. They activated the gate, and with a deafening screech and a blast of blinding white light the stone gate shattered and an enormous singularity ripped open in the air. Immediately, waves of seething chaos began to roll forth from the gate warping all in it’s wake. The bodies of the sages closest to the gate were simply rent asunder as if they were made of wicker, others were hideously mutated into writhing abominations covered in tendrils and gnashing maws as their flesh sloughed from their bodies, others still were stricken hopelessly insane curled on the floor gibbering to themselves. From the gate began to pour hideous beasts from the stuff of nightmares. The creatures rampaged forth in an orgy of chaos and carnage, devouring all in their wake, and horribly twisting and mutating those who were left alive.

Modred immediately fled from the caves, and upon reaching the surface he beheld a sight that filled him with horror and despair. Vast multitudes of the horrific beast he had unleashed had already reached the surface, for portals to the Far Realm were beginning to tear open at random across the land. Pouring forth from them were beasts bearing grotesque wings soaring over the forests corrupting everything in their shadows, massive draconic creatures towered seemingly miles over the cities that their ethereal forms waded through, entities of pure energy surged through the warring armies rending the bodies of the soldiers, disgusting worms of unknowable size bored in and out of the ground digging great channels through the earth. And as Modred beheld all the agony, madness, and destruction that he had unleashed onto this plane, suddenly all the fear and despair washed from him and was displaced by a feeling of grim satisfaction and delight. He had brought forth death to all who opposed him, and suffering to those who failed him.

As the world began to crumble around him, Modred shed his body and passed out of The Realm. He traveled back to his home of the Far Realm and over ages he traveled from universe to universe, inhabiting host after host. He gained experience in the fields of magic, military, and subterfuge. He learned to assimilate hosts that were low members of society, people who were unknown to all, people who could go unnoticed as he conducted his various plots and exploits. Every plane he travels to, he gains more experience, perfecting his tactics, refining his methods. He gains power through deception and manipulation, turning warriors against their kings, acolytes against their priests, even nations against their gods.

There are very few individuals who know of Modred’s true nature, let alone his existence, as there are very few who can traverse the Far Realm. But the few who do know of Modred’s nature are still not aware of his purpose. No one knows why Modred travels from plane to plane, or what his motives are, his goals are mysterious and unknowable to any but himself. One thing is for certain though, something within the plane of Aetheria has attracted his attention, and he will not leave until he has accomplished his purpose.