Iakhovas

Iakhovas was an ancient megalodon. Not much was truly known of his long history but it is known that he was responsible for devastating attacks on coastal cities and was also the instigator of the Twelfth Serôs War.

Description
In his human guise, Iakhovas appeared as a handsome lean muscled man, heavily tattooed and with long hair. Other Sahuagin saw him as one of their own. But he was actually a great evil looking wereshark, with four feet long fins. Whether he looked human or not, he always lacked an eye.

Biography
Several of the legends and myths of the undersea peoples mention Iakhovas but those of the Locathah are by far the most detailed.

The Legend
Locathah legend states that Iakhovas emerged from the sea in human form at the beginning of the Days of Thunder, looking for another like himself. He dared to question the gods of Toril on their design and the gods, curious about the solitary mortal, deigned to answer him. Soon though, he returned to the sea, not finding anything like him as he was a unique creature. It is then that he is said to have travelled with Sekolah, until Sekolah freed the first sahuagin from their imprisonment in a giant clam shell. In lost sahuagin legend, he is thusly known as the "One Who Swims With Sekolah".

All legends agree that during this time in Iakhovas’ life, he searched for love and acceptance in order to end the constant loneliness he felt. He eventually drew the eye of Umberlee who was fascinated by this creature who was not a god like her and thus immortal, but had a lust for adventure despite his mortality. Umberlee was softer at the time and her fascination turned to love. Iakhovas loved her in return, finally having found the thing he searched for. She gave him many gifts, mostly precious metals and stones, but also godlike abilities, granting him power and immortality. Life then began to develop on land and Iakhovas wished those creatures to love him as Umberlee did.

He set foot on land again, in what would eventually become known as Chult. He used his new powers to conquer that land and erect a massive palace. While Umberlee was away on other planes, Iakhovas would return to the palace and inspire war between neighboring kingdoms before stealing their mage’s magic items. He grew greedy and became the epitome of gluttony, earning the title of “Taker” as taking what belonged to others seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do. His harem numbered in the hundreds but Umberlee didn’t care as long as he truly loved her and her alone. Not satisfied with that, Iakhovas pretended to fall in love with one of his harem in order to make Umberlee jealous and give him more attention. In Umberlee’s youthful naïveté she believed his feelings for the woman to be real and she slew her. Iakhovas was overjoyed at seeing his lover's reaction to his actions, thinking that he now controlled her. He didn’t understand how hurt Umberlee was and paid for that mistake with his left eye, which Umberlee tore from his skull before leaving him in his palace, not willing to kill him but too hurt to stay. Iakhovas brooded for thousands of years before scouring the world for magic items that he could use to take revenge on a god.

When it came time to attack Umberlee, Iakhovas discovered that he had drastically overestimated his ability and equipment. She shattered his bones, spilled his blood and, believing him dead, scattered his magic items across the seas of Faerûn. Umberlee didn’t however, count on the War of Three Leaves, which had just ended, causing elves to emigrate into the Inner Sea where they could find some of Iakhovas’ more powerful weapons. She almost succeeded in driving the elves from their new underwater home but came just short and as she feared, the elves found part of Iakhovas’ most powerful item, a magical eye that he’d replaced his missing one with. The part was stored in Myth Nantar just as that city’s mythal was erected but was lost somewhere in the city during the Tenth Serôs War when Sahuagin killed Myth Nantar’s last defenders.

According to merman Narros, Iakhovas return from his dormant state had been foreseen as the coming of a great evil. He told Pacys that he was older than the Sahuagin, and that Umberlee had taken a liking to him, for which she took him under her wing as a consort, granting him immortality and the powers of sorcery. When he fell out of favor, Umberlee went to great extents to get rid of him, but he was only left dormant until his later awakening, when he would regain his former strength. After he had become mighty enough, it was said that he would attack one of the greatest cities of the land-dwellers, which turned out to be Waterdeep. Narros further explained that Iakhovas' reasoning for attacking Waterdeep was both to retrieve an ancient magical talisman and also to bind the Sahuagin to his cause as well as to lay his claim to the sea.

Recent History
Six hundred and fifty years later, a malenti priestess named Laaqueel, following ancient clues about the "One Who Swims With Sekolah", discovered a series of magma tunnels under the seabed northeast of Chult. Inside she found an emaciated, one-eyed, heavily-tattooed human who, thinking her a thief but confident that he was most likely the most powerful being she had ever met, spared her life so that she could help restore him to his ancient glory. Holding her life in his hands, he forced her to spend two years explaining sahuagin politics and everything she knew about the world before transmuting himself into a sahuagin hatchling and having Laaqueel place him in her villages hatchery. He 'grew' to adulthood and killed the prince of another sahuagin settlement in a duel. Laaqueel's baron Huaanton replaced the prince and Iakhovas was named baron of Laaqueel's village. Huaanton then (with Iakhovas' help) killed the king of the Claarteeros Sea, taking his place, and put Iakhovas in his place as prince.

Over the next few years, Iakhovas and Laaqueel, his 'little malenti' (despite her new position in sahuagin society as a high priestess), worked to recover many of his scattered magic items. Once Iakhovas had taken enough wealth, he began to foster alliances, including buying the services of the pirate king of the Sea of Fallen Stars, Vurgrom the Mighty and the morkoth who were enemies of the sea devils. Iakhovas' magic items made him even more powerful though he still refused to share any of his plans with his favored servant.

With his allies and influence over King Huaanton, a massed army of undersea monsters and pirates enacted a plan that had taken three years to prepare for, attacking the coastal city of Waterdeep on Ches 30 in 1369 DR.

At the climax of the war, Iakhovas was killed at the hands of Jherek Wolf's-get, a young paladin of Lathander.

Appearances

 * Rising Tide
 * Under Fallen Stars
 * The Sea Devil's Eye
 * Sea of Fallen Stars