Slarkrethel

Slarkrethel was a huge kraken wizard and Chosen of Umberlee, who also founded the Kraken Society.

Description
Like his origins, Slarkrethel's appearance was disputed. The majority of sages described him as a giant squid, indeed, the giant squid was the symbol of the Kraken Society, however, later images of krakens were described as far less squid-like, with fins as well as tentacles, and recognizable faces. On one aspect, all could agree however, Slarkrethel was a leviathan of a creature, gargantuan in size.

Abilities
As well as his immense size and strength, Slarkrethel was also a wizard of prodigious ability, easily the equal of the most powerful mortal archmages. As a Chosen of Umberlee, Slarkrethel was protected from divination magic and psionic powers of detection, as well as a magical effect similar to the spell Elminster's evasion and many more abilities besides.

Possessions
Slarkrethel was in possession of a multitude of magical items, many of them tailor made just for his personal use that duplicated magical effects usually found only in items designed for use on land.

Activities
Slarkrethel's ultimate goal was apotheosis, and he worked tirelessly to achieve divinity. However, he also ruled an enormous undersea kingdom in the northern Trackless Sea.

Wherever he traveled, he was accompanied by a retinue of bodyguards consisting of weresharks; nereids; merrow; Kapoacinth; dire sharks; four charmed orcas; and an eye of the deep. He was also attended to by a variety of charmed servants. Slarkrethel did not value the lives of his attendant creatures, and thought nothing of sending them to their deaths.

Relationships
Apart from his goddess, Slarkrethel only seemed to trust the lieutenants to whom he delegated the leadership of the Kraken Society. As of the, these were The Regent of Ascarle; The Skum Lord; High Captain Rethnor of Luskan; Semmonemily, a doppelganger posing as the head of the Hand of Yartar thieves guild; King Selger of the Purple Rocks; and Dread High Trident Meritid Archneie, an ambitious Umberlant priest.

History
Slarkrethel's origins are disputed. Some say the kraken was born in the. It wasn't until Slarkrethel found the submerged ruins of Ascarle in 244 DR that he began building his undersea empire. There, he was inspired by legends of his ancestors' past, and his studies left him aspiring to godhood and to regain some of his race's former glory. Centuries later, he had extended his tentacles all over the Trackless Sea, and created the web of informants and spies called the Kraken Society.

Others claim that Slarkrethel is ancient beyond reckoning. For tens of thousands of years the kraken has been searching tirelessly for long-lost paths to divine ascendancy, longing to rejoin its creators in the heavens. They say he was old when the giants and dragons waged war forty thousands years before the events of shattering of the giant Ordning. Slarkrethel lured exiles, outcasts, and lost souls to its organization with the promise of a better life. Ancient humans of the Purple Rocks would cast their young into the sea as part of a ritual to appease and worship Slarkrethel. Those offspring would resurface and return as adults with piscine deformities. At the end of their natural life span they would return to their fearsome master.

In the, Slarkrethel battled with Laeral Silverhand at Port Llast and managed to steal the magical throne of Stornanter.

Umberlee forsaw the return of her former lover Iakhovas in the near future, and so adopted Slarkrethel as her Chosen in the.

Late in the, Slarkrethel was credited with the destruction of the The Maiden's Defiance, a galley hired by the Harpers to investigate Ascarle.

Some time after the War of the Silver Marches in the late 15 century DR, the dragon Iymrith contacted agents of the society for aid. Slarkrethel ordered its followers to go along with the dragon's plans, by slaying the storm giant Queen Neri and capturing King Hekaton.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Storm King's Thunder