Syrzan

Syrzan was a powerful alhoon living in the Underdark, who plotted to take control of the drow city of Menzoberranzan. He enlisted the aid of a number of outcast drow males from the city who desired to see the matriarchal order overthrown, leaving the way open for them to assume power. Syrzan also stirred up the lower orders of slaves - mostly orcs and goblins - by appearing before them as 'The Prophet', using his potent magic to create the illusion of appearing to each creature as a member of their own race.

History
Syrzan was originally an illithid mage from the underdark illithid city of Oryndoll. He desired greater power, however, and began the process of becoming an alhoon - an illithid lich. The other inhabitants of Oryndoll, however, sensed Syrzan's metamorphosis into an undead, and due to their fear and intolerance of alhoon sorcery, banished him. For decades they hunted him, forcing him to live alone in the wilds of the Underdark, where he grew to yearn for civilization. Eventually the illithids of Oryndoll forgot about Syrzan, and gave up hunting him. For the next ninety years, Syrzan traveled alone throughout the Underdark, searching for one of the rumored secret enclaves if alhoons. Eventually he found one, where he was able to live in peace for a time, conducting magical research and advancing his arcane knowledge. After a time, however, he came to quarrel with the eldest alhoons, who considered themselves rulers of the enclave, because of his research; Syzran was conducting arcane investigations that the elder alhoons had forbidden. As a result, Syrzan was once again banished into the Underdark alone, where he wandered for many more years, desiring to conquer a city of his own where he could rule supreme. He observed the cities of the Underdark from a distance, plotting and scheming, and eventually settled his sights on the greatest Underdark city of all - Menzoberranzan, drow city of the spiderqueen.