King of Shadows

The King of Shadows (originally known only as the Guardian) was a dark creature who was both born of the Illefarn empire, as well as the reason for its destruction.

Biography
Not much is known about the King's early days, save that he was a talented human magic user who was trained for twenty years by an unknown elf in the arcane arts. Fiercely patriotic to his homeland, the Second Illefarn empire, the King was one of the hundred who answered the call by the priest Annaeus to sacrifice himself to become a weapon against Illefarn's enemies; the orc tribes to the north, and Netheril to the east. After he was selected out of all the candidates, the King underwent a 100-day long, extremely painful ritual in which Annaeus merged the man with the Weave. When the ritual had passed, the man had lost all traces of his former self; he was now known as "the Guardian," a perfect weapon with only two goals: to protect Illefarn and destroy its enemies.

Fearing this Guardian, even Netheril dared not attack Illefarn, and so the empires co-existed for a time. However, when the wizard Karsus killed Mystryl, the goddess of magic, the tie between the Weave and the Guardian was shattered, along with Netheril's floating cities, as all magic ceased to function for a short time. Even after the goddess had been resurrected, the King was unable to draw upon his old power. Therefore, he turned to the Shadow Weave, a dark magic source, that turned him into a creature of darkness. Some Illefarn citizens came to fear this new incarnation of their Guardian, and sought to kill him before he could turn on his allies, even though he had made no attempt to do so. The six Silken Sisters attacked him in a forest, but were severely beaten; when they returned from the woods he had magically fused the six into one tortured creature. Deciding action had to be taken, Annaeus devised a Ritual of Purification, and assembled a large group of wizards and priests to attack the King of Shadows. Though they were successful in completing the ritual (apparently wounding him), the group was beaten when some of the Guardian's old friends decided to attempt to reason with him instead of slaying him. The King of Shadows was finally defeated when the rest of Illefarn's forces attacked the King in a later battle. Many soldiers and a fierce wyrm died in the battle, but a group of wizards was able to successfully seal the King away in the Plane of Shadows.

Years later, the King of Shadows threatened to return from the Shadow Plane to carry out his ancient purpose of the defense of Illefarn. However, Illefarn had long since been dead, it's once proud cities reduced to foreboding arcane ruins, and the mighty citadel of Rivenguard Keep, where he was chosen to become the Guardian was now overrun by Ogres and Goblins. The King of Shadows, however held to two logics that while twisted, were actually very well thought out when one analyzes his nature and base purpose: firstly, Illefarn's ancient enemies and the threats to it still lingered; secondly, the King of Shadows reasoned that Illefarn's descendants, an extension of the empire, and thus its very legacy were to be protected as well. In order to carry out these aims, the King of Shadows began to tear a portal from the Shadow Plane to the Astral Plane, where the native Githyanki attacked him. Though the Guardian was powerful beyond all mortal comprehension, the extra-planar silver blades of the Githyanki inflicted considerable harm to his form, however, the King of Shadows could never be harmed enough to die, his outer skin of the Guardian lingering, protecting the essence that had to be struck to undo him. After the Githyanki drove him from the Astral Plane, the King of Shadow was still able to somehow return to Faerun, and the Sword Coast, where he began to extend his influence from the Mere of Dead Men.

In his many travels across the planes and lands of the Forgotten Realms, the powerful Warlock Ammon Jerro, a wizard whose power rivaled or exceeded that of individuals such as Elminster or Blackstaff, learned of him. Quickly becoming aware of the threat the King of Shadows presented to the lands of Faerun, he committed himself to using his considerable arcane might and connections to darkness to vanquish the King of Shadows, and save the realms. Ammon traveled across the planes and lands where the Fallen Guardian did battle, through his infernal contacts and the ancient crystal wyrm, Nolalothcaragascint, the Warlock learned that Githyanki silver swords were the only weapons capable of coming close to killing the King, and that the most powerful Silver Sword, a god-worthy silver blade once held by the Githyanki hero Gith was the only weapon that could utterly destroy the Guardian of Illefarn.

He went to search for the Blade in the place where Gith was reported to have gone missing, the Nine Hells. There, Ammon was able to retrieve the blade from the Still Lord Levistus and his servant Mephasm. He then fought the King in an titanic battle in the tiny village of West Harbor, where he banished the King. The Blade was shattered in the fight, however, and one shard was embedded in the chest of the infant who would grow to bring about the King's final destruction.

Appearances

 * Neverwinter Nights 2