Bloirt Waelarn was a human male priest of Ilmater and leader of the House of the Broken God temple in Keltar, Calimshan, in the late 13th and 14th centuries DR. He was infamous for launching a holy war against the rival House of Holy Suffering in Mussum, and for his descent into murderous madness in an effort to possess the holy relic the Tome of Torment.[1]
History[]
By 1265 DR, Archsuffer Bloirt Waelarn was the Father of the House, or high priest, of the House of the Broken God in Keltar, Calimshan, already the greatest temple of Ilmater in the Realms.
At that time, the Tome of Torment—the holiest book of the Ilmatari faith—had come into the possession of another temple, the House of Holy Suffering in Mussum. There, the senior Sage-Priest of the church, known as the Spontaer, prayed to Ilmater and received visions of powerful magical protections that would render the Tome usable only by priests of Ilmater. The Spontaer explicitly requested that the Tome of Torment be delivered to the House of the Broken God, before he worked the magic on the Tome and sacrificed his own life, circa 1265 DR. However, against the Spontaer's wishes, Shrymaun Beldaerth, leader of the Mussum temple, refused to relinquish the Tome to the House of the Broken God.
In response, Waelarn called for all Ilmatari to cast "all the heretics of the degenerate House in Mussum" out of the faith and to treat them as mentally ill. A few ambitious minor priests joined Waelarn and together they journeyed to the Mussum house, intending to "cleanse the filth". But Waelarn and his followers were attacked by the Mussum priests and the Companions of the Noble Heart paladin order, who labeled them "false clerics" and "subverted by evil".
An angry Waelarn summoned three other knightly orders—the Holy Warriors of Suffering, the Knights of the Bleeding Shield, and the Order of the Golden Cup—to his side and vowed holy war against the "unclean ones of Mussum and all who stand with them". The war saw the violent clashes of Holy Hill Farm in 1266 DR and Bronsheir's Charge and Weeping Rock in 1267 DR. Finally, Lord Sir Jargus Holenhond of the Golden Cup called an end to the bloodshed between true believers, insisted that the Tome of Torment be transferred to Keltar as planned, and blamed Bloirt Waelarn for the senseless violence. Holenhond determined that Waelarn should be removed from office and sent into hermitage for the remainder of his years, to devote himself alone to Ilmater. The weary paladins accepted and carried out his judgment. Waelarn was replaced as leader of the House of the Broken God by Althea the Abased.
Now titled only Brother Priest, Waelarn was sent to the small, windswept isle of Falconsrise in the Trackless Sea. But as the ship took him to Falconsrise, Waelarn used his magic to murder most of the crew. An Ilmatari priest escaped the slaughter and locked himself in a cabin, using the brief opportunity to magically contact an archmage he knew, before Waelarn broke in and murdered him too. The archmage soon arrived, grabbed Waelarn off the ship, and delivered him to Falconsrise. Furthermore, to prevent the rogue priest from signaling passing ships and passing himself off as a shipwrecked sailor, the archmage transformed Waelarn into a frightful monster, with animal appendages that made it hard to work magic. In under a year, Waelarn went insane. [note 1]
Finally, however, circa 1341 DR, a pirate ship driven by a storm out of the Nelanther Isles ran aground on Falconsrise. Waelarn used the ship to escape the island and return to the mainland, travelling back to Keltar and the House of the Broken God. There he murdered the Guardian of the Tome, Daern, stole the holy book, and escaped.
Bearing the Tome of Torment, Waelarn journeyed further inland, apparently making his way toward Mussum. He attempted to command and coerce the Ilmatari who met him, but failed. At Thorlor's Well near Sespech, Waelarn was finally confronted by Sir Guth of the Golden Cup, who challenged him to single combat before their god. Waelarn accepted, and promptly used a cairn spell from the Tome to bury Guth. Calmly and cruelly, Waelarn then dug Guth out with a pick, and used an axe to chop off any limb that was revealed. Guth was soon killed and Waelarn left with the Tome, resuming his journey east.
But that was not the end. Ilmater, the One Who Endures, caused Sir Guth to rise from his grave, but not from the dead. Guth was reassembled as a zombie. Untiring and unrelenting and resisting all spells hurled at him, Guth tracked the rogue priest across Sespech. Waelarn finally collapsed of exhaustion outside Elbulder and the zombie Guth strangled him as he slept. The deed done, Guth hid the Tome of Torment then constructed a funeral pyre to burn Waelarn's corpse to ash. Guth then threw himself on the pyre, still obeying the will of Ilmater the Broken God.[1]
Description[]
Following his forced transformation at the hands of the archmage, Waelarn's body was a misshapen assemblage of animal parts, similar to a mongrelman. This included a lobster-like claw for one hand a raccoon-like paw for the other. He was described as "half-man, half-monster", and spent much of his time in this state. He could use spells to transform back to his original form, but this slowly failed and shifted back to his bestial form.
Waelarn was quite elderly by 1341 DR.[1]
Personality[]
Bloirt Waelarn was known for his great pride and supercilious manner. Later in life, he grew quite insane and cruelly murderous, occasionally going into fits described as "barking, capering madness".[1]
Abilities[]
Despite Waelarn's crimes, the god Ilmater still granted the rogue priest spells. Waelarn also briefly bore the Tome of Torment, and had access to all the spells contained therein.[1]
Relationships[]
Before his fall from power, Bloirt Waelarn was the head priest, or Father of the House, of the House of Holy Suffering, the greatest temple of Ilmater in the Realms. In this high position within the church of Ilmater, he was able to call upon several knightly orders, including the Holy Warriors of Suffering, the Knights of the Bleeding Shield, and the Order of the Golden Cup.[1]
Possessions[]
Waelarn was most notably a bearer and wearer of the Tome of Torment, the most sacred hair-shirt and book of the church of Ilmater, and able to cast the divine spells contained within it.[1]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ This archmage is unnamed, but is described as "a certain bearded archmage" and "mysterious", suggesting a famous mage of the Realms, such as Elminster Aumar or Khelben Arunsun.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Ed Greenwood and Doug Stewart (1997). Prayers from the Faithful. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 101–103. ISBN 0-7869-0682-0.