The Ancestor was the appellation of a very old drow male who led the Ancient Ones, a group of Maztican drow, in the 14th century DR.
Description[]
He normally kept his face hidden under a dark hood and wore dark cloth. He had a narrow head with thin white hair that revealed his black scalp. His limbs seemed like they were only bone and his figure was skeletal. [1]
He was proficient in Hishna magic and wielded a staff that had a tip that resembled the outspread claws of a dragon. This wand produced tiny rays of light that merged into a bolt that struck its target with great force [2]
History[]
Establishment of the Ancient Ones[]
In the 10th century DR, the Rockfire cataclysm took place that destroyed much of the underdark beneath the Trackless Sea and Maztica. The Ancestor's tribe were able to escape the destruction and came to the surface in Maztica.[3]
The Ancestor blamed Lolth for abandoning them in the Rockfire. His tribe abandoned their worship of Lolth and embraced Zaltec, the Maztican god of war, who they turned to for their survival in this new world. They came to settle in the Highcave in Mount Zatal neighbouring Nexal and promoted the cult of Zaltec among the native humans, presenting themselves as supernatural beings sent by Zaltec, while keeping their true natures a secret from them. They thus became the Ancient Ones, with the Ancestor serving as their leader.[4]
Within Mount Zatal, the Ancestor kept the Darkfyre, a powerful magical focus into which the hearts of victims sacrificed to Zaltec were fed in order to increase its power. The Ancestor harnessed the power of the Darkfyre for advancing the cult of Zaltec, and thus increasing the power of the Ancients Ones who led the cult as well as his own power as their leader. Through the Darkfyre, Zaltec granted powerful abilities to the Ancestor, including the ability to see events decades in the future and to be given knowledge about what actions needed to be taken to achieve the vision of the future where he would triumph.[5]
Preparation for the coming of the Golden Legion[]
Sometime in the 14th century DR, he was given a vision where he saw a possible future that could be achieved wherein the cult of Zaltec would reign supreme over Maztica. In order to achieve this, he saw that a group of mercenaries from Faerûn needed to come to Nexal and take Naltecona, the ruler of Nexal as their captive. When Naltecona was killed in their custody, all of Nexal would rise united in great anger against the foreigners under the leadership of the Viperhands, who were zealots of Zaltec under the control of the Ancient Ones. This would then usher in a new age where Nexal and eventually all of Maztica would fall under the complete dominance of the cult of Zaltec. [6]
But the Ancestor also saw in his visions that Zaltec's brother, the god Qotal, had planted a variable that could spell disaster to these plans. This variable was Qotal's chosen priestess Erixitl of Palul, and the only way for their plans to succeed would be if she died before Naltecona was killed. [7]
The Ancestor sent his daughter Darien to Faerûn sometime around ca. 1350 DR. As an albino drow, she was able to present herself as an elf to the unsuspecting people of Faerûn. According to her father's plan, she found Cordell, the leader of a mercenary company after a defeat in a battle. She assisted him and she joined the ranks of his mercenaries to become the mage of the Golden Legion. She remained with them for 10 years, before they embarked to sail westwards from Amn to find a new route to Kara-Tur in 1361 DR, but instead arrived in the previously unknown continent of Maztica.[8]
Also around 1350 DR, the Ancestor had identified Erixitl of Palul, who was only a child at the time, and the Ancient Ones made arrangements to have her killed, lest she thwart the prophesy when she later became an adult. However, through the intervention of a Couatl servant of Qotal, she was captured by Kultakan slavers and taken to Kultaka, where she remained there for many years hidden from the Ancient Ones and from the Ancestor. [9]
Closer to the time when the Legion was to arrive in Maztica, the Ancient Ones discovered that Erixitl was alive in Kultaka and tried to kill her again, but again, through Qotal's intervention, she was sold by her master to another master who took her to Ulatos. The Ancient Ones again tried to have her killed in Ulatos. The Ancestor, fearing that the humans would fail, sent Spirali, one of the Ancient Ones to go himself and find Erixitl to kill her. Spirali, however, also failed and was slain in the attempt.[10]
Coming of the Legion[]
The Ancestor was surprised by how quickly the Golden Legion were able to defeat the Payit of Ulatos, but had confidence that things would go differently when they would later fight in Nexal. Although there was a risk that when Spirali was killed, the men of Faerûn might have realized that he was a drow and then exposed their secret to the people of Maztica, the Ancestor didn't care as the events had already progressed to a point where this detail would become insignificant. [11]
Erixitl came to Nexal with Halloran a deserter from the Legion who had protected her by killing Spirali. They were welcomed by Naltecona into his palace, and the Ancestor ordered for them both to be killed. Several assassins were sent, but they also failed. [12]
The Ancestor, increasing impatient and enraged by the failures, as the day when Naltecona should die was becoming increasingly closer, threatened Hoxitl, high priest of Zaltec in Nexal, whom had been tasked with killing her for the previous 10 years since she was first identified, that he would die himself if she continued to lived. [13] He sent the Ancient Ones themselves to search Nexal for her in addition to alerting the priests of Zaltec to locate and destroy her.
Naltecona was killed by Darien according to the plan on the Night of Wailing, but Erixitl still lived. Darien, came to her father to bring him news of the failure. Although his visions had told him that she needed to die before Naltecona's death, the Ancestor reasoned that maybe there was still hope and that if they killed her quickly, then whatever she was going to do to stop them would not occur. Darien informed her father that she believed Erixitl would come to the Highcave by her own free will in order to confront them and he then made plans for her arrival. [14]
Erixitl and her brother Shatil, Halloran and Chitikas, the couatl who had protected Erixitl, arrived at the Highcave to confront the Ancient Ones. The Ancient One used his staff against Erixitl, which was powerful enough to overcome the powerful Pluma protections that she wore. As he was about to kill her, Chitikas plunged into the Ancestor and fought him next to the Darkfyre caldron. During their melee, Chitikas plunged both himself and the Ancestor into the caldron. [15]
The Darkfyre then caused Mount Zatal to explode and Nexal was destroyed. Lolth succeeded in corrupting the Darkfyre to cause the explosion to transform the surviving Ancient Ones into driders. The Ancestor's plans for their domination of Maztica had all come to ruin.
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 20. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 1. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 3. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 2. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Ironhelm. (TSR, Inc), chap. 20. ISBN 0-8803-8903-6.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 3. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 5. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 6. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 19. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.
- ↑ Douglas Niles (1990). Viperhand. (TSR, Inc), chap. 20. ISBN 0-88038-907-9.