Characters > Antagonists > Lord of Skulls
The Lord of Skulls
The Lord of Skulls is a Legendary undead spellcaster who became the first lich, binding his soul to an unknown device and gaining unimaginable power, raising him to near god-like status. He is infamous for his role in the War of Skulls, a hundred-year conflict that devastated the plane of Kerios.
Considered to be the most powerful undead that has ever lived, and having wiped out whole cities with single spells, he even managed to wipe out a kingdom with his mythic spell: Wind of Mourning Cries. It caused a devastating plague and began his foul campaign to overtake the planet, and presumably the rest of the cosmos in time. The effects of this war still remain, as Austrum is largely desert due to its mass exodus and purge, the Deadvalt remains cursed and buried in ash, and undead still roam Kerios freely. In Northwaste especially, the Open Grave lies waiting, a massive pit of bones and corpses collected since the beginning of the Lord’s foul campaign, and only ever growing. Should he return, it serves as a near-instantaneous army, something anyone would know to fear.
The Lord of Skulls was only defeated by the efforts of Dragon Lord Aerious, the Dean of Scathe at the time, alongside the remaining High Sages. The effort failed to destroy the Lord, only able to bind him, and cost Dragon Lord Aerious her right arm. This binding can be undone, however, and nobody can be sure if the spell is as perfect as the confident Dragonlord would like to believe. Indeed, it was the fear of the Lord returning to Kerios that drove the Inksages to unspeakable acts, resulting in the creation of the Rift.
The mysterious and enigmatic undead overlord invented countless abominations of flesh and eldritch magic, the likes of which had never been witnessed before and rocked the balance of Kerios to an unprecedented degree, as only a Major God has been recorded leaving a greater impact on a world. Some even consider him to be a God of Undead, though it is unclear if he truly gained any celestial power, or if he is simply that monstrous.
The Lord has few allies, even among other powerful undead, however he and the legendary Hag Queen Baba Yaga view one another with mutual respect as both are mages of terrible power. Some theorize that this is due to the Lord’s connection to mysterious regions of Kerios that held ancient secrets and evidence of pre-Spirit War civilization, which itself suggests that the Lord may have originated in a time before Baba Yaga, and indeed the Lord speaks with an unusual accent and speaks languages no mortal has even heard of, supporting this theory. Kerios is indeed littered with strange ruins, many covered in unknown runes— identical to those carved into the Lord’s bones.
Though, after the Rift, the Lord’s exact location is unknown. One thing is certain; if he is ever unbound, it could spell doom for thousands and thousands of innocent lives as his army of undead and mechanical slaves march across the mortal realms without mercy.