What do we know about Laroth?

[Algeroth]

Why do the Sidar hate the undead?

Probably because they are wrecked creatures, a laugh in the face of god they revere Created by twisted magic that he hasn't endorse.

 

[Kael]

This clifhanger is killing me. Is there a hidden scenario? Is another scenario coming out starring "laroth"?
Gajhhh!

Laroth was a student of Kylorin, and the head of the School of Spirit Magic in the glory days of Patria. He was among the strongest mages ever to live, and a natural prodigy whose ability likely exceeded that of most archmages before he even began his tutelage under Emperor Kylorin himself.

Laroth was never a handsome man, but he was extremely charismatic. He never cared for hard work, so he resorted to fraud to make a living. He was a charlatan, who first came to prominence as the High Priest of the great god Temeluchus. If you've never heard of this deity, that is because Laroth just made him up. He is not a real god, but when Laroth preached of him great masses would throng around his altar to do penitence both by giving all their material possessions to his priest and by punishing themselves physically. Laroth taught that Temulechus did not think it was enough to give to the poor or the infirm, one had to inflict such injury upon oneself so that one could understand their suffering. Thousands disfigured themselves for the god, and many committed suicide. Although Laroth never spoke of the injuries he gave himself, all assumed that he had suffered more than any of them when they saw his beet juice "blood" soaked robes. Laroth often thought this went to far, but had trouble stopping it. When he told his girlfriend and their son that their god wasn't real and that they should stop hurting themselves for his sake and start enjoying the money he brought in, they refused to believe them and they offered up their lives to Temulechus as penitence for even listening to such blasphemy. When Laroth was around Temulechus was the most revered god of them all, but whenever he left the faith of his followers waned and things returned to normal. Likewise, no other missionary of the faith was ever successful.

We first hear of this when Kylorin and his adopted son and pupil Henri Ghouls visit a shrine of Temulechus (which had a couple weeks earlier been a nearly abandoned temple of Arawn where a few followers of the god of death would occasionally throw coins into the sacred open tombs) to meet him. When the the other worshipers of Temulechus left, Kylorin spoke, revealing that he knew quite well what Laroth was doing. Laroth protested and gave a very sincere looking smile, and the emperor even felt himself being compelled to agree, but he and Henri still resisted. Henri grew angry that Laroth had tried to use magic on him like that, and shouted "you're a donkey!" to Laroth, who was quickly overcome and made to believe he was in fact such a beast of burden, until Kylorin demanded the boy stop. After loosing the first magical battle between two archmages (although he and the boy who would come to be known as Perpentach did not yet hold that rank) Laroth was convinced to join the emperor as a pupil to better learn how to control his power.



In time Laroth grew much more powerful, but he was never one of the better known of Kylorin's students. He was more the behind the scenes kind of guy, not one who fought glorious battles. His skills were better suited to making other take pity on him and stop fighting, or to fight to protect the seemingly helpless man. He had more casualties when there wasn't really a fight. Why would he ever want to risk getting hurt in battle personally, when he could instead drive entire kingdoms into deep, suicidal depression, or sooth away all their physical desires (the way PAX did on Miranda in Serenity) so that they just die off on their own? He was also skilled at enchanting artifacts (weapons, mostly) using human souls ripped form their owners to power them, though I tend to think he preferred not to use such weapons himself as it is better to appear helpless.


It is not clear how he died, but it likely happened early in the Patrian Civil War. He may have fallen by the power of Bhall, the holy flame wielded by the ancient Bannor. After Laroth and Gatrius perished, it appeared that Good would win. It is implied that Agares began looking into the possibility of corrupting Bhall as a way to make up for the loss of these great archmages, so Laroth may be indirectly responsible for the Age of Ice.


Laroth ended up in the Netherworld, not hell. Arawn's vault is a dreamworld, where the subconscious of the dead dictates what the experience of waiting for the end of the world will be like. This normally gives a just reward or punishment to the fallen, enough to make it be more pleasant that heaven or more horrible than hell to those who deserve it. However, it can be manipulated. Laroth's spirit magic is enough to manipulate his own subconscious, to make it think he deserves not to be punished but to be rewarded with a kingdom and to become a great king--or even a great god. In a land where dreams come true, a lucid dreamer is all powerful. Well, that is a slight exaggeration, as the dreams of others still play a large part in bending reality, but nevertheless Laroth has more strength in death than he had in life. He was the first to wake himself up, and he awakened many more. He cannot keep many of the denizens of the netherworld awake, as they have not the will to see through their minds' illusions. Only heroes, those with great strength of will, are useful in his army. (That isn't to say that weaker souls don't have other uses, say, being forged into mystical weapons like the Netherblade.) Laroth has kept his legendary charisma, and is seen by all those to live (using the definition of life based on the meaning of the precept of life, i.e., persistence) in the land of the dead as their savior and the only choice they have apart from lying down and accepting defeat. Only a select few realize that his ambitions are greater that this; he means to kill the god of death himself, and become a divinity. Many angels of Arawn are tired of his non-interventionist policy, and have sided with this mortal against their maker. We don't know how he could become a god, but Kael has stated that if a tool of Sucellus could ascend a son of Nemed most certainly could. It may also be worth noting that the god Laroth would most likely not be bound by the terms of the Compact, so he could lead all those to ever died in a grand invasion of Erebus and merge the world of the dead and the living quite possibly without the gods being able to act to stop this end of the world.


Arawn does not consider Laroth a threat. His archangel Gyra has been trying to get help in fighting them, but the god refuses to order anyone to follow her orders. Most of Arawn's angels who really care enough fight have left their god's service either to join Laroth or to join Gyra's twin brother Basium. She is also really busy tending to the many souls dieing in this age, and trying to combat wicked sorcerers like Tebryn Arbandi.


Backing up a little, the already dead Laroth managed to take a group of living elves prisoner with him in the underworld back in the Age of Magic. They were his slaves for unknown years, but their king Arak the Erkling led a rebellion. Most of these "Once-Elves" managed to escape into the Shadowed Vale (aka the Shadow Rift), a sort of pocket dimension connecting the Netherworld to Erebus, but Arak had to stay behind to guard the portal. The eldest son of Arak, Haerlond Gossam, became the ruler of the Once-Elf kingdom in the rift. They lived in complete darkness, as no sunlight could penetrate the mist separating them from Creation, and so they became exceedingly pale--even more the the Svartalfar. (They had been taken from the surface before the 2 elven courts had split, so they are neither Ljosalfar nor Svartalfar and in fact had no idea who either group was. Most people would assume they were dark elves based on their looks though.)

Haerlond had taken several artifacts from Laroth's palace, including several arcane tomes by the master of spirit and the most sacred Once-elf artifact known as the Heartstone. Eventually, the Heartstone went missing, about the same time as a group of human children led by the young Auric Ulvin wandered into the rift. There was no real evidence that they were guilty, but Haerlond needed a scapegoat. As such, the children were sentenced to death. Haelrond's younger brother Varn disagreed with this, but his pleas for mercy went unheeded. As such, he decided to act on his own, to break the children out of prison and lead them to the barrier with Creation where they could escape. In the meantime, his wife Talia (a druidess/witch) visited them in jail, and began teaching Auric sorcery. When they had almost reached the boundary, Haerlond's army caught up with them, and were ordered to kill both the children and the traitors. Auric reached for the only mana source he could find, which he only barely felt through the mist. He didn't really know what he was doing nor did he know how to control the power he channeled, but he had natural talent enough to pull the sunlight though the barrier, and to destroy the mist in the process. This merged the Shadow Rift with Creation, blinded Haerlond and his army, and gave Varn his first vision of Lugus. They went their seperate ways after this, Auric eventually finding Letum Frigus and trying to become the God of Ice and Varn going on to found the Empyrean and become the first priest of Lugus in over 600 years, but they kept a deep respect for one another.

Varn and Talia took the Books of Laroth with them when they left the Shadowed Vale. Eventually, somehow, I don't know when or how, these tomes fell into the hands of Sandalphon. In them, he found the secrets to immortality. He and his followers used the rituals within to become the first shades, men who gained immortality (not that they couldn't be killed violently) in exchange for gradually loosing their souls. I used to think this meant consuming their own souls in the way vampires devoured others', but t turned out they are giving their souls to Laroth for his purposes. Of course, they do not know this. The Sidar revere Arawn, and would be horrified to learn they are helping his enemy. They abhor the undead, and don't seem to realize how similar to necromancy their own rituals are. They generally choose life as a shade in order to stay attached to something they love, after artistic or scientific pursuits, but soon find these pursuits meaningless. Shades continue to hone their skills, but they go on almost wholly from habit. Eventually they tend to waste away from indifference.

Rathaus Denmora went back to the Netherworld though the same passage the Once-Elves took out, not realizing that it led to a part of the world under Laroth's control. The angel of death whom he met technically did not lie to him, but he chose not to mention that his master was Laroth and not his creator Arawn. The Netherblade was not designed to let Rathaus punish those who dare deal out death as if they were god of it, but to bind the souls of the strong to the part of the nethworld where they would fall into Laroths army.

Now that Laroth has the soul of Auric, a man who was almost finished with the rituals to turn himself into a god, he may very wall have all he needs to take on the god of death himself.

This is meant to be a cliffhanger. There is no plan for the team to add another scenario, although modmoders might. I've considered adding such a scenario in my modmod, but it isn't on the top of the list and certainly won't be done anytime soon.

Before the Patrian civil war Laroth sensed Kylorin's internal struggle and took measures to protect himself from it. Knowing that the Patrian army would be thrown into the same conflict as their nation he sought out an elven mercenary army lead by Arak the Erkling. Laroth and Arak's men formed camps on the lush isle of Nemora and prepared for possible invasions into the Patrian mainland.

Once the civil war came Kylorin lead a rebellion against his own nation and eventually gathered an army to find Laroth (a very dangeorus man to left unaccounted for). They set sail for Nemora expecting to find an elven army waiting for them but Nemora was deserted. The camps were there, as were the elven ships, but Laroth and the army were gone.

Nemora was almost paradise, verdant green grass, wild fruit trees heavy with fruit, and colorful birds and fish surrounded the island. But the only really unusual feature was a great stone pit at the islands center. The pit was, as far as Kylroin's men could tell, bottomless. Kylorin declared that Nemora was sacred and ordered his off of the island and the search for Laroth was abandoned.

Nemora would remain uninhabited until visited by Tebryn in the Age of Rebirth. Due to his actions the island would become known by a much more sinister name.

disclaimer: I dont have a connection to my notes at the moment so i cant check to see if Nemora is the right name of the island. But thats what i remember.

Hmm...interesting.

I assume that Laroth used the well into the underworld that Tebryn later closed to create the Dead Lands to enter the Netherwold with the elves directly. Does this mean he never actually died, but rather chose to enter the Netherworld alive with all the elves (but of course is no more a physical being now than the Bannor were in their trip through hell)? There doesn't seem to be any reference to Laroth actually dieing, and we know the Once-Elves were taken prisoner there while still alive. Not dieing a physical death would explain why he did not end up in hell. I believe old pedia entries/posts do mention him as well as Gastrius dieing though so maybe he had to kill himself as part of a ritual to open up the gate and take them down there. Suicide does seem in the nature both of the death sphere and of a corrupted spirit sphere. It could be that his spirit magic drove him to suicide as it had his loved ones, but of course as part of a plan to lead to greater power.

How did Laroth gain his current appearance? Did gauging out his own eyes serve a purpose similar to Tebryn's blindfold, to let him see past the physical into the spirit realm?

Given how Larth used the Once-Elves to deliver his teachings to the Sidar and make them serve him by giving him their souls and by wielding the Netherblade, I have doubts as to whether Arak ever left his service at all. The rebellion might have been staged, perhaps so that it would be lead by Laroth's puppets rather than by other rebel leaders who would eventually have challenged him. It seems like everything that has happened has fallen into Laroth's hand, and I don't think that was an accident.

I still think we need to know what the Heartstone really was, and how it played in to all of this.

I wanted to move this conversation over into the lore forum for future reference. I checked and Nemora is the correct name of the island.

 

[cyther]

Strange. It only causes more questions.

Is Laroth dead or not?

And what is the Heartstone?

 

[Opera]

Laroth is dead but his mind in the Netherworld is strong enough to bend the Netherworld reality to make him think he deserves to be a god. In the Netherworld's region his controlling, he has power over the mind of the other souls, so he tries to lead them here and to add them to his army in order to overthrow Arawn. The Netherblade was specifically made to directly send the people it kills to this region, hence why Auric and Ethne are meeting Laroth.

Don't know about Heartstone.

 

[Rasta69]

Regarding Barbatos what is knowna bout him other that he spent a rather long time within a sepulcher, and is presumably going about doing his undead business now?

 

[Darksaber1]

He was Kylorin's Student of Death.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

We don't know a whole lot about Barbatos, just that he was trained by Kylorin to be a master of Death Magic, that he headed up the school of necromancy, that he turned himself into a Lich, and that when Kylorin rebelled against the corrupt Patria he had created that he fought Barbatos and locked him in his Sepulcher. (I suppose Kylorin had a hard time trying to bring himself to kill him as he had Gastrius, and just locked him up like he did Perpentach. Of course, it could also be that Kylorin killed Barbatos several times, but his student made too many Phylacteries for him to track down so he decided locking him up would be best way to keep him out of the picture.)

From when he was a unit in the game, it seems that he was pretty good at Earth magic as well as Death. That could possibly indicate that he was a close friend and ally of Jenkin, Kylorin's disciple of Earth. Of course, we know far less about Jenkin than about Barbatos, so that doesn't tell us much.

 

[Darksaber1]

"Jenkin" sounds almost like a "Damn, can't think of something good-name him like a butler".

 

[Kael]

"Jenkin" sounds almost like a "Damn, can't think of something good-name him like a butler".

Thats pretty funny. Mikel, Trenton and Jenkin were all player characters so I didn't pick their names.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I can't help but be reminded of Jenkem

 

[hbar]

I can't help think of the Great Wizard Jenkins (from the Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle).

On a side note, how did Os-Gabella become a student of Kylorin? Didn't she give him the power of magic in the first place, and (since she's existed since nearly the beginning of time) what could she possibly learn from a mortal?

EDIT - Monkeyfinger, that link is just ... wrong. There's now a part of my brain that I'll never get back.

 

[TC01]

I can't help think of the Great Wizard Jenkins (from the Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle).

On a side note, how did Os-Gabella become a student of Kylorin? Didn't she give him the power of magic in the first place, and (since she's existed since nearly the beginning of time) what could she possibly learn from a mortal?

No, Ceridwen gave him the power of magic.

Did Kylorin know who Os-Gabella was, or did she just pretend to be someone ordinary when she was taught by him?

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

On a side note, how did Os-Gabella become a student of Kylorin? Didn't she give him the power of magic in the first place, and (since she's existed since nearly the beginning of time) what could she possibly learn from a mortal?

She didn't exist since nearly the beginning, she came about at the beginning of the age of dragons. There was still the age of angels before that which lasted an immense, undefined time. There was almost all of creation before she came around.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Although the conflict that led to the Age of Dragons was sparked by her, I don't think that that age properly started until at least after The One sundered Creation from Heaven (and the actual dragons didn't show up until a lot later). Gabella's creation was at the end of the Age fo Angels, not the start of the Age of Dragons.


Os-Gabella was protected by Ceridwen for ages before Kylorin was born, and she had access to her teachings in the Bair of Lacuna. I tend to think that Kylorin was from many generations after the sixth, and that at least a little knowledge of magic was available in the Bair library back in the age of dragons, and that Os-Gabella and Alexis began studying it then.

It could however be worth noting that the Bair of Lacuna is probably not o the same plane as Erebus, so magic would not have bee introduced to Erebus yet. Kylorin was also the first mortal Ceridwen taught (although Alexis may have taught her self a few magic rituals first).

I tend to think that Os-Gabella and Kylorin were more like each other's peers than teacher and student. Kylorin may have even been brought to the Bair for his instruction, and Os-Gabella ordered to help teach him at first. I imagine Os-Gabella never really liked her new rival, especially when Ceridwen began sharing more with him than she had with her and when he eventually surpassed him.

 

[Xin]

Are we sure it's the same Os-Gabella, she could be some other women with the same name.

 

[overlordoftime]

Of course, it could also be that Kylorin killed Barbatos several times, but his student made too many Phylacteries for him to track down so he decided locking him up would be best way to keep him out of the picture.)

Wait I thought you and kael stated that lichs in ffh don't use Phylacteries.

edit: opps I didn't see my mistake there

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't remember that leafy green vegetable stating anything.


I know that Kael stated that Abashi is not (as some have claimed) Tabryn Arbandi's phylactery, and that Tabryn is not a rich but a rune caster who placed a resurrection rune on he head to bring him back whenever he dies, but I don't recall whether he stated actual liches use phylacteries or not.

 

[KillerClowns]

I don't remember that leafy green vegetable anything stating anything.

I've got a snarky comment regarding a very particular type of leafy green vegetable and that sentence, but I'll spare you.
Oh. Now I get it.

I know that Kael stated that Abashi is not (as some have claimed) Tabryn Arbandi's phylactery, and that Tabryn is not a rich lich but a rune caster who placed a resurrection rune on he head to bring him back whenever he dies, but I don't recall whether he stated actual liches use phylacteries or not.

So, from what I gather, Abashi operates somewhat like a phylactery, but isn't technically one. If she were his phylactery, killing her would kill Arbandi as well. But as the carrier of his resurrection rune, slaying her would only prevent Arbandi's resurrection, unless he put a rune of resurrection on something else. (I imagine those things aren't sold in corner stalls, though.) You'd still have to kill him, and that's easier said then done, but it'd finally be possible to finish the job.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Where did my verb (well, participle) go?

Basically, I guess. Also, the rune in no way carries any part of his soul. I assume his soul is fully in his own body, although it belongs to Ceridwen so I suppose she could be storing it elsewhere while allowing his body and mind to act in Creation.

 

[Duruk]

Going back to scenarios being canon, is it only cannon when the player wins?

For example, the answer to "Who controls Labruscum after the scenario takes place?" could be any of the leaders you can play as. But can it also be Sheelba?