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(Taken from the Royal Library of Evendarr 7/22/603) TARLOV
EXTRACT FROM THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARCANE ARTS & SCIENCES, KINGDOM OF
EVENDARR In
September of 593, Count Andros Holmsong Ravenhurst of Ravenholt fought a battle
against his father, the dishonored former Royal Knight Sir Friederich Holmsong.
Friederich had become a Vampire who, together with his comrades "Valdic"
and "Katherine", had openly declared their loyalty and service to a
powerful master whom they referred to as "Tarlov".
Lord Colin Turing, the Ducal Guildmaster of Mages for Ravenholt, was
ordered to conduct a search of the archives of the Royal Academy for any
information on Tarlov. Two
documents were discovered: the
extract which follows came from the Academy itself, and the monograph on High
Horoscopes was retrieved from the Royal Astrological Society - the Royal
Astrologers' Guild. -Lord
Desmond Entares, Professor of Celestial Magics
On Tarlov y'Koharitan, also called the Ghost Hand Any who remove copies of this material from the Guild Archives do swear that they shall not permit unlawful access to the information contained herein, and that they shall die in the attempt to retrieve it, and to erase any unlawful knowledge of this information.
_______________________________
It is unknown what control she used to keep Tarlov in line, as it is also
written that he became a powerful Celestial Wizard under her tutelage.
The Elves speculate that she held his High Horoscope, but it is likely
that we shall never know. It is
known that he destroyed her, and took her keep and lands for himself.
At this time, the records say that a powerful alignment of the planets
occurred, and that the ill effects were most strongly felt in the south, where
great storms continued for nearly a year. In
addition, Elementals of the most destructive types are said to have walked
freely on the land, and tribes of Goblinoids ravaged the area, driven from their
ordinary places by the severity of the weather.
After many months of struggle, an alliance of Humans, Elves, and others
defeated the Goblins and the Elementals, and the storms lifted.
In what has been called the Great Cycle War, Tarlov emerged as a great
hero, but at the price of his left arm. In
the aftermath of the destruction, Tarlov was unable to find a Healer capable of
restoring his arm until it was far too late.
He swore that he would restore himself, whatever the price, and fled
north, taking with him the valuables from his keep, and a small party of trusted
servants. He settled in the south
of what is now called Volta. He was
not heard from again in the lives of his Human allies in the War.
Elven records show that, two hundred years after Tarlov's disappearance,
reports arrived at the Throne of the Elven King at Din-Oth of a great evil that
had arisen in the east. After
several scouting parties failed to return, a Unicorn came to Din-Oth and pleaded
for help. When the unicorn spoke of
a creature calling itself Tarlov of the Ghost Hand, the King knew that he could
wait no longer.
A force was sent from Quentari, bearing weapons of the greatest power.
The leader of the force, Morathak Brightfire, had served in the forces
which fought the Great Cycle War, writes that the being calling itself Tarlov
did resemble the Wizard Tarlov y'Koharitan to an uncanny degree, but did not
have the appearance of one who is Undead. Morathak
also speaks of Tarlov's left arm, from which he drew his name.
It did appear translucent and pale, but was in all other ways a usable
arm.
Morathak, after the battle had ended, and Tarlov had been captured, said
a number of things regarding Tarlov's power.
He seems to have gained as much mastery over the Earth Magics as he had
previously had over Celestial. In
addition, he had many powers of the Great Lords of Undeath, but did not have
their appearance, or their weaknesses. It
appears that some speculation on his powers, and their derivation, was made by
the Elves at the time, but those pages are even more damaged than the rest of
the records. I am led to believe
that the damage to this document was quite deliberate, and the additional harm
to the specific pages is worrying.
Fearing that, in death, Tarlov's spirit would escape, the Elven Council
built a prison in the mountains of Volta. There
they placed Tarlov's spirit, and such of his items of Power as had survived.
Using several Circles of Power, one inside another, and with the
assistance of the Unicorns, the Elves felt that Tarlov would be unable to
inflict further harm on the world.
The records of Tarlov end here, for the location of the prison is not
written, and all those who were sworn to remember it in case of need perished in
the Dimensional Wars. The trackless
mountains of Volta have been searched for the valley that is described in the
records, but nothing has been found. The details of the prison are impressive, but fragmented, and shall not be spoken of here, as they are incomplete and therefore dangerous. The powers used in the construction are of more danger when misunderstood or poorly controlled than when properly bound. Copyright 1998-2003 NERO International Holding company, Inc., All Rights Reserved NERO is the Registered
Trademark of NERO International, Inc. US PTO Trademark Registration Number
2,270,409 The NERO Rule Book© is Copyrighted 1989-2003 by NERO International Holding Company, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
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Please contact the head of Research, Eric
Augustson, with any comments or corrections.
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