King Gregor Ravinia

King Gregor Ravinia is or was the bearer of the Shard of Darkness, which he wears as part of a necklace. Although he initially resisted its domination, King Gregor eventually fell thoroughly under its power.

History

King Gregor ruled a kingdom on an unidentified world on the Material Plane. For many years, his rule brought wealth and good fortune to his realm, perhaps the most in all the land. Havernus, Lord of the Harvest, the god venerated in King Gregor's kingdom, blessed the crops with bountiful abundance. In return, King Gregor held an annual festival dedicated to Havernus, sacrificing often ten percent of the kingdom's earnings in order to distribute gifts to the kingdom's populace. Although this benefited all of King Gregor's subjects, this sacrifice was considered one to Havernus.

King Gregor grew to hold distaste for this sacrifice, gradually giving less and less until no gifts were given at all. Havernus became angry and thus began to blight the crops, with each harvest showing less and less bounty. King Gregor's greed was by now so excessive that it prevented him from letting it go in response, despite his mounting desperation.

King Gregor eventually discovered the solution to the crop blight problem in the form of a strange midnight black onyx gem, the Shard of Darkness. Formerly known as the Azure Shard, this evil artifact had successfully engineered the destruction of the Shards of Light and had recently escaped from the Demiplane of Dread. (This would be ultimately for naught, for the Dark Powers were already looking to annex King Gregor's kingdom.) In any case, the Shard of Darkness attempted to seize control over King Gregor, but he successfully resisted its domination.

Despite his initial resistance, King Gregor nonetheless became so preoccupied with the Shard of Darkness that he spent long hours simply holding and looking at it. This came to the point where his family began to fall apart during the long time of his negligence. His wife died, leaving their two sons, Eric Ravinia and Stephan Ravinia, to grow up largely left to their own devices. Each of the boys deteriorated in their own unique way, but both became estranged from their father. Ultimately, King Gregor fell under the Shard of Darkness' influence as it gradually wore away his sanity. Tempted with the prospect of the Shard's blessing of the crops, King Gregor took to giving the Shard blood sacrifices.