Sare

Sare, officially a Prince of the Courts of Chaos, is a humanoid creature that originally hails from a higher level of reality. As a creature of the Courts, he is functionally immortal (barring violence or accident) and a natural shapechanger.

Childhood (and its End)

Born to the Courts of Chaos in the noble House of Bleykoven, Sare was the second son of the House; a spare to the heir, his brother Rumaleic Bleykoven. Initially, Sare was simply retiring, preferring to busy himself with his art over involvement in the House's whirl of politics and festivities. He was mostly ignored by the House elders, who left his care to contracted demons. This state of affairs ended when Rumaleic tried to murder Sare during what was supposed to be a play-fight, and damaged one of his eyes. The House elders ignored Sare's claims that his brother had intentionally tried to harm him, claiming that his own 'clumsiness' was at fault.

Now unable to paint due to his lack of depth perception, Sare withdrew more strongly from his family, and petitioned for early education in Sorcery and the secrets of the Logrus, rather than the more typical noble upbringing involving swordsmanship, riding lessons, courtly etiquette and poisoning in order to get away from Rumaleic. He managed to graduate at a relatively early age, and used his recognition as an adult to divorce himself from the House of Bleykoven, renaming himself Sare of Chaos and departing the Courts with a vow never to return. By this time, he had regenerated his damaged eye.

Independence and Loss

Sare created a home for himself out in the gulfs of Shadow: the Castle of Cards, a cozy bachelor's den that was part home, part art studio. He spent a lot of time traveling the various worlds, painting the most intense vistas he could find. In order to keep his mind keen, he continued studying Sorcery and the mysteries of the Logrus, and gained a high level of proficiency.

At one point his travels brought him to a version of Toril, where he encountered Evanar, the unwilling Mother of Champions to Mystra, goddess of magic. Sare was dumbstruck by Evanar's beauty and felt great desire for her, but due to a lack of social experience was unwilling to press a suit. Instead, he resolved to befriend Evanar first - and did, indeed, become her truest (and only) friend. The two of them became a source of emotional support for each other, and started traveling the gulfs of Shadow together - first under Sare's power and later under Evanar's as well, as she used what she learned to create portals.

Eventually, Sare resolved to help Evanar attain the thing she desired most of all: to finally die and thus be free of her task as Mother of Champions. It broke his heart to know he would lose Evanar, but he decided that his friend's happiness was more important than his own. Although their disciplines of magic did not mix well - if at all - their research brought to light that an initiation from the higher levels of reality for Evanar might enable them to work together to break the Tether, a curse that Mystra had used to force Evanar to periodically return to Toril, as well as purge her of the silver fire that bound her to life.

Sare left Toril for a while to research his lore books at the Castle of Cards, where he discovered references to the Broken Pattern. He sought out a Broken Pattern in the Shadows adjoining Amber, and located one in Shadow Ember. Sare survived an unassisted initiation, but was left ill and weak; a guardian creature, the Knight in Silver, assaulted him while he was compromised, and Sare barely managed to escape.

Sare was forced to summon demons from the House of Bleykoven to tend his injuries before he bled out. The creatures found him comatose in his Castle of Cards, and in violation of his wishes carried him back to the Courts of Chaos. As Rumaleic had died in the intervening time, the House Elders lavished all possible care on Sare, but also prevented him from leaving once he recovered, and forced him to undergo the intense training needed to become the next heir. Sare tried to contact Evanar during his imprisonment through self-painted trump images, but did not know that Evanar had managed to rid herself of her Mystra-crafted appearance of inhuman perfection with the aid of Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari, preventing the images from connecting with her. Eventually, Sare managed to escape the Courts, but no amount of effort he made enabled him to contact Evanar or find the world she lived in; unknown to him, Mystra had placed a curse on him that prevented him from doing so. Eventually, Sare became convinced that Evanar had found a way to die without his help, and he sank into a numb depression.

Appearance

Base Form

A consummate shapechanger, Sare is capable of assuming virtually any form he desires, but he prefers one that at least appears human; a slender, elegant figure with dark hair and eyes and lightly tanned skin. He prefers to wear clothes of a simple cut, but made of sturdy materials in the colours black, purple and dark grey.

Combat Forms

Sare's preferred form for direct melee combat is a tall, demonic figure, reminiscent of a Balrog. The possibility exists that Sare had visited Arda (or one or multiple Shadows thereof) and was familiar enough with its history to base his battle form on stories of those ferocious spirits. He also used the form of a great, black Unicorn for hit-and-run tactics.

Powers and Abilities

Sare is a masterful student and user of magic, combining in one person:

• A formal education in use of the Logrus in combination with Sorcery;
• Independent research into the Logrus;
• Independent initiation in and research into the Broken Pattern;
• Experience of the permutations of Sorcery in a great number of Shadow worlds.

As Sare used his magic studies as a way to keep his mind sharp, he devoted regular time to them no matter where he went. Given that he is functionally immortal, he has centuries of experience.

Although Sare spurned the typical noble swordsmanship lessons when he was at the Court ( most likely suspecting that his brother would use these as an opportunity to kill him, he did take lessons in various forms of combat while out in Shadow. He focused mainly on unarmed and mounted forms of combat, allowing him to combine his combat forms' brute power with genuine technique.

In addition to the former, Sare is an inhumanly skilled painter, having an experience of centuries. He combines his artistic skills with his magical abilities, enabling him to create the magical trumps that allow for communication and transport across the gulfs of Shadow - or used to, before he became trapped in the Demiplane of Dread.