T'Laan

T'Laan, by Talon Dunning

In the World of Spelljammer and Ravenloft campaign settings for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, T'Laan is an ancient vampire. He is the Darklord of the domain of Theka.

Description

T'Laan is an ancient half-elven vampire with black, shoulder-length hair that has a streak of white. His skin is the white pallor of death. He wears unremarkable, loose-fitting clothing with high black leather boots. He typically wears a dark cloak with gold trimmings. Around his neck is an amulet in the shape of an upstretched, gauntleted hand.

History

Early life

Having once been mortal creatures, few vampires really have the willpower for eternal life. Only those creatures who are filled with very powerful hatred and loathing live on, despite the ravages of time on their formerly mortal souls. T'Laan is such a vampire. He has lived 317 years or more past his mortal birth and still burns on, filled with vile rage and contempt for all things living. Along with the loss of his mortality, all traces of compassion were destroyed within him. He exists purely for the sake of bringing death to the world around him. But T'Laan was not always such a hateful creature. He was a champion of great causes in his youth. Born in what became the nation of Aglarond on the planet Toril in Realmspace, T'Laan was a trusted adviser to Brindor, the first king of Aglarond. The son of a human father and elven mother, T'Laan - then named Dorin - was one of the original settlers of civilized Aglarond and was responsible for the famous Peace Talks of Ingdal's Arm, held after the battle of the same name. He was a hero of peace and was loved and trusted by all who knew him. But ruin descended upon him like a bird of prey. One evening, T'Laan was walking with his bride in the gardens of his manor when the two were accosted by a band of men sent from the neighboring country of Thay. This evil country had become nervous because of the recent expansion of Aglarond and was causing internal strife. T'Laan's bride was killed immediately by the rogues, but the half-elven general was a powerful man and not so easily overcome.

Before the attackers dealt a death blow to T'Laan, he killed many of them. Finally, however, he lay bleeding on the ground, waiting for death to claim him. He was overcome by powerful hatred for the men who took the life of his bride. Brooding in powerful rage, T'Laan made a silent bargain with Death. At Death's orders, T'Laan drank the blood from the dead body of one of the rogues, and thus entered forever the world of eternal darkness. Since that time, T'Laan has lived many lifetimes on many different worlds. He is a harbinger of death, bringing only hatred and ruin wherever he goes. His greatest conquest is Darkspace. Over two hundred years ago, T'Laan came to Darkspace. It was then a sphere that had no name, for it had not yet been discovered, and its inhabitants had no knowledge of space travel or life outside the sphere. Originally, it had nine planets in orbit around its central sun. Only one planet, the third, had life beyond simple fungi and single-celled lifeforms. Most of the planets were totally lifeless. The inhabitants of the third planet were a simple lot, living in a world where magic did not exist. They were mostly subsistence farmers and, at the time T'Laan arrived, they were beginning to form small cities, which created a demand for occupations other than farmers. Some would call these people overly violent, but more accurately, they were filled with strong passions and energies, constantly driving them onward. To T'Laan's advantage, they were a greatly superstitious people, possessing powerful fears of the supernatural. Within this world of passionate, thriving humans, T'Laan found the perfect hunting ground.

But T'Laan was a "young" vampire, then, unable to realize the long-term effects of his actions. As the years passed, T'Laan claimed many victims, but was not cautious enough to ensure that the corpses would not themselves rise as vampires. And so it passed that the undead population of the planet (called Verin) grew with each passing month. After many long years of this, the humans of Verin began to form organized groups of vampire hunters, seeking to destroy the undead creatures that threatened their existence.

The newly created vampires, even more short-sighted than their master, engaged in a war with the vampire hunters, thus ensuring their destruction. On the night the vampires rose up against the human hunters, the age was named the Time of Death. And so was written the epitaph of Verin, for within a few years of that night, every man, woman, and child on the planet was destroyed and the vampire population numbered in the tens of thousands.

The huge undead population was now without the life-giving, nourishing blood it required, and soon the immortal creatures began to die, literally, of starvation. Thus began the Age of Blood and the transformation of Verin and its sphere into Darkspace. During the Age of Blood, vampires began to hunt each other for blood, feeding off inhuman hosts to survive. It was a war of attrition, and huge numbers of the creatures died daily as they hunted each other in the fields and in the streets. Inevitably, sheep turned against master, and soon what few fledglings remained on Verin began to hunt T'Laan, believing his old blood to be a source of power. But T'Laan was older and more powerful than his spawn, and though they tried, he was never defeated.

Soon the great vampire began to lash out against his progeny, destroying them by the hundreds every night. Then one night, some 30 years after the last human on Verin had died, T'Laan looked out upon the world and - in his own evil way - lamented what he saw. What once been a thriving world, teeming with fresh, young, beautiful mortals, was now a dead husk covered in T'Laan's starving creations.

As each year passed, the undead lord grew more powerful. Soon, he could survive for great periods of time without blood and stay for brief periods of time above the ground as the sun rose. Finally, when he could no longer stand the sight of his creation, he went deep underground, burying himself alive, far away from the creatures that hunted him. For long years, perhaps 50 or more, he stayed in his tomb, sleeping, dreaming, far from the affairs of the young vampires he had made. Gradually, he began to wake. It was a slow process, this waking, taking a year to complete. Eventually, he realized that he was fully awake and had been so for some time. Gathering all of his strength (he was very weak from so long without blood), he began to rise from his deep, subterranean tomb. It took him many weeks of agonizingly slow progress to finally break ground into the nighttime air.

By the time T'Laan emerged from his hibernation, there were only 30 or so vampires left 'alive', hunting each other for blood. Like a shadow, T'Laan descended upon the remaining vampires, destroying them and taking their blood. Now T'Laan was strong, but utterly alone. Great changes had been wrought upon Verin while he slept. No longer was the once beautiful planet recognizable. It had become a dead, empty rock. No life, not even plants remained. The vampire also realized that the sun no longer burned with its deadly fires. Like the mortal half-elf, so long ago on another planet in another crystal sphere, the sun had succumbed and turned to darkness, never to shine again.

After many days of searching, T'Laan found the spelljamming ship that brought him to Verin. He planned to leave the planet in search of life-giving blood. Before departing, however, he gathered hundreds of the corpses the vampires had left behind. Using great necromantic magics that were given him by his pact with Death, he animated these corpses into various undead guardians. Next, he constructed a small keep where he would reside when he returned. When all of his workings were completed, T'Laan left Darkspace in search of blood. Later, with the help of several powerful necromancers (whom T'Laan later killed) the vampire created a two-way portal to Greatspace. The monster's plan was not only to destroy the thriving system, but to create a base of mortal creatures in Darkspace that could be used as feeding stock.

Like the Arthurian legends and the stories of knights of old, Greatspace stands like a vestige of mankind's nobility and honor. For as long as anyone can remember, the people of Greatspace have battled against their innate darker sides, and have stood victorious. They are indeed a people by which we may navigate our cultures and use as a landmark for our own progress. Like all natural things, however, the people of Greatspace are undergoing great trials. In the midst of their achievement and advancement there now stands a great blackness. It came in the form of half-elven bard T'Laan.

Scant months after his arrival on the planet Thesalys, T'Laan was asked to perform for the court of House Shambrath and he did so. T'Laan was immediately offered the lucrative position of court bard. He accepted. Over course of a few years, T'Laan made himself increasingly valuable to the court by constantly offering sound and useful advice. Just four years after arriving in Greatspace as an unknown bard - T'Laan became the advisor to the king in House Shambrath, his position secured! Unknown to the Thesalians, T'Laan was a vampire of great skill and power. Using his charm-ability and the natural skills of the potent undead lords, T'Laan hid his true identity flawlessly. No one, in all the time he has been on Thesalys, has ever questioned the oddities of T'Laan. Why did he never show himself except at night? Why did no one ever see him eat? His disguise was complete.

Eventually, T'Laan decided that the time for waiting was over and the time for action had arrived. He began to initiate his plan, which began with the direct control of Gorath Shambrath and ultimately ended in the king's death. Now all of House Shambrath believed that Bruin, the only heir to the throne, lead a rebel group that opposed the current government and was responsible for the "assassination" of Gorath. Bruin has become a hunted criminal in Greatspace. The fact that the Thesalians, who have held great love and loyalty for House Shambrath for years, could be deceived at such great magnitude is a testament to T'Laan's vast power. T'Laan's artifact, which casts a large-scale continual darkness spell on the sun, shrouded Greatspace in darkness. T'Laan began exporting inhabitants of Greatspace to his home sphere for feeding stock.

The humans were told that they were being transported to support a war effort that Greatspace was involved in. T'Laan had secretly charmed the pilot to crash their ship on landing. The craft was irreparably damaged and the survivors were stranded at the living complex they were supposed to occupy for this so-called war effort.

Bruin Shambrath and a group of adventurers returned with sun seeds, a magical item that turned Greatspace's sun back to normal. They then followed T'Laan back to Darkspace and restored the sun there as well. When they defeated T'Laan, thinking that he was dead, his great evil nature and strong hatred pulled him into Ravenloft, prior to his destruction.

Arrival in Ravenloft

After he arrived in new formed Theka, he believed he was still on the planet he was just on. When his attempts in escaping or creating vampires kept getting thwarted he believed it something was wrong with the planet and the unnatural mists you could not enter. He had to frantically preserve his blood supplies to survive.

Rulership of Theka

T'Laan is revered as the leader of New Thesalys and pretends to be a mortal wizard. There is also a hereditary aristocracy under him of true lycanthropes to watch over in his absence. T'Laan has squads of undead to roam and guard the domain, mostly his fortress the Tower of Night.

Escape Attempts

During the Grand Conjunction T'Laan found himself in Wildspace on his broken spelljammer ship, but by the time he repaired it he was brought back into the mists and crashed landed back on Theka. Though the ship should work by his accounts, the Ultimate Helm won't work till outside of Theka's borders. Theka had broke from the Core and became an Island of Terror.

Current

T'Laan has learned much about the prison and his limitations since returning now that he had a peek from the Grand Conjunction. He is now prioritizing capturing those not from Theka in a quest for knowledge and to fuel his experiments.

Border Closure

T'Laan rarely closes the border but when he does, it simply causes those trying to escape his domain to appear at the other side of the domain, as if it was just a small planet.

Darklord's Curse

A vampire so powerful that he once threatened the cosmos, now T'Laan cannot get the most simplistic magic devices to work properly in his domain. Stuck in a prison that threatens to eat itself out of existence, T'Laan must protect its ecology and his blood supply. Because spells and technology seem to break down all the time, he was unable to fix the spelljamming vessel that he believed can take him away from this land. Werewolves and feral vampires keep attempting to break into the complex, which forces T'Laan away from his projects to defend it. He tried to find reliable help, but his assistants seem to have a habit of disappearing or being found dead, likely by his own hands.

Creations of T'Laan

T'Laan was able to create an Artifact with three priests of Bane, one which can cast continuous darkness on a sun and only reversed by sunseeds from Faeriespace.
T'Laan created a large number of undead to do his bidding. What great and evil incantations and necromancies were involved can only be speculated. T'Laan's vamprice age had granted him great powers which were certainly used in the creation of the artefact. T'Laan can create shadows to do his bidding
Has an amulet that allows him to retreat to the Tower of Night but may be effected by the curse.

Chronology

• 739 BC - Bruin Shambrath and a group of adventurers returned with sun seeds, a magical item that turned Greatspace's sun back to normal. They then followed T'Laan back to Darkspace and restored the sun there as well. When they defeated T'Laan, thinking that he was dead, his great evil nature and strong hatred pulled him into Ravenloft, prior to his destruction. Theka is formed.
  
• 740 BC - The Great Upheaval T'Laan almost escapes using the Ultimate Helm before being pulled back. Theka becomes an Island of Terror.

Appearances

Modules

Crystal Spheres

Netbooks

Quoth the Raven Issue 22: Domains that Came Before