Hazlik
Hazlik is the undisputed ruler of Hazlan. He is also its Darklord. He is more interested in cheating death and having his revenge upon his enemies, real and perceived, than escaping his gilded cage. His private estate Veneficus is set back from the east bank of the Saniset River a fair distance from Toyalis.
The Red Wizard is one of the most powerful spellcasters in the [[Land of Mists] and has taken the extraordinary step of publically opening a school for the mastery of the arcane. The school is called the Red Academy) and is hosted by the town of Ramulai that the wizard is said to have raised from stone in a single day. Percularities in the design of the town have invited speculation that it itself is some sort of immense arcane experiment.
By and large Hazlik entrusts the rule of his land to satraps who are left in no doubt whatsoever of the horrible fate that awaits them on experimentation tables should they displease him. It is not clear how carefully he watches them, although he does at least make nominal efforts to appear to be paying attention.
His preoccupation with arcane projects is perhaps the key to understanding the role that the Church of the Lawgiver has been able to assume in his land since the emergence of Nova Vaasa from the Mists in 682 BC. He was too busy with matters of import to even consider upholding the spiritual and cultural sovereignty of his land. Still, there is no evidence that Hazlik views the Iron Faith as anything more than a tool of social control. He is an open, and an immensely proud, master of arcane magic which is a blasphemy according to its doctrine and for which, back in Kantora, he would be imprisoned, tortured, and executed publically as an example to others. Whatever faint hope that the Iron faith had of redeeming him as an individual could hardly have survived his revocation of the ban on the use of arcane magic and his opening of the Red Academy promoting it. His tatoos, and those of the Mulan generally, are the visible signs of moral and spiritual degeneracy, serving only to confirm the faith's view of him. It is difficult to imagine that homosexuality is not viewed likewise by the faith, although it is not clear whether Hazlik has or has not hidden his sexual orientation. Additionally, the position of women according to the faith is, strangely enough, also an issue, for Hazlin is planning to usurp the body of his female apprentice. In fact, to Hazlik the Iron Faith may not even be a tool of social control, at least in the usual sense. Prior to this religion the Mulan race was not challenged by its lesser in Hazlan and Hazlik was not challenged by his lessers in the rule of the land. And both seemed secure, at least in their own minds, in that respect. So while the Iron Faith does reinforce the rule of both, it perhaps offers Hazlik something that he actually does find useful and values immensely, the undisturbed quiet to better pursue his arcane projects. Were the Hazlani church to disturb Hazlik, to interfere in any tangible way in his ability to do as he wishes, to take, in particular, the hardline on the practice of arcane magic that the Himmelsk Naeve ("Divine Fist") back in Kantora is demanding, a faith that has outlived its usefulness could discover that Hazlik is willing to cast it from his land with a casualness apt to rotted fruit. Not, of course, that he need go so far. Hazlik could decree the independence of the Hazlani church and impose the necesary changes in leadership and doctrine. His preference might be dictated pragmatically by his desire to return his attention to arcane matters of genuine consequence, mainly the annihilation of a race. Then again, he has a vindictive streak and is nothing if not unpredictable.
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Secrets of the Dread Realms |
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Secrets of the Dread Realms - p27 | |
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Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp25-27 | |
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Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,25-27 | |
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The Red Wizard |
