Darcalus Rex
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This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
Darcalus Rex is a character from the Ravenloft novel King of the Dead, whom seems at first to be the first ruler of Darkon. Over the course of the story, he is revealed to be one of two split halves of Azalin Rex split apart by the Dark Powers. He is seemingly slain by amnesiac newcomer Firan Zal'honan, another half of Azalin whom believes Darcalus to have slain his son Irik. Only after DArcalus' ruination does Firan realize he is Darcalus, regain his memories and realize the full burden of his title as darklord of Darkon.
In the Ravenloft game product line, Darcalus is mentioned in the history section of "S"' in-character travelogue of Darkon in Gazetteer II.[1]
Description
In the false history of Darkon, Darcalus Rex was a powerful wizard and king of Darkon. According this history, Darcalus ended the Arcane Age in 383 BC by destroying any who might oppose him and then declaring himself ruler of Darkon. In 579 BC, Darcalus was dispatched in by Azalin Rex who assumed the mantle of king after him. "S" supposes that Daraculus may be some twisted image or allegory to Azalin or one of his personas. Regardless, "S" describes the Darkonian record as something of a control freak like Azalin Rex, but arbitrarily cruel and governed by flights of fancy, in short a hedonist caring mostly for his own power. Azalin, by contrast, is known to be quite severe but ultimately fair in his judgements and commands.[1]
In King of the Dead, Darcalus seems to have had some level of independent, however shadowy, existence from Azalin Rex, though only by fiat of the Dark Powers. He is a undead creature complete with a , the very same one as the true Azalin's.[2] Also like Azalin, he disguises himself in a cloak of illusion to appear mortal, though Daraclus' illusory appearance is quite different. He is younger, handsome, with a less angular face and almost child-like golden hair, whom dressed in baronial pomp, albeit dark-colored, instead of the king's robes favored by Azalin.[3]
According to memories gained by Firan after his merging with Darcalus, Darcalus was afflicted with amnesia of much of Azalin Rex's prior mortal existence on Oerth. Darcalus only had the faintest of memory of having been the ruler of some other place in some other time, but he only recalled that his subjects were lowly creatures much like his current subjects in Darkon. Darcalus did not question or balk at his existence as lord of Darkon, nor did he worry much about the granite sarcophagus in Castle Avernus that held the dead body of somebody strangely familiar yet unrecognizable to him. That body was of Irik, taken or copied from the Material Plane.[4]
