T'Laan

T'Lann, by Talon Dunning

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

Description

T'Lann 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'Lann 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'lann 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 his 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 T'Laan 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, unable to realize the long-term effects of his actions. As the years passed, T'Laan took many victims, but was not cautious enough to ensure that the corpses would not rise, themselves, as vampires. As 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 their 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 fledglings, and though they tried, he was never defeated.

 Soon the great vampire began to lash out against his children, 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. Then 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.

Appearances

Modules

Crystal Spheres