Albemarl

Living in a time long before Falkovnia or even Barovian became a Ravenloft domain, Albernarl was an arcane spellcaster and scientist whom lived in a some unknown outlander land. In his young years, Albernarl demonstrated a precocious development of arcane skill similar to young Azalin, though Albernarl ultimate became a teacher rather than a temporal leader. Albernarl's innovations combined both fields of science and arcane magic. He was allowed to establish a school of higher learning by the wizard-king Galron, whom was also sometimes a student of Albernarl. But Galron had ulterior motives ultimately sinister in nature, for he manipulated or coerced Albernarl into developing a horrid machine that could store life energy. Galrun ultimately sought to use this machine of horrific science to power his ascent to a higher state of existence unbound by corporeal form (akin to a demilich, although this term is never used in Lord of the Necropolis). Albernarl ultimately sought to destroy the machine, but Galrun had already achieved his transformation at the cost of thousands of innocent lives. The transformation greatly bolstered Galrun's skill, and he warded the chambers around the machine, indeed even his entire palace, with protective spells Albernarl could not bypass. Nor could Albernarl escape, so he penned the last of his experiences in the Scientific Journal of K. Albernarl and warded it with preservative spells as he waited for his demise.