Atrebe Sathir
ATREBE SATHIR: THE ARCHMAGE
Rile's first-hatched son would never match his father's fame in the ways of the Crusade. Atrebe's focus, rather, was on unlocking and using the extraordinary arcane powers of the Shissar for Iksar use. It is believed that in this time the Unholy Book of Zebuxoruk surfaced in Iksar history once more, and Atrebe, recognizing its potential at once, began to delve into the secret magics of his grandfather Venril.
At this time, western Kunark was the site of a great Dragon civil war. The council of the Ring of Scale, enraged by Trakanon's slaughter of the Sebilisian navy, had called for the deaths of Trakanon and his younger allies. Atrebe took advantage of the relative peace in eastern Kunark to build several deep underground laboratories. In these hidden complexes, Atrebe and his close students would experiment with the magics of Zebuxoruk and the Shissar.
The sorcerers discovered a means through which two intelligent species could be melded, body and soul, into a single new species of being. Their first successful attempt melded an Iksar heretic with a young captive Dragon. Thus were born the foul Sarnak, twisted halfbreeds with an affinity for magic. Atrebe was delighted, and commissioned a great number of Sarnak to be created and trained as living shields for the Army of Ik.
The second species created by Atrebe were the mighty Sokokar. These hardy, loyal beasts were a fusion of Froglok and Dragon, but held only an animal intelligence. It was soon discovered that the Sokokar could serve as fine flying mounts, from atop which an Iksar could learn to match a Dragon in flight.
The Army of Ik swelled, its ranks now bolstered by great numbers of Sarnak slaves and multiple newly trained Air forces. Atrebe saw that eventual war with the Ring of Scale would be inevitable, whether or not Trakanon survived, and so he took advantage of the Dragons' weakness and confusion. As the Dragon civil war reached its peak, the Army of Ik swept in and began to annihilate both sides.
Equiping the fearsome Iksar Warriors with Sokokar, Atrebe was able to take swift advantage of the Dragons' occasional weaknesses, and slowly but surely the Sebilisian Empire extended to encompas the whole continent of Kunark, save the stoutest and hardiest Dragon Strongholds.[1]
The end of Atrebe's reign and the begining of his son Ganak's is difficult to pinpoint. Some sources cite Ganak taking the throne after his father's death while at least one canonical EQ1 source cites Atrebe as still alive during the reign of his son Ganak. This comes via the book Dag the Blasphemer:
''The Blasphemer Dag of the Forbidden Circle
Long ago in the time of Emperor Ganak, Scholar Dag did walk with the great Master Atrebe.
After the unfortunate dusting of Atrebe did Dag begin his study of the forbidden circles, Wizardry, Enchantment and Magic. Very soon after he took a liking to the ways of Wizardry. His studies he kept to himself as he ignored the Laws of Kotiz. He became the Blasphemer of the Brood. Most of his studies were held in private, only his Sarnak slave named Kly was allowed to assist in his blasphemous studies. His secret was soon to be revealed to all.
Dag was commissioned by Kurn Machata to create a magical dagger for his personal use. It was to only be wielded by one of his ilk. Dag traveled to Kurn's outpost to begin his work. His slave went along, pulling behind him a special forge which belonged to Haggle Baron Dalnir.
While Dag was away the Brood stumbled upon his journal and his secret obsession. The Brood sent word to Kurn to have Dag deconstructed. Dag was in the final stage of enchantments, Kurn let him proceed and when the dagger was complete, Kurn shackled Dag and used the dagger upon the belly the Blasphemer. The dagger was found to be very effective, but lacked a few more spells and so it was to be returned to the Brood. It never made it back. The Crusaders sent, as well as the Sarnak slave who was pulling the Dalnir Forge, all vanished without a trace. Only the Dalnir Forge remained. Surely the gods cursed the blade made by the hands of the Blasphemer. To avoid the wrath of the gods, all of Dag's property and creations were burned as was the memory of his blasphemous studies. ''[2]
Regardless Atrebe's life ended in his secret laboratory Kor'Sha during one of his foul experiments which backfired on the arch necromancer, killing him and destroying his mountain lab or at least sealing it off from the world. Ganak assumes the throne and uses his father's work to great effect during the climax of the Iksar Dragon war.
- ^ from The Archive of Ik
- ^ Dag the Blasphemer: In Game Book
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