Thagrosh Hellborne, also called the the Prophet of Everblight and the Messiah is a Ogrun Warlock of the Legion of Everblight and the holder of the main shard of the Dragon's athnac. Once a Khadoran slave, Thagrosh is now the unquestioned leader of the Legion and for his blighted subordinates there is no meaningful distinction between the dragon and their Messiah. His warlocks know Thagrosh and Everblight to be two beings instead of one, yet they too obey Thagrosh. They can discern when it is the ogrun speaking and when it is the dragon, but both are to be obeyed without question. Only Vayl and Saeryn argue with Thagrosh, and only when Everblight indulges them. Since Thagrosh is often preoccupied with his communion with the dragon and its thoughts powers have been delegated to Vayl Hallyr and other Warlocks to oversee the details of Everblight’s plans however the affairs relating to blighted Ogrun falls under the direct dominion of Thagrosh.[1]
History[]
Early History and Enslavement[]
Thagrosh was only a child when Khadoran slavers attacked his village to mine the lands and enslaved the Ogrun for forced labor. During the attack his father died fighting and his mother and younger brother Vargal were enslaved alongside other survivors, however his mother did not survive long in the camp. While other Ogrun died trying to escape or in accidents and many strong Ogrun were sent to other sites to avoid them from becoming a Korune, Thargrosh survived through luck and pushing himself without complaints. Due to this Thagrosh received relatively better treatment and freedoms but Thagrosh was infact studying the patterns, habits and secrets of the Humans. With his brother he planned to escape the camp to Rhul and for that he had been patiently waiting for the right moment ,planning and hiding the extra rations he received. However Vargal was less patient and Thagrosh had to protect him several times even being punished to save him.[2]
During one night Malek, the overseer of the prisoners saw Thagrosh and Vargal discussing their escape and followed Vargal. After catching Vargal, Malek offered to reduce his punishment if Vargal betrayed Thagrosh but was rebuked as he had expected and attacked him. While Vargal managed to injure him, his lack of combat experience resulted in Malek defeating him and inflicting grievous injuries.[2]
Thagrosh awoke next morning to the commotion outside and saw entire camp gathered outside and heard the sounds of loud cracking sounds of the whip. Even Vasily Radevich who was in charge of the camp was there but not Malek or his brother. His eyes sought Malek and found him standing alone in the center of the circle attacking an Ogrun with a whip but Thagrosh couldn’t bring himself to look at what was on the other end of that whip. Vargal only had one eye now, the other just a bloody hole, but that eye looked at him with recognition, and he knew it in return. He was making some kind of sound like a keening. Thagrosh moved towards his brother regardless of the danger and clasped what was left of his brother's shackled hands, Thagrosh felt tears streaming down his cheeks as he attempted to reassure his dying brother. In his last words Vagal proclaimed “I’ll never betray you. My korune.”[2]
Escape from the Camp[]
Thagrosh kept embracing the body of his brother his eyes locked on the remaining eye of his brother. Vargal's last word echoed in his mind and he knew its significance, but it couldn’t yet reach him. They didn’t force him away and posted guards so he wouldn’t pull the body down from the stone, and the others left him there to kneel by his brother’s body and weep. The sun moved across the sky, and the shadows changed. Eventually his brother’s face fell into darkness, and one of the guards slowly approached, and touched him lightly on the shoulder with a cudgel. He was escorted to a makeshift jail and chained him. Once they were gone and it was dark, he bunched his muscles, strained, and snapped the chains that bound him.[2]
He silently loosened several boards at the end of shack. When he was out, he stood the boards up about where they had been before. He went and found the supplies and food where they were hidden, enough food for two, now more than enough for one. Then he walked to Malek’s cabin, Thagrosh had no rage in his face and walked like a sleep walker. He broke the door and before Malek can take his whip he crushed his arms and wrapped his chains around the man’s throat and squeezed slowly and said “His name was Vargal,” Thagrosh into the man’s ear as he strangled him. Thagrosh found a key that unlocked his manacles He took a skinning knife, and some provisions wrapped in oilcloth to add to those he already had. Then he took the lantern down from the crossbeam and dashed it on the floor setting the cabin on fire as an distraction to cover his escape. As he escaped he looked at the body of his brother still hanging from the stone where he was tortured to death. [2]
Thagrosk kept running fighting pain in his body as Vasily as well as Ilena his tracker were leading a hunting party to capture him. However unknown to him he was not heading towards Rhul anymore but somewhere else. Ilena and her hounds caught up with him near a river but Thagrosh while wounded managed to brutally kill several hounds and destroyed a makeshift bridge after crossing it, nearly sending Ilena to her death in the cold river if not for the arrival of Vasily and other men. Thagrosh felt he was being drawn towards a mountain but he did not know how or why. Thargosh met a Winter troll along the way which attempted to charge at him but instead snorted and moved away, he walked towards its cave and lingered near it to misdirect the Humans and as planned several of Vasily's party was killed by the troll before they killed it.[2]
The Prophet of Everblight[]
Thagrosh, transformed into the Prophet of Everblight
When he finally arrived at the mountain he knew what the upper slopes looked like as if he had spent his life climbing them despite not being visible. He knew every crevasse and crack ,every foothold and every ledge and which would support his weight and which would crumble and as the the call to him became stronger he began climbing. As he was climbing he saw his memories as well as various events which he didn't know and when he finally reached the summit he felt a massive power. Even though exhausted he began to dig through ice with his strained hands and ice turned red with his blood. When he found a vessel he broke it and took a crystal that pulsed and changed with blue light, and as he watched it seemed to alter its shape subtly. As he took the crystal blood poured from his nose and eyes while visions of the past flooded his mind. He knew what to do and took the skinning knife in his belt. He pressed it against his chest, just below his ribcage, knowing precisely where to place the blade, and how hard to push. He slid the knife into his own chest and dug his fingers into the wound and found his ribcage, and then he pulled with one great tug he wrenched his chest open like a rusty door. He whispered a single word to the shard and drove it into the shuddering flesh of his gaping chest. [2]
Thagrosh's body began to transform and he was filled with immeasurable pain not even close to any kind of torture he experienced in the camp. He couldn't hear or see and his mind was awash with knowledge and memories that were not wholly his own, but he also heard a voice that guided him through the chaos. When the transformation was finished he was one with the Dragon Everblight, he was stronger than before, the wound in his chest healing while dripping black ichor and his senses allowed him to see the Humans following him. Thagrosh greeted the humans with a smile and ignoring arrows charged into battle clawing though them while the humans attacked him axes and sent a burst of flame from his mouth instantly turning three of them into ash. Vasily attacked him only to be opened up by his claws and thrown away. Now terrified and weeping, Ilena charged towards him losing her sanity and laughing manically as she threw her axe only to fall down seeing the Dragon inside the Ogrun. After they were dealt with the Dragon revealed his secrets and plans to Thagrosh as well as of the Rapture, a weapon that can cut the Athnac shard without creating another Dragon. For Thagrosh he had finally found his Korune. Thagrosh soon returned to the camp and massacred the guards but spared the Ogrun. He dug up the corpse of his brother but soon left to enact the plans of his new master. [2][1][3]
However with his mind expanded far beyond his old reckoning, it has become difficult for Thagrosh to divorce his perspective from that of his dragon-god. The athanc has awakened in him a powerful sorcery born of Everblight his patron, his advisor, and the object of his ultimate worship. Thagrosh the Prophet speaks with the dragon’s voice and embodies his will. The Prophet’s first actions were to descend upon the Nyss to shatter their old life and awaken their destiny as Everblight’s chosen. Guided by Everblight’s will, Thagrosh has transformed the Nyss into a blighted army ready to fight and die for the dragon’s purposes. From his draconic blood he has birthed new dragonspawn in a variety of horrible forms that please his master. Thagrosh is a terror unequaled on Caen who leaves behind only the choking ash of corruption.[1]
The Messiah[]
Everblight did not warn Thagrosh of the painful transmutation that would follow his consumption of Pyromalfic’s athanc. From the first moments after the triumph at the Castle of the Keys, Thagrosh experienced a blend of agony and ecstasy as blighted energies suffused his being. The process of sublimating Pyromalfic’s essence into Everblight’s consciousness brought a host of confusing memories, sensations, and physiological changes. Now, no longer ogrun, Thagrosh has become something the world has never seen, his form closer to and yet distinct from the dragons themselves. He has become Everblight’s true avatar.[1]
Thagrosh the Messiah, the Avatar of Everblight
Thagrosh has never been comfortable in his new flesh. His skin, bones, and sinew continue to shift as if struggling to contain the wild power within him. This discomfort vanishes in battle, however, where he revels in his new strength and his nearly effortless evocation of blighted power. Some part of him understands that his mortal flesh will ultimately fail to contain the might of dragons, but when combat is upon him he relishes the godlike sensations. Doubts about his future creep into the corners of his mind only in those rare, still moments when he stands vigil over his protean army, thoughtfully watching it gather its strength for the next engagement. Thagrosh’s metamorphosis came when he had just begun to separate his identity from Everblight’s. The ogrun had reached an unspoken accord with his master and started to put forth a distinct voice as leader of the Legion. Since he consumed Pyromalfic’s athanc, however, Everblight’s presence is stronger than ever, a raging tornado of intelligence and hubris. It is as though Everblight is stirring just below surface of Thagrosh’s thoughts, a vast alien presence impatiently looking through his eyes and sometimes speaking with his tongue. Thagrosh loses himself for long hours, subsumed by the mind of the dragon. Every time he rises from its depths, he feels its gravitational pull more strongly.[1]
Draconic temper increasingly dominates Thagrosh’s mood. As the dragon spreads his mind and grows in power, Thagrosh finds it increasingly difficult to restrain the impulse to let loose his full strength. He feels this fury like the touch of searing iron igniting the pure dragon blood pumping through his veins. The urge to enter battle at the slightest provocation can at times become overwhelming, and indulging in these slaughters serves to quiet his thoughts only for a time. It is not enough to simply be victorious—he must annihilate each foe utterly.[1]