The mind of a powerful mage, trapped within a golem of primordial clay!
Flesh and primordial clay, despair and pain. Of all these things was Kar-Mamok made, but it was dreams that gave it life. Liena’s body slumbers, trapped within the monstrous form of the bloodcrafted golem, but her dreams are free to reshape the world—and so are her nightmares.
About the Seeker
History
Legacy
Liena never harbored illusions about the Conclave or her role in it. Since becoming an apprentice, she cast away emotionality in favor of ruthless, cold logic, for she had seen the fate of those who expected the masters to share their knowledge or show any compassion. They were but lambs, blindly being led to slaughter upon the altar of their masters’ fight for dominance. To avoid such a fate, Liena would have to secure the greatest of all Conclave currencies: power. However, it was not enough to become a master, still beholden to one of the Spheres. Liena wished to become a Nexi, a mage of singular, uncontestable power. Slowly, she gained enough trust to be allowed to perform research within the Molech Oracle’s inner chambers. It was there that she found the means to her ascension: a hidden vault, concealing a number of Legacies from the eyes of both masters and apprentices—and a warning to leave them be.
Not one to listen to the wisdom of dead mages, Liena delved deeper, learning that one of those Legacies could produce its own Liastrum, a small but endless source of power. This was the breakthrough that would set her apart, but it could also be easily taken away. To secure her place as Nexi, this power would have to be hers, and hers alone. Liena implanted the Legacy within her flesh, becoming both its master and its host. Liena was now a living Legacy.
No longer would she have to beg the council for access to more Liastrum: she had all she would ever want in her very body, flowing through her veins. As her power grew, her control over it became more unstable. She had underestimated the corrupting influence of Liastrum and, by her own design, the Legacy could not be removed from her flesh. Liena despaired in the realization that a fate worse than death awaited her.
When she had exhausted all research available within the Conclave, Liena turned to unfamiliar, ill-understood traditions. She had heard the tales of how Primal Blood magic could cleanse their wounds of Liastrum’s influence, and of how the souls of their warriors lived on within constructs of clay and flesh. She made a deal with a shaman, and by joining the knowledge of the Conclave and the strange magic of the Primal Blood, Liena entered a deep slumber within the primordial clay.
The thing that arose was Kar-Mamok, Liena’s prison of flesh, but one under her control. The corruption of the Liastrum in her veins has not been reversed, only stalled. Still, the mage now dreams of the day she will be free of this prison, and guides this new form to search the Malediction for the key to her salvation.
Kar-Mamok
Selejia is home to a number of magical traditions, each with its own rituals and powers. Still, it is the Primal Blood, the children of Ymiris, who wield the raw primordial magic of the All-Mother, the very essence of the world. Through this power, they are able to breathe new life into their mortally wounded brethren. By sculpting monstrous golems from primordial clay and the flesh of their brothers and sisters, shamans may preserve the souls of the people within, so that their might may live on. These constructs become mindless servants that obey the will of their shamanic master. These golems, however, are born from the near demise of a life, when the mind is already grasped by the tendrils of death. What if there were a way to preserve one’s mind and will?
When the shaman struck the pact with Liena, he expected her body to be absorbed by the primordial clay, where she would become one with the golem: a mindless puppet like so many others—one that would grant him unlimited access to Liastrum. To his surprise, the Liastrum that seeped from her body arrested the transformation, instead creating a casing that kept the mage from being absorbed by the bloodcrafted clay. Liena’s body and sense of self were preserved, and lying within Kar-Mamok, she entered a comatose state.
As she lies sleeping, Liena’s mind is torn between the reality lived by her prison of flesh and the realm of her own dreams. In her waking life, she has full control over Kar-Mamok, but as she falls into slumber, the golem has begun to display an identity of its own, rebelling against her whims in minor ways. This is unheard of even amongst the Primal Blood, for Kar-Mamok should be nothing but a shell. Still, Liastrum seeps from Liena, attracting many a mage who wish to journey alongside her. They may freely empower themselves through her Liastrum—so long as they bring her closer to her goal.
