Zilanderan

Zilanderan is a Blackrazor Redshirt who died helping to save the world from the threat of the resurrected Temple of Elemental Evil. He's also a planetorn swordsage seeking to avert a magical apocalypse on Oerth.

Overview

• Class(es): Swordsage 2
• Sex: Male
• Race: Human
• God: None
• Alignment: Lawful Neutral
• Status: Alive
• City: Obsidian Bay
• Country: Domain of Obsidian Bay

Zilanderan: Second Iteration

There was once a Blackrazor redshirt named Zilanderan. A strange man, Zilanderan claimed to be part of a larger, near-infinite multiverse of alternate realities. He’d excitedly talk about how this multiverse interacted with this, the Prime Material Plane, boring his cohorts to tears until something happened to break the tension.

Like a certain dwarf accidentally burying his axe in Zilanderan’s back.

Alas, the eccentric warrior-mage was never able to fully realize his dreams of dimensional travel, as he fell storming the resurrected Temple of Elemental Evil, was captured by some of its clerics, and had his soul fed to the imprisoned god known as Tharizdun. Consumed by an evil imprisoned by the gods themselves, was believed to be gone beyond all hopes of resurrection. And, in truth, he is.

Or at least that version of him. For in truth, Zilanderan was right. There are other realities. Other Material Planes. And other Zils.

The second iteration of Zilanderan is also a refuge from the multiverse. Born an oprhan on the Alternative Material Plane known as Aerth, he was given to a mystical order of arcane monks known as the Order of the Sapphire Blade to be raised as one of their elite warriors. The monks taught him how to achieve the Moment of Perfect Mind allowing him to remain calm in the middle of mental maelstroms. They demonstrated how to leave his foes speechless through manifestation of the Sapphire Nightmare Blade. And even demonstrated how to gain insight into defending himself against a single foe through the Stance of Clarity. Wanderings on the Sublime Path

On his 17th birthday, the Order elevated him from Novice to Acolyte, and he undertook his first questing missions with his sensai, a powerful and wise swordsage named Shalzar. At first, these missions took him to elemental ruins scattered throughout his homeland, the remains of great temples raised to ancient and terrible gods in past ages. They then took the planes beyond, where he and his sensai traveled to such fabled lands as the City of Brass, where Zil learned the twin secrets of the Burning Blade and Wind Stride from an ancient effreti named Aznen, the fortress of Zthan on the Demiplane of Twilight, where he learned the clinging shadow strike and shadow blade technique from its seneschal X’torn and finally the many-doored city of Sigil, he learned how to achieve the vital recovery of his body through his mind while waiting for an audience with the Lady of Pain.

Lost Aerth

When he and his master Shalzar returned from their travels to Aerth, they found a terrible catacylsm had befallen the land, indeed the entire plane. It had been shattered, broken into free-floating mountain-sized chunks of land that swirled in a wind-blasted abyss. Their entire reality had been shattered, torn asunder by demons spawned by pure chaos. The creatures were Entropy made real, and they destroyed everything they touched. They would have been lost if they had not chosen to emerge into the remains of Aerth through one of the few bastions of law to survive the planar destruction: the Sapphire Citadel. This was the self-same fortress on whose doorstep Zilanderan was left all those long years ago, and it was from here they had left on their journey along the Sublime Path.

It was nearly Zilanderan’s tomb.

The Brothers were ecstatic to find that two of their number had return, and they celebrated by raising Zilanderan to the rank of full brother in the Sapphire Blade. The celebration was short-lived. The Chaos Demons massed and launched an all out assault on the citadel. The battle raged for nine days, and despite reinforcements by the Great Order of the Diamond Mind, the Citadel could not stand. Dozens of Brothers fell to the demonic horde, and more were gravely wounded before they could retreat.

Among these was Shalzar, who lay dying in Zilanderan’s arms on the blood-splattered Emerald Field of Xen. With his last breath, as his life bled away through a demon-haunted wound, the sensai swore his student to an oath to learn what had destroyed their home … and to learn how to stop it.

Zilanderan the Planetorn

Zilanderan quest long and far on this final quest, learning much about the nature of the universe, and becoming obsessed with what he came to see as its pillars: The Nine. He began seeing the nine in everything; the nine disciplines of the Sublime Way, the nine aspects of morality, the nine gods of Aerth’s pantheon. He now sees the true names of the Nine, believing that if he can accomplish this task, he will gain the power he needs to bind and perhaps even destroy the demons that ravaged Aerth.

This quest has finally brought him to the Prime Material Plane and its world of Oerth. It is a journey that cost him dearly. His own alternate reality was all but consumed by demons when he stumbled across an eons-old temple and the ritual needed to transport him to the one true universe. The spell brought him to the Prime Material Plane, and its planet of Oerth, but it cost him most of his power and knowledge. He has managed to keep only the purest sliver of himself … and the knowledge that something must be done to stop the demons from finding and destroy this true reality.

Organizations

• Order of the Sapphire Blade : A martial order dedicated to the perfection of the Diamond Mind maneuvers of the sword sage. Destroyed along with the Alternate Material Plane of Aerth.

Statblock

• No statblock is available for this character

NukeHavoc 22:14, 12 January 2008 (PST)