Jason Blackthorne, the Last Storm King, is one of the most renowned figures in Aradian history. He is famous for killing the Underking Vermithrax in single combat, effectively ending the Demon Wars in a single stroke and reconnecting the old kingdoms of the Thunderlands to mainstream Aradian society. He created House Blackthorne as a ruling body of his kingdom, the Thunderlands, and his dynasty continues to this day. Although adored by the realm and a frequent subject of portraiture, art and historical speculation, Jason was a private man and there are a number of mysteries about his life that remain unsolved. All accounts agree that he was a fair and honorable ruler who fought tirelessly against the demon threat, and to repair the realm after what it suffered during the war. He is revered by his descendants, and many young aspiring heroes, as the ideal role model.
During the Final Battle for Everglow City, it was discovered that Jason had become Mordaghast, the Void's Second Underking.
Appearance and Character[]
Jason was described as a classical hero in his appearance. He had a commanding presence and a powerful speaking voice that gave him a magnetic charisma. His High Elven ancestry made him tall, lithe and strikingly beautiful; portraiture made of him in his youth shows his shoulder-length red hair, calm grey eyes, high cheekbones, slightly pointed ears, dimpled chin and handsome jawline. In later life, his hair turned a rustier color and he grew a thick chest-length beard. Despite these changes, accounts at the time of his death would say that he looked no older than 30. He often wore fine clothes in the colors blue and silver, wearing little jewelry save for a sapphire broach that kept his hair from his eyes and a golden pendant about his neck. In wartime he would don a suit of enchanted Brecilidian scale armor that was said to shine as if it were made of diamonds. He would carry the sword Redwing to battle, though some accounts claim that he preferred to wield a lance or spear. He was rarely seen without his constant companion, a great grey she-griffin named Nimue. His personal arms were a silver griffin on a blue field, which later become the banner of House Blackthorne.
Jason was a charismatic and wise leader. He worked tirelessly to defeat the demons hordes and achieve peace with the mainland; accounts from historians describe his calmness and patience, and how he could lighten any situation with gentle witticisms. He was a diplomat, and though he had few close friends he never had enemies for long, always managing to reconcile past grievances. Curiously, there are no records of him displaying any of the arrogance, avarice and amorality that his descendants would later become known for.
By the time he had become Mordaghast, Jason was a demon in body but even moreso in spirit. He was completely misanthropic and sociopathic, cripplingly addicted to swilling demon-blood, believing only in his crusade to become a New God and seeing no value in any of the lives he was destroying. He was haunted by his inability to control the deaths of his wife & son, and appeared disturbed by reminders of his old life and mindset, particularly concerning his relationship with his father Balthazar. It is unclear how much of his monstrousness was caused by his Void-mutations, and how much the "heroic" demeanour he was known for by the Aradian populace was truly genuine.
Skills and Abilities[]
Jason was a legendary warrior, the only living terrestrial to have slain an adult Wyvern. It is said he was a master-at-arms, and was unsurpassed on the training field with any weapon he turned his hand to. He had an affinity for polearm weapons such as staves, lances, spears and halberds, but more often used the ancestral greatsword Redwing. Jason was also an extremely powerful sorcerer, master terramancer who could bend the elements to his will. His abilities ranged from creating terrifying tornados that could destroy entire demon encampments, to revitalizing barren earth so life and crops could spring from it again. He was bonded with a she-griffin and was a lethal aerial combatant, but was equally skilled on horseback, being among the first winners of the Everglow Tourney at the age of 79. Jason also had considerable skill as an orator, tactician and political leader.
His centuries conquesting in the Void unlocked the upper limits of his power. It could be said that before his death he was the most magically powerful being to have lived since the time of Vermithrax and Aradia.
History[]
Young Jason, without armor
Early details of Jason's life are sketchy at best; after the First Blackthorne Civil War his son Jarvis had most Stormlord histories put to the torch, leaving the details of his father's life lost to the annals of time. Accounts from historians describe Jason's recollections of his youth; he was born into a poverty-striken shadow of the old Western kingdoms, and it is said that his father the King held a loveless marriage with Jason's mother, who was the King's seventh wife (the rest had died without issue). Queen Arielle wanted desperately to intervene in the Demon Wars, but the aging King refused her at every turn, insisting that the Thunderlands must keep to their own as his ancestors had decreed. Jason suggested that his mother eventually died of a winter fever, and that his father was consumed by the rot that had become common to High Elves. As soon as he was coronated, Jason looked across the ocean to see the mountain-sized King Vermithrax descending onto the battlefield and decided that his mother had been right--the time had come to intervene. Mounting his griffin Nimue, he flew to the Deadlands and struck Vermithrax dead, and thereafter aided the rest of the realm in destroying the remaining demon forces. He was revered for his actions and given a seat on the re-established Everglow Senate. He ruled justly until his death at the age of 100.
As Mordaghast[]
During their journey into the Void to confront the Underking, a group of mages that included Jason's descendant Talia Blackthorne discovered that he had become the Seocnd Underking, Moradghast.
Jason elaborated upon his own backstory in dialogue, revealing the extensive history of physical, psychological and sexual abuse he had suffered under his father's rule as a child. When the abuse led to his mother's death, Jason turned on his father and "cut out his heart" using Balthazar's own blade Zerstodhia, before undoing his father's schemes by killing Vermithrax, establishing himself as a great hero to the aradian people. His actions were governed in part by prophetic dreams he'd had since childhood, a sort of omnipotence that was a part of Vermithrax's gift; he was able to see a future where a descendant of both himself and Vermithrax would rule over a great "Shadow Empire," becoming even more than the Old Gods he had deposed.
Despite his new heroic reputation, he would occasionally engage in deception in order to maintain business relationships with the aradian lords, creating a fake demon known as Mordaghast using a simple light cantrip to frighten local peasant populations. With Divankul Dul-Sansiska discovered his scheme, Jason used an experimental terramancy technique "Indoctrination" to hide the knowledge from the Drow and preserve his reputation. While not entirely malicious, this proved he was not the morally pure hero he made himself out to be.
Despite his great power, Jason could not prevent the deaths of his wife Antigone and son Gawain. This severely damaged his self-worth and sanity. Following the terminal illness of his youngest child Jaster, Jason is implied to have conducted experiments in his indoctrination technique in an attempt to save the child's life, though it was unsuccessful and he managed only to create a half-alive abomination chained to his will. He grew increasingly restive, unhappy in his second marriage & disdainful of life as a mere nobleman. He had grown in a time when gods walked the earth, had considered himself to be among their number, but was now forced to live a mundane existence dogged by loss and failure. Jason became obsessed with achieving greater power, and ultimate control over death; to this end, he departed his mortal life, faking his death using a force-grown corpse and disappearing into the Void.
Jason's subjugation of the Void took centuries, a brutal and unceasing conquest. He killed Vermithrax's daughters, Androvax and Caliborn, and sexually enslaved the youngest daughter Imshael. In his conquering he was aided by the first to come to his side, the Void Elves led by Malakai. Eventually he controlled an army numbering millions. Over his long trek, his mind and body became distorted by the chaotic immatereum of the Void. Any altruistic reasons behind his quest for power faded and he became violently misanthropic, convinced that the Blackthornes had created a nihilistic world void of meaning in absence of its original creators, and that it needed a new central authority--himself. He would cleanse Terros of all life, cleanse the Void as well, then rebuild new life of his own, free of the original creator's influence.
Jason's power grew to the point that he could project his influence into the terrestrial world. Guided by his premonitions, he touched the mind of a noble's child named Isabella Karhall and filled her mind slowly with his evil, indoctrinating her into becoming his servant. He manipulated her actions, steering her into using his own descendants to create the first new terramancer in centuries, Talia Blackthorne. His intention was to take the girl as a mate, using the Terramancer offspring he sired on both her and Imshael to repopulate the world with a new race of superhumans in order to fulfil his ambitions.
His eventual crusade & march upon the terrestrial world, in the Second Great Demon War, ultimately proved unsuccessful; his mortal servants turned on him, and he died at last after having his own power turned against him by Talia.
Legacy[]
Jason was married first to a High Elven beauty named Antigone, with whom he had a son named Gawain. Antigone passed away after succumbing to the withering curse that had subsumed her family, and Jason did not re-marry for many years. When he did he chose a daughter of the now-extinct human House Loghain, with whom he had a second son Jarvis. This marriage also yielded a third son, a boy named Jaster; the boy died young, though records are conflicted as to how. Gawain eventually married Yelena and had a single son named Agravain. Gawain himself was slain in single combat with the Black Knight of Brackensbridge in 314AE, and when Jason died this left Agravain next in line for succession--however, this was unlawfully disputed by Jarvis, sparking a civil war. Jarvis' eventual victory drastically changed Jason's vision for the House; they did away with their sorcery and focused instead upon their finances, soon becoming a grotesquely wealthy dynasty who used the influence their forefather gave them to undermine and exploit other Houses.
Jason's machinations as Moradghast led to an almost total collapse and culling of the Aradian populace. it is estimated that millions of terrosian lives were lost during his genocidal crusade. Nevertheless, at the whims of his many-times-great-granddaughter Queen Talia I, his identity as Mordaghast was not revealed to the public and thus he remains celebrated as a hero into the modern age. Thus his legacy is protected, and House Blackthorne stands strong.
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