Kalon

Played by Blair in Warlocks...

Djall...

Kalon (formerly Stjepan Shishmonglu), a talented and scholarly mage with a singular desire to join the ranks of lich overlords of Djall.

Kalon is an ancient Talathesian (Greek) word for summoner. His current abode is a desolate, long unused watchtower on a lonely windswept flank of The Spine. Where, left to his devices, he studies demon and human histories and the arcane art of lichdom. When not buried in a tome (get it?), he is honing his skills as a summoner of demons and the undead.

I would like to say that young Stjepan had a horrible childhood, pulling the wings off of flies and getting molested by the scullery maids. But he had a relatively uneventful childhood in a middle-of-the-road aristocratic household outside of Talathese. He had a few humorous clues to his magery skills during his childhood, and he always had what some would call the Gift. He communicated with the dead as a child, becoming a local celebrity by communicating with recently departed loved ones for various people. It was quirky and harmless. He was not even bullied over it, as he was considered special by most of the populace.

His father was a military adjunct of the Talathesian army, involved in logistics. He had made a small fortune as an army quartermaster. When Stjepan was a young adult he chose college over the military and the temple, as he was not in line for his father’s title. He had proven himself a more than capable history student, when his uncle, Dagobert the Usurper, his father’s younger and somewhat morally bankrupt brother stole the families’ riches, including his father’s, in his bid to usurp the Quiquampoix seat of power. Stjepan could no longer afford to stay in the university and, with nothing, was left to his own devices. A serious illness, the loss of connection to his family and several years on the streets of Talathese brought Stjepan to the bottom, and a clear understanding of the depths to which humans are willing to go. He was plucked from that miserable end by, Archebulus , a mage that recognized his talents with the dead before Stjepan joined them himself. Taken on as an apprentice, Stjepan, excelled at his studies and took to the same path as the mage. He discovered an affinity with the dead.

Archebulus was a lawful neutral mage that had an intense curiosity of the barrier between the living and the dead. He knew that Stjepan’s innate talents and ability to concentrate would make him a formidable summoner. But Archebulus was a staunch believer in not interfering in an individuals personnel philosophy(ies). He could see Stjepan’s fall into the darkness, but did nothing to slow it. Everybody was absolutely solitary in finding one’s destiny, according to him. As Stjepan gained power and knowledge he also was inextricably drawn to darkness, evil and his path into it. On a trip to a demonic plane, Stjepan met his fate, a disciple of Djall, Rhadamanthus, a demonic judge of the dead. He took Stjepan under his wing, and blessed him with the ability of Possession. Possibly to be groomed to become a lich lord, Rhadamanthus’s lich lord, to be used against his fellow Covenant partners. He sent Stjepan on a quest where he ran afoul of a god of the dead and opponent of the Djall cabal, Mot. Mot did not kill Stjepan but cursed him with Unhealing that can only be healed by a vampiric bite. Upon his return to the present plane, he was to be known only as Kalon, and was fully indoctrinated in darkness.

Kalon continued to study with Archebulus, travel to the demonic plane, where his time was largely spent perusing demonic libraries, and practice summoning. But he kept his designs to becomea lich from Archebulus. He met Academis in a couple secret mage libraries, engaging in heated but respected debate over various subjects. He also came to hate the Black Ether, finding them boorish, tunnel- visioned and sometimes just plain ignorant.

Then one day, on a nice afternoon stroll through Tartarus, Archebulus met his demise and Kalon barely escaped with his life…and the Djall Crozier. He was allowed to keep the Crozier on his own plane, but he was exiled from the demonic planes (likely there is an ulterior motive here, but demons are rarely genuous). As an apprentice but not legal partner, Kalon, was not allowed any of Archebulus’s property. Once again on his own, Kalon kicked about for awhile before securing his current isolated home and library. And, to feed his hunger for the history of magic, he secured a position with the Iron Circle, where his skills have become crucial to the mission there, and allows him enough privacy to continue his quest to become a lich.