Teleros Fireheart

From Egs Mayhem

Current revision as of 10:53, 24 October 2007

A character / muse used by Teleros in the defence of EGS. He doesn't tend to involve himself directly, but then that's probably a good thing. Usually only brought out to irritate other characters or the occasional comic moment, he's also available for tying up other overpowered characters.
Unlike Teleros' other characters, he also tends to pop up in OOCZone, breaks the Fourth Wall (mainly because it's there), openly defies his creator and the like. He's even begun appearing in non-RP threads. Irritatingly, it also means that where one goes, so goes the other - making him very difficult to permanently stop: he has something of a symbiotic relationship with his creator.

Character Information

• Name: Teleros Fireheart
• Age: Over 17,000 years. He doesn't really care, and time travel complicates things too.
• Gender: Male
• Species: A bit complicated: he was one of the Kaldorei, but left behind his physical body millennia ago.
• Height: 8ft 2"
• Notes: Ambidextrous. He's not technically an elf any more, but he uses this same physical body all the time as it's easier to interact with things this way than as an incorporeal entity.
• Font Colour: Red

Personality: He's been described as insane, psychopathic, a megalomaniac, an evil genius, rude, sarcastic, a one-man army of destruction, arrogant beyond belief... and those were the nicer things people have said about him. His personal morals go something like "me, myself and I" - if he does something it's because it benefits him in some way. His temper is also on a pretty short fuse, so be careful - he has little regard for anything as trivial as "the law" for example.
Although he's got a brilliant mind and is very clever, it's cloaked in an extremely abrasive personality. There is also a hint of insanity here - not the perhaps comical variety but the "unsettling" sort, as if he's got a few screws loose (which he does). This is due primarily to an obsessive lust for magical energies (and misuse of said magic) only his indomitable will keeps in check: he walks a knife-edge between remaining who and what he is and falling into demonhood.
When he's really pissed off you can often see lightning arcing between the strands of his hair, and magic tends to escape him with destructive results (maybe the pub down the road spontaneously explodes).
Although if he wants something he will usually just take the direct approach, a change is as good as a rest and he does occasionally try the usual convoluted plans. In the past he's also taken on the odd "apprentice", not out of kindness but to see how down the road to damnation they go, or whether they can resist it like he does.
He also has something of a crush on Squata, although nobody's sure whether he's simply got a mile-wide masochistic streak in him, likes powerful women, or is just plain nuts.

Good or Evil?

Although you could argue that his self-obsessed and dangerous nature makes him evil, he's done plenty of good in his time - not deliberately, but by going after the most powerful sources of magic... which of course are generally held by evildoers. Rather, it's best to consider him as a force of nature, perhaps "chaotic neutral" to use the D&D system.

Appearance

This is fairly close to what he's like (closeup of face here). Note that his eyebrows are like normal human ones not those enormous things, and his irises are a fiery red (more reddish near the pupil, orange/yellow further out). Look closely and you can see pale fires dancing in his pupils too. He doesn't bother with rings, necklaces, piercings or anything like that.

His Sword: Shas An'Taer

He has a longsword with a blade rather like that of a katana, only not curved. The gold hilt a more western design (think T-shaped). It's quite ornate - a symmetrical feathered wing design, with a large ruby on the pommel. The scabbard is a very dark red, with ornate gold designs on it. For those looking at the images above, the fires only appear on the blade when he wants them to.

Physical Body

Rather than duplicate his old physical body exactly, he tends to leave out the minor things like feeling pain or needing to eat: think of it as a puppet controlled by the real thing. It is however very well protected by magical defences, but when he leaves it to go somewhere else it's just an inanimate object - you can move it, change his hairstyle or whatever, but it can piss him off.

Magic & Science

• 17,000 years of single-mindedly acquiring magic, power and knowledge has made him into virtual god. Although he is not one to use technology much (if at all), his knowledge of science can be applied to some of his spells (nuclear fireball anyone?).
• Even aside from the sheer power, his spells can be very complex, making it extremely hard to dispel for example.
• Fortunately, most beings he encounters don't have anywhere near the levels of magic he likes to consume these days. If he does though, he'll make certain he can defeat it before attacking.
• When up against lesser beings, he tends to play a behind-the-scenes role, if only because it's boring and a waste of his magic to simply wipe out armies. Occasionally he intervenes more directly, but otherwise he's content to shout encouragement from the sidelines.
• One note: don't get into a battle of wills with him: you will lose.

History

The Sundering: Lord Teleros Fireheart started life as a gifted spellcaster in the ancient, pre-Sundering Kaldorei civilisation on Azeroth. Even back then he was an arrogant but skilled mage, specialising in fire magic - indeed, he was the "Fire Mage" of Queen Azshara's court. His work in crafting glass containers capable storing both water and magics of the Well of Eternity won him many accolades. Just a few years before the Sundering he vanished for several months, returning at the end claiming to have discovered immortality. Rumours that he had somehow saved one of the great Dragon Aspects were touted, but Teleros refused to reveal a hint as to how he acquired this knowledge - much to his Queen's chagrin. Several Shen'Dralar scholars have speculated a future version of himself may even have done this.
When the Burning Legion invaded, Teleros went south, avoiding most of the demonic armies and helping to organise the resistance there. Thus he was well away from the limelight - and the centre - when the Well of Eternity imploded, shattering the supercontinent and all but destroying the ancient Kaldorei empire.
When he reached Mount Hyjal and the survivors in Ashenvale forest, he was shocked to hear of Malfurion Stormrage's decision not to form a new Well of Eternity - although he was relieved to hear his brother Illidan had done just that. In a brash attempt to show Malfurion that arcane magic was safe, he revealed one of the vials of magically empowered water he'd taken from the Well of Eternity - and drank it. His power expanded a thousandfold with this act, but it was only thanks to sheer willpower that he prevented the power from destroying him. Worse still, there was the first hint at this time that not all was well in his mind.

Exile to Quel'Thalas: As the Kaldorei began to recover and form a new society around Mount Hyjal, it became clear that arcane spellcasters were not wanted in this new realm. One of the High Borne, Dath'Remar Sunstrider, convinced many other arcane spellcasters to unleash a magical storm over the forests of Ashenvale, to prove their power to the growing ranks of druids. The storm grew beyond their ability to control however, until eventually Dath'Remar convinced Teleros to step in. The Fire Mage did - draining the storm of its arcane energies - but it was too late for the High Borne. They were banished, and a furious Lord Fireheart left with them.
The High Borne, now calling themselves the High Elves, first settled in what would later be known as the Tirisfal Glades - but not for long. A dark evil seemed to cloud the area, driving many of them to death - or madness. Dath'Remar decided to press east, but Teleros stayed. He was intrigued by this dark aura, and decided to investigate. For his part, Dath'Remar was all too happy to have the divisive Fire Mage out of his sight.
Descending deep underground, Teleros discovered a vast, spherical object, covered in the language of the elements - the prison of an Old God no less. In ages past, long before the Titans had ever set foot on Azeroth, the Old Gods had banded together to imprison this one, fearful of his power. Now, Teleros freed the Old God - and challenged it to a battle of wills.
The battle was soon over. The Old God was a master of the arcane, but he was unprepared for the diminutive elf's irresistable willpower, and his overconfidence was his undoing. Teleros consumed the Old God utterly - mind, body, powers and soul. Undreamt-of power filled him - he had ascended to godhood.

Travels: The first thing the former elf did was to create a small island off the coast of the new High Elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas, as a base of operations. Realising for the first time how many more worlds were out there, he began an extensive program to investigate them, before visiting. Dath'Remar had worried about the Fire Mage's mental health - but he should have worried more about the keen, analytical brain that was so carefully hidden behind the madness and temptation that seemed to dominate his mind.
It was not long before the name "Teleros Fireheart" was known across hundreds of worlds. On some, native peoples worshipped him as a god - a few even after his attempts to push them towards the Light instead. On others, he was reviled nearly as much as the Burning Legion itself. A few knew him as a voracious student, committing everything in every book on both science and the arcane to memory. Most, however, never knew of his comings and goings - save when some great source of power (good or evil) suddenly disappeared from their midst.
It was during these travels that he first met Nexus-Prince Haramad, leader of the "Consortium", a loose network of traders, thieves and smugglers composed primarily of Ethereals. Dealing primarily in all manner of commodities, they were also well known as information gatherers and spies, and Teleros duly employed them - the start of a long and profitable relationship.
From the Consortium he was introduced to the Naaru, a race of beings with extraordinary control over the Light and its powers. Although things started shakily, both sides came to a truce as the crystalline beings revealed the true extent of the Burning Legion's plans. For all his self-confidence, Teleros did not want to see them rebuilding the universe from scratch with themselves ruling it, and he agreed to help the Naaru when he could. And if he didn't worship the Light, he did at least respect it for its power.
In the mean time, his powers continued to grow, as did his knowledge. The island off the coast of Quel'Thalas was replaced with a pocket dimension filled with souvenirs of his journeys and the trophies of vanquished enemies. In addition to his contacts with the Consortium, the Naaru and the like he set up a quiet sideline with many in the Burning Legion, utilising their skills for his own ends, often in exchange for a few mortal souls - the demons had learnt the hard way that the Fire Mage was too powerful for the terms of any normal demonic pact to be enforced.

Back to Azeroth: All this time, Teleros had been sure to check back on Azeroth occasionally. Azeroth however had nothing more for him beyond sentimental value - even the remaining Old Gods could no longer whet his appetite, and this new "Lich King" was a joke.
All this changed however when he discovered the Discs of Norgannon - artefacts left behind by the Titans detailing some of their greatest secrets. When he heard that the dwarves of Ironforge were close to finding it, he stole them, replacing them with replicas that had had their secrets scrubbed, replaced with the words "Teleros was here" in thousands of different languages. Whilst the dwarves duly discovered their Titan origins, they were incensed at whoever had wiped whatever else had been on the discs.

Mayhem: With the knowledge of the discs at his beck and call, Teleros broke the barrier between universes, and it was not long before he was accumulating power and knowledge elsewhere - from a peek at the Octavo to long visit to the Forgotten Realms. This would be fine, were it not for his awareness of his creator and his attempts to take over...