| Category | Heroes | ||
| Alias | Ageless Emperor | ||
| Region | Grashakh | ||
| Class | 25th fighter / 20th psionicist / 10th war mind | ||
| Race | Lith-Crillion | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Title |
| ||
| Alignment | lawful evil | ||
| Deity | Gruumsh | ||
| Birthplace | Crillion Comet | ||
| Born | 2 Artifice 2455 LE | ||
| Died | 18 Bloom 1832 |
One of the first record's of this enigmatic figure comes from the iron tomes, the war journals of the future god Gruumsh. Named the Cadence, these writings are the personal account of every battle that Gruumsh fought in. In book 114, the last of the series, is the account of Gruumsh battling the goblin god Maglubiyet. It mentions a Lith-Crillion named Blac'drugulois then serving as Gruumsh's chief of military intelligence and how he was instrumental in cornering Maglubiyet. In 588 HE, following Maglubiyet's demise, Gruumsh became a Higher Power. Blac'drugulois, became a mortal emissary for Gruumsh, returning to Bal-Kriav with orders to spread his "masters" will upon the Orc people.
Blac'drugulois travelled many lands, leaving the boring task of spreading the word of Gruumush to his helpers. He instead turned to more important matters, studying and gathering an inventory of Orc civilization. He found them spread apart, living a nomadic life, chaotic in their ways and generally inclined to evil deeds. With a high regard for Law's aspects, Blac'drugulois was often at odds with the orcs and their inclination for chaos. He had the same problem with Gruumush, only putting up with him because of the Urkal Directive which he was bound to. This directive, from Urkalzîr's Board of Overminds, was the primary reason for Blac'drugulois's continued service to Gruumsh, long after most of his kind died off. Eventually, some time late in the Lith-Crillion Era, Blac'drugulois and Gruumsh parted ways. This was not the end of their relationship.
In 993, having put aside the matter of the Orcs, he joined the Zisi-Nul. Four years later, he revealed to them the location of their lost fortress Limbgud. This act created such trust and friendship, that years later the Zisi-Nul would answer Blac'drugulois's call; eventually make him an emperor and fixing the Orc dilemma.
In 1022, Blac'drugulois entered the pages of Tamlêrran. In this nation, one held together by wizard-governors, he spent a decade in Sector Inzilthôr, battling Artaxertus's icy legions. Blac'drugulois, a foreigner to Tamlêrran, and of a race most thought extinct, convinced his employer's of his desire for purpose and bring law to the frontier. Tamlêrran's masters, the Zenduram, considered the possibility that Blac'drugulois was an agent of the gods or an impostor using the visage of a Lith-Crillion to imply trust and awe. Proving unreadable to their magic, his mind mentally shielded, he proved his usefulness on the field, gaining their trust. On one mission to test his meddle and reliability, the Zenduram sent him to a dangerous area with a unit of expendable soldiers. When this unit returned, eight years later, it was an army of crack soldiers, bolstered by fire giants and frost giants. These giants, normally the enemies of Tamlêrran, were convinced they were fighting for the wrong cause (with psychic surgery to make it stick). The 14th Tamar-Zidân Mountain Division, led by Blac'drugulois, was also accompanied by a team of special contractors from the githzerai mercenary legion Zisi-Nul. Close allies of Blac'drugulois, they helped train and keep order in what became a multi-racial mercenary army feared by their enemies.
He was the greatest War Mind of the Second and Third Epochs, he turned a people bent on chaos and destruction into a lawful guided force that became the most powerful empire of Brucrumus. He foresaw his death in the Third Epoch, giving me a memory crystal to secure safely beyond this door.
- vault door rune carving inside Torazan Sanctum
In 1031, Blac'drugulois killed one of Tamlêrran's wizard-governors. Some say this came from an attempt to break up his army. Seeing how easy it was take down an arch-mage, of a powerful state on the border with Artaxertus, Blac'drugulois decided that some house-keeping was in order. After proclaiming himself head of the Tamar-Zidân state, he moved his forces against a neighboring state. This was a diversion, as he and the Zisi-Nul infiltrated Tamlêrran's capital, quickly taking it over. The surprise and quickness of it shocked the country's wizard-governors. Blac'drugulois rule was short-lived. He lacked the numbers to hold the capital. He was captured six months later. Over half of his mercenary company perished in the streets of Nizgimân. Blac'drugulois was imprisoned for murder, insurrection, and a laundry list of other crimes against the state and humanity. Considered too dangerous to be left in a prison, Tamlêrran's High Court gave a the sentence of death by disintegration. This was not to happen. After paying off a guard, he was moved to an area free of the Travel Impenetrability Ward. Using his psionic abilities, he teleported to Limbgud, joining the Zisi-Nul survivors of his failed coup.
In 1040, he turned up in the Kal-Oni Empire. It was the beginning of a plot to convince Gruumsh to see things his way. He had not forgotten his task of creating a unified, strong orc base of power, solidifying the will and religion of Gruumsh behind armies that would not as soon turn on each other than their enemies.
In southeastern Hells Womb, then the heart of the Kal-Oni Empire, Blac'drugulois, skilled and highly charismatic, quickly established himself as a commander of one of their armies. This army was sent to combat the Graagvrii of Ghar-Lakh. After heavy drinking, and disrespect from some Tragarans, Blac'drugulois went on a murder spree, wiping out a reputable Tragaran family that had made it clear they were against a foreigner leading a Kal-Oni army. Rather than face trial which he suspected would be stacked against him, he fled to the frontier.
In 1041, Blac'drugulois intercepted orcs migrating northward through Hells Womb towards Grashakh. They had been pushed out by his old Kal-Oni employers. During the orc's Arduous March (1041 - 1096), Blac'drugulois was contacted by Gruumsh. He was given the go-ahead to do things his way. Blac'drugulois dispatched the orc's leader, and by tradition, became their new leader. On their journey of strength and hardship he re-molded the orcs under him, educating them like other civilized races, simplifying their language, writing laws for them, indoctrinating their mind with psychic surgery. Today, the descendants of these orcs are called the Githirmil.
In 1096, Blac'drugulois established the Orchish Empire. His reign lasted until his mortal death in 1832. It is widely believed, that the Orchish Empire would not be what is today without the influence of Blac'drugulois, and more importantly, the Githirmil race would never have come into being.
Emperor Blac'drugulois was killed in the Grashakh Front by his long-time foe Drog'paagol. Is said that the Realm Stalkers had a part in the events that led up the fight between the two old foes. The ruins where he perished, Surkiln, is plagued with psychic terrors and other horrors which are attributed to his death. The Second Orchish Civil War started soon after the death of Blac'drugulois. At the end of this war, Monty the Mad became the new emperor of the Orchish Empire.
Blac'drugulois was a very charismatic and intelligent person. When guile and wit failed, he could fall back on his masterly skills as a fighter-psionicist. He was of an unknown race; some think that he was a Lith-Crillion released from some hibernation chamber or that he returned from wherever the Lith-Crillion disappeared to.
During his reign, Emperor Blac'drugulois focused much of his time on intrigue, world domination schemes, and psionic studies. He was highly intelligent and wise beyond most mortals. He seems to have started to go insane in the 1800s. His mental prowess seem to weaken and he started to show signs that he was losing control of Orchish Empire.
The experiment has gone bad. Modragh and I created something more terrible than either of us thought could happen. Five years of research by the Court, and explorations to ancient locales and across realms has ended with the creation of a monster of true power. It was uncontrollable, unbridled rage, we fought for a long time against it. It was greater than any beholder we have ever seen. It had 24 different eye rays, 12 gaping maws and a hide equal to the skin of a Demon Lord. Modragh fell in the fight, and so did the gibbering orb. I am weakened, my mind suffers some, am I going insane?
- Blac'drugulois, personal journal - "Hollow 1812"
As an emperor, Blac'drugulois was served by brilliant advisors - the Court of One Hundred Eyes, generals of the High Command, and the clandestine group Overwatch.