Kezgihr

In the Demon Spawn War, Kezgihr was a throne archon serving in the military unit Zephyr Talon. This unit was under the command of Silvanus, but since he had many duties in the war, it was often left in the command of his five top commanders. One of these commanders was Kezgihr. The commanders of Zephyr Talon worked to defeat the demon armies of Graz'zt that were invading Ma'Ohari. The battles with the demons were brutal with lopsided fights with the unit resorting to assassinations and clandestine operations to defeat an overwhelming enemy. The clandestine operations served to major purposes - gathering intelligence and demoralizing the enemy. Demon morale-breaking often took the form of mutilation of those captured and consumption of those killed. The demons also had numbers on their side. These factors caused some in the Zephyr Talon to look for an edge. Kezgihr was one of the ringleaders that led to him and one other commander, and four captains becoming known as the Forsaken Six. When a rumor spread that an investigation was going to happen into the group's blood rituals, Kezgihr got paranoid. His fear of being discovered and suffering the wrath of Silvanus was such that he murdered one of his fellow commanders. This was done so that he could use his victim's blood in a powerful spell called Sight of the Dead Walker. The spell proved the rumor false and Kezgihr's actions turned him evil. He quickly fled the company of Zephyr Talon but not so far that Silvanus could not punish him. Silvanus pronounced a curse on him that to live he must drink blood or seek redemption by dying and letting Hades decide his fate. Kezgihr decided to live.

There was a side effect to the curse bestowed upon Kezgihr. At the time Silvanus was still an archangel and did not have the foresight of a god, so the curse he cast interacted with the magic of the Sight of the Dead Walker. The residual entropic energy of the spell and the curse combined into something more deadly. This caused Kezgihr to not only need blood for sustenance, but to have blood cravings. When he started preying on his former unit, usually by incapacitating them and taking a small, non-life threatening sip, they resolved to put him down. Kezgihr was tracked down and killed. His body was thrown into a pyre and then the ashes spread to the winds. The next day Kezgihr rose from the ashes as a very powerful undead, and that night he went after his closest associates, the other five that had participated in the questionable rituals. He charmed them, and then drained each of so much blood that they were brought to death's door. They were then forced to drink the blood of someone they had once called friend. Kezgihr, created five others like him, but well shy of the master. The Forsaken Six became Bal-Kriav's first vampires.

By the end of the God Era, most of the Forsaken Six had been hunted down and slain, but by then they had spread vampirism far and wide. Kezgihr was never found, remaining on the wanted list of such organizations as Ishtu Irrai and the Wardens of Bal-Kriav for thousands of years.

After becoming a vampire, he was hunted by his former unit. He fled west into the territory of Graz'zt and then into Gulimbor. He waited out the Demon Spawn War, and after the demons and angels were gone, returned to Ma'Ohari and took up residence in the Zan Urk mountains. Here he went out to prey on the demons of Varelay and even helped get some vampires captured for use in the demon experiments that went on at Drachlaz.

In the First Merioss Crusade, Kezgihr was behind the rise of the vampire lords and the organized threat they posed to the people of Smizerak. When Drachlaz fell to Smizerak and her allies, Kezgihr was noticeably absent from the pyre of bodies.

Three years after the First Merioss Crusade, in 923 HE, Kezgihr founded the group Grisapho Vu'tira - the first of the Blood Cults of Kezgihr. The modus operandi of Grisapho Vu'tira was organizing vampires and using their collective might to take out foes like the Night Vigil, Radiant Cross, and elite vampire hunting units out of Smizerak. Because of their enemy's skill in fighting vampires, the cult became less militant and more clandestine.

Around 950 HE, Kezgihr went to Hezmort and started more Blood Cults. These cults preyed on the population and after a time turned the entire population into vampires and then depopulated the countryside of warm blooded creatures. These cults broke up during the chaos that followed from a land devoid of things for vampires to feed upon. This happened about four centuries after Kezgihr left them to start more blood cults in distant lands. The vampires began a migration north into fresh lands which required a trek across five hundred miles of scorching desert. The Barba'gom desert became the grave of many, but those that made it across began preying on the Gimrune. This started a period of history called the Feeding of Kezgihr.

Kezgihr has gained cult followers in some societies by convincing them that blood is a holy liquid, and that its offering to him will bring a blessing. The blood left in the offering dish is then consumed by vampires trying to keep a low profile in a society where the cult is starting to gain traction. The blessing often comes about from vampires using stealth, charm, deception, and even gold to keep up the act. These cult practices along with more militant ones have went on for thousands of years, and across many continents, leading to the ascent of Kezgihr and him becoming a demi-power.