The Beast was an archmage of fearsome power who lived during the great mage wars and into the holy wars. One of the most powerful magelords to have ever lived and a natural genius at magic, she delighted in combat and took far more risks than most of her peers, frequently leading armies from the front and duelling other wizards to death eagerly. The Beasts real name is long since lost, rumour has it that it was erased by magic to protect her, her nickname was given to her for her brutality and for the fear that she inspired in her foes. While most magelords plotted and struck from afar, the Beast would march straight up to a foe and slay him with a grin.

During the Holy Wars, the Beast was targeted for death by the Paladins but managed to not only survive but take the fight to them, slaying many famous paladins. In the end it was rival magelords that struck her down, waiting patiently until she was confronted by paladins then using far flung spells to strips her protections. Incredibly, the Beast managed to survive the combined paladin/magelord attack but even her incredible self confidence was not enough to deny the obvious, with every spellcaster out to kill her, she would not be able to prevail. Reluctantly she sought out mages that used dimensional magic, killing them and taking their spells and items. She quickly learnt how to travel the aether and travel to new worlds and moved herself and her magical resources across to the New World.

On her arrival she rapidly came into contact with a race of orks dwelling in the Southern mountains. Their initial hostility to her (they mistook her for an elf) led to violence and the subsequent devastation nearly eradicated the orks, reducing their numbers so much that they ceased to bother anyone for several centuries afterwards. This outpouring of magical rage did not go unnoticed and the Elves of Linisfarn sent an envoy to meet with the Beast to try and divine her intent. The Beast, acting as she always had, killed the envoy, interrogated her ghost and began to attack the southern Linisfarn towns, sacking them and acquiring slaves, vis and loot, which she immediately put to use building a new fortress. Shocked at the speed and violence with which she moved, not to mention the almost offhand way she destroyed several powerful groups of mages and warriors sent to kill her, the Empress personally led a circle of her high mages to perform a mighty ritual, blasting the Beasts mind and transforming her into a small animal. Although her mind was shattered and her magic spent, she was left with enough self awareness to know what she had been reduced to and how much she had lost. The Empress decreed that she would suffer this way one decade for each elf she had slain and placed powerful spells upon her to ensure she did not die from predators or natural causes.

The Beast, initially only aware of her own animalistic urges and a near crippling sense of loss, spent decades doing little more than living as a small rabbit type creature. Over time however, her mind began, ever so slowly to reconstruct itself. Tiny pieces of sentience and memory returned. The Beast did not come back as she had been. As her sentience returned she came deeply attuned with her animalistic side, becoming truly a beast with the mind of a (very strange, heavily altered) woman.

Now, centuries after the Empresses curse, she has regained considerable magical power, although in a very different form to her previous powers. She now has considerable shapeshifting abilities but usually prefers to wander the forests as a large white bear.

The Beast has bound herself to the forest in a strange fashion, making herself at one with its ways. She is respected, feared and worshipped by various goblin tribes and occasionally acts the part, helping or hurting the tribes in accordance with their beliefs. While she is greatly changed, she is still capable of conversing with other humans although she is very much out of practice.

If she is approached respectfully and is suitably impressed by the applicant, she will talk with them.

Only a few words should suffice to reveal that she speaks Nassian with an archaic accent because she was from Nathas. Further conversation reveals that:-

- She was a mage who committed great evils there and was forced to flee by her enemies.

- She arrived here and immediately carried on her attacks, eventually being stopped and cursed by the Elves of the East.

- She has overcome the punishment of the curse and restored her mental faculties and is disgusted with her past behaviour.

- She considers herself a spirit of the forest now, much as the locals do.

- She can teach the PCs her magics, if they are willing to listen.

Teachings of the Beast

The beast can teach others to learn as she has learnt, becoming closer to nature and more in tune with their own spirit than they were before. Their progress through her teachings are based heavily upon her own path through life and particularly her recovery from a near mindless beast. Her teachings have the Lore skill “Beast Lore”.

First Step

Initiates Heartbeast

Target 15

Script: +8

+2 the ritual is conducted during the perihelion of the greater moon and at a place of outstanding natural beauty and great isolation

+3 Mystagogue spends a season training the initiate in cult lore

+3 Minor Ordeal (Lose ability to create talismans)

Mystagogue needs pre + Beast Lore = 7

The first step is one that any druid will have already taken but is a good way to gain the heartbeast for those who haven’t. The beast learnt this ability during her time on Nathas and is a reflection of her original training under a mage would was an initiate of powerful nature magic. The Beasts heartbeast was a wolverine, a form she can still take when she wishes. The initiate makes a sacrifice of power by forever having the ability to create talismans removed. If she already has a talisman it must be destroyed and can never be recreated. Before the ritual, the beast tutors the initiate in her teachings, relating stories, tales and anecdotes of her wanderings and battles, each with a hidden meaning, metaphor or allegory. The ritual itself takes place in an area of unspoilt wilderness and takes several days or weeks travel to get there. The initiate must arrive in time for the perihelion of the planets greater moon, which happens every two years during spring. This moon is strongly linked with shapechangers, werebeasts and change and is at its strongest then. The initiate undergoes the ritual exposed to the sky, usually on the top of a hill or forest clearing.

Second Step

Initiates Secret Name

Target 12 (15 - 3 for previous ordeal) or 15 (if already had a heartbeast)

Script: +8

+2 ritual performed on the anniversary of the initiate birth

+3 Mystagogue spends a season training the initiate in cult lore

+3 Ordeal (Gain flaw: weak magic resistance – Minor – those who know the secret name)

Mystagogue needs pre + Beast Lore = 4 or 7 (as above)

One of the Beasts great defences and one that was known to very few was that early in her life she underwent the ritual of the Secret Name, loosing her identity but in return becoming much stronger against sympathetic magic. With this added defence, she was able to resist far flung spells that her enemies threw against her with greater ease.

She still very much believes in the power of its defence but more than that now sees the secret names potential to change a person, by removing the links to their old identity, they gain power over their future, making themselves more the masters of their own destiny.

After another season of listening to the Beasts rambling stories and legends, the initiate is led to a prepared cave and, in utter blackness and silence, conducts the ritual on the anniversary of their birthday.

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