Taqaaz Eijlagh

Taqaaz Eijlagh was once the king of a mountain stronghold on the western face of the Evening Wall. He rose to power after his mining crew stumbled upon a most beautiful and powerful jewel - the heartstone of the mountain. Eijlagh took this discovery as a sign from their god, The Mother of the Mountain. With believers rallying behind him, he marched into the mountain and began to carve out the halls that he would go on to rule, with the hearthstone at the centre of his kingdom and as a symbol of his power.

As a king, he was cruel and oppressive, seeking to lead his people down from the mountain to plunder the nearby land and assert dominion over its people. To lead them, he thought, he needed to become more powerful, to demonstrate to them his right to rule. During his reign, he grew ever more obsessed with his quest for power, turning to the arcane, the divine and the devilish. It was said that he planned to cheat death - before age beat him - so that he might continue to further his power-hungry schemes.

Distracted by his selfish ends, Eijlagh began to neglect the needs of his people. Slowly, the number who remained loyal to the king dwindled, and the number of his enemies only grew, so he fled, abandoning the stronghold and fleeing in the company of his few remaining followers.

For years after the stronghold was abandoned, there was no word of what fate had befallen the mad king. His kingdom within the mountain, left unprotected, was overrun by Orcs, Goblins, and other foul beasts. Villagers from nearby dared not step foot near the stronghold, not only for fear of bumping into a band of orcs, but also for their belief that the king had left the stronghold cursed.

In the year 1266 of the Seventh Era, Eijlagh achieved lichdom, through the creation of several phylacteries in which he was able to store fragments of his soul. He remained hidden for almost a hundred years after this, building an army of the dead and making allies across Auriin.

In the year 1363, he began a campaign of terror in Western Morlan, marching his undead horde West into Nurfel, laying waste to many small settlements and recruiting the newly dead to his army. After a year of such attacks, a group of adventurers took the initiative to seek out and destroy the last suspected phylactery of the Lich King - the heartstone of Mount Bhachai. In doing so, the adventurers razed the mountain, but also severely weakened Eilagh.

In a final standoff between Eilagh and the same group of adventurers, supported by soldiers from Inshe, Taqaaz Eilagh was killed in Ugolnya, in the year 1364. It was assumed that all of the lich's phylacteries had been destroyed, and that his death was permanent.