Tyranthraxus of the Clock
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Tyranthraxus |
|---|---|
| Born: | |
| Birthplace: | Draco, Dragon Dimension |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Amethyst Dragon |
| Hair: | White |
| Eyes: | Violet |
| Height: | 5'2" (human form); 230' long from snout to tail (true form) |
| Weight: | |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | |
| Title: | Archmage of Time Magic; Commander of the Brigade of the Arcing Talon |
| Nicknames: | The Banished Wyrm |
| Hobbies: | |
| Known skills: | Time Magic; Psionics; Tyranthraxus is a gifted inventor and mechanical engineer who freely mixes his magical knowledge with technological skill |
| Favorite color: | Purple (you think?) |
| Inspiration: | |
| Motto: | |
Tyranthraxus is an Amethyst Great Wyrm who was banished from the draconic homeworld of Draco many ages ago. He is one of the oldest dragons alive – and because dragons become more powerful as they age, Tyranthraxus may well be one of the most powerful beings in the Web of Worlds today.
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The World of Draco
As a member of one of the fifteen True Dragon species, Tyranthraxus was born and raised on Draco, apart from the Web of Worlds. Sometime after his thousandth year, Tyranthraxus would have attained the rank and status of a Wyrm in Draco society, and would thereby have been admitted into the Council of Wyrms – the dragons' ruling body. Because of the isolation of Draco from the rest of the Web, the details from here are entirely unknown, but somehow, something Tyranthraxus did got him expelled from the Council and banished from the world of Draco altogether.
The Banished Wyrm
Tyranthraxus was sent to Dragon III toward the tail end of the Time of Titans. True Dragons were rare in the Dragon Dimension then, having been overthrown by the Titans many ages prior. His one goal during this time was survival, which he excelled at thanks to his natural gifts of magic and mindwalking. Over time, he learned new tricks and took up a study of the sorcery that came naturally to dragonkind.
As time went on, the Web opened up. Tyranthraxus moved through the portals as he found them, travelling to new realms and learning new ways. The phenomenon of the portals fascinated him, and he took up their study. He moved through them himself; he sent subjects through them. He cast spells in an attempt to modify the portals, change their flow and destination. Over the course of centuries, he mastered manipulating the portals – inadvertantly mastering the art of Time Magic that was practiced in the Merge Dimension.
Tyranthraxus of the Clock
After centuries of mastering the strand portals, Tyranthraxus arrived in the Merge Dimension. Here, he discovered the order of Time Mages, and he joined its number. Because of his study of the strand portals, Tyranthraxus very quickly rose up through the ranks, quickly attaining the status of an Archmage. While he was quite powerful, he still clung to the lessons he had learned during the Time of Titans, and opted to keep a low profile -- or as low a profile as he could manage, given his mastery of magic.
The Merge League
Tyranthraxus was one of the elder wizards who offered tutelage to Alkar when he was young. While Alkar's first choice was to study with the Order of Time Mages, Tyranthraxus was the first to recognize Alkar's strong aptitude for the elements of destruction, and so sent him off to study with the Order of Black Mages. The old wyrm made a point to keep in touch with young Alkar, sensing tremendous potential in him. Because of what he'd seen in the wider Web, Tyranthraxus encouraged Alkar to visit places like Mysidia and Thamasa as part of a magical exchange – believing, correctly, that Alkar's aptitude for sorcery would allow him to expand his repertoire and learn foreign magical methods and techniques. Tyranthraxus was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Alkar's ambition to establish a powerful magocracy in Merge. He followed and supported Alkar as he rose to the rank of Archmage, and then again as he came into contention for the post of Grand Master. As leader of the Order of Black Mages, Alkar was exactly where he needed to be to establish the Merge League.
Unexpectedly, Alkar's initial tenure as leader of the League came up short. One of Alkar's childhood friends, the Red Grand Master Stantalias, turned against him and defeated him in combat, killing him outright. Stantalias ascended to a position of leadership over the Merge League's Council of Sorcery, and Alkar's allies (like Tyranthraxus) found themselves exposed and vulnerable.
Tyranthraxus did his own part to ensure Alkar's dream didn't permanently die. While Alkar's confederates absconded with his corpse and employed the forbidden Life Magic to raise him from the dead, Tyranthraxus used his own mastery of time magic to keep Alkar's whereabouts and activities obscured while he was in hiding. Through it all, Tyranthraxus counseled patience, urging Alkar to wait until the time was right to reveal himself and take back control over the Merge League.
The time turned out to be right during the aftermath of the Leviathan War. As the dust settled from the conflict between the Mages and the Dwarves, Alkar emerged. With Tyranthraxus' help, Alkar expelled Stantalias and his loyalists and solidified his control over the Council. A challenge came from Lord Dornar, Grand Master of the Order of Callers, who attempted to wrest control of the Council of Sorcery for himself, but Lord Alkar would not be denied and slew the conspirators to man.
As Lord Tempis, Grand Master of Time, was one of Dornar's allies, there was an opening in the leadership of the Order of Time Mages. Alkar offered the spot to his old mentor, but Tyranthraxus declined. Instead, he applied himself to designing and building new weapons of war for the Merge League.
The Three Brigades
After the Leviathan War, Lord Alkar decreed that there should be a formal military service for the Merge League. He divided the League's forces into three Brigades: the Icy Heart, the Flaming Fist and the Arcing Talon. The Icy Heart was a mostly infantry force, dominated by Red Mages and Sword Mages (Black Magic-users who could channel spells through their weapons). They required little in the way of Tyranthraxus' attention, since in the field they would rely mostly on their own magic and combat abilities.
The Brigade of the Flaming Fist was to be the Merge League's armored assault force. Here, Tyranthraxus employed his art of invention, creating for the Merge League the mecha-scale Siege Golems. Siege Golems were enormous stone automatons piloted by wizards, and armed with both crushing stone fists as well as magic-powered "cannons" (which were actually more like mecha-scale wands). Tyranthraxus also devised the Stone Horse golem, a vehicle-scale construct that served as a quadrupedal APC.
For the Brigade of the Arcing Talon (over which Tyranthraxus himself served as Commander), he built a fleet of powerful airships that borrowed heavily from the magical technology of the Lunarians, the Eldrakyn and the Dark Wrath. The Arcing Talon ships could fly and fight both in atmosphere and in space, which allowed the Merge League to project force offworld and challenge the monopoly on spacepower that the Guardians had enjoyed in Merge ever since the collapse of the IJF.
The Merge War
Tyranthraxus earned international attention during the Merge War when his Arcing Talon fleet went head-to-head with the Guardian Space Fleet. While they did not score a decisive victory against the technologically superior Guardians, the fact that the Arcing Talon was able to hold its own and prevent the GSF from exerting pressure on planetside Merge League assets during the fighting earned Webwide respect for the Merge League's new space force, and respect among military commanders for Tyranthraxus' capable leadership of his fleet.
Reborn
Tyranthraxus retains his post as the Commander of the Arcing Talon. To date, only a small number of people know that he is actually a dragon disguised as an elderly, absent-minded master of time magic.
