Tatsuryuu

Everyone knows that the Titans and the Wyrm were implacable enemies. Their wars defined the First Age of the world. What has been forgotten is that those wars were not universal. Some titans and wyrm got along and even became friends.

Not all titans made their homes in the Mortal realm after the Dawn War. Some took up responsibilities in the elemental planes. The rulers of the opposed planes of Earth and Air were both titans--Korokonolkolm ruled the Plane of Earth from the mountain super-fortress of Saxum Magnus and Perkunos governed the Plane of Air from the Amber Palace at the center of the Eternal Storm. Being divorced from the Mortal realm gave them vastly extended lifespans and immense power, at the cost of their creativity and, for a lack of a better word, humanity.

Perkunos, unlike most titans, had very little interest in domination or control. Such is the nature of Air, a nature of which he partook--freedom and tolerance, coupled with randomness and unreliability. He quickly made alliance (and later deep friendship) with the Wyrm of the Waters, Tatsuryuu, ruler of the Plane of Water. He and Korokonolkom politely detested each other--Air considers Earth to be stodgy and slow, while Earth considers Air to be flighty and unserious. Earth made alliance with the Wyrm of Flame, but that is another tale.

After the Second Titan-Wyrm War ground to a stalemate, the Titan Conclave began planning for the Last Titan-Wyrm War, planning a weapon capable of bringing them total victory over their hated foes. This weapon, christened the Orb of All Might, was the brainchild of the titan rune-seer Zhaz, influenced by the whisperings of the Broken Concept of Order, an ancient demon they named Zharan. Empowered by the runic potential of the lesser titans, drawn unwillingly from the masses (reducing them to modern-day dwarven-kind), this Orb gave its wielders, the Conclave, near total dominion over the Mortal realm. At a price yet to be seen.

As they discussed their plans for war, Perkunos (an honorary member of the Conclave) took a stand. Appearing at the Conclave's council room with Tatsuryuu, he spoke out against the Orb and against their plans. He warned that the Great Mechanism would not allow a cost-less victory and reminded the Conclave of the Second Law, "All things in balance; no power without price." The Conclave did not take this well. Led by Isskap, one of the foremost warmongers of that body, they cast him out (ostensibly for treason because he was allied to a wyrm) and used the new-born Orb to curse the both of them to be forgotten forever and imprisoned in stone until "the elements shift from their course and fragment and until mortals and demons rebuke an angel for dereliction of duty." As this dread curse fell on the two of them, they gave of their elemental power to lay a counter curse against those that use the Orb--"To receive as given; all acts mirrored."

Succumbing to the Conclave's curse, Perkunos and Tatsuryuu turned to stone and their bodies were transported to a purpose-built mausoleum later known as the Halls of the Dead. As mockery, they were placed with Perkunos upright in a chair and Tatsuryuu coiled around that throne. And then were forgotten. No being, mortal, elemental, or astral, remembered that they existed. Tatsuryuu's place as ruler of elemental Water was filled by her daughter, Selesurala; Perkunos' place was never filled, as the denizens of Air didn't really need a single ruler. And thus they stayed, lost to time and memory, for more than ten thousand years.

The Conclave thought that their conditions were impossibilities, but the future proved otherwise. At the Cataclysm, the explosion caused by the misuse of the Left Eye of Qa'desh misaligned the elemental planes, bringing devastation and disarray. As a result, the former unity of the planes splintered and the current 12 planes were born. Two hundred or so years later, the adventuring team known as the Wild Cards were asked to investigate the Halls of the Dead, an ancient mausoleum near the Tuura Adam nation. There they found the (fallen) angel Titziba, she who was once tasked with maintaining the prison at the Pactum Battlefield. She was engaged in drawing spirits from the Shadows there, the spirits of those buried in that ancient place, and condemning them to oblivion or to serve, shackled to the bones of the fallen. In her madness, she had abandoned justice entirely, condemning them for crimes imagined or minor. When defeated by the Wild Cards in open combat, she called out to the White Skull, Prince of the Undead and of Black Magic, claiming to have been doing "his work" and asking for a deal, for power. When that infernal being appeared (briefely), he joined the party in rejecting her claims of "justice" and "duty", and chided her for dereliction of duty. This completed the strictures set forth by the Conclave, breaking the curse.

The Wild Cards then parleyed with the awakened Perkunos and Tatsuryuu, bringing them up to speed with the happenings in the recent past; the two then shifted out to the Astral Plane, to visit Selesurala, since ascended to the Congregation of Gods in the wake of the Cataclysm. Since then, the two of them have worked with the goddess to learn about the changes to the world since then.

Tatsuryuu, Wyrm of the Waters

Ancient Sea Dragon. Casts as level 20 sorcerer.

Personality

Speaks very seldom. Prefers action.

Ideal

Freedom. Tyrants must not be allowed to oppress the people.

Bond

My daughter Selesurala and my friend Perkunos.

Flaw

Harbors a strong desire for revenge against any remaining members of the Conclave.

Alignment

Neutral Good