Exemplars of Evil

Energy Plane, where even the boldest githyanki knights
dared not follow.
The undead pair explored the endless night until they came
upon a ruined and crumbling city—a metropolis issuing
streams of decaying stones, putrid water, and the rotting flesh
of primeval corpses. Kastya knew this place: accursed Moil,
the ancient city cast down by Orcus and later exploited by the
lich lord Acererak in his campaign to become a deity. Believing
his destiny was at hand, Kastya set out to unlock
Acererak’s secrets, and to gain
enough power to return to
Tu’narath and slay his former
mistress.
GOALS
Kastya knew that Vlaakith
would take her revenge if he
ever left the Negative Energy
Plane. He refused to spend
eternity trapped by his
fears, so he sought a
way to destroy
the lich-queen
and take her
throne. However,
Vlaakith
is one of the
mightiest beings
in the
multiverse,
and it would
take the power
of a god
to shatter her
control. Kastya
was an outcast,
freed from laws of
his people, but still
he could not bring himself to
appeal to a deity—the ways of the
githyanki were too ingrained within him. Luckily, an alternate
solution lay within the rotting city of Moil.
As the necromancer explored the various towers, avoiding
the few remaining traps and denizens, he learned much
about the fate of Acererak. Evidently, the elder lich’s bid for
divinity failed and he was consigned to a tortured existence,
trapped between realities as a vestige (see Tome of Magic).
Kastya believed that if he freed Acererak and restored him
to a living vessel, he would gain a powerful ally in his war
against the lich-queen.
What Kastya intends is no small task. Overthrowing the
legendary githyanki tyrant is daunting enough, but restoring
one of the most formidable liches ever known borders
on madness. Kastya is resolved to succeed, however, because
he knows that otherwise Vlaakith will find and destroy
him eventually.
Fortunately for him, Kastya is not alone. Some githyanki
are willing to flee Tu’narath rather than sacrifice their lives
to the lich-queen’s endless hunger, and it is these rebels that
Kastya lures to his cause. The few insurgent githyanki that
Kastya Zurith-Movya
can withstand the drain of the void, whether because they are
shielded from it or because they are undead, join the necromancer
in Bleak Hold, his floating tower on the Negative Energy
Plane. Many others are scattered across the planes, serving Kastya
in exile—though those that later have second thoughts are
brought to the Hold, where they are slain and raised as zombies
to fight in the necromancer’s growing legions.
Kastya is content to let some of his minions sow unrest
and disrupt life in and around Tu’narath, but he commits
many of them to his larger goal: the
restoration of Acererak. He believes that
he must complete four tasks
to accomplish this objective.
First, he must locate
the mysterious Fortress of
Conclusion, where Acererak
worked to ascend to
godhood. Second, he must
recruit a binder who
has sufficient power
to summon and bargain
with the lich’s
vestige. Third, he
needs a suitable
vessel to contain
the restored Acererak.
And fourth,
he must find
and destroy the
tooth of Acererak,
one of the teeth of
Dahlver-Nar (Tome
of Magic page 77).
Only when all
four components
of his plan are accomplished
can he
restore the lost lich
successfully.
USING THIS VILLAIN
As a lich necromancer, Kastya is a major villain who has
great power and resources. He controls hundreds of agents
across the planes who watch, search, and fight for his cause,
and his well-protected lair is far beyond the reach of most
adventurers, floating in the fatal nothingness of the Negative
Energy Plane. Thus, he works particularly well as a faceless
villain, a mastermind who moves his servants like pieces in
a terminally dangerous game.
There are a number of ways to inject Kastya into your
campaign. The necromancer employs a vast network of followers,
and his objectives are clear (locate a fortress, recruit
a binder, and so on), so they can easily intersect with the PCs’
adventures. Keep in mind, however, that most low- to midlevel
player characters lack the means to travel the planes and
are not likely to stumble across the main threads of the lich’s
overall scheme. Furthermore, the necromancer’s minions are
powerful in their own right, so the PCs should not deal with
these foes directly until they have attained enough levels to
have a chance of victory.
Illus. by K. Yanner
CHAPTER 8
KASTYA ZURITH-
MOVYA
129