Lord Damson
History
From up on High
Damson Zin is a Ljósálfr from the realm of Faerie. He is relatively young, only 318 years old. Ljósálfar in general consider themselves superior to most other races including other Elves. Zin was from a clan that harbored outright contempt for any not of their race. Zin was exceptionally gifted in the mystic arts especially those that dealt with scrying, clairvoyance and manipulation of the mind. There were few even among his own peers that he considered his equal. The ease with which he manipulated others contributed to his feelings of superiority.
His skill in telling the future was considerable, though his experiencing in interpretation was limited. He often had unbidden dreams of his people being menaced by some unknown threat. He became obsessed with the idea that his people’s mild attitude and introspection were going to get them all killed. He began to seek power for himself, enough to subjugate the lesser peoples and keep his own people from harm. He consorted with those of his kindred that embraced those ideals, the Dökkálfar. This resulted in little useful lore as the Dökkálfar merely sought to use him in their own schemes. One thing he did learn about from them was a tale about a source of tremendous power, a locked gateway that waited to reward those who opened it. His visions told him that his fate and that of this gateway were inextricably linked. He took this to mean that was destined to find it, and open it.
Damson Zin spent decades searching for the lore that would lead him to the Triskelion Gate. He finally realized that the gateway was not to be found in any of the higher planes and that he would need to descend to the Malkuthic realms to claim his destiny. In the faraway place known as Sirmilor, Damson found what he was looking for. His skills at scrying lead him to a dire wizard who also sought to claim the power promised by the Triskelion Gate, and more importantly, knew where to find it. The wizard was old and weak, he succumbed to Zin's power quickly. Rifling through the spoils, Damson discovered that claiming the power from the gate was not going to be anything like a simple affair and that this wizard had been allied with a number of others seeking the same thing. The only other item of note was an exquisite mask that seemed to have some power of it’s own.
Damson made contact with this group, known as the Hex Lords, describing his defeat of their former compatriot and his desire to join them. At first the Hex Lords were more inclined to kill him and take the only thing they needed from him, the mask, which as it turned out, was one of the 9 keys needed to open the gate. Damson quickly proved his worth by circumventing their ploys with his clairvoyance. The others grudgingly accepted him and warned him that under no circumstances was he to attempt to use the mask.
Zin soon realized he was dealing with beings of an altogether different order. They were not simply arrogant and callous, they were truly evil. His visions still seemed to point towards the gat,e so he steeled his resolve and went along with their plots. His clairvoyance led the Hex Lords to several more of the keys, strange objects that seemed to repel his compatriots as much as they enticed them. The mask Damson had won began to dominate his visions. He couldn’t shake the desire to don it, to see through it’s eyes all the things still hidden from him. Finally, he gave in and put on the Mask of Ockham and looked into his scrying orb. For one brief, exquisitely powerful moment, Damson saw everything. The mask was far more than a simple key, it was a conduit to an Umbra of Sephiroth. It was a fragment of existence itself, with the single goal of protecting all creation from that which would consume it.
The power of the vision overwhelmed him. After he recovered, he accepted that he had been blind before. that his arrogance and hubris had led him down a path that went no where. The mask was a source of great power and it had chosen him to help preserve everyone, not just his own people. Damson immediately left the Hex Lords, taking all of the keys they had collected with him. He then spent long years in contemplation and communion with the mask. A century passed. Damson Zin had purged himself of his former attitudes and embraced all that was good and wise. He pursued knowledge and wisdom and used his gifts to guide those that needed him most. He learned the name of the Umbra of Sephiroth inside the mask and achieved the union of spirit that made the two of them together, greater than the sum of their parts. Over the course of time, Damson had let a few of the other keys go, to follow the destinies he saw for them.
Finally, his visions told him it was time to actively rejoin the fight. He approached those that opposed the Hex Lords, the Rune Lords, and was accepted into their ranks. He quickly became a valued friend and confidante to most of his fellows. The Hex Lords of course were furious at his defection and for a time focused many of their plots on his untimely demise. His powers of clairvoyance and deception countered them easily. In due course, Damson saw that it was also time to begin to pass on what he had learned. It was now time for his apprentice to arrive, and arrive she did. Her name was Azbeth Eli, another Ljósálfr that had just come into her own powers of clairvoyance, which had led her straight to Damson. Master and apprentice settled into their new roles as if born to them.
In recent times, Damson received visions telling him to proceed to a small Blue-green planet on the edge of a spiral galaxy in the Malkuthic realms, called Earth. This was well in advance of Lord Xanadu's return and so he and his apprentice set up quiet life in a pleasant place called Nova Scotia and awaited events to take their course. Inevitably, Lord Xanadu requested that all of the Rune Lords meet him on Earth to battle the Hex Lords again. Lord Damson has since made his presence known.
Powers and Equipment
Damson Zin is a Ljósálfr, that is, a Light Elf from the higher plane of Faerie. As such, he is gifted with eternal life, though not immortality. Ljósálfar are in general superior to mundane humans in every way though not enough to be considered "superhuman". They can lift 3 times their own weight, leap twice their own height and have endurance levels well beyond normal humans. When Zin dons the Mask of Ockham, he is transformed into a new gestalt entity that greatly increase his natural abilities. His natural mystic abilities and lore are concerned mostly with clairvoyance, illusions and the manipulation of minds. If he is engaged in combat he can stun people senseless or dominate their minds and coerce them into fighting for him. Since his epiphany, Damson has sworn not to take a life. He has cultivated knowledge of healing magics as well though he is not yet proficient.
Zin only becomes "Lord Damson" when he dons the Mask of Ockham and merges with the Umbrah of Sephiroth within. A new entity, composed of the two, now wields the power and knowledge of both. The mask by itself is partly sentient and is able to withhold it's powers or grant limited use depending on the worthiness of the possessor. Furthermore, it must be communed with and convinced to accept a sorcerer before the higher union can be achieved. Few magic users that have possessed the mask and it's sibling artifacts, have achieved this. "Lord Damson" is then a truly superhuman sorcerer in every sense of the word. The new being has the memories of Zin but does not consider itself to be him. It has its own personality and it's own interpersonal relations with the rest of the Rune Lords and Zin's apprentice. Some of Zin's old callousness and hubris becomes more apparent in "Lord Damson".
Affiliations
Azbeth Eli
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