Drakonskyr is a powerful demon who was invoked by and bound to the witch Lantla. He created the Sword of Nul, one of the deadliest weapons of vampiric history.
Biography[]
One of the earliest warlords of Western civilization was Urlon of Uruk. Like many great figures of those earlier times, he was a vampire. He came to Ur to conquer. Naturally, Arakur and Lantla resisted, but Urlon had learned the power of mortal flesh and he had more troops than they did. When it became certain that Ur would fall, Arakur fell into despair and retreated into his haven to await the end.
Lantla, however, did not despair. She hated Urlon as a bully (which she understood too well) and the rage she had felt toward her old witch mistress was refocused upon Urlon. If the city could but hold out a week or two longer, Lantla thought she could do something. She studied her tablets and finally she called upon a great demon to aid her in battle. The demon was called Drakonskyr and it possessed her body, giving her great strength and power.
Drakonskyr offered to aid her still further by helping her to forge a magical weapon. This weapon, promised the demon, would allow her to kill not only the mortal followers of Urlon, but Urlon himself. Lantla readily agreed, not realizing the consequences. When Urlon's men finally broke through the outer walls, she was ready.
Naturally, Urlon hoped to slay Arakur. That was why he had come to Ur with an army of mortals. Urlon was one of the first warriors of the Jyhad, and this would be one of its earliest battles. When Urlon came to the ziggurat, he found Arakur already dead. Lantla stood over her sire, her teeth stained with his blood. Drakonskyr had taken control of Lantla and decided that they needed more power to defeat Urlon.
Urlon was no match for the two-who-were-one, especially after Lantla had consumed the soul of Arakur. Drakonskyr's sword, which it had named the Sword of Nul, slew Urlon with one blow.
Then, using Lantla's body, Drakonskyr went on a killing spree through the city, slaying Urlon's followers and the people of Ur indiscriminately. When the night had ended, Lantla found herself at the edge of the Tigris, her clothes soaked in blood. Drakonskyr laughed in her mind. Now the demon sought to leave her body. Thus it would be free on the earth to do anything it pleased, and its sentience would be uninhibited by a physical shape. Close proximity to Drakonskyr had taught Lantla much. She realized that she allowed the demon to escape her body, she would have loosed a terrible evil upon the earth.
When Drakonskyr tried to escape, Lantla held it fast with her spirit and her magical power, binding it inside her. The demon was shocked and terrified that it could not escape. In that first moment of confusion, Lantla regained control of her body. She then flung the Sword of Nul into the Tigris. It resurfaced many times down the centuries, in many places, and was called many things, but it was never again seen by Drakonskyr.
With the weapon gone, Drakonskyr found its power greatly diminished. It could not escape from Lantla, though it could still control her body. The demon forced Lantla to stand on the shore in the rays of the sun as it rose over the river. Lantla had never known such pain. Still, she held onto Drakonskyr. Finally, afraid of what might happen to it should Lantla die, Drakonskyr relented.
Together they crawled back to the city. Lantla held their spirits so close together that it seemed there would be no escape, even in death. Wherever Lantla went, Drakonskyr feared it must follow, and it still hoped to remain on this plane.
The Unending Battle[]
The following nights Drakonskyr went on more killing sprees throughout the city, enjoying itself but horrifying Lantla. Every atrocity and act of torture the demon committed, was done by Lantla's hand. The demon tried to tempt Lantla into letting it go, saying she would never have to kill again if it was gone. Lantla knew that these were false promises, as no matter what was done by her hand, the evils performed by an unhindered demon would have been much greater. So she held fast still, as a drowning man holds his last breath.
Drakonskyr continued to perform unspeakable cruelties, from torturing individuals to acts of mass carnage. Over time Drakonskyr organised the fall of Ur to the Elamites, and later on to the Babylonians. Babylonians already had a goddess of chaos, darkness and evil, and this Drakonskyr capitalized on by claiming it was Tiamat, the goddess of the underworld and chaos upon which the world was built. This became her new name. She was now known even among the undead as a terrible creature capable of anything.
All this time she never slept. Every second of night and day was torment and every second was a chance of failure. Despite all this she never went completely mad. Some vestige of reason existed in a deep corner of her mind where Drakonskyr could not get to. And still she held Drakonskyr prisoner all this time.
Throughout history, when Drakonskyr realized Tiamat would never let it go, it looked for ways to cause widespread destruction by manipulating various nations to war: Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, many more.
Torpor[]
While Drakonskyr was briefly distracted, reveling in the chaos caused by the fall of Rome, Tiamat awoke, and for the first time in thousands of years found the strength needed to take control of her body again. She was so very tired, but she knew Drakonskyr must be dealt with somehow. Tiamat left the ruins of Rome and journeyed north, through the Alps into Germania, all the while Drakonskyr raging in her mind. After journeying through packs of lupines and the unwelcoming tribes of Germania, she arrived to the English Channel and managed to cross it. She passed from Londinium to the north, and after crossing Hadrian's wall, left the civilized world behind.
After traveling as far north as she could, Tiamat found a small tribe. She killed their chief and ordered the men of the tribe to build her a great barrow. Once the barrow was complete, she attacked and slew the entire tribe down to the smallest child. After looking at the world one final time, she entered the tomb and closed the door behind her. She and the demon she carried were locked away forever, or so she hoped.
Uncertain Future[]
If Tiamat dies, Drakonskyr is freed. Its first action would be to possess the body of one of her killers, enabling it to learn how the world has changed during the last 15 centuries. Once this is done, Drakonskyr would leave the killer and escape to work what evil it can on the world.
Once Drakonskyr has left Tiamat's body, it will take the Sword of Nul, simply teleporting it away from their current owner and retrieving the blade later at its convenience. Without Tiamat to restrain it, the demon has great power, though somewhat diminished by centuries of inactivity.
References[]
- VTM: Bloody Hearts: Diablerie Britain, p. 21-24