Iceron/Gothwrain

Gothrwain, formerly the Arch-Mage Iceron, was the creator of all Lycanthropes in the Gold Digger universe as well as the Lord High-Elder of the Were-Rat Clan under his wife/former Servant Sherisa.   History Over a thousand years ago,   During the Age of Magic, the Arch-Magician Iceron gained power and infamy for his specialty of twisting normal animals into supernatural creatures. Initially, he experimented with varieties of griffin, combining various beasts in his menagerie. However, his power and attitude gained him enemies in almost every neighbouring kingdom, and he realized his griffins would not be enough to defend him.   He therefore created the first of the were-folk; the were-hounds and were-rats, by combining the essences of his human slaves with those of his dogs and the vermin in his castle. The were-hounds would guard his keep and kingdom, while the were-rats assassinated his enemies. However, after the were-hounds proved themselves unable to protect even themselves sufficiently.   Thus, Iceron fused more slaves with enormous grizzly wolves (which later became extinct), creating the were-hounds' replacements: the werewolves, who unlke their predecessors proved more than capable of defending both Iceron and themselves. Meanwhile, the were-rats proved themselves to be excellent assassins. Too good, in fact.   One particular were-rat, Sherisha, soon earned herself the vaunted position as Iceron's favourite and confidant, being the only being who seemed to understand his methods. He even shared with her the “Ageless Shell" elven enchantment he wore, which caused their bodies to age no more than a year for every eighty that passed.   However, during her existence, Sherisha had fallen in love with her master, and she began to plead repeatedly for the were-rats to be granted their freedom so they could live—and love—as they chose. For all that he loved her in return, though, Iceron refused to acknowledge her as more than a slave and so had her painfully and repeatedly punished for daring to speak against his wishes.   Betrayal However, Iceron hadn't realized that the were-rats' missions had kept them out of the castle long enough that his loyalty enchantments had lost their hold. Not bound to him by spells, Sherisha killed Iceron, knowing he had sorcerous safeguards in place that would revive him. As he lay immobilized in his casket, still recovering, Iceron was stunned to realize Sherisha had somehow infected him with lycanthropy when she killed him, even though he should have been immune.   Sherisha had willed the effect on his aura to be delayed, though, giving Iceron time to cool off and heal inside as well as outside before the lycanthropy took effect. Iceron's own magical resistance prolonged the delay a bit more. He made no attempt to cool off during this time, however. Upon revival, Iceron immediately sought revenge. Determined to exterminate the were-rats completely, he created the were-cats.   After much experimentation, he considered four breeds particularly successful: the were-lions, were-jaguars, were-panthers and were-tigers. He granted each a special gift to use against the were-rats, then set them loose to do their job. He then went to expel what he considered to be his reject were-folk and found a delightful surprise: The were-cheetahs had been supplementing their diets by catching the mice and rats around their cages.   No other were-creatures were doing this, which meant the were catching them all before the rest could. Iceron realized that the were-cheetahs didn't need further enhancements to catch were-rats—they were already perfect for the job. He enhanced them anyway, giving them a "doom gaze” ability that could paralyze any were-rat with fear and force it to revert to human mode.   Despite the were-cheetahs' success rate, Iceron was still a long way from completing his vengeance when his lycanthropic curse took effect and Sherisha returned for him a year later. The curse forced him to do her bidding, so he followed her into the were-rat ranks as her Life-mate, serving as co-leader of the were-rats for centuries, just under his slave-turned-master, under the new name as Lord High-Elder Gothwrain.   As Gothwrain   Despite his power and rank among the were-rats, Gothwrain was still forced by the lycanthropy curse to obey any command Sherisha gave him. While she allowed him some free rein, ultimately he was not allowed to lie to her or defy her orders. Despite his love for Sherisha, he deeply resented being bound to her and was obsessed with freeing himself of it as revenge for being enslaved.   Ironically, owing to the nature of lycanthropic enslavement, it was his own resistance to Sherisha's mastery that gave her so powerful a grip upon him. If he had simply accepted his fate and allowed himself to become close to her, he would have become free of her mental rein, even though he would have still been a were-rat.   Either unaware of or unwilling to accept this, Gothwrain devised a plot of incredible scope and cunning to free himself. He first recruited a disaffected young mage named Kyle as his apprentice. Using Kyle as a proxy, he enticed Brendan, leader of the werewolves, into betraying his own clan and their arch-rivals, the were-cheetahs, for the sake of personal power.   Dr. Theodore Diggers, Kyle's former co-apprentice under the mage Gneiss, attempted to stop the plan, but was too late. The only survivor was an infant whom Dr. Diggers adopted as his daughter Brittany Diggers (see Cheetah). A few years later, Gothwrain later invaded Dr. Diggers' lab when Theo's father Jonathan was attempting an essence inversion spell.   The spell was intended to nullify an external influence on Jon's wife Oracle, who otherwise had to remain transformed into a gem to prevent the influence from turning her evil. Gothwrain stole the Oracle jewel for his own purposes, leaving Jonathan's spell no target but himself. Jonathan was turned into the Lich King, a powerful undead mage with a burning hatred for the family he'd once loved dearly.   About this time, Gothwrain also selected three young were-rats, Lydia McKraken, Romeo Ellis and Moisha Rich, for extra training, ostensibly to assassinate Britanny, the last were-cheetah. In fact, Lydia was Gothwrain and Sherisha's daughter, secretly left for adoption as an infant by the Assassins' Guild to ensure she would be ready to lead the clan when he took himself out of the picture, and that she would have two friends whom she could trust completely, something all too rare among were-rats.   Gothwrain's plot eventually allowed the Lich King to kidnap Britanny and her daughter Tiffany to the dimension of Oblivion. Dr. Diggers, his wife, and several of their friends raided the were-rat stronghold of Dark Home to rescue Britanny, but Gothwrain had set up a sub-universe containing a tiny paradise, “Myth Arcadia,” where his and Sherisha's souls would be sent once he enraged Dr. Diggers enough to attack using the power inherited from his mother.   The plan nearly worked. Dr. Diggers' party was badly injured, with at least two dead, and Gothwrain and Sherisha's souls went to his Xanadu. However, Tiffany returned from Oblivion (though Britanny could not), the rescue party mostly survived instead of being annihilated, and Gothwrain's private paradise turned out to contain a very large serpent. Meanwhile, Gothwrain's departure left a literal and figurative hole in the were-rats' world designed for Lydia to fill.   When last seen, Gothwrain and Sherisha were both painfully enslaved to the dragon Dreadwing, the actual owner of the paradise Gothwrain thought he had created. On top of his were-rat nature, Gothwrain was also just a soul when he was enslaved, so Dreadwing can presumably inflict far more physical torture upon him without incurring permanent damage or risking death or dissolution.   Abilities:   Iceron was a highly intelligent and powerful mage, capable of creating instant fusions of any combination of creatures he chose. These creatures were genetically viable (capable of breeding more of their own kind) despite never existing before. As evidenced by his “Ageless Shell" and the enhancements he gave his were-cats after their creation, Iceron was capable of other spells as well, but from all known records, he preferred to stick with chimera-creation spells as his mainstay.   Iceron's magical power and the troops it created were enough to make him untouchable from outside his realm, indicating he already had a head for defensive strategy and espionage prior to his time as a were-rat. However, his death and later enslavement at Sherisha's hands indicates he had a crucial blind spot for attacks from within, trusting too much in his loyalty enchantments to protect him.   As Gothwrain, in addition to his natural cunning as a Were-Rat made him a master strategist with centuries of life and experience to hone all his skills. Despite this, it was still possible for truly skilled, prepared mages, such as Dr. Diggers, to defeat him during encounters in the outside world. However, in his sanctuary in Dark Home, Gothwrain held far too much home ground advantage.   His preferred modus operandi was to remain in the shadows, as is generally true of all were-rats, usually employing magical disguises if he ever had to take part in a plan personally. Among the guises he has adopted are those of the Atlantean Deanna, the Uompa-Luompan witch Haggy and the Leprechauns Lisa McHayes and General “Ironsides” McShamus, though it is possible one or both of these last two never existed to begin with outside of being disguises.   Gothwrain's history of sheer determination and cleverness doubtless means that Dreadwing keeps him on a very tight leash, indeed-painfully tight, as it were. How successful this will be remains to be seen, but it has appeared to be effective so far.