Menedraile's Story

Menedraile was the Exalt behind the brutal myths of the man known as the Shadow King, who ruled a good portion of the Scavenger Lands by way of an extensive, dangerous network of connections, spies, finances, extortion and favors. Very few were able to trace the Shadow King's labyrinthine network successfully, resulting in a long reign for the crime-lord Eclipse. Eventually, his elaborate thefts and schemes resulted in the appearance of the local Hunt.

Simultaneously, a Merchant and a Sorceress, with unknown ties to this Hunt, made their first approach to Menedraile at this point. After a short period of encounters with these two, Menedraile's inquisitive instincts granted him a brilliant insight. He uncovered enough information about his situation, fast enough to realize his only choice for total obscurity was to entirely sabotage his guise as the Shadow King, and the networks he prevailed over.

Systematically, the Eclipse dismantled his holdings and called in all of his favors, staging an epic coup on himself that took weeks. These were weeks spent staging off against the Wyld Hunt, their enigmatic Sorcerer captains, and his own former entourage (who of course largely had no idea they were being betrayed). It resulted in Menedraile riding fiercely out of his own home city, seat of his greatest of holdings.

Somewhere he had been bested, and now the Sorceress plagued him, riding out of shadows and from behind random trees all through out the three nights of his final escape. She confronted him not with conflict, but with maddening monologues on unspeakable topics. The Solar boldly drove on every morning, and arrived eventually at the final stage of his undoing: A small Wyld pocket with a vast phantasmal Ruin, gently flickering in and out of phase with the world.

It was at the Ruin that the Sorceress made her move. In a sudden assault, she revealed powerful battle-magics, almost arcane rituals cast through the process of combat. Menedraile was overpowered easily, and bound to a flickering stone table. The Sorceress patted his forehead, told him it was unfortunate that he was the only one, and used magic and metal to pluck out his eyes and place him in a century-long slumber.

After a few years slumbering, Menedraile began to wander in his seemingly eternal dream. He realized many things about himself and had many adventures in the Great Beyond, a realm wrought entirely of dreamstuff. Eventually he was to awaken, but for the time being he investigated the seeming Chaos of the many Beyonds. He befriended a creature known as Sarathe, a garment-abandoning (with more, different outfits always on underneath) dreamling. The Solar allied with her for many decades, she being the only constant in an ever-changing environment.

Around his slumbering body, out of the Exalt's awareness, the Wyld took shape to his powerful adventuring dreams, blossoming into a phenomenal realm of reinacting fey tribes. The strongest faction of these fey were known as Sarathe, who preferred to call herself the Somnolent Ministry. She strode in her multitude all throughout the area surrounding her fixation's tomb. Her desires and experiences began to feed into, and continue to feed into, Menedraile's essence.

Upon awakening, Menedraile encountered a Circle of Solar Exalts, who took him in and fostered him care, in exchange for his assistance in engaging a being who seemed to span farther than anything but the most terrible beasts he encountered in the Beyond. Strangely, in the weeks and months before meeting this Circle, Menedraile had encountered each in his dream wanderings. The Eclipse also realized that, though his eyes were gone, he could percieve Creation just as well - if not a bit better - than before his slumber.

Even so, nothing looks quite so alive as the Ruin did, before the Solars laid it to waste forever.