eq:MayongMistmoore
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Lord Mayong Mistmoore
The vampire known as Mayong Mistmoore has been a powerful figure in Norrath since the dawn of time. He is ageless and not much is known of his origins. He reveals himself to a select few; even his closest guardians and advisors seldom meet with the reclusive vampire in person. Nothing frightens or threatens Mayong. He has the ability to destroy armies, capture legendary creatures as his slaves or devour their life force. He can predict events before they happen, which allows him to thwart even the most foolproof attacks because he knows exactly when, where, and how they will occur. Mayong is vain, sophisticated, cool and calculating. He is both incredibly powerful and a genius with several lifetimes worth of arcane and historical knowledge. He is confident, perhaps to a fault, but in his lifetime there has been little evidence to disprove his omnipotence.
Mayong is difficult to impress. He has seen the entirety of Norrath several times over. During his life he has watched civilizations rise and fall, seen races born and destroyed, and he bore witness to the gods meddling with mankind. Magical artifacts, gold, and jewels hold no value to him. The lifespan of a mortal is a fleeting moment compared to his immortality. Those that live to serve him are seen as tools. He is jaded.
What he does appreciate is perfection and beauty. He respects those few mortals that ascend to greatness during their brief lifetimes. He is attracted to beauty, especially his own, which is tragically ironic because he cannot see his own reflection. Mayong seeks reaffirmation of his might and beauty by those who are both fascinated with him and worthy of his time.
Every few hundred years, an exceptional individual, a hero, emerges that takes notice of Mayong. (Or perhaps the reverse is true; Mayong takes notice of those heroes and provides them clues of his existence and whereabouts.) The heroes follow the trail of clues, learning everything they can about the vampire lord - where to find him and how to defeat him.
This attention fuels Mayong's ego. He derives great satisfaction from knowing that the world's greatest protagonists would deign to learn everything about him and eventually attempt to face him in his lair. An accomplished hero is welcomed in Mayong's home more than anyone else. He delights in playing cat and mouse games – toying with his opponents and forcing them to endure his traps, tests, and trials before finally facing them. Those that face Mayong always fail. The lucky ones die, the others become restless spirits, animated mindless undead, or vampires themselves. They are all trophies and monuments to Mayong's power.
Mayong's relationships in the past have been vague, though it is accepted he has taken many mistresses in his life. One mistress was Tserrina Syl`Tor who was engaged to marry Mayong Mistmoore. Knowing Mayong's hatred of the dragons of the Ring of Scale, she gave him one of the greatest gifts he had known -- the first ever dragon lich she called, unimaginatively, the Dracoliche. She presented the dracoliche as a gift to Mayong on their wedding night. Fearing that he would share the responsibility for its creation and therefore any retribution of the gods, he left her at the altar. Tserrina was furious. She slew her entire wedding party, destroyed any signs of her betrothed, and now sulks in the Tower of Frozen Shadow.
He now keeps the Wailing Sisters at his side -- Althea, Brenda, and Christine. Each of these three girls was a beautiful mortal leading a mundane life until Mayong discovered them. Fascinated by their looks, he coerced them into joining him. In the beginning they were kept close, but over time Mayong's interest waned and they became faceless vampires in his thrall, but always appear close to him.
Mayong's Existence in Norrath
Mayong's presence in Norrath has been noted all throughout history, but he is seldom in the same place for long. In the recent past, he had been out of sight for a very long time -- rumored to have retreated to the underground of Norrath, commonly referred to as the "underfoot." Until Dreadspire Keep was recently discovered, throughout recorded time Mayong was most commonly associated with Castle Mistmoore, a grand and opulent mansion he created on the continent of Faydwer. His home there is thick with vampires, undead and summoned servants, some of them being Teir'Dal with whom he felt an affinity. He often used those dark elves to create more Drachnids -- a half dark elf, half spider creature that proved a rather remarkable guardian. In the past three years, however, Mayong's name has been heard more and more often.
When the Wayfarers Brotherhood discovered Mistmoore's Catacombs three years ago, a whole new underworld was discovered that was previously unknown. The number of Mayong's vampires and their complexity was far beyond what any had suspected. Time and again in history, Mayong is described as collector, researcher, experimenter, and historian and often in the vilest of ways. Even so, the vampires of his castle refuse to accept that their home and existence amounted to nothing more than a whim of their father -- an experiment. Their existence proved many things to Mayong, including his ability to create fear among the people of Norrath, even if they never saw him.
Mayong's Recent Ambitions
The rumors of Mayong residing in the underfoot in recent past were indeed correct. Although it remains unclear when and why Mayong first ventured into Underfoot, it is assumed that he spent many years living in the caverns before he made his presence known. Roughly three hundred years ago, scouts from the Shiliskin Empire -- a race of underworld dwellers -- began returning with desiccated basilisk corpses and reports of the first drachnid sightings -- half spider, half dark elf creatures created by Mistmoore. A few patrols even reported being approached by a charming Shiliskin who greeted them warmly, engaged them in lengthy conversation, and then suddenly disappeared back into the darkness before he could be questioned as to his purpose for traveling alone in the wilderness. This Shiliskin was Mayong traveling in a guise in order to learn about his neighbors in the darkness.
In the last two hundred years, Mayong truly began to make his presence felt openly in Darkhollow. His first task was to amass servants and allies in Darkhollow, which he did with ease. The two clans of werewolves in Darkhollow were his first targets. Mayong was able to appeal to the Shadowmanes clan's intellect and greed and convinced them to join forces with him in exchange for some luxuries afforded to surfaces dwellers.
There was also a great dragon named Drandune living in Darkhollow which Mayong simply could not abide by. All dragons were reviled by Mayong. He managed to sneak into the weakened Drandune's lair and bit the dragon while it was sleeping. After Drandune's death and Mayong's offer to the Shadowmanes, he was able to make room in the Wyrmtail Rocks for his drachnid followers who began building an expansive hive while Mayong and his loyal following of werewolves began construction of Dreadspire Keep.
With the Shadowmanes and the Agents of Mistmoore -- the Drachnids -- in control of the western half of the Lake of Korlach West, Mayong's forces began construction of both the present day drachnid hive as well as Dreadspire Keep -- an elaborate gothic masterpiece built into a spire within the great cavern itself. For centuries, Mayong collected knowledge and artifacts that allowed him to learn the path to godhood. That path would include the unwitting involvement of Norrathians.
He set the bait for Norrathians, beckoning them to visit his home. They did indeed follow the trail he left and when they finally reached him and cut him down, they released the enchantment Mayong created and he ascended into the ethereal realm. From there, Mayong invaded the Plane of Music and made it his own, turning it to the Theater of Blood. Still unsatisfied as a demi-god, Mayong once again used Norrathians to open a path to the planes of the greater gods -- particularly the Plane of Sun. Now, with access to the Plane of Sun, Mayong hopes to defeat its ruler, Solusek Ro, so that he may darken the skies of Norrath altogether.
Mayong's Fall - The Buried Sea
During the course of the Buried Sea expansion players caught up to Mayong in the Plane of Sun or Solteris the Throne of Ro and put an end to his plot to darken Norrath's sun. The first raid on a server to defeat the final Solteris Event, Two Gods put an end to the world wide event happening at the time where new undead spawned in all zones and the sky was red, receiving the title of The Daybringer for their efforts. In the end Mayong is defeated and his newly acquired godhood is stripped away, but Mayong is not destroyed, left to come back another day.
Anniversary Raid: Tower of Frozen Shadow
As part of the 13th Anniversary a raid in the Tower of Frozen Shadow was added where players can see Mayong still alive(?) and well and up to his old tricks in a kind of reenactment of his wedding to Tserrina. A variety of guests and events await from Mayong's own history including former bosses from Dreadspire/Demiplane, Venril Sathir and Lanys Tyvl.
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