Bandur Etrevion

Warning: This page concerns archaic world setting information from the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. It is not canon in contemporary GemStone IV, nor is it canonical for Shadow World as the details may be specific to GemStone III. It is only historical context for certain very old parts of the game and these things should not be mixed.

Bandur Etrevion was the founder of a theocracy of Empress Kadaena called The Dark Path, which was in the early years of the Wars of Dominion in the Shadow World history. This is highly unusual as Empress Kadaena was not actually a goddess and has been dead for 100,000 years. The theocracy was seemingly treating her as a forbidden death goddess. When he murdered his brother Kestrel Etrevion, he built a necropolis which is now The Graveyard. Bandur was widely regarded as one of the most profound scholars of his time, with his works recognized by the Loremasters at the College of Karilon.

His most famous work "Servants of the Shadow: Power through Thralldom", concerning the ways of the forces of the Unlife, gained him unlimited access to the Library of Nomikos until he was apprehended attempting to steal a rare speaking crystal. These crystals are rare Lord of Essaence artifacts which are essentially the voice interface to vast databases of recorded information from the First Era.

Ice Shrine

In spite of seemingly being the mummy in a sarcophagus inside the crypt of the Graveyard, Bandur is actually frozen in a block of ice deep underground, where grave robbers would have been trapped. This "ice room" is the larder of a madman's travesty of an underworld medieval manor, where meat is kept cold on slabs called "thrawls". The undead implicitly bring human sacrifices as food in homage to him.

[Under Crypt, Ice Room]
This room is dominated by a giant slab of ice. There is a chill here that transcends the 
cold you felt elsewhere. Piled in front of the ice slab are the remains of many a grisly 
sacrifice. Bones and skulls lie piled at the base of the slab as though in homage to 
something. Your curiosity piqued, you draw close to the slab. Dimly within you can
make out a richly robed figure. On one side of the room are some roughly carved
stairs. You also see a smaller slab of ice.
Obvious exits: none. 

>look slab
Peering into the monolithic block of ice, you make out a human figure trapped deep within,
like a fly in amber. It is the body of an ancient sorcerer, richly garbed. You notice that
his eyes, rather than being dried out and shrunken, glitter with an evil vitality that 
raises the hair on your neck and causes you to recall old prayers forgotten since youth.

Behind the Scenes

"The Legend of the Necropolis of Etrevion" is probably the first story that was specific to GemStone III. Its unusual treatment of Empress Kadaena is probably based on the brief history sections from the 1989 adventure modules, where it makes it sound like she led a dark faction of the Lords of Orhan (Modern: Liabo) rather than the Lords of Essaence. This is where the phrase "servants of the Shadow" originated. The Shadow World books from 1989 sometimes make it sound like forces of darkness in the Wars of Dominion were still servants of Kadaena herself even though she is long dead. The Dark Lords of Charon (Modern: Lornon) were mostly undefined at the time The Graveyard was created. Research:The Graveyard analyzes these matters in much detail, and the Uthex Kathiasas story may have been a spin-off.

See Also

Out of Character:

• Research:The Graveyard
• Research:The Broken Lands
• Chamber of the Dead

In Character:

• The Broken Lands and Ki-lin: Part One (lecture)
• The Broken Lands and Ki-lin: Part Four (lecture)
• The True Meaning of Sorcery (essay)
• The Origins of Undead and Luukos' Influence (essay)
• On the Nature of Sorcery (essay)
• The Dark Path (essay) (obsolete)