Mordeth

Mordeth was a tiefling created by the Red Wizards of Thay during their experimentation with reprocessing used souls and creating new life: he eventually made a bid to become the new God of Hatred, Lies and Deceit.

Description
A tiefling of enormous size, bordering upon Large, with obviously demonic features: grey skin, rows of scales, horn stubs. His gaze was fixed and blank; in moments of anger flashes of diabolical intelligence would flash to the forefront.

Mordeth's gear, as a mortal, was utilitarian in function and mostly black or brown in color. The specifics of his gear or capabilities were never discovered.

Personality
Cold simmering rage, with a hatred of the entire universe and every being tied to it, from the lowliest insect to the mightiest of Overgods. Mordeth bottled up his rage, though, reflecting only an outward sense of readiness. Mordeth never smiled or joked; his tones were clipped and businesslike and always forceful.

Creation (Thaymount)
In the days before Szass Tam, necromantic experiments were commonplace. A Wizard, whose name is not recorded by the pages of history, discovered a means by which to break off a piece of one's soul, which could be fed into a new body. This graft would take hold and eventually fill the new body, granting the new being a new personality and identity.

Mordeth is the first of such beings ever created. Fused together from the pieces of slaves and lesser Red Wizards, granted a quasi-demonic body which did not age, Mordeth found himself confused from the moment he entered the world.

The Red Wizards were more than happy to instruct him, as they performed their experiments ... but, realizing his danger, they cast him from Thaymount, telling him to make his own way in the world. Their rationale, it is believed, is that he would die from heat exposure long before he could be killed by the knife of a cutthroat.

Desperation (Sea of Fallen Stars)
Mordeth's skill at survival was fueled solely by his hatred for his creators. While the generations of Wizards at Thaymount sought to recreate their successes and eventually abandoned the project in favor of yet another war, Mordeth moved in parabolas around the Mount, learning every skill he could and enduring the harshest of agonies. His target soon expanded. The world treated the tiefling with utter contempt; Mordeth decided that he would destroy the whole of creation ... and himself with it.

Execution (Cormyr)
The days turned into years; the years, centuries. He built up innumerable contacts and pooled immeasurable resources until he found a willing compatriot: Tagreth Cormaeril, Grandfather of Assassins. A nobleman living in disgrace in Westgate, Tagreth had once already sought to create an automaton in order to serve as an assassin. Mordeth came into the man's service and convinced him to try again ... this time, pulling strings in the Cormyrian hierarchy to instigate an insurrection.

Mordeth found himself at Thaymount for the creation of Talis Cormaeril, in the year 1373 DR. No Wizard there recognized him; either the old research did not survive, or they were simply ignorant of the past. One did recognize him, though: Miranda duLaras, the second experiment of his masters.

Between the two of them, they arranged for three potent crystals to be installed into a Flying Citadel in the Moonsea region ... though Miranda's help was fleeting; her soul, unlike Mordeth's, was torn between his own purpose and something she called "the right thing to do."

Deification (Moonsea)
Then, all hell broke loose.

The Cirque de Suzail began thwarting the plans of the Cormaerils ... and, more shocking, Talis was among them! Talis's Shards were sent, to little effect.

The plan had come too far, though, and could not be stopped.

Mordeth had, with the aid of a certain priest of Loviator, drove Nassim Molrin into an inhuman sense of outrage at the world's injustice. The League of Extraordinary Paladins amassed at Zhentil Keep, ready to strike into the heart of the Zhentarim. Mordeth used his contacts to further the goals of the Church of Cyric, providing a three-way war in what would eventually become the Blood Marshes.

With the power of the crystals at hand, Mordeth slew Armen Cormaeril and absorbed all the power rising up from the battlefield below. When he disappeared, the Citadel fell from the sky like a dead bird, crushing all who lay beneath it.

Incineration (Amn)
Having achieved enough potential power to elevate himself to the status of Lesser Deity, Mordeth found himself in a state of chrysalis - his presence in the pantheon was not sanctioned, and he would have to force his way into it ... with the accumulation of the worshippers he meant to destroy.

Through the work of Miranda, Dharamon and Antheri Grimward, Mordeth was able to build up a small but loyal following ... many of whom thought they were worshipping someone or something else. Still, Mordeth's deistic dilemna would not yield.

With the assistance of the Red Wizards of Thay, who had created devices long in advance of this moment, Elemental Prisons began to siphon off the power of the world itself (specifically, Chauntea and Mystra) in order to feed into the coccoon Mordeth created for himself. Each used a living being, locked in stasis, as a focal point.

Through the actions of the Jade Lion Mercenary Group, revolts in Amn were thwarted, and the Prisons were slowly disabled. The heroes then ventured above the world, to Mordeth's castle, where they battled hard against Dharamon, his last true servant.

It was here that the battle between Nassim and Mordeth took place: two super-beings in a struggle for supremacy. Ultimately, Nassim won the battle; Mordeth was vanquished, and the world began to right itself once more.

Unanswered Questions

 * What would have happened if Talis (or the Bracers) had made their way into Mordeth's presence?
 * How did he earn the service of Dharamon and Antheri Grimward?
 * In the final battle with Nassim, was he truly slain? And, if so, to whence was his soul sent?