Nergal

The molten, orange glow of the sun vanishes for the last time over the mountainous horizon. Perhaps it will rise again somday, on a world outside the valley, for as the sunset fades the shadows arrive. The last vestiges of light dance in the mane of the pale specter as he descends into the small village along the river. For them, the shadows are the last thing they will ever see.

Nergal is an inheritor of the Incarnation, aspect of the Reaper. Despite the color of his eyes, his power lies in disease and rot; a lingering influence of his parentage perhaps. He is riddled with a number of highly infectuous pathogens, though he shows no symotoms, and bears them into the congested collectives of dragonkind. The ravages that follow vary greatly, often different each time as if consciously avoiding being treatable, and are rarely traced back to him.

In the few occasions he is identified as a carrier and spreader, he will allow himself to be run off, or sometimes even destroyed, depending on when he is found and the disposition of his pursuers. It matters little in the end, as though he has a physical body, he does not feel pain, nor can he truly die in any way that matters. Even should he be torn apart, come the next nightfall he will be whole again, fit to carry on his task. And being run off before he can infect a settlement simply means it was not the right time.

It is unclear if there is a mind behind this wandering spectre. He does not speak or sleep, and none have ever seen him eat. The only indication is his avid avoidance of the plaguelands and plague dragons in general, perhaps sensing that they will be resistant, if not unaffected, by his contagion.

Written by Kaiyre