Alistair

Alistair and Erin are siblings, two sides of the same coin.

Once mortals, they were the only beings to ever achieve true immortality through their research on souls and magic. They were pioneers in developing and perfecting the magical art of manipulating souls, and the cicles of life and death.

The mages guild, at the time, had no rules regarding the use of soul magic; some of the archmages looked with great interest at the new school the siblings had developed, while others were insulted by the notion that mortals dared to interfere with what should be the domain of the gods.

At the end, fearing the power that might end up at the hands of mortals, Erebor and Levias ordered their children and worshippers to capture Alistair and Erin, bring them before the temple of Life and Death and destroy all traces of their research. The Regents wanted to extinguish the souls of the once mortals, completely erasing any trace of the taboo that was mortals-turned-immortals and their control over souls.

It is said that the siblings found a way to escape, giving up their material shell and hiding their souls far away from the reach of mortals and gods alike. Their discoveries were erased, and whatever traces of soul magic remain are considered taboo, banned by the mages guild and punishable by all nations under the guidance of Oblivion.

Sedalae, the current grand archmage of the mages guild, remains the only mage with knowledge of soul magic. He oversees the great vault in which the fragments of the texts of necromancy and soul magic are stored, hidden away from all eyes until the end of times.

-x-

Alistair wasn't the first to awaken. In his slumber, he had actually had experienced dreams. He saw a world full of beauty, ruled by peace; he saw a world destroyed by Chaos and plagued by death. He witnessed the interception of the two, and all that could have been if the forces of nature and the Cosmos were destroyed.

It was sad, really, that he awoke to find a scene much similar to his dreams. Utterly unpleasant, he thought. His vital force was weakened - much of it had been consumed to keep himself alive and away from the eyes of the deities. What a silly little ordeal the old Regents had been through to destroy him and his sibling; the Cosmos itself seems to have willed their existence real, seeing as It had never once tried to correct their existence.

He was very much aware, however, that the magic he and his kin had researched wasn't exactly favored by the Cosmos. In truth, even the Regents had trouble manipulating the complex magic that ruled the realm and existence of souls. Their dealings with it often left dire consequences, either to themselves or the mortals of the realm.

Well, neither of the siblings had ever actually encouraged other mortals to pursue this line of research anyway. It was the greed of mortals that compelled them to try - and to fail.

No matter. The past is the past, and Alistair had eternity ahead of him. As much as the world had been poisoned by the encounter of opposing cosmic forces, there was still an abundance of life, souls, magic and chaos. First, he'd replenish his strenght. Then, he'd seek out his sibling. Lastly, he'd deal with any threats he might encounter, be it mages, demigods or deities themselves.

And to that end, he'd have to mingle with mortals once more...