Táramaðurinn

(a.k.a. Táramaðurinn (Man of Tears) An Dólás (The Doom), Deurhaul (The Sun Blotter), Tivile Beltza (The Black Titan)

The dreaded Black Titan, the Man of Tears, yet this great behemoth was no man at all. Táramaðurinn was the bane of all men, a being born to destroy and with every ounce of thought made, was to further the goal of mankind's eradication. The destroyer and scatterer of the tribes of the Sureno and destroyer of the great fortress city of Rielar, Táramaðurinn was finally destroyed at the Battle of Hautkrig by the god Rymr.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Táramaðurinn was a truly terrifying foe, a demonic being of billowing smoke and shadow. More alive than perhaps any other Kunkal, Táramaðurinn seems alive, born not made as other Kunkal were. As tall as the mountains and as powerful as the gods, this fallen titan of black dread was perhaps the most terrifying foe ever encountered by Man, Fae, or God.

Body Features

Táramaðurinn was seeming of flesh and blood, of darkened and writhing flesh cloaked beneath a deep darkness and an endless shadow. When it walked, it walked upright and without any displays of thought, when it cast its foot down on the enemy it did so without a moment of judgment or emotion.

Identifying Characteristics

Unlike many other Kunkal, Táramaðurinn was said to speak fluently and in a language of the giants. The beast was of few words but when words escaped its mouth the noise was terrible and bellowing, like that of a great animal.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The story behind the creation of Táramaðurinn is shrouded in a cavalcade of mystery and unknowns. While the name Táramaðurinn is the most well-known name of this terrible beast, it went by many others. To the Bhradain fae, one of the oldest surviving fae enclaves, Táramaðurinn is remembered simply as Deurhaul or The Sun Blotter and in records left behind by the men of Ellandun, Táramaðurinn was called An Dólás, The Doom. Táramaðurinn was said to have been the first of the Kunkal, unbound by restraint in its construction, as it was supposedly crafted by the first giant king Krónaðr during the Dawn age. All that fell before the shadow of Táramaðurinn were said to have met their destruction as the great beast wrought havoc on the world of men for thousands of years. All knew the approach of the favorite beast of the dawn king brought nothing but clean death, as ants are smashed beneath men's feet, so too are men crushed beneath the heel of Táramaðurinn. In a passage of the near indecipherable Text of Seosan, an entire section is written of prayer in warding off Táramaðurinn, it goes as follows.
"Beware, beware oh men the shadow's glare, the Doom comes for all. Tall as the stiffest mountain, sinews knit together and shapen by the hand of the most powerful of giants. Sharp bones like great rods of fallen iron, limbs like swinging maces clad in black volcanic skin. This is the Sunblotter, the heavenly revile it, the doomed cannot escape it. The finest work of the vile giants, none bring it under shade for none rival it in towering height as its vile crown scrapes the heavens with each step. "
Táramaðurinn was also a city destroyer, as famously, the mightiest of the Kunkal led its kin in the Nine Nights of Fire that destroyed the great Jotun city of Mikilhuld. After Hrunir the Vain dug up beings of the old times, the whispers of the Gehn, the monsters, and beasts of pre-creation. These children of the Gehn, the Gehnil, wreaked havoc on the giant city and if they spread, could have brought calamity to the entire world. King Hrunir, in desperation, unleashed the Black Titan upon his own city and in nine nights, Mikilhuld, the greatest city of the Jotnar, the City of the Dawn, was wrapped in smoke and scorching in flame. It is said, that beyond the great Auldrnal walls, giants heard naught but the screams of the primordial monsters and their silencing as Táramaðurinn's gaze brought death to the deathless. The sight, of the greatest weapon of the Jotnar, being freely unleashed upon their great city must have awoken wisdom in Hrunir and so when the nine nights ended, Táramaðurinn and all his kin would be imprisoned and kept away as the Jotnar came to fear them, the Black Titan especially. Far to the east, the great shadow was kept away, to the far away mountain of fire where evermore would become known as Táramaðurinn's abode. To Mount Buranden the titan was kept, less ensnared and more left dormant, until proving of more use.

While some Kunkal were quite simplistic in their design and often simplistic in nature, Táramaðurinn was unlike any other of their kin. Free thinking and seems to have developed a conscience of its own. It was this that made the Black Beast so dangerous, not only to mankind and the gods but also to the giants as a being of such power, with an intelligence of its own, could reap untold damage on the world if unleashed. While other notable Kunkal like Hyrbautr were ferocious in their own right, with Hyrbautr killing King Ellan notably, Táramaðurinn was known to destroy entire armies, to level the ground itself in fiery billows of smoke and shadow, and spring forth pillars of fire that swallowed men whole.

Táramaðurinn was cast upon the Sureno of Rielar in the years after the Tirdôla came to be of one nation. Upon mustering all their people to war and calling for alliance but receiving no reply, the Sureno King Azken the Felled rode out to the field of Vinolur where, with admirable resistance, he and his army were killed to the last man by Táramaðurinn. The pride of the southern nation was laid low, all their warriors scorched and dead beneath the heavy step and searing eyes of the Doom. The Black Titan marched to Rielar and utterly destroyed it, tore the keep asunder, and threw it into the distance like a plaything. The land blackened for miles around and with their lands now laid to ruin, the Sureno scattered. Táramaðurinn so devastated the southern lands of the Sureno that it was said the fires of its wrath remained for years. The embers of the great beast's fires burned on in the landscape like dark reflections of the twinkling stars of the night sky.

In a vain attempt at bringing victory to his people, through any means, King Thared Eldingar sought to reawaken the long-dormant beast as he rallied the giants to war against the last coalition of man and god. Beneath Mount Buranden, the burning mountain of the east, the Doom slept, not awakened since its last days of reaping bloodshed. With a cleave from a war ax of adamant, the bonds of the Sunblotter were cast down to the deep pit. The Doom of Men, the terrible destroyer of Mikilhuld, the Demon of Fire and Smoke rose once more. The behemoth of the Dawn Kings rose with a fury. The trammels snapped away, and the giant sorcery holding it placid withered away, as flame once more came to burn at the mountain. A titanic pillar of fire and smoke shot into the sky, seen in all corners of the world, for nine days, the sun gave the world no heat. From the summit of the mountain, out stepped the colossus of the Dawn, the great calamity, the reaver of Rielar, and the black sword of the giants. With a breath, the towering warrior of fire spoke  
"Zorigaizto meinidura ehkath daridir, durnk ikes nazan ra sepeturar nazan, girazoren eintrialz gesigat eighiv delako eza andizar ematen magnafoizar".

"Let doom come upon the world, let all see me and despair, for the hope of men vanished gives me strength"
  With Táramaðurinn, King Thared could destroy Ellandun and march on Tirordol, the Thronelands of the gods, and destroy it, casting the gods out of the mortal world forever. However, Táramaðurinn upon the field of Hautkrig, the Man of Tears met in fury, the god Rymr. All battle ceased and many retreated to safety as the great sky god and titan of wrath and terror did battle. Perhaps never before did two foes clash with such violence. Such violence that the world shook, without exaggeration. With a final great thud, Táramaðurinn, the Doom of men, the walking tower, the bringer of ruin was laid low finally and thus passed the oldest and most terrible of the Kunkal. As Táramaðurinn fell, a great cry rang out among the ranks of men, some from the mouth but some upon the wind, something spontaneous, something ancestral, something unexplainable. From ages past, all the fallen, those hunted men, women, and children, hunted amidst cowering caves and fens and bogs cried out in a loud voice, pure joy at the fall of their persecutor.
(Another of the Kunkal, Hyrbautr, the fire starter serving under Táramaðurinn at Hautrig)    
(Rymr, god of the skies and the god who slew Táramaðurinn at Hautkrig)
Current Location
Species
Circumstances of Birth
Created as the 1st of the Kunkal by the 1st Dawn King Krónaðr
Circumstances of Death
Destroyed by the god Rymr during the Battle of Hautkrig
Children
Gender
Agender
Quotes & Catchphrases
"An hiel ey veionai ovla dira, gairn ziriniv."
"Die and fall, vile men."

Comments

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Oct 8, 2022 17:43

Absolutely gorgeous art and layout and worldbuilding. Bloody jealous