Scrag

Sandrinium Walhallen Gustamos the 1st

The grandiose city of Waterdeep, better known as the City of Splendors was in the midst of an industrial boom. There was a niche for labor that needed to be filled and the likes of man had failed to meet the requirements for that necessity - being that it was incredibly labor intensive long hours, and harsh working conditions.
A common practice was born, a new type of engineering, called Croning. It was essentially genetic breeding where advanced surgeons and people of great magical ability would manipulate, enhance, and enchant human flesh so that it could be controlled by an individual but still have the appearance of a human. This sounds fine and all, but the process required a living human vessel to facilitate the process. The magic required a living host to become self-sustainable. Although several of the various temples of Waterdeep were involved with this movement, the practice quickly became outlawed. Even though the vessel could be braindead or unconscious, the lines of morality quickly became obscured.
The grotesque idea of trapping a man or woman’s soul, conscious or not, into a sentence they could not escape, was deemed inhumane and a sin itself against humanity.

Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Sandrinium Wallhallen Gustamos the 1st, or Scragwiggins for short, Scrag for shorter! I am part of the solution to the whole vile corruption ordeal that was happening in my home city of Waterdeep. We are known as Warforged! Currently, the race of the Warforged is only about 32 years old; thus I am 32 years old and as a matter of fact, one of the first Warforged ever created! My wonderful, beautiful master is an elven woman by the name of Alathandar Hiyéna (al-a-than-dar hi-yen-a she created me and many others! We call her the Mother of the Forged, as she was one of the people heavily involved and responsible for bringing us about.
When Aly created me, a special connection was born. While she was running some of the preliminary tests with me as a young Warforged, she discovered that I was drastically different from the others. I had a sense of curiosity and rebellion that she admired; but also a spark of ingenuity. I wanted to study and know everything there was to know about the world but also have my own creative thoughts and influences. She decided to keep me by her side, always nearby as her personal assistant. I even dwelled in her personal chambers. I was always there as a means to help her study and better understand the cosmos.

Alathandar Hiyéna, Aly

You see, Aly is a very incredibly powerful wizard nearly as wise as Elminster Aumar himself! I would provide the means of electrical power necessary for various spells such as transporting her into different planes of existence or summoning great elemental creatures. I was never the one to personally perform these great acts but Aly said that I had a knack for the arcane arts. She always told me that she could feel the magic of The Weave coursing through my circuits. I would often accompany her on these journeys throughout the cosmos, mainly as her protector and means of travel when she could not perform the spells on her own, but also as her friend. She always told me that I was the best travel companion anyone could ask for.

Aly would sometimes get frustrated with me because I was always more interested in the great wide world around us, specifically the wonders of various creations, beasts, and the vast wilderness beyond. There is something about nature that is simply remarkable! She however would only be upset for a moment and ONLY because my daydreaming would cause me to knock over alchemical supplies or break beakers when helping her craft potions in her herbatory outside the city gates where the forests were near. She would always forgive me nonetheless, for she too loved nature. She loved all living creatures relentlessly but was quite fond of songbirds, specifically cardinals. I always had a knack for creating herbs and salves, even figuring out what type of medicine would be best to treat specific ailments.
This ability actually came in super handy one time! It was on a late night when Aly had forgotten something and I had to make my way back to the herbatory when I found a man alone passed out on the side of the street. He had ingested some sort of narcotic or opioid that caused his body to shut down rapidly. My reaction was almost automatic; my ability allowed me to assess what was wrong with his respiratory system and know what had caused his health to further plummet.
With haste, I was quickly able to figure out what was happening and save the man’s life. When he came to consciousness the man's eyes were incredibly dilated and he told the most obscene stories and had the most obscure visions, illusions that he said he could see at that very moment! This experience, however, opened up a new area of interest for me: elevating one’s consciousness to a state in which one could obtain these strange visions. Since that night, I have been experimenting on myself with various combinations of liquids, salves, herbs, and other contraband that could help me attain a euphoric state that man was able to achieve, but alas to no avail. It seems that only people of flesh are susceptible to its effects, nonetheless, my curiosity still drives me.

Wouldn't It Be Nice...

Over the course of the next few years, this interest turned into an obsession that led me to become quite envious of humans. In my efforts to obtain this elated sensation I studied mankind, and observed their ways, their mannerisms, and the way they treat one another. It is beautiful how they can celebrate their kin’s victories, laugh at the drop of a copper due to pre-established rapport or “inside joke” as I’ve learned they called it. Their joy is multiplied when shared amongst friends yet their grievances are diminished with every division.
Aly has always displayed the utmost compassion for me personally but in the time spent studying mankind I learned how to communicate these emotions. I couldn’t help but become envious of man because they could possess all of these traits and live life as a vessel that was capable of such a cascade of emotions and state of being. It began to trouble me in my day-to-day life to the point where it caught Aly’s attention. She was aware of this interest of mine, both my study of illicit substances and mankind. She always encouraged me to explore my curiosities and she actually helped explain some of the unknown mysteries at times or even helped me unveil the truth in some situations. This entire experience brought me that much closer to Aly.
I was always most comfortable when we were either in the herbatory or out in the woods, harvesting for specific rare ingredients. When I was a young Warforged I would go out there with Aly. She showed me the ways of proper tracking and survival to the point where I was entrusted to make such trips on my own. Sometimes I would leave Waterdeep for days, either on a hunt for a specific seasonal ingredient or just lost in the wanderlust of nature. One day Aly had finished up a great project and we had made plans to set out on a trip outside the city and travel far to the lands of the north and east! We had made hundreds of trips outside of the city before but never wandered too far away from Waterdeep. After all my studies, it had always been a great dream of mine to travel up the Sword Coast and further east through the ancient High Forest, towards the Dalelands, and onward through the forests of Cormanththor.

The Big Day

It was the day before we were going to leave, Aly and I had gone to the markets to pick up several odds and ends for our trip and supplies for our final meal at home - our favorite; Silvereyes fish stew, with homemade Mint Jelly as dessert. On our way home that late afternoon, our journey home led us by a temple that had a massive window blown out on one of the higher levels.
Something was wrong.
There was no one standing outside the temple and there was a black shadow, or smoke rather, pouring out from the window that had been blasted out. I could immediately sense the fear in Aly’s voice as she ordered me to return to the keep. I was somewhat familiar with the temple; enough to know that this particular religious order was one of the groups that participated in the Croning movement nearly 35 years ago. I set off to go home at first, to follow her commands, but something steered me against my better judgment.
I turned around and made my way through the temple. I found the lower level completely empty. As I made my way into the second story, the entire hallway had been covered in soot, a black film covered nearly every surface of the floor, walls, and ceiling. There was an eerie feeling as if the oxygen in this space had been completely removed. I did not know if my hearing escaped me or if the lack of oxygen had caused a soundless vacuum.

As I made my way through the temple, soundless, I came upon a large chamber where the explosion had occurred. Hundreds of bodies lay lifeless at the foot of an altar that stood at the foot of the large broken window.
Blood and black soot were all that I could see.
I started to panic and ran. Still no sign of Aly or any other living persons. After what felt like hours my instincts led me to the top of the temple where I could finally hear voices again. I could not make out what they were saying.
When I peered in I could see several figures, three humanoids a male and two females. Behind them was a massively tall dark figure, even by my standards, standing around some sort of basin with a large stone glowing from the center. The massive dark figure was obscured by some sort of veil, it seemed as if darkness shrouded its likeness. With as much stealth as I could muster and by sheer luck I quickly checked the adjoining chambers and managed to find Aly unconscious on the floor in one of them.
Picking her up, I carried her through the temple and made my way down into the central chambers on the ground floor. I was relieved to see Waterdeep guards making their way into the temple; amongst them the Captain of the Guard Obry Ironfist who was also the oldest and most respected nephew of the Open Lord of Waterdeep. Carrying Aly, I began to make my way toward them and explain what I had seen upstairs.
In the commotion of chaos, the captain of the guard, Obryn, ripped Aly out of my grasp and threw her to the ground, and began to attack me, placing me under arrest. Suddenly the ground started to rumble within the temple. This gave me enough of a distraction to break free from his grasp but several other guards quickly replaced him.
Without a thought, electrical energy erupted from my body throwing the nearby guards from their feet. I did not know whether they were alive or not but I knew that I had to get out of there.
Again I picked up Aly and with her in my arms, I was able to escape the now crumbling temple. As I fled the temple many onlookers were now in the surrounding area. The temple began to crumble in on itself, falling into a giant domed-shaped pile of rubble that had an aura of necromantic energy.
I did not care who saw me fleeing the scene, I just needed to get away from there. I could hear the blood-curdling cries of the nearby citizens followed by a growing reverberation coming from the direction of the temple.
The ground began to rumble.
It was almost like something within the core of the planet was trying to make its way out...
As I made my way through the city back to our keep, the vibrations continued to grow. The sound became deafening. I crashed through the front gates of our home and placed Aly on the ground. In a moment of reprieve, I looked out the window in the direction of the temple.
Instantaneously the vibrations stopped and I felt the same silent sensation as I did in the temple just moments ago.
Suddenly a black beam of what could only be described as pure darkness penetrated the skies; ascending from what remained of the temple. Not knowing what else to do, I tried to wake up Aly but she would not stir...
In those brief moments of eerie silence knelt down beside Aly I grew afraid. Not knowing the fate of Aly and paying no concern to the cataclysmic event transpiring in the City of Splendors, I felt a morose worse than death.
My entire existence, all I dreamt about was leaving Waterdeep with Aly and being free to explore the wilderness of Faerun with my best friend, my Mother of the Forged, my love...
We were just hours away from this dream becoming a reality.
I gathered my thoughts and composed myself. Jumping to my feet I made my way to Aly’s study where she kept hundreds of scrolls. The majority of which was beyond my comprehension but I had to try. I grabbed one that I quickly identified as powerful divination magic and made my way back to her.
Kneeling before Aly, the scroll began to crumble to ash in my hands as I read the final rune.
She gasped.
We embraced and tears streamed down her face. I could feel her trembling with fear. As I held her, I could feel her sharp inhales between sobs. She moved her hands to my shoulders and as she pulled away, a look of elation and relief washed over her.
Her gaze shifted over my shoulder and her countenance shifted to absolute horror as she cried out, “SCRAG–!”
Darkness….