King Leoric (lee-OR-ik)
(a.k.a. the Black King)
Born in the eastern lands of Kehjistan, Leoric came unto Khanduras in the name of Zakarum, and declared himself king. He was a deeply religious man and had brought many knights and priests with him that comprised his Order of the Light. However, his reign would last only five short years, as his mental state rapidly deteriorated. Eventually, reduced to a mad tyrant, he was slain by his own Royal Guard.
Sadly, malevolent forces raised the mad king from his grave, creating the horror known as the "Skeleton King" and imbuing him with an unquenchable thirst for revenge against the living.
Reign
1258 - 1263 AK
Under the instruction of the Zakarum Church, Leoric made his way to the town of Tristram with his knights and trusted advisor, the Archbishop Lazarus. He appropriated the ancient, decrepit monastery on the outskirts of the town for his seat of power and began to renovate it to match its time-lost glory while he lived with his family in a grand manor overlooking the region. Although the free people of Khanduras were not pleased with being placed under the sudden rule of a foreign King, Leoric served them with justice and might, and the people grew to respect the kind Leoric.
However, within a few years, Leoric's mood darkened and he became increasingly erratic, lashing out at anyone who even appeared to question him. His rule became brutal and tyrannical, and he declared war on the allied kingdom of Westmarch, sending away the entire royal army. The kingdom quickly fell to chaos, with bandits and beasts preying on the terrified villagers, while the king engaged in ever more horrific acts, including the massacre of the people of Tristram and the execution of his own wife, the Queen Asylla.
The campaign into Westmarch, however, proved a complete failure, and within a year, his armies were broken. When Lachdanan, the captain of his Royal Guard and general of the armies, returned to find the king fully taken by madness, he rallied his most loyal men and put the tyrant to the sword. The people of Khanduras now remember Leoric in two very different ways - some mourn for the loss of the benevolent ruler he was, while others breathe easier knowing that "that Black King" has been laid to rest.
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