Zantras, the Kingmaker
Zantras, the Kingmaker, is a power who approached Sylvain twice: once in the Death House, during Sylvain's second brush with death in Barovia, and once when Sylvain died for the first time, during the Feast of St. Andral's. Though Sylvain turned Zantras down in the Death House, Zantras offered him another chance at life when he fell — not least to clear up Sylvain's unfortunate misconceptions regarding Zantras and Strahd being one and the same.
In exchange, it's true, Zantras will grow more powerful, feeding off those who Sylvain kills. But as both Zantras and Sylvain want to see Strahd thoroughly dethroned, Zantras argued that they have far more in common than Sylvain might think.
With few other options immediately before him, Sylvain accepted the deal, becoming the second of the party to make such a deal since coming to Barovia. As an immediate benefit, he experienced the same surge of power that Osrin had had only a few nights before courtesy of Sykane.
Sylvain fully intended to sass the hell out of this entity, and succeeded. Both Zantras and Sylvain picked their poison and they both had their share of opportunities to deeply regret their decisions. Sylvain was ready to play games, regardless of whether he had fully processed the events leading to him making a deal in the first place. Potential nicknames included: ZK, ZanZan, Creepy Dream Bro, Not Strahd, Crack Master.
However, it was ZanZan that stuck, and ZanZan and Sylvain had... the most fulsome relationship of any of his party with the Dark Powers. It seemed Zantras was almost fond of Sylvain at times, though whether this was simply how he chose to portray himself as a creature who relies on charisma is hard to say. He did allow Sylvain to interact with Bren in dreams, and amplified his charisma, but in time, the inevitable corruption began to take hold in Sylvain, and he became the second of his party to break a fully formed pact. Zantras claims it was a totally mutual conscious uncoupling.
Comments