Acererak

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Greyhawk Character
Acererak
Homeland Vast Swamp
Gender Male
Race Half-fiend human
Age 800+
Class Wizard
Alignment Neutral evil

Acererak was a powerful wizard who became a demilich.

Relationships

Acererak was the son and ally of the balor Tarnhem, a worshipper of Orcus, and an apprentice of Vecna. In life, he was the enemy of a paladin of Pelor named Pentival, and the wizard-architect who designed his tomb is called Morghadam. He is revered by a group of wizards known as the Covenenticle of Acererak. The necromancers of Skull City, former followers of Acererak, went on to form a group known as the Votaries of Vecna, making a new home in the Black Spire on the Plane of Shadow.

The githyanki necromancer Kastya Zurith-Movya seeks to return the true Acererak to existence as an ally against his people's lich-queen.

Home

The Tomb of Horrors was long Acererak's home in undeath. As a demilich, he moved to the demiplane of Moil to complete his grand plans.

There is a shrine of Acererak, in the form of a five-foot statue of a humanoid skull, on the second layer of Pandemonium.

History

Acererak the Devourer was born a cambion, the product of a balor named Tarnhem who took his human mother by force. Apparently an ancient conjurer summoned a demon that was far beyond his ability to control. The demon devoured the wizard, and forcibly conceived a cambion son in one of the wizard's servant girls.

Acererak's mother survived her son's birth, but she was killed by a torch-wielding mob ten years later. The boy was rescued by none other than Vecna, the Whispered One, who killed the advisors that urged him to kill the child and instead took the half-demon on as an apprentice. Even then, ten year-old Acererak loathed life, looking forward to becoming undead like his master. During Vecna's siege of Fleeth, the lich was severely wounded and rescued by Acererak. Vecna subsequently promoted the cambion.

It is unknown if Acererak was present when Vecna was betrayed by Kas the Bloody-Handed in the fourth century before the Common Year, but at some point, he moved to the Vast Swamp where he constructed a lair for himself, colloquially known as the Tomb of Horrors (and described in an adventure module of the same name). While alive, Acererak built a subterranean temple complex in the name of Orcus, burying its architect and all of its workers within. Eventually, Acererak succumbed to the lure of lichcraft, and had himself buried in a labyrinthine tomb where he committed himself to his studies and, eventually, demilichdom, abandoning his body for the planes beyond. Many adventurers over the years have attempted to raid Acererak's tomb, but it is believed that none have been able to destroy him, despite some claims.

The sequel module Return to the Tomb of Horrors retconned and expanded on the setting. At some point, a group of necromancers settled the area outside the tomb, creating a community of sorts known as Skull City. Acererak's tomb was revealed to be a mere antechamber to the demilich's true dwelling, the lost city of Moil on the border of the Negative Energy Plane, where he had spent thousands of years working on a process to fuse his essence with the plane and gain control over all undead throughout the multiverse.

According to the Tome of Magic, Acererak, following his destruction by adventurers completing the Tomb of Horrors, passed on to become a vestige - an ineffable, amoral entity which can be summoned and bound by characters known as Binders. Acererak grants his summoner lich-like powers, including immunity to cold and the ability to speak with the dead.

According to the adventure "Prisoner of the Castle Perilous," Acererak created a simulacrum in the Negative Energy Plane to torment Saint Pentival, an old foe from his mortal life. This simulacrum has since transformed itself into a complete being through the aid of an artifact known as the Soul Machine.

Bibliography

  • Brown, Lloyd III. "Wizard Societies." Dragon #258. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.
  • Cordell, Bruce R. and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel. Planar Handbook. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
  • Mullin, Robert S. "Arcane Lore: Greyhawk Grimoires II." Dragon #241. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1997.
  • -----. "Campaign Classics: Three Greyhawk Grimoires." Dragon #225. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.