View source for Dzree: Empress of Death (book)

'''Dzree: Empress of Death''' <br>                                           
By Nereon Amisal  <br>                                                  
                                                                   
[[Dzree]] -- it is a name known by every one living in the Five        
Provinces, for so great were her misdeeds and the damage           
she inflicted upon the world.  She is truly famous, although       
infamous would likely be a far better method of describing         
her.                                                               
                                                                   
She has been known by many names and titles.  The Hag.             
Dzree the Smozh.  Empress Dzree.  High Priestess Dzree --          
these last two were used interchangeably, as her Dragon's          
Empire was a theocracy; Dzree served as both Empress and           
High Priestess of the Dragon.  Perhaps the most appropriate        
title by which Dzree was known, though, was as the Empress         
of Death.                                                          
                                                                   
I've often been asked, as a teacher of this particular era,        
where the [[Dragon Priests]] ruled all but supreme over                
[[Kermoria]]...  I have often been asked for the details of            
this woman's life, the details that could breed such a             
monster as would commit the acts she did.                          

This is the collection of the research I have compiled into        
Dzree's life, and it serves both as a biography of this            
woman and a chronicle of her evil acts, so that in hundreds        
of years, the world will still know the crimes she committed       
upon us all.                                                       
                                                                   
Dzree was born in a small village on Reshalia Island, one          
which, as far as historians can ascertain, does not exist          
any longer.  Her mother was a woman of great repute and            
fame, as a member of the [[Ru'atin Peri'el]], the sacred order         
of sisters that watch over Peri'el and aid her with song           
and ritual -- an order greatly admired in S'Kra Mur                
culture.                                                           
                                                                   
Dzree was the fourth daughter of her family, which was a           
great honor for any daughter of a Sister of Peri'el.  The          
Ru'atin always hoped for female children, and they would           
perform rituals in the hopes of assuring that, pray to             
[[Peri'el]] and [[Tamsine]] for daughters that could carry on the          
legacy of the order.  The fourth daughter of a sister was          
thought to be specially blessed by the gods, and there was         
an expectation that she would be among the greatest of the         
sisters.  And of course, such an expectation and honor was         
only magnified when the child was the fourth daughter of a 
fourth daughter.                                                   
                                                                   
Much was expected of Dzree, then, among the Ru'atin                
Peri'el.  Her family, and the Sisters, thought she would           
become a masterful singer, giving aid and comfort to their         
cherished goddess, to keep the [[World Dragon]] asleep.  But           
Dzree did not live up to those expectations.                       
                                                                   
When she came of age and became a young woman, she was             
given the test of entry to the Ru'atin Peri'el.  And               
shockingly, she failed it.                                         
                                                                   
She could not sing at all, unfortunately.  She did not             
just sing averagely, or even badly -- she was terrible.            
The test of entry required of a fourth daughter of a Sister        
was the simplest of all tests, and she failed even that,           
quite miserably.                                                   
                                                                   
This failure brought an extreme amount of shame to Dzree's         
mother and family, and to their community.  Most fourth            
daughters were thought to be blessed by the gods, but many         
in their village decided that surely Dzree was instead             
'''cursed''' by the gods.  The villagers directed loathing at          
her, treated her poorly -- they thought she would bring the
ire of the gods down upon them.  Dzree's mother was a good         
woman, and would never have turned the girl out, as many of        
the villagers wanted...  she still loved her daughter.  But        
Dzree did not wish to remain in the village, and so she            
fled.                                                              
                                                                   
I shall interject myself here to make note that if one             
wishes to learn more of the Sisters of Peri'el, one should         
read the excellent accounting, [["A History of the Ru'atin           
Peri'el,"]] by Laricra Milaeshi.                                     
                                                                   
This was a turning point in her life...  and quite truly, a        
turning point for the world, because it was these events           
that set the course of her life and the acts she would             
commit in later years.                                             
                                                                   
Dzree had been taught her entire life that her destiny, her        
reason for existing, was to help keep the World Dragon             
asleep.  I make no excuses for the evils she unleashed upon        
the Five Provinces -- none at all!  -- but I can still             
acknowledge that certainly it would have been hard for a           
young girl to deal with such a situation: to be told from          
birth what your fate was, that the gods smiled on you and          
you would do great things for them, that you would help            
and nourish the goddess that gave you life, and then be            
unable to accomplish that destiny.  When it was finally            
time to live up to that fate, to fail.  Certainly it               
filled in her a loathing for the Ru'atin Peri'el (a                
loathing she would later take out upon the Sisters in              
infamous and brutal violence) which eventually great to            
encompass all singers (these events likely planted the seed        
for her hatred of Bards as well as the Sisters).                   
                                                                   
But more importantly...  she still felt the need to                
accomplish her destiny in life, which was to help the world        
by keeping the World Dragon asleep.  The method by which           
she was to accomplish this goal was removed from her, but          
the desire to accomplish it was no less diminished.  So as         
she left her village, young, helpless, and alone, she              
sought to find another way to fulfill her destiny.                 
                                                                   
She wandered then, for some time, struggling to keep               
herself alive.  It was this that brought her to the man            
known as [[Sh'kial]].                                                  
                                                                   
Sh'kial was a radical.  An old and wizened S'Kra Mur man           
who had formed a new religious ideology, a new way of              
thinking about how to view the World Dragon and how to save        
the world from his wrath.  Sh'kial believed that the World         
Dragon's awakening was inevitable, and so the people of            
Kermoria must placate him, pacify him, earn his favor.             
This was a shocking way of thinking that earned Sh'kial the        
enmity of the followers of the Immortals.                          
                                                                   
So he and his small sect of followers -- little more than a        
dozen at that point, really -- wandered about, preaching           
where they could, and performing the acts and rituals and          
sacrifices (though never of mortals) that they believed            
would keep the World Dragon content and pacific.                   
                                                                   
In one village where Dzree had been staying...  sleeping in        
a pile of hay in a stable...  she came across Sh'kial and          
his band.  And as she listened to them, she thought,               
"Surely this is my fate." Here was a man offering to her           
what the Ru'atin Peri'el ultimately had not been able to --        
the ability to keep the world safe from the Dragon.  She          
was, needless to say, a true convert.  She joined Sh'kial          
and his followers and journeyed with them, becoming his            
most eager and exceptional pupil.                                  
                                                                   
As the ranks of these new Dragon Priests grew and expanded         
-- too many S'Kra Mur were, unfortunately, willing to              
believe Sh'kial's problematic and erroneous dogma -- Dzree         
served as the leader's right hand, indoctrinating and              
leading many of the priests.                                       
                                                                   
But she was still filled with that dark seed of hatred,            
that loathing of the Ru'atin Peri'el...  as she grew more          
and more engrained in the dogma of the Dragon Priests, she         
grew more and more disdainful of Peri'el, the goddess              
worshipped by the Sisters.  She was convinced of the               
rightness of the ideology that had restored her purpose in         
life, and so by that ideology, Peri'el and the other gods          
WOULD fail and the World Dragon would awaken.  That                
assurance of the Immortals' eventual failure led her to            
hate them...  and in time, to hate those who placed their          
hope in the doomed Immortals.                                      
                                                                   
As time passed and the hatred inside her grew, her beliefs         
became more and more twisted.  They changed from a belief          
of awe-filled fear of the Dragon, to an outright worship of        
it -- she was no longer seeking to placate an angry being          
that was held in awe in fear, but she was seeking to               
worship a being she viewed as a true god.  And as time             
passed, more and more of the followers, the Dragon Priests,        
came to see things her way.  After all, Sh'kial was growing        
older and older, and he was less capable of persuading             
others as he once was.  He was a weak man who relied on his        
protege more than ever in the running of the priesthood.           
So she began to take it in a horrific new direction.               
                                                                   
Thus was born the new Dragon Priests...  which became more         
militant than the harmless religious sect they once were.          
Dzree believed the Immortals were fraud gods, and that             
their followers were an affront to the World Dragon -- that        
he would never bring the Golden Age the Priests believed           
would come, so long as the land was infested with the              
children of the doomed false gods that had sought to hold          
him captive.  And so she believed that she and the priests         
must subjugate those followers...  and they even began             
capturing them and offering them as sacrifices to the World        
Dragon.                                                            
                                                                   
As most know, Sh'kial found out about this practice, and he        
attempted to put a stop to it immediately.  He had been            
withdrawn, tired, and had paid little attention to what was        
going on with the Priests.  He did not know Dzree had              
transformed them so.  He soon found out there were few             
remaining that were truly loyal to him and his ideals.             
Sh'kial was murdered by Dzree herself.                             

The Dragon Priests then worked at becoming more and more           
militant, seeking to amass the power they needed to do the         
bidding of the World Dragon and so enable him to usher in          
his Golden Age of Peace.                                           
                                                                   
Once her army was strong enough, she captured the city of          
Shard by employing both strong magic and lethal cunning.           
She laid a trap for the Ferdahl [[Corik]], he of the Black             
Cloud, and when he left the city of Shard with his army to         
confront the Priests, she outmaneuvered him and sacked the         
city.  Dzree used Moon Gates to maneuver behind Corik              
without his realizing it, and this tactic would demonstrate        
a reliance upon magic that she would have throughout her           
life.                                                              
                                                                   
With Shard firmly under her control, she set her sights on         
even grander things -- the rest of the lands.  But she knew        
that to do that, she would need more than just her army of         
Dragon Priests.  The [[Elothean]]s were easy to defeat -- they         
were a weak, peace-loving people.  The [[Humans]], the [[Elves]],          
the [[Dwarves]]...  they would pose greater challenges, and            
Dzree would need to be crafty in order to overcome those           
coming obstacles.                                                  
                                                                   
It was thus that she began her experiments in summoning and        
breeding.  She first attempted to control the [[Vykathi]], but         
that was an unsuccessful attempt.  Next would come efforts         
to summon the malevolent fae, the [[Frostweavers]], from               
another Plane, and utilize them in combat...  but these            
beings were far too fickle, and she abandoned her efforts          
to use them as part of her army.  Thus she went to her             
third experiment, which was disastrously successful -- the         
[[Adan'f]].                                                            
                                                                   
For more on this affair, one should read the book [["On              
Necromancy"]] which discusses in detail the acts Dzree               
undertook at this time, which led to the creation of the           
Adan'f.                                                            
                                                                   
In any event...                                                    
                                                                   
These beasts, bred through dark, sorcerous magic,                  
multiplied the ranks of her forces, adding great power to          
the Dragon Priests.  With them adding strength to her army,        
Dzree marched northward to begin in earnest her ravaging of        
the lands.                                                         
                                                                   
She eventually established a citadel, which would function         
as her base of operations.  It was in this place that she          
was visited by the [[Bard]] [[S'zhella]].  She expected to be              
entertained.  But she was not.                                     
                                                                   
S'zhella was a biting satirist, as the tome [["S'zhella's            
Tale"]] tells us.  And he mocked and humiliated Dzree, for           
the Bard knew nothing but hatred for the Hag and what she          
was doing.  Dzree was not accustomed to humiliation -- it          
was not something she had felt since the time she was              
driven from her village, an act she laid at the feet of the        
singers of the Ru'atin Peri'el.                                    
                                                                   
She quickly had S'zhella executed, but she did not let it          
there...  oh no.  Twice now Dzree had been utterly                 
humiliated in her life; twice now by Bards and singers.            
Her hatred overwhelmed her.                                        
                                                                   
She also blamed the singers -- Bards and Sisters alike --          
on the songs that sustained Peri'el and kept her god, the          
World Dragon, asleep.  These singers were, in her demented         
mind, keeping away the Golden Age she wanted to bring to           
Kermoria.                                                          
                                                                   
Dzree began a crusade to wipe out all Bards and Ru'atin            
Peri'el from the face of Elanthia.  She and her fanatics           
hunted them down, slaughtering them without mercy.  She was        
beyond determined to eliminate the song entirely.  It was          
one of the most horrific tyrannies that would mark her             
reign.                                                             
                                                                   
And there would be many.                                           
                                                                   
Dzree had long since passed the point of any hope of               
redemption.  She had become a person of pure, true evil,           
and to solidify that (had she not done so already), more           
and more atrocities were committed in her name.  Mortal            
sacrifices, destruction of temples, shrines, and cities,           
the twisting and corrupting of the very land itself -- such        
as what she did to Adamantia, in order to bring a painful          
death to HighHold.  And then there was her crime against           
life itself: the black magic she used to unnaturally              
extend her life.                                                   
                                                                   
Dzree was not willing to give up power.  She was not               
willing to leave the Empire she had created through her            
unleashed hatred.  She was determined not to leave the             
world until the World Dragon awoke and ushered in his              
Golden Age.                                                        

So she relied upon sorceries and necromancies...  all foul         
magic...  to maintain her crazed grip on life.  She lived          
longer than any S'Kra Mur had before.  But with each               
passing year, she grew more and more insane.                       
                                                                   
So it was that she eventually succumbed to the fear and            
paranoia her insanity bred in her mind.  Dzree died, a             
truly contemptible wretch of a woman, all shriveled up and         
hag-like.                                                          
                                                                   
There was not one positive thing to acknowledge about the          
life she lead, which was marked by nothing except fear and         
loathing.

[[Category:book]]