Balthus Dire
From Titannica
Balthus Dire was one of the infamous Demonic Three, the most talented pupils of the despicable sorceror Volgera Darkstorm.
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[edit] Early Life
Balthus Dire was the third in a line of Sorcerer Warlords ruling over the Black Tower and the Kingdom of Craggen Rock. He lived his early years in the Black Tower, a remote citadel built in the Craggen Heights by his grandfather Gandor Dire. The Craggen Heights, a mountain range south of Salamonis, was a region that had long been infested with evil creatures, as an aftermath of the War of the Wizards. Many of these foul denizens of the inhospitable peaks found employment or refuge in the Tower. It was in this corrupting environment and under the influence of his evil father Craggen Dire, that Balthus began to manifest his malevolence. Having absorbed everything his father could instruct him about dark sorcery and the military arts, he coerced Craggen into enrolling him at Volgera Darkstorm's school of black magic at the age of fourteen.
[edit] Under Darkstorm
At Volga Darkstorm's base in the Flatlands of Allansia Balthus Dire met Zagor and Zharradan Marr and the three of them excelled under Darkstorm's expert tuition. Such was their prowess that they became known as the Demonic Three. However, along with Zagor and Marr, Dire's greed for knowledge fuelled his thirst for power and Darkstorm began to fear the consequences of their ambition. Despising their tutor's attempt to exert a calming influence, they turned on him and slew him with a carefully disguised 'Rain of Knives' spell.
[edit] Return to the Black Tower
Dire returned to the Black Tower to apply the skills that he had learned towards his ultimate goal, the dominion over Allansia. Even as his father tearfully embraced him in welcome Balthus Dire stabbed him to death with a poisoned blade and the Craggen Heights were his. For eight years Dire ruled his mountain and he increased the Black Tower's small guard into a notable army, and on two occasions he came perilously close to conquering Salamonis, only to be thwarted at the last.
[edit] Death
On the second campaign against Salamonis, Dire was assassinated at the eleventh hour by an undergraduate from the famous school of magic in the Vale of Willow in west Salamonis. It was rumoured that his consort Lucretia, a sorceress, escaped, and her whereabouts are unknown.
[edit] Salamonian Rating System
Balthus Dire was known to have been a formidable opponent, not just as an accomplished sorceror but also possessed of great strength and is well versed in swordplay.:
BALTHUS DIRE skill 10 stamina 19
Additionally, Dire routinely wore a magical Ring of Swordsmanship which increased his skill by 2 points to 12.
Dire had a weakness shared with the undead and his forebears: sunlight is like a poison to the Dires. Exposure to direct sunlight will kill them almost immediately.[1]
[edit] Further Notes
- Steve Jackson named his favourite character from the Fighting Fantasy books as Balthus Dire.[2]
[edit] References
- ↑ Richard Wood (Dave Holt ed.), Balthus Dire from Fighting Fantasy: The Lexicon of Titan, 2006
- ↑ 25th Anniversary Edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, page 224
