Haerel the Uncompromising

Haerel the Uncompromising is a devil in the service of Dispater. He is the current wielder of the God-Slaying Spear' and an ancestor of Emerald Lily Pad' Captain Cayden Haerel.

Origins
The origins of Haerel are a source of debate among historians; He is the subject of many contradictory tales, legends and historical accounts.

Parentage
According to the legends of Nan Haerel, Haerel's parents were elven nobility descended from the ancient Moon Elf kingdom of Carmora. His parents apparently lived in the ruins of that kingdom's capital, where modern day Nan Haerel is located. Thorean records give him a less romantic origin, claiming he was the child of elvish slaves under the Yuan-Tish Empire and separated from his parents by the Serpent Folk at birth.

Service to the Great Dragon
Whatever the truth of his parentage, all sources agree that Haerel participated in the Battle of the Ssesha Gate on the side of the Thorean Empire. He apparently acquitted himself well as he was quickly inducted into the Order of the Platinum Dragon, and was likely its first elven member.

His actions in the first century of the Great Dragon 's rule are largely unknown. It can be safely assumed that he participated in the Empire's subjugation of the remaining independent human communities in Northern Daerean.

In 144 RT we get our first primary source on Haerel. A record of an election for Grand-Master of the Order of the Platinum dragon lists Haerel as coming in second to Krivkris Aththorea, one of the two hundred children of Thorea. Clearly there were no hard feelings as Krivikris appointed Haerel as his second in command. Records of Haerel's activities became plentiful in this time, as he diligently carried out the orders of his superiors against the rogue human nations of Northern Daerean. Around this time the Empire brought several Moon Elf communities under its control with Haerel as one of their chief diplomats.

Nan Ashera
In 209 RT the Moon Elf settlement of Nan Ashera refused a tributary demand from the Empire. Here Nan Haerel and Thorean accounts differ again. According to the legends of Nan Haerel, Nan Ashera refused the request politely and even sent gifts to the Great Dragon as a token of "our desire for friendship without submission". Thorean records claim the elves massacred the imperial diplomats and sent their heads back as their answer.

Both sides agree that Haerel was dispatched, with a full squad of Platinum Dragon knights, to Nan Ashera in a second diplomatic effort. The meeting quickly turned violent with the vastly outnumbered Platinum Dragon's being forced to retreat. Unfortunately for the elves of Nan Ashera, word of these events reached the Imperial Capital of Thasaadi when the Great Dragon was stirring from one of its decade long slumbers. Thorea descended on Nan Ashera in a cataclysmic torrent of flame, utterly obliterating the elven city along with three other Moon Elf settlements and the entire southern Moon Wood. It is likely that Haerel was a witness to this event and the legends of Nan Haerel dedicated a whole verse to Haerel's reaction to the destruction.

Thorean records state only that Haerel went AWOL shortly after the destruction of Nan Ashera. The legends of Nan Haerel claim that Haerel walked through the ruins of the southern Moon Wood (modern day Wastelands of the Orcs) and met the Ancients. Haerel never returned to the service of Thorea.

Orc-Bane
With a large band of near uninhabitable wasteland separating the Empire from the remaining Moon Elves, the Empire turned its attentions to the independent humans in the south. This proved only a small reprieve for the elves however, as orcs from the west moved into this wasteland and began raiding elven lands.

Haerel used his exceptional paladin abilities in this time to strike back against the orcs, leading and training groups of elves to battle and eventually drove the green-skins back towards the east.

This century of battle is the source of many of the most heroic tales of Haerel among the elven people. Haerel also used his new nature based divine powers to regrow forests over much of the wastelands. But already there were hints of the blood-lust that he would become known for later, as entire tribes of orcs were wiped out by Haerel's punitive raids into orcish lands.

The Haerel Moonblade
The origins of the Haerel Moonblade are as much a source of debate as Haerel himself. The Thorean account merely refers to Haerel wielding an "ancient artefact of the Fey". The Nan Hearel legend claims Haerel forged the weapon himself at a site of "sacred power". Given the fact that the Haerel Moonblade has Haerel's rune as its first, the Nan Hareal account seems likely. The legend is frustratingly vague on detail, so the method by which he managed it remains unknown.

Regardless, by 339 RT Haerel was wielding his famous Moonblade. The Great Dragon, frustrated at its failed attempts to penetrate Weximore's Labyrinth Winds, retreated back into a slumber. But first it ordered its followers to march against the elves.

The Imperial army was massive, far larger than anything the elves could reasonably resist. And so, despite an impassioned plea from Haerel, the elves of the Moon Wood surrendered without condition to the Thorean Empire in 349 RT. The elves were required to hand over Haerel, considered a deserter by the Empire, and so Haerel went into hiding with a small number of his followers.

The Arrows of Shevarash
Haerel and his followers formed a guerrilla force called the Arrows of Shevarash, named for the elven god of revenge and loss. They led a campaign of hit and run attacks against the occupying forces for nearly five hundred years. Army after army was sent against them, but every time the Arrows melted back into the forests, refusing battle. Eventually Haerel's old friend and now regent for the sleeping Thorea, the half-dragon Krivkris Aththorea, led an army personally to find and destroy the Arrows.

Haerel managed to avoid Krivkris for many months but was eventually cornered among the ruins of Nan Ashera. The Arrows were quickly routed and Haerel himself was cornered and surrounded. It is not fully understood what happened next. Haerel used some artefact or power to summon the vengeful spirits of Nan Ashera's dead to attack the Thorean army. The battle quickly became a massacre as very few of the Thorean forces had the magics necessary to strike back against the spectres.

From that day forward, where Haerel went the restless spirits would follow. His campaign against Thorea took centuries, but eventually the Empire was forced out of elvish lands entirely, Krivkris dying at the hands of Haerel himself.

The Great Dragon Awakes
After an unprecedented slumber of five centuries the Great Dragon finally reawakened. Hearing of the death of one of its beloved half-dragon children, Thorea flew into a rage. It descended again on the Moon Wood but as its fire rained down upon the elves it turned to gentle rain. Haerel, apparently also confused by this turn, left the forest to face Thorea in open battle with his spirit army, away from vulnerable elven settlements. Neither Haerel nor Thorea would learn that the Lady Lireesa had intervened to save the Moon Wood until years later.

The battle lasted for over a year. The mortal Haerel was at the height of his powers at this time and his spirit army restored all its losses with each new moon. Eventually a truce was declared when word of the Demogorgon Crisis in Bitu reached the combatants.

The Demogorgon Crisis
When the Drow Emperor Ducmokh Aizir tore open a portal to the Abyss he summoned his patron The Demogorgon. Most of Bitu was lost to the demonic forces. Haerel and Thorea recognised the magnitude of the threat and fought side by side against the forces of the Demon Prince.

During the many battles of that two century long war, Haerel first met the Lady Lireesa. She had already met and joined forces with Ajerius and Robela. Lireesa confided her intent to destroy Thorea once the war had ended, knowing full well that the Great Dragon would eventually seek to bring his Empire to Bitu. And so the Three Companions became four.

The Fifth Companion
With the Demogorgon vanquished and the Great Dragon returning to sleep, to recover from its exertions, Haerel and his companions travelled to Weximore to find mithril. They needed mithril to forge Loc'nehtar, a weapon capable of slaying Thorea. The Air Genasi Camalus Wex challenged the party to ritual combat which Haerel accepted.

Haerel eventually triumphed over Wex, with Weximore legends claiming the victory was entirely due to Haerel's Moonblade. Haerel was prevented from striking the killing blow against Wex by Lireesa, who instead offered the Air Genasi a place in their party.

Wex facilitated the negotiations between the Five Companions and the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. The Dukes agreed to part with some precious Living Mithril and the party departed to find the other components needed for the spear.

An Age Ends
The Five Companions eventually completed their quest to forge Loc'nehtar and set off to defeat Thorea. They descended on Thasaadi where Thorea still slept. The battle is the stuff of legend and, needless to say, the party eventually triumphed. They sent the Great Dragon's corpse crashing into the ocean off the coast of Thasaadi, where it's skeleton still floats to this day.

The Companions split to return to their homes and separate endeavours. Haerel stayed in Thorea and proceeded to dismantle what remained of the Imperial administration. His actions during this time vilified him even in the eyes of many of his fellow elves. He was utterly merciless, reveling in the destruction of his ancient enemy. It was during this time he received the epithet "the Uncompromising".

At this point Haerel founded his temple to Correlon and the township of Nan Haerel.

The Sigil Gate
In 40 AT the Lady Lireesa tracked down Haerel to seek his help in traversing The Sigil Gate. With the Thorean Empire reduced to warring city-states Haerel agreed. The Five Companions reunited for one last quest to contact the mythical city of Sigil. Haerel took his three adult children with him on this quest. The events of the Sigil Gate are not understood. What is known is that something went terribly wrong with the portal the Lady Lireesa opened. It warped reality around it for hundreds of miles around, creating an uninhabitable area across the whole of southern Bitu. All civilisation in that area was lost and the Five Companions were drawn into whatever lay beyond the portal.

In 612 AT the Emerald Lily Pad discovered that the Five Companions had somehow ended up in the Iron City. Haerel's daughter Solina was killed and her soul damned. Haerel traded his soul to Dis in exchange for protecting his daughter's soul in a soul trap and free from the tortures of hell. And so Haerel became a devil.

Captivity
At some point after this, Haerel the devil became trapped in Nan Haerel, beneath his own Moonblade. There exists no known account for how this came to be.

Release
In 606 AT Haerel's containment finally came to an end. His descendent Cayden Haerel defied the will of the Nan Haerel Elders and drew the Haerel Moonblade from the abandoned temple of Correlon. Haerel was released, possessed a body and escaped into Thorea with his Moonblade in hand.

The Hunt
Cayden and his new paladin master Ronash Ildol pursued Haerel across the Empire. Cayden had a connection to both Haerel and his sword and so was able to track the devil's trail of murders.

Haerel's activities during the years Ronash and Cayden hunted him are not yet fully understood, as the murders he committed seemed random.

At some point Haerel abandoned the body he was using and possessed Ronash. By 612 AT he had arrived on the Isle of Columns.

Destruction
Cayden pursued Haerel to Clearpoint on the Isle of Columns. Haerel was apparently unconcerned by Cayden's pursuit, openly acknowledging the young paladin with a smile while the two were on the Volkar's Path. While in Clearpoint Haerel murdered Lord Mayor Farem and framed Rihiri Benazir and Ventus for the crime.

While leaving Clearpoint aboard the Volkar's path Haerel was drawn into an eldritch ritual. The Chained God cultist Meraver attempted to draw the diabolic soul from Haerel/Ronash and the celestial soul from Ibarra Athibarra. Haerel was left helpless, but was saved by the intervention of Cayden, Rihiri and Ventus, and a group of people unlucky enough to also be there.

The group were drawn into a "void" by the destruction of Meraver and his ritual and emerged two weeks later. Haerel quickly sought out a fence named Nulfi, recognising Meraver for one of Nulfi's men. He interrogated and swiftly murdered the dwarf before heading to the old Clearpoint Academy. There he briefly fought Cayden, his companions and Clearpoint guard Lodus. Their battle was interrupted by Ibarra and the fledgling adventuring party escaped. Haerel quickly dispatched Lodus, but Ibarra managed to injure him, forcing him to retreat through the Academy teleportation circle to Great Column Campus. There Ibarra and Haerel fell into the hands of Ajerius the Aspirant.

Haerel was somehow drawn from Ronash's body, along with Ibarra's angel Ambriel. Ajerius prepared his final ritual, to create a key to the Chained God's prison from the souls of Haerel and Ambriel. Haerel found himself helpless again.

Ajerius was defeated, and his ritual stopped, by that same party of adventurers who had rescued Haerel from Meraver. The party chose not to spare Haerel however. Ronash used the Book of Vile Darkness to forge the God-Slaying Spear from Haerel and Ambriel's souls. Haerel, it seemed, was utterly destroyed.

Restoration
Haerel's destruction proved to be temporary. The two fragments of his soul, one in Cayden and one in his Moonblade which Cayden now wielded, gave him a semblance of sentience. During the Oblex Attack on the Citadel Haerel was able to take enough of a physical form to slay one of the Lady Lireesa's bodies. Later, he appeared to Cayden in the Citadel, claiming he was able to regain sentience due to the proximity of other parts of his soul.

That night Ybris the Prophet, in the guise of Illium the Two Hundred Year King, attacked Cayden and his allies with the God-Slaying Spear in hand. In the presence of the Spear, Haerel was able to regain physical form. He aided the party against Ybris, wresting the spear from the fake lich's hands. The party succeeded in preventing Haerel escaping with the Spear. Haerel promised to use the Spear to break the Siege on the Iron City and defeat the Abyss. They agreed to give it to him in exchange for these terms, and his leaving the party in peace and taking the corruption his soul had left on his Moonblade.

Victory Over the Abyss
Haerel left through Rihiri's portal to the Iron City and returned to the service of Dispater. He used the Spear to break the siege on the city and lead a diabolic incursion into the occupied layers of the Nine Hells and into the Abyss itself. The war went extremely well for the devils, but the Abyss' changeable and hostile nature proved too much for the armies of Dis. The Abyss was abandoned but Haerel led frequent punitive raids into the Abyss, slaying the Demon Princes Zuggtmoy and Pazuzu. Haerel took so many demon slaves during these raids he became known as "Chain-Maker" by the inhabitants of the Iron City.

During this time the Spear bonded with Haerel, creating a form of armour that makes him immune to magic and forcing him to sprout angelic wings.

Fall of the Iron City
Hundreds of years passed in the Iron City while only days passed on Artio. The Knights of the Lily Pad arrived in the Iron City and agreed to aid Haerel in a rebellion against Dispater to rescue his daughter's soul and retrieve the Sigil Stone. Haerel and the party were deceived by Dispater however, who had moved the entire Iron City in order to keep Haerel from achieving his freedom. With his power over Haerel reasserted, Dispater ordered Haerel to destroy the Lily Pad. At that point the forces of the Celestial Triumvirate arrived in the Iron City. This distraction gave the Lily Pad a chance to make their escape but Haerel pursued them. He was thwarted first by a blow from Verum wielded by Ventus, which somehow managed to parry the God-Slaying Spear. Haerel quickly recovered but was again stopped from making a killing blow by the Solar Justice, who defeated Haerel in a single blazing strike of divine radiance.

The Slaying of Dispater
On the 10th of Evaar, 612 AT Haerel fled with the remaining Devils to Pandemonium, pursued by the forces of the Celestial Triumvirate and Justice. After arriving in Pandemonium Haerel witnessed Justice break the soul trap that held his daughter Solina, releasing her to her afterlife. Justice swiftly departed as Haerel killed Dispater with the the God-Slaying Spear.