In the DFX game, there can be many potential supervillains. I have monster stats for Cthulhu, fer cryin' out loud. Vampires and liches are classic supervillains in a fantasy sense. So are some of the powerful daemons. But Heresiarchs are explicitly envisioned as fantasy supervillains. I specifically, actually, envisioned them as the Ten Who Were Taken. If you've never read the ten (or maybe it's eleven now; I think he may have added a recent book) Black Company books by Glen Cook, you should. They not only foreshadow the rise of grimdark, without being explicitly as nihilistic and derpy as grimdark itself often is, but they're just quite clever and interesting. The main narrator, Croaker, is one of the most unique voices in fantasy fiction. The Heresiarchs are deliberately meant to be a "body" of individuals that are similar to the Ten Who Were Taken. Like them, they have many of the aspects of a lich, but without necessarily their weaknesses. Many of them have enough vanity to perpetuate a beautiful, charismatic appearance, while others simply don't care that they look like walking corpses, such as the Hanged Man or the Limper from the Ten. They are undead, or at least undying, and have many of the strengths of both vampires and liches, but few of either of their weaknesses.
I've come up with fifteen unique Heresiarchs. Few know of them in the setting, and much of what is known about them is garbled by deliberate lies, or has passed into dubious legend. There's also a Heresiarch monster stat block in the monster section of my game. In reality, each of these should use the Heresiarch stat block as a starting point and then add at least a couple of additional abilities and other minor changes, so that they're all a little unique. But this post isn't for that. I don't really imagine that my PCs would ever be likely to be sitting around fighting Heresiarchs in a straight up fight anyway. They're more like behind the scenes Fu Manchu or Moriarty manipulators. Stats are just there for reference in their cases.
Anyway, this is just a summary of the Heresiarchs I've identified and named so far (which may end up being all of them, of course) and I'll probably use this blog post as a starting point for a YouTube video that I've been planning on making for some time.
Amrruk the Ancient
In frightened and blasphemous whispers, there is a rumor that before the First Man, there was another race of men. One that had fallen so far that God wiped them all out, without even leaving the equivalent of Noah to replenish the Earth. He then started completely over with the current race of men. But Amrruk, against all odds, is a survival from this strange, alien race of men before men; who endured by turning himself into a creature of slime and protoplasm. Underneath the slime, his original skeleton still survives, given life by his ancient, cursed will. But he spends most of his time in torpor, usually unconcerned with the affairs of this "new" race of Men, lingering in blighted swamps, now having more in common with other creatures of slime and mud than anything else.
Arzana, Clad in Black
Taking the form of a young feral girl, running wildly through the waste places of the world unharmed by any vagary of climate or weather, Arzana is one of the most fiercely anti-social of the heresiarchs and rarely interacts with any of them either as enemy or ally. Nobody knows for sure what her agenda is, but she seems to delight in perverting and corrupting the natural world. Some believe that the environmental catastrophe that befell Hyperborea was caused by her, although manipulated by Jairan Neferirkare, as punishment on the grislings for rejecting her cult. Arzana frequently runs clad only a few rags and smeared with dirt and mud through the cold, wild wilderness, screaming her fury and casting powerful bolts of lightning from her hands and from the sky to blight and destroy the landscape about her. It is also believed that wendigos and other strange cannibal spirits of the cold and inhospitable wilderness are either her creation, or somehow a reflection of her malevolent will.
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Bartolomeo the Many-angled
Based on his name, he may have originally been from the Corsair Coast, or perhaps he spent some time there and adapted a local name, but nobody really knows from whence Bartolomeo really came. His explorations and perambulations of worlds beyond our own have warped and destroyed much of his body, which he was replaced with forged and crafted replacements, powered by his sorcery. Although rumors also abound that it's less about his exploration of the Void and as much about past feuds with other heresiarchs that caused this physical damage to him. Bartolomeo is another one of the heresiarchs who's private pursuits into other matters thankfully brings him into conflict with mankind infrequently, and he can go many decades, or even centuries, without passing under the familiar skies of the world of Man.
Bernat Haspar de Ruze
The Ghost Pirate of the Kell Sea, Bernat Haspar de Ruze is a "young" heresiarch, and therefore one that the rest of the club looks with a wary eye. He has, however, been cursed to be tied to his ship so far. Although he's working diligently to remove that particular aspect of his heresiarch curse, and he is secretly closer than many think, it has spared him attention from his evil peers, who see his captive state and believe that that neutralizes him as a player in their occasionally catastrophic power plays and strategic moves against each other. Once de Ruze finds himself freed of his ship, however, he will immediately be seen as either a potential ally, pawn or threat by the rest of the Heresiarchs, not to mention any number of other liches, daemons or vampires, or other evil sorcerers who covet his power and forbidden knowledge. In the meantime, he and his dread ship, The Flying Longshoreman, search the territory off the coasts of Timischburg, the Corsair Coast and Nizrekh, searching for clues for his reprieve from the curse that holds him captive, and woe betide any other ship that crosses his foul path while doing so.
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Dommik Sébastien, He of the Beast Aspect
When the Charnel God Tarush fell from the sky in the territory that later became Grozavest, capital of Timischburg, long before the arrival of the Timischers, seven knights of old Kinzassál went to confront the horror that fell from the sky. They were able to seal up Tarush under the Great Chains, but in the process became sealed with him in his sorcerous prison. Perverted and warped by his dark necrotic power while exposed to him, they became the Primeval vampires, the fathers of the entire cursed race. Dommik Sébastien is one such, who has somehow managed to escape the sealing, at least at times, although it is not clear that his freedom is complete and total. Bearing the most overtly vampiric appearance of all heresiarchs because of his origin as such, his primary goal seems to be the release of Tarush and the other Primevals from their prison, but it is no secret amongst the other heresiarchs that he's quite mad. Even by their standards.
Esmeraude, She Who Ushers the Apocalypse
A beautiful and serene woman of the far north, associated with the earliest of the Elementalists, Esmeraude, in spite of her Terassan name, has been living near and around the surturs since nearly the inception of that race. Some believe that she actually caused the magical rift that turned some of the early primitive humans into the elementalists in the first place, by causing magical leaks that changed the genetic matrix of the people living there. She allegedly lives inside an active volcano with a persistent lava lake. Her serenity can be rather easily undone, however, and her fiery temper when roused is a major part of the legend of her for any who know of the heresiarchy at all. Prophecies exist that claim she will be a significant component of the final destruction of the earth, when its time comes, and that she and her fiery elemental daemons will purge the entire earth of life in an orgy of fire and flame. In the meantime, she is content to slowly yet inexorably marshal her forces in the wilderness beyond the earth, beyond even the City of Brass, so her appearances here are rare and greatly to be feared.
Hutran Kutir, the Hex-king
Another "young" heresiarch, Hutran Kutir is the semi-legendary "first kemling", the father of the entire race, and the founder of the nation of Baal Hamazi. He was killed many centuries ago, and his heirs ruled his kingdom until relatively recently, when the nation of Baal Hamazi fell apart into squabbling city-states and tribes. However, garbled rumors of his return from the dead have spread from deep within Baal Hamazi. These rumors do not paint an optimistic picture of his attitude at the failure of his nation, and the the rumored marshalling of dark forces in the north to retake and reforge it by force are starting to seep outwards. Some, even, of the other heresiarchs have taken note.
Jairan Neferirkare, the Soulless
This darkly beautiful and yet inhuman and completely soulless evil queen once ruled as the undisputed goddess of old Hyperborea. Her yoke, however, was heavy, and rebellion was a constant threat, especially as the early humans who lived there learned enough sorcery to collectively threaten her. She abandoned her aim to rule a kingdom on earth in Hyperborea, and fled to the Shadow Realm, a dark and twisted reflection of the world of Men that suited her temperament well. However, she did not do so without a parting shot of spite and hatred, cursing the men of Hyperborea to become the grisling race, subject to the cannibal curse, and Hyperborea was ruined, forever becoming a frozen wasteland. Although only marginally able to support the life of a greatly reduced population of grislings, even those were then threatened by the invading Inutos, and those that survived fled the area, mostly for good.
Kadashman, He Who Peers Into the Void
Among the most disquieting and least human of the heresiarchs, Kadashman, like Bartolomeo, appears to be more concerned with the Voids beyond the world than with gathering power or influence here. Often accompanied by servitors that will shred the sanity at a glance of any normal person, Kadashman is thankfully infrequently involved in anything in the world of mankind. Nobody is entirely clear if he is a rival or ally of Bartolomeo, but there are at least some rumors that the inhuman appearance and aspect of the two are the results less of their explorations of the Void and more of their hostile encounters with each other. But other rumors suggest that they do at times work together. Kadashman is one of the most mysterious of the heresiarchs, and some claim that not only is he no longer human, but that possibly he never was to begin with.
Kefte Taran, Mistress of Forgotten Secrets
An exotically beautiful young woman, at least to appearances, this vile necromancer has an unnatural affinity for—and some say, perverse attraction to—the dead. Her association with the long dead and restless spirits has, however, granted her access to a wealth of knowledge that her colleagues can only dream about. Kefte Taran frequently spends time in haunted locations, where the line between the mortal world and the world of shadows is thin, surrounded by the restless spirits of the most evil and depraved of the dead. She stirs so infrequently from these haunts, that some have even supposed that perhaps she is trapped in a haunted palace, much like the Ghost Pirate is trapped on his ship.
Master of Vermin
Although he's often considered—by those few who know of him—as unconcerned with mortal affairs and either above (or beneath) them, this is a dangerous affectation to hold. A common conceit of many of the heresiarchs is that they are the true "gods" of this earth, and deserve to be worshipped as such. Master of Vermin, who's name is unknown, possibly even to him, certainly believes this, and perhaps more than any other of the heresiarchs, has taken action to ensure that when that time comes, he's ready to step directly into that role. This is not good news for humanity, since the vermin lord has no use for them. Master of Vermin is a champion of numerous other repugnant forms of life—rats and spiders being among his favorite. His most foul creation are the ratlings. Large varieties of filthy rats, fed on human carrion and blasted with foul magicks, have over generations of shepherding at the Master of Vermin's hand become vaguely anthropomorphic. Walking on two legs and using their front paws as hands, the ratlings are as intelligent as humans, and as inventive, but they know nothing but filth, hatred, and cruelty. Master of Vermin has clearly set them up to replace humanity when the time is right. In the meantime, they spread in small groups from their home in Leng, feeding on carrion and rotting flesh—human when they can get it—and hiding in the sewers and midden heaps of mankind's cities, poised to spread their plagues and diseases like the rats from which they were engineered by this mad sorcerer.
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Gothan, the Mind-wizard
In ancient times before the rise of any of the modern races of mankind on the continent, the world was ruled by the might of ancient Atlantis, and the ancestors of the ancestors of the current races of the Three Realms were hunted, sacrificed and enslaved by this evil empire. Atlantis was so vile that it finally was cursed with destruction, and sank under the sea. The rump island chain of Nizrekh is all that remains, although these small islands were blasted lifeless at the time, and life has only slowly reclaimed them. The current Nizrekhi people are not descended from the Atlanteans at all, but more recent interlopers on the territory. Rather the cursed and degenerate grendlings or Wendaks are the distant descendants of Atlanteans who were on the continent during the wreck of Atlantis and so survived its sinking, but which were cursed to devolve eventually into cunning yet non-intelligent man-apes. Even now, they can no longer even use metal without sickening and dying, keeping what's left of them in a savage stone-age existence. However, some of the worst and most powerful Atlantean sorcerers, the first heresiarchs, as they style themselves, took last minute steps to preserve themselves, sealing themselves in lacquered caskets so they could "survive;" if their living death can be called survival, the sinking of their lands. Gothan, the Mind-wizard is one such, who's underwater lacquered wooden sarcophagus freed itself from the depths, floated to the surface, and was finally fished out of the sea by doomed and unfortunate fisherman, who paid for their rescue of the evil heresiarch with their lives and more. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of Gothan, however, is the idea that he is not singular; nobody knows how many more Mind-wizards of ancient Atlantis may yet linger on the bottom of the sea, waiting for tides and seismic shifts that will cause them to also float to the surface and plague the world of Mankind yet again.
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Shimut the Flesheater
The Undying Emperor of a now undead Empire, the best thing about Shimut the Flesheater is his relative distance from the Three Realms. His lands border the Corsair Coast to the south, in the cursed and shunned Dead Lands desert, once known as the Empire of Taremu-Atum. Today this area is only the province of the most desperate and foolhardy of outlaws and treasure-hunters, and few survive the sands of that blasted land for long. Those that do return are often not right in the head ever-after. Although Shimut is the undisputed lord of this land, he rules with a light touch, allowing the numerous restless dead or the foolish mortal to wander freely. When he does venture out of his black pyramid made of obsidian deep in the desert, the region shakes in fear... but he spends most of his time in contemplative torpor.
Djemma Mennefer, the Gnomic
The cautious Fate Spinner who spends her time plotting massive webs of conspiracy that last for centuries at a time, Djemma Mennefer is driven by fear; fear of eventual death, fear of loss of control. Her lack of overt action has often led others to under-estimate her power, but it really is only due to her extremely cautious and patient nature. Djemma is also famous as a seer of sorts, and she is consulted on occasion by the other heresiarchs, and will even entertain petitions by mortals for her wisdom, although the cost of her consultation is often more than most can pay. In this sense, she can serve in the setting a role not unlike the Graeae of Greek mythology, portrayed as the Stygian Witches in the classic Clash of the Titans movie.
Seggeir the Hoarfell King
A rival of sorts of Arzana because of their common interest in destroying the world with weather, Seggeir is a truculent and combative heresiarch, who doesn't get along well with his colleagues, and has seen his plans suffer as a result of his frequent clashes with them. His preferred state for the world would be frozen and trapped forever in ice. He mostly maintains a presence far to the north, in the land of Thule, beyond the Wolfwood and even the Iron Mountains that rise to the north of them, but he has agents in the south frequently during the winter, and occasionally even travels on errands of his own. Many legends of spirits of the winter stalking outside of towns and settlements in the north are probably attributable, when they are real, to either Seggeir or his wight lieutenants and servants.
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