Gran Blackroot

The Gran Blackroot, the giant ebony tree in the desert of the same name, is a tortured and anguished soul, doomed to wander the wastelands forever in search of the light.

The Blackroot family was a noble hose in the 4th century, ruling many fiefs in the area that is now southern Danluir, bordering the forests. These were the days before the purgatory crusades, and shadows wandered still free in the darker places. A daughter of the Blackroot family, in the budding years of her life, only just beyond the age of first Child'sblood, wandered one day too near the forest as she followed her father through an orchard, and she was snatched by a great black Shade who took her virgin body for his own and lay his own twisted seed within her. The Shade told her:

"this child that is within you is mine and mine alone. If you kill him or yourself, i will know, and i will kill your entire family and everyone you have ever loved. When the child is born, bring him to me and he will be mine." The scared and distressed girl said nothing, only nodded. She went back to her father and told him what happened, and the father, outraged, ordered the whole forest burned, but all who were sent to lay torch to it were killed instantly and their bodies were found maimed and twisted at the edge of the forest.

The Lord Blackroot moved his family north, far away from the forest, and all his fiefs followed. His daughter began to grow pale, and her veins stood out black under her skin.

"surely she is possessed, and no good can come of this child" Her father said, and, though it pained him very much, he secretly began to plot her death. A servant boy who had loved the girl from afar learned of the plot and helped to hide her in a village from afar. When it came time for the child to be born, the boy held the girl's hand, and confessed to her his love. The black veins that lay beneath the girls skin were taken from her, for they were a curse meant to take from her all happiness they could, and they went into the boy's body, killing him as the child was born.

The girl began to carry the child back to the forest for the demon, but in a dream, an ancient one appeared and led her to flee, So she ran, and lived her life as a peasant.
The child grew as a normal one, but his eyes were black where they ought to have been white, and white were they ought to have been black. He gained great strength as a youth and fought valiantly for the hearts and beds of maidens all about. The young warrior began to wander, feeling restless, hating the sunlight wherever he went. So he left his mother behind to find his fortune, as all young and adventurous souls must do.

As he wandered, he, as his young mother had taught him, protected the weak and the wronged and helped all he could so that he would find favor with God and The Lord's light would be given to his tainted soul, born of darkness and of man.

The youth saved a young woman who fell in love with him, and offered her hand in marriage. after he married, he found that she was heir to a great family that neighboured the Blackroot fiefdom. The warrior youth began to become accustomed to the life of a noble when the Lord Blackroot, now nearing his final years, learned who he was, and ordered him killed. The Shade who had spawned the young noble also heard news of his presence, and rushed out to find him and claim him as a true shade. The boy fought against the men of Lord Blackroot, but the shade snuck into the house and captured his young bride. when the boy was confronted with a choice between becoming a beast like the shades of the forest or the life of his beloved, he chose to follow the shade, unable to bring himself to let his wife die. God had mercy upon the tainted young noble, and and ancient one appeared to help the young man overcome the darkness, both within his soul and without. The ancient one and the Shade clashed, and both fell to the earth in their final breaths.

The young Noble cried for the death of the holy creature, who had sacrificed a pure life to save his tainted soul. The light of God began to shine within the youth, who now understood the glory of the gifts of God, but before it took hold, the Shade lashed out, in his final moments, and struck the noble's beloved, killing her with the fires of hell that burn forever and ever. The tainted youth ran to his wife, and held her as she died, catching upon himself the flames of hell, and he cried out for her death.

The fires consumed the infant light within the youth, and he cried in agony and sorrow, his flesh twisting and blackening as the darkness in his soul consumed him, and he became a dark, tortured soul, his flesh became black as his sorrow and twisted, like the wood of the trees where he had been first formed.

In his agonizing sorrow, he became a beast that ravaged the countryside, searching ever onward for the light he had lost within his hatred and sadness. He wandered to a distant desert, ever growing in stature as his agony and pain swelled and grew as well. He became a grand beast, tall as mountains and strong as storms, who took only fleeting, cruel pleasure in destruction and hatred, only to fall back into horrid agony, only redoubled for his wicked deeds. He fled to the uncharted deserts, seeking a way to find the light he could no longer feel within himself. God took pity on his lost and confused soul, and molded him into a great tree, promising that he would sleep, only to wake with the light in his grasp again.