Jaalika

Jaalika

(Person)

Titles

Queen of Despair
Mistress of Blackearth Cairn

Alignment

Chaotic evil

Ancestry/Species

Nascent demon lord (seraptis demon)

Class

Cleric 12

Gender

Female

Homeland

Blackearth Cairn, Sarkoris

Deity

Sifkesh

Source: The Worldwound, pg(s). 30–31 (1E)
Rival Academies, pg(s). 17 (2E)

Jaalika, Queen of Despair, also known as Mistress of the Blackearth Cairn, is a seraptis demon and ruler of Blackearth Cairn, a royal crypt in the Field of Thrones of Sarkoris. As of 4725 AR, she had become a nascent demon lord.

Background

After resisting demonic invasion for several years, Jaalika led a cult of Sifkesh into Blackearth Cairn and seized it in 4704 AR. In the process, she seized the Crown of Feasting Ravens, and with it control over the spirits bound to protect the crypt.

Rather than aid Deskari in the Worldwound, Jaalika instead drove her cult and the cairn's spirits to develop the cairn into a cathedral to Sifkesh. Deskari was defeated and the Worldwound closed in 4718 AR, but as of 4725 AR Jaalika had retained control of the cairn and Crown of Feasting Ravens for more than 20 years and repelled all attempts by the Reclaimers of Sarkoris to evict her.

She had since become a nascent demon lord in her own right, the self-styled Queen of Despair, and continues to build a realm of her own from the Cairn while feeding on the despair of those who fail to reclaim Sarkoris from demonic corruption.

Possessions

The Crown of Feasting Ravens, a relic of the Old Sarkoris Blackearth Clan that commemorated their victory at the Battle of Two Sisters Hill over the Willowgrasp Clan, bound the spirit of each ruler of the clan to itself upon their passing to advise and protect future rulers.

The last ruler bound to the crown was Arkilan Blackearth II, who died by suicide after being widowed in 4303 AR and was buried with the artifact in Blackearth Cairn. The clan's rule passed to a distant cousin and the Crown was soon forgotten.

Scholars theorize that it was Blackearth's suicide that ultimately allowed Jaalika and cultists of Sifkesh—all demons affiliated with suicide—to infiltrate the cairn and seize the crown. The Reclaimers wish to clear the cairn and retrieve the Crown's lost knowledge.