Kazavon

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Kazavon

(Person)

Titles

Despot of Tamrivena
Conqueror of Belkzen

Alignment

Lawful evil

Ancestry/Species

Blue dragon (great wyrm)

Class

Fighter 1 / Eldritch knight 4

Gender

Male

Homeland

Ustalav

Deity

Zon-Kuthon

Died

4063 AR✝

Source: Curse of the Crimson Throne, pg(s). 448

Kazavon (pronounced KAH-zah-von) was one of the most notorious warlords of the Inner Sea region. Originally sent by the god Zon-Kuthon in 4043 AR to aid the beleaguered forces of Ustalav against the orcs of the Hold of Belkzen, he ended up setting himself up as the tyrant of Belkzen, and a far greater threat to Ustalav and Lastwall than the orcs ever could be. He was no human, as many remember him; only upon his defeat was Kazavon's true nature revealed as a blue dragon.

Appearance

Kazavon preferred to appear in human form, as a handsome man with flinty eyes and a sneer of disdain over his large teeth.

Background

In the early decades of the 41st century AR, the county of Canterwall in Ustalav was known as Tamrivena, and was in a precarious situation. Ustalav had only been freed from the Whispering Tyrant's control in 3828 AR, and Tamrivena was still in the process of recovering from over 600 years of abject enslavement. The orcs of the nearby Hold of Belkzen sensed the county's frailty and conducted numerous cross-border raids in that time. They were driven back by the tactical cunning of Tamrivena's rulers and the strong bows and axes of its rangers time after time.

This changed with the ascension of Count Andachi. Knowing he did not have his ancestors' genius for warfare, he pleaded with the Ustalavic court for help, but his requests were mired in endless bureaucracy. Mile by mile, the orc forces pushed farther into Tamrivena, and even the Count's pleas to Desna went unanswered. In desperation, he turned to a darker patron for aid: Zon-Kuthon.

Kazavon and Ustalav

In 4042 AR, Zon-Kuthon heard Andachi's prayers, and sent the mercenary Kazavon, who quickly reorganized Tamrivena's army, brutally training them to be ruthless and efficient. Kazavon led the army across the border and massacred the disorganized orc hordes. By 4043 AR, the enemy had been driven off Tamrivenan land, retreating into the foothills of the Kodar Mountains. It was then that Kazavon revealed his true intentions. Instead of returning to Ustalav, he built a stronghold at Castle Scarwall and began to gather forces of his own. Diplomats bearing tributes and words of congratulations arrived from Lastwall, only to be tortured and flayed, their skin turned into banners and their corpses sent back to Lastwall with a demand to bend the knee. When Count Andachi realized Kazavon's cruelty and lust for power, he turned against the general, raising an army and marching against Castle Scarwall in 4051 AR. The Count was easily defeated and publicly executed, while his officers were impaled alive on a massive thorn tree at a site now known as the Battle of Screaming Tree. Kazavon expanded his realm and ruled with terror and war for over a decade.

Rise to power

For well over a decade, Kazavon continued his reign of tyranny. In addition to orcs, Kazavon delighted in hunting down Shoanti tribespeople, forcing them to commit horrendous acts to each other. Armies from goodly nations were sent to bring him down on numerous occasions, and all were broken by Kazavon's tactical brilliance and savage armies, with every man sent to challenge the warlord meeting the same fate as Count Andachi. Although there was some dissent within his own ranks, Kazavon suppressed attempted uprisings brutally. Part of Kazavon's success was due to how very few of his subjects knew of his true draconic nature, as many of them, despite willingly offering their service to a tyrant, would flinch at working for an evil dragon. Eventually, he attempted to unite the orc nation under his banner, though his plan was thwarted before it could come to fruition.

Defeat and dismemberment

In 4063 AR,✝ Kazavon was eventually defeated by a group of heroes and mercenaries from the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, led by Mandraivus. His body was dismembered to keep him from rising from the grave. Fire and acid were applied to the body until all that was left were seven body parts. These seethed and crackled with an unholy energy and refused all manner of destruction, attempting to knit together and reform the dragon. Mandraivus decided that since none of them could wholly destroy Kazavon, they would have to hide each of the pieces, and make sure that the evil dragon would never be able to reform again.

Each of the allies took charge of a piece of his skeleton, now known as the Seven Relics of Kazavon, returning to his or her homeland and hiding it there. The barbarian prince Kuiragh buried the skull in the ancient shrine at the Mountain of Frozen Echoes in the Tusk Mountains. The claws were secured by Roianda, a paladin of Abadar, who took them far into southern Garund. The fangs were hidden in the ancient Thassilonian pyramid known at that time as the Grand Mastaba by the Shoanti shaman Coja Eyes-Aflame. The horns were taken by the elven sorcerer Laizuriel. A Qadiran scholar-priest of Irori named Vahahn took the ribs and tried to secure them unsuccessfully in realms beyond Golarion. The wizard Kolwyddon took the tailbones back to his tower in Taldor, where he conducted endless experiments on it. The wings were taken by the honorable dervish Kallad, but both were lost at sea as he was returning to his homeland of Rahadoum.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.