Hermit of Fortune
The Maelstrom Hermit is one of the NPCs a player must visit while undertaking the King's Path, an event which will transform a Rank 7 player city to a Rank 8 city provided all the conditions have been met.
Location
Lore Text
What have we here? A traveler. Are you seeing the sights? Have you come to this blasted isle for revenge? For wealth? For power? Or perhaps you have a higher goal ... Do you seek dominion? If ever you would rule a realm, you must talk to me, and hear the lesson I would impart to you. I can make you a king, if your luck holds.
Who are you?
I? Voldrok is my name, the name I took when the touch of Chaos transformed me and gave me new birth. I am but a humble servant, the lackey of a mighty lord. Once he was a God, one of the Seven who first wrought the world. Now he is a pawn of fate, an imp of Chaos. There is his statue. Morloch is his name now, though he has known another. I will not speak it.
Look well upon the image of my master. Here you see a God, cunning, mighty, strong beyond all measure. And yet he has lost everything. Once the fairest of the Gods, now he hides his ruined face behind a mask. Once best-loved, he mourns his fallen wife, and knows the hatred of every race that lives. Once the god of war and battles, he has lost every war he fought, and the greatest weapon ever forged has eluded his grasp, though he has fought three times to win it. How can this be? Why is one so mighty so humbled?
The answer is simple: Fortune. All our lives are driven by the whims of cruel fate. It is as if we are, all of us, chained to a mighty wheel. As that wheel turns, those who stand atop it are cast down, to be ground under it. Morloch has ever cursed his fate: the Dragonfire that maimed him and took away his bride, the ill chances that thwarted his schemes to rule the Giants and the Dwarves, the blind luck that saved the All-father from the trap he set in the Pits of Chaos, and the missteps that kept all ten fragments of the Gleaming Stone from his grasp. Again and again, Fortune has robbed him of victory. Fate. Luck. But for them, Morloch would be the greatest king of all. Will you do better?
I have served Morloch long, since before he took that name. Once I was a loyal soldier among the Vorgrim, trained to do battle by the War God himself. I was there, in the Pits of Chaos, when the trap my Lord wrought to kill the All-Father unraveled. All by brothers were tainted by Chaos, becoming the Twisted Breeds. But not I. I was reborn not as man, or demon, but as something else. I was chosen for a higher purpose.
I have served Morloch ever since as his emissary, his high priest. I have brought legions to his cause, and spread fear among his enemies. I have journeyed to every fragment, seen uncounted lands, fought uncounted foes. I helped my lord in his quest for the Gleaming Stone, last of Volliandra's relics. But by the end of that quest I had learned something, something Morloch has never understood. Any who would rule need fortune: luck must smile upon them if their rule is to last. But true kings are not fortune's slaves: they are its masters, making their own luck and bending events to their will. I tried to explain this to my lord. He would not hear my words, and cast me from his service. Only the essence of this blighted age kept me from death, for none of us may truly die. As I wandered here, near the gate where I left Aerynth once and returned, I heard new voices.
The Gods have called to me, from far away. They told me that I have grasped one of the keys to kingship, and that my understanding has made me fortune's keeper. I can dole out fortune's blessing to any that seek to rule a realm, and let them run their race to a throne. Would you take it? If you do, always remember: you need luck in abundance to rule, but fortune's favor is not so fickle as it seems. The best luck is the luck YOU make, for yourself. Will you be a king? Will fortune smile upon you?
King
Gods make kings -- not crowns, or armies, or palaces. To gain dominion over a realm you need a Palace. To build a Palace, you will need a full-grown Tree of Life, many followers, gold and resources in great store, and a Charter. To enact that Charter, you will need the favor of the Gods. You must walk the King's Path humbly, around the world and back again, and return home for a boon at a Shrine with three Blessings upon you.
There are three Hermits, dwelling in the far corners of the world. Seek them out, and from them gain the Blessings of Fortune, Wisdom, and Power. But beware: just as rule is a burden, so are these Blessings. They will slow your pace, deny you easy travel, and draw your enemies. You must walk the King's Path as quickly as you can, to all three hermits and home again without any aid but Runegates. If you die on the path, or if a blessing should expire before you return home again, your quest has failed. Your enemies will know you seek a throne, and may try to stop you. If you are served by loyal followers, and if Wisdom, Power, and Fortune favor you, you shall run your race well, to the end.
Once you have attained all three blessings, return to your city and use your Charter. Your Tree shall be reborn as a palace, and your dominion over a new realm will begin.
