The Black Cardinal

The Seventh Cardinal, Cahir, a dark and small borderer from far to the south, was excommunicated and blamed for the sins of the Bishop of Bregate, dubbed the Black Cardinal as his name was stripped from the records for the severity of a betrayal - the Half-Moon Heresy - that Cahir never instigated. Cahir gave way to wandering until he found the ancient gates where beyond the last of the First Empire locked away the plague that ended them. Cahir opened them and unleashed the demons within. In the ensuing conflict, the Black Cardinal was truly born - demon-possessed, twisted, and corrupted, Cahir's body was made the canvas on which the mad demons painted a terrible villain. The Black Cardinal became their herald and leader, host to a gross and fearsome demon, until Tegwen and her Company of Eight banded together to stop this eldritch threat. The Black Cardinal, defeated and broken, was taken to be executed in the Hero's Square in Agrawel, marking an end to the demons that possessed him and for Cahir himself. However, when the Court of Locusts returned to the Heartland twenty years later, they resurrected Cahir and once again subjected him to the wicked possession of Legion. The Black Cardinal reborn was armed with Impietas, its power imbued with the blood of Sir Elric Thrussell, Tegwen's relative, and he burst onto the streets of Agrawel and gathered the undead from beneath the city to scourge Griffin Hill and claim revenge on the enchantress. Tegwen had her own plans, however, and drew the Black Cardinal and the Dawn's Herald into the Shadowfell with her, only to be met by an insidious trap set by Faolan. Ultimately, Piri Niven gave his life to stop Faolan, allowing the Dawn's Herald and Tegwen to destroy the demonic herald and finally banish Legion to the Abyss and restore Cahir to his intended afterlife.