Ackal V

Article written by Uziel

Name	Ackal V
Alias	Nazramin Bethen Ergothas
Birth	? PC
Death	2395 PC
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Nationality	Ergothian
Hair Color	Red
Eye Color	Brown
Height	Unknown
Weight	Unknown
Class	Noble
Occupation	Emperor of Ergoth
Spouse	Valaran
Children	Dalar
Siblings	Amaltar
Predecessor	Ackal IV
Successor	Dalar

Nazramin Bethen Ergothas (? - 2395 PC) was the second son of Pakin III, Emperor of Ergoth, and the younger brother to Amaltar, Crown Prince of Ergoth. A violent man with a strong temper, Nazramin was opposite to his older brother in almost every way. He loathed Commoners, and believed anyone not of the nobility, was simply not worth his time. Nazramin eventually rose to become Emperor of Ergoth in his later life, through organizing the death of his brother and claiming the throne from his nephew. A corrupt man who seemed to have no scruples, Nazramin was described as being slender and tall, and had hair and a moustache, that was orange and fiery in color, much like his temperament.

Early Life

The second son of Pakin III was known as a young man given to violent outbursts and a skilled warrior. As he came of age, he built around himself, his own private retinue of nobles and warriors, which he termed his "wolves". As his father grew more aged and unable to rule the empire, his older brother Amaltar served as co-ruler of Ergoth. Nazramin found the schemes of his brother distasteful and caused mayhem in the empire. By 2414 PC, Nazramin's Wolves openly defied the law, beating up anyone who crossed their path and rarely being punished for their crimes.

In 2412 PC, Nazramin led his own private horde to aid Lord Urakan in the fight against Tarsis. Nazramin and his allies crushed the nomad barbarians of Chieftain Krato, and sold the survivors into slavery. He took his forces back to Daltigoth and was hailed as a war hero, whilst Lord Urakan continued the struggle against the forces under General Tylocost. On his return to Daltigoth, Nazramin continued to undermine his older brother and also learnt of the dalliance between Princess Valaran and Tolandruth of Juramona. He forced Valaran to pass on any information about the Hylo Campaign that she received from Tolandruth, threatening to expose her secret to his brother.

On learning that the wizard Mandes was in Daltigoth, Nazramin had his agents contact the Wizard and offer him a reward for the missives he brought back from the Hylo Campaign. The wizard gave the missives over to the prince, enabling Nazramin to alter the documents from Lord Tolandruth, painting both Mandes and Lord Urakan as the heroes of the campaign, and removing any notable mention of Tolandruth at all.

From 2412 PC through 2401 PC, Nazramin progressively gained support from the warlords, and his followers increased in number. When his father, Emperor Pakin III, finally passed away in 2401 PC, Nazramin was by far more popular than his brother, however it was Amaltar who ascended to the throne, being the elder son. The younger son of Pakin III used the services of the wizard Mandes to continue the plot against his brother, even resorting to image magic, which made his brother gradually sicken and go mad. However later in the year, Nazramin watched Mandes' downfall at court, and on the Field of Corij before the young engineer Elicarno. Nazramin pleasantly told Mandes he was through and threatened him to leave Ergoth or the prince would personally have his tongue cut out, before he could utter anything against him. Mandes foretold Nazramin that whilst the prince would become the Emperor of Ergoth, he would die by his own flesh and blood, and the last thing he would see was the eyes of the one he had wronged the most.

The plots of Nazramin ran further a field in 2401 PC, when his plan to rid himself of Lord Tolandruth almost came to fruition. He had previously sent messages to Lord Enkian Tumult, pretending to be the emperor, asking that Enkian bring five thousand of his men to Daltigoth to quell a rebel plot by the Pakins. When the army arrived and Tolandruth was sent to meet Enkian, Nazramin organized for the priest Jarabee to murder Enkian and cast suspicion on Tolandruth for the murder. However even though Jarabee did kill Enkian and escaped, the plot failed as young Havoc Tumult had seen Enkian after Tolandruth had left his tent, proving that he couldn't be the murderer. When Jarabee explained the situation to Nazramin, the prince had his hounds tear the murderer to shreds.

Nazramin made the decision to depart Daltigoth for a time, and took up residence on a large estate several leagues out of Daltigoth. However when he learnt that Tolandruth had been sent to finish off Mandes at Mount Axas, he made his move. The prince returned to Daltigoth and used the image magic that Mandes had created to break his brother's mind completely. He showed his brother to the royal court, and set himself up as Imperial Regent. Within a few short days, Emperor Ackal IV passed away, and then Nazramin forced Crown Prince Hatonar to cede the throne to him, so that he could finally become the Emperor of Ergoth. Nazramin then had his soldiers kill all who opposed him, including Lord Valdid and Lord Rymont.

The Emperor of Ergoth

On becoming Emperor of Ergoth, Nazramin took the regal name of Ackal V, and begun replacing many generals and faces in the imperial court. By 2395 PC, he had complete control of the empire, but soon found his people under threat from the teeming Bakali masses, as well as fierce bands of nomadic barbarians. Sending out army after army, Emperor Ackal V had any surviving troops executed for failing him, and soon found that he was running out of warlords. One of the last to fall to his blade was General Lord Relfas, who had escaped the devastation of his army at Solvin River. After several more defeats on the field of battle, Emperor Ackal V commanded Lord Tremond to raise a hundred hordes at Thorngoth to end the bakali threat, however before any further preparations could get underway the bakali had crossed the Dalti River and headed towards Daltigoth. The emperor decided instead to have the closest imperial hordes defend the capital from the bakali and was surprised to learn from reports that a band of Ergothian warriors had defeated the nomadic barbarians around Juramona. Ackal V found himself losing his wits and growing sick, in a similar state to how his brother had deteriorated. Soon enough however, he recovered from his illness (as unbeknownst to him, Tolandruth destroyed the magical image of the emperor), and made the decision to personally lead all available hordes to put an end to the bakali invasion.

The assault on the bakali armies cost the empire several thousand more troops and a number of warlords of the Great Horde, however in the end the forces led by Emperor Ackal V were victorious and the bakali were wiped out. Ackal V led his remaining forces back to Daltigoth in victory, where he left the many decapitated heads of the bakali at the Temple of Corij. However shortly after returning, the emperor learnt that many of the imperial hordes had left the service of the emperor and defected to the leadership of Lord Tolandruth, who led his forces to Daltigoth.

The emperor sent out a force of imperial hordes to stop Lord Tolandruth's army, however the imperial hordes were defeated and driven back to Daltigoth. Emperor Ackal V had the surviving nine warlords executed, and the remaining warlords in his court cried out in outrage at the callous act. As all his warlords abandoned him, and his loyal Wolves were slain by Lord Tolandruth, the emperor waited for his enemy to arrive. However before he could prepare himself, Empress Valaran slipped a sleeping draught in his wine, and the drugged emperor lay twitching before the throne as Lord Tolandruth arrived.

Valaran begged Tolandruth to slay Ackal V, as he was helpless, however the mighty warrior would not killed a helpless man and left in disgust. It was the emperor's son Dalar, who picked up the fallen dagger and killed his father, although publicly it was stated that Emperor Ackal V had killed himself.

References

A Warrior's Journey, p.195, 262-263. 265, 267-270, 274-276, 367-370
The Wizard's Fate, p.171-175, 202-209, 220-223, 251-255, 283-284, 369-373
A Hero's Justice, p.51-56, 79-81, 117-119, 130-133, 158-164, 238-249, 269-272, 298-301, 310-314, 345, 364-368

Article Tools

Report An Error or Add to this Article | Submit a new Article

Categories | Emperors of Ergoth | Ergothian | Humans | Rulers

This article has been viewed 1,371 times. It was added on March 29, 2006, and was last modified on March 9, 2008.

Information presented in the Dragonlance Lexicon has been independently researched by a team of volunteers, and original sources have been cited for each article. This and any other Lexicon articles are intended for personal use only and may NOT be posted on any other web site or otherwise distributed.