Senetus - The Old One

Whatever the past life of Senetus was, it is long forgotten now. Unlike most other Soulforged, he is ignorant to their past as servants of Edrador’s Anshani Empire; that life was forgotten centuries ago. For the last two centuries he has subsisted in crags and caves across Tharador. What he was searching for he no longer knows, nor remembers. He has fled his homes so many times, driven out by Inquisitors or superstitious villagers, that all his notes have been long since lost or burnt. Thus, like all Soulforged he has forgotten all memory of who he was a century ago, and each year that passes more memories are lost as new ones are written to his mind. Even this process is one Senetus has grown ignorant of, living blissfully unaware of the traumas of his past, stuck in a loop of rediscoveries that are forgotten again eighty years later. In truth, Senetus was one of the first Soulforged to flee Anshan, a slave and test subject bound to a false body after his death. Not wishing to be left at the mercy of the empire, he fled westward, cloaked in thick robes, hiding his monstrous form. Rumours of a “Metal Man of the Swamps” had often circulated through the three cities of the peninsular, a sighting of a wandering man who walks among the undead at night, his eyes glowing like warm orange beacons, drawing travelers to their doom. The truth was that Senetus did live among the swamps, and the Undead there seemed to ignore him, perhaps seeing no value in destroying a metal man that would not rise again in their ranks. Because of this, he found it a comfortable place to call home, occasionally travelling into Grimgate to purchase and scavenge for any equipment and materials he needed in his work. Senetus for centuries had worked to create a shell in which he could house his wife, and then bring her back from the dead. Yet he had long forgotten the ends, and only now worked with the means. Dozens of bodies he sculpted, yet no spark of recognition or realisation would come to him when he completed them. He knew he must craft these shells, but did not know why. It was fortune that brought him then to Tomas Lumens, a half-Orc inventor who had often sought similar goals to Senetus, searching for a means to make a shell to house a soul. Lumens struck gold with Senetus, having followed the rumours through the precarious Grim Swamps, stumbling upon Senetus’ subterranean dwelling only two hours from the walls of Grimgate. There he was mesmerised at the form of the Soulforged, for often had he heard about them, wishing to study them, yet never had he been afforded the chance to venture to Edrador in search of them. Yet here one now stood, his mind seemingly glazed over by some form of madness, yet coherent enough to hold a conversation with Lumens. The half-orc invited the Soulforged to his own hideout, and there the two perfected and finalised the design of the Simulacrum, ultimately achieving both their goals: the physical limitations that had previously stopped Lumens were now overcome, and each Simulacrum was capable of housing a soul, though Senetus was still oblivious to this purpose. He did however, find a great sense of accomplishment in completing the Simulacrum designs, and afterwards found a new goal: improving his own design.