Monad

Monad
High Priest
Species	Human
Birth place	Lourden
Status	Dead
Death date	MS 5102 (possibly)
Death place	Zekgazad (possibly)
Nationality	Lourden (originally) Ruel
Profession	High Priest
Relatives	Noraa (brother)
Appearances
Major appearances	The Plague Lords of Ruel Dead in the Deep

Monad is a High Priest of the Cener Druids. He is the brother of Noraa.

Biography

An illustration of Monad is available at The Plague Lords of Ruel: §57.

An illustration of Monad is available at The Dusk of Eternal Night: §307.

Monad and his brother Noraa were born in Lourden, where they were orphaned. They were brought into the sect of the Cener Druids in Ruel by Cenerese agents. During MS 5075, around the age of 12, they were continuing their studies in Ruel.

In MS 5102, during the events of Dead in the Deep, Monad and Noraa had become High Priests. Monad had been surgically-enhanced, with a bulbous hump on his back with protuding insectile limbs that could be wielded dextrously by Monad. He and Noraa were attempting to turn freshly-dead humans into Agtah, with the sect only knowing how to transform living humans before this. They believed that this Agtah-creating ability could have helped convince the Great Elders to turn away from the revival of Archlord Vashna and instead embrace the Chaos-master and his power of Chaos.

Depending on the actions of the player in Dead in the Deep, Grand Master may have encountered Monad and Noraa. If so, if their fear (read as suspicion) was dismissed, preserving Grand Master's disguise, Monad and Noraa tasked the player with giving the news to the Great Elders. If not, they were fought and killed.

In the gamebooks

Monad and Noraa may be encountered in The Plague Lords of Ruel. When entering Mogaruith, the player must enter the library, where the player spies upon them studying, and learns about their origins.

They may be encountered next in Dead in the Deep, 27 years later. The player must first procure a Cener Druid disguise (both a Cener Druid Red Vest and a Jazak Green Glass Mask), and infiltrate Emolyria dressed as one.

• In Helin, the player must go to Cralvart Lane, then enter the East Quarter (where a virulent disease has spread), then listen to the Redeemer's sermon. All paths through this point lead to a fight with the Redeemer, actually a Cener Druid, and allows you to obtain a Cener Druid Red Vest and a Jazak Green Glass Mask.
• At the entrance to Emolyria, these items must be used to enter it disguised as a Cener Druid.
• The player must pass an identity check. A critical failure results in death, whilst a partial failure requires a Narbul Bomb, or Kai-Surge and at least 6 Endurance points, to persuade the Drakkar guard you are a Cener Druid.
• Inside Emolyria, after passing the initial Cener Druid's welcome and test, the player will have a choice between visiting the Temple of Nature of Laboratory of Flesh. Noraa and Monad are located in the Laboratory of Flesh.

The player will then be able to see Monad and Noraa, now High Priests and amongst the leaders of the Cener Druids. Both have been surgically-enhanced: Monad has an insect-like appendange on his back, with multiple claws that he can control protruding from it. Noraa has robotic metal arms, enhanced vision, chemicals flowing into and out of his body, and a stomach holding evil crystals in sickly fluid. They will reveal that the Acolytes of Vashna are merely luring followers to be used as fuel for the Nengud-kor-Adez, setting the player's pulse racing, leading Noraa to suspect that the player is a worshipper of Vashna; if the player lacks Assimilance, they will believe the player is hiding something, and attack:

Monad + Noraa (Cener High Priests)
Combat Skill 48, Endurance 39
Immune to: Mindblast
↪Dead in the Deep: §45

If the player loses more than 10 Endurance points during the fight, they must temporarily deduct their Combat Skill by 2 as the Cener Coral starts to ensnare the player. Monad and Noraa are vulnerable to the effects of Valiance and Illuminatus.

If the player instead possesses Assimilance, then the two will reveal their experiment: An attempt to create an Agtah from a freshly-dead corpse, which is successful. The player is then tasked to deliver the good news to the Great Elders, believing that this would sway their votes to shift away from reviving Archlord Vashna and instead focus on reforming the Chaos-master in Magnamund. The player is given a Cener Seal, which has no effect in the rest of the book.