Slûtar

Slûtar
Member of the Darklords
Titles	Darklord Slûtar Lord of Kaag
Status	Dead (killed by the destruction of the Transfusor) Spirit trapped in the Plain of Despair
Died	MS 5070
Domain	Maarkaag
Weapon	Sword
Affiliations	Haakon (rival)
Illustrations	The Darklands: p. 83

Darklord Slûtar (died MS 5070) was a Darklord and Lord of Kaag.

Appearance

Slûtar was a beast-like figure, covered in thick blond fur, with a huge horn on his brow. He had muscled limbs and a scaled head, and a jaw like a crocodile's. He had a pair of eyes on his shoulders, with snake-like slits for pupils. He had a secondary brain in his chest, and his eyes remained open even during his sleep, to gather information and alert his primary brain where necessary. He was constantly in the company of his Zlanbeast mount.

Personality

Despite Slûtar's strength, he possessed intelligence and hidden ambitions. Keeping these hidden allowed him to become a safe associate for other Darklords, and allowed Slûtar to bide his time. During the time of Archlord Zagarna, he believed Haakon was the only rival for Archlordship.

Biography

Arrival and challenging Haakon for Archlordship

Slûtar arrived on Magnamund with his fellow Darklords in MS 3072. After Archlord Zagarna became Archlord, he granted Slûtar Kaag to be ruled in the Archlord's name. However, not all the denizens of Kaag agreed to this, and the two factions fought an open war against each other. However, in reality, this conflict was formulated by the Nadziranim for fun.

After the fall of Zagarna, Slûtar and Haakon fought for the title of Archlord. In the Legends of Lone Wolf series, Haakon managed to capture Lone Wolf, and Slûtar attempted to capture Qinefer in response, but failed. Slûtar then helped Lone Wolf escape from Helgedad with the help of Carag, making Haakon look incompetent. However, Haakon later found out the truth, and exposed Slûtar as a traitor, allowing Haakon to ascend to Archlord. This story is also implied in the second edition of The Darklands, although without concrete details. Despite this, he was able to continue reigning over Kaag in his own right.

Second Archlordship attempt

After Haakon fell, Slûtar renewed his challenge to the throne, but was this time opposed by Ghurch and Unc. Gnaag, then seen as one of the weakest Darklords, was able to convince the other Darklords to give up their claims and elect a successor; however, the Darklords split their votes, with Helgedad's Darklords supporting Ghurch, while most of the remainder supported Unc. Gnaag and Slûtar failed to gain any votes, so they did not actively participate in the ensuing civil war. However, this was all orchestrated by Gnaag in secret, and at the climax of the civil war, Gnaag destroyed both Ghurch and Unc with a devastating show of power, forcing his fellow Darklords to fall behind him as Archlord.

Darklands War

In MS 5065, aided by the Tanoz-tukor, allowing the Darklords to operate freely outside of the Darklands, Archlord Gnaag ordered Slûtar to march on Moytura Pass, with an army comparable to the forces of Zagarna centuries ago. Sommerlund blockaded Moytura Pass, preventing Slûtar from advancing, but this was Gnaag's plan all along, for it isolated Sommerlund and prevented them from helping their allies. In MS 5066, Slûtar attacked the blockade. In desperation, and lacking Lone Wolf (who was still trapped in the Daziarn), a quest was undertaken to recover Loi-Kymar's Guildstaff, which allowed for mass transportation of troops. The (unnamed) Guildmaster of the Crystal Star, Banedon (the most promising of his students), and Lord Paido, who unexpectedly returned to help, went on this quest. The three ran into immense opposition, as if they were being spied upon. The Guildmaster was assassinated, while Paido disappeared while fending off Slûtar's agents. Banedon, however, was successful in retrieving the Guildstaff, which he used to summon reinforcements from Varetta, Durenor and their other allies to Moytura Pass. With these reinforcements, Slûtar's army was defeated. For his efforts, Banedon became the next Guildmaster.

Slûtar died in MS 5070, after Lone Wolf destroyed the Transfusor, causing the Tanoz-tukor to stop working, meaning he could not survive for long outside of the Darklands. For his failure, his spirit was trapped and tortured in the Plain of Despair by Naar.

Design

In the first edition of The Darklands, his incredible brutality was made more prominent. This is toned down in the second edition, where he is a powerful brute, but possessing secret intelligence and ambitions. This allowed him to form associations with other Darklords, rather than frequent disputes as was the case in the first edition.

The second edition also mentions Slûtar's treachery in releasing Lone Wolf during his contest with Haakon is also implied, formerly only mentioned in the Legends of Lone Wolf canon.