The Rebirth of Balance

While the Guardians abandoned their proper duties and many turned to devastating the world, the Pillars themselves attempted to repair what was broken. In the instant of Ariel's death, a son was born into an aristocratic family in the distant town of Coorhagen. While most would deem his life unimportant, just another noble in a long line of nobles, this boy had a grand fate in store. In the brief interval between Ariel's death and the corruption of the Pillars, he had been chosen by the Pillar of Balance to take Ariel's place as its Guardian.

The Guardians all knew this but few showed any concern, far too gone now to abandon their sadistic pleasures and experimentations for the sake of some boy ignorant of his destiny. Mortanius however, despite his ongoing neglect of his duties as the Death Guardian, was roused by the birth of Ariel's successor. Even in the grip of madness, the old necromancer's soul weighed heavy with the guilt of not only Ariel's death but also of his role in Moebius' rebellion all those centuries ago. It was their revolt that forced the Pillars out of Ancient hands and into the stewardship of vulnerable humankind, susceptible to demonic influence and psychic afflictions.

This boy could be the tool needed to set everything right again. And so as the chaos wrought by his former friends slowly consumed Nosgoth and his own body suffered through recurring bouts of possession by his former god Hash'Ak'Gik, Mortanius watched and waited while Ariel's successor came of proper age as a privileged noble lord.