Saghir Haaskinz

The West End Ripper

Uncle of Prince Harald Haaskinz of Sablestone

AC 1016

"There is nothing in all the worlds so dangerous, my sweet, as a desperate man."

Appearance

Years ago, Saghir Haaskinz was a tall, thin man with unassuming features—plain, but nonetheless not unpleasant to look at. Now, after many decades of imprisonment, Saghir at the end of his life is an emaciated husk of a man who walks hunched over nearly at the waist, his shuffling feet turned slightly inward with atrophy. Wisps of thin, brittle white hair brush his thin shoulders, and the prickly remains of a moustache grizzles his sunken upper lip. Any hypothetical observer (for Saghir has no real observers outside the family) would hear him constantly muttering to himself, promising unspeakable torment to his "sweet," and know the madness which burns within him. But that observer would then see his eyes as he turned—bright, blazing with the zeal of his completely lucid hatred—and would no longer discount this "madman" so easily.

Background

Saghir Haaskinz was born in AC 916, the second son of Konrad "the Mad" Haaskinz and his ex-prostitute wife, Domitia. Saghir never knew his mother, who died in childbirth; he and his older brother Konstantin were raised by their demanding and domineering grandmother, Aleta. Aleta doted on Konstantin, "the good son," but deeply resented her amoral son Konrad's influence on his younger offspring. From the time Saghir was learning to walk, he was the object of a bitter power struggle between his father and grandmother. Saghir liked his father, with his easygoing ways and "fun" disposition (When Saghir was ten, Konrad took his young son out for a night of drinking and carousing). But every time he looked at his father, there (it seemed) was his stiff-lipped, puritanical grandmother shaking her head at him disapprovingly. Aleta was like a dark cloud in Saghir's life.

Perhaps Aleta had wanted only to save her grandson from a life of darkness and debauchery; her motives are lost to history. Whatever they were, it did not seem to matter; Saghir followed in his father's footsteps in more than his mannerisms. The young man, as had Konrad, developed a taste for cruelty and death. As a teenager at the Great School of Magic, Saghir excelled in his studies, but showed a remarkable (or rather, remarkably disgusting) interest in vivisection and mind control - preferably used in tandem. Konrad openly encouraged his son's "exploration" into the darker side of magic.

When Saghir was nineteen, Konrad led him to a hidden room covered in magical runes, and shared a secret with him: while researching in the family archives, Konrad had found the diaries of Johan of Haaskinz, a family ancestor. In the volumes of meticulous research, Johan described his foray into dark magic, and his dedication to the "Ancient Ones"—evil beings of immense power, whose followers sought to release them from their dimensional prison.

Konrad revealed that he intended to pledge himself to the Ancient Ones in exchange for magical knowledge, as Johan had done. That said, he whirled on Saghir, dagger raised for sacrifice. The knife dropped; Saghir was mortally wounded. But the pair still struggled, as a magical storm of purple and black clouds raged over the manor. Finally, Saghir's strength won out: he plunged the dagger into his father's heart. Throwing the body into the circle of runes, the dying Saghir cried out his dedication to the dark Powers as he split Konrad's body from throat to abdomen, bathing in the blood. Lightning struck the cornerstone of the house, and Saghir was thrown onto the still-warm corpse. Suddenly, he felt the warmth, the life which left his father, pouring into him. His wound was healed.

Saghir disposed of Konrad's body in the back of the family's property, staging an even more gruesome crime scene. He was never suspected of the murder. Feeling bold, he moved into a Glantri City apartment, defying Aleta, who predicted only misery.

Five years after finding his hidden magical calling, and still on his own, Saghir met Rosamund. A delicate blond beauty from Aalban, Rosamund had a smile which could grant Saghir respite from the horrible whispering of voices in his head—voices which told him to kill, sacrifice, and make ready the path of the Ancient Ones... But when Rosamund was around, nothing else mattered. Saghir, smitten, proposed marriage after only a week.

Their marriage was to last less than a year. As the fires of his passion cooled, Saghir could no longer control his impulses. Rosamund, in fear of her life, returned home to her family, petitioning for divorce. Saghir, lost, traveled home, seeking comfort. But he found only smug blame from Aleta, who quickly convinced Saghir that the guilt for the failed marriage rested wholly upon his shoulders—after all, he never should have left home. Saghir watched his fragile self-esteem crumble into self-loathing as his grandmother subjugated him once again to her will. Her control and demands only increased after her husband Arnulf's death in AC 957. But Aleta did not know that, unlike when he was a child, Saghir now practiced a magic which threatened to entirely subvert his will, and rain death down upon the Haaskinz clan.

Saghir lived with Aleta until her natural death in AC 973. He never dared move against her, for his fragile psyche would not allow it. When she died, it was as though Saghir, stretched taut as an over-tuned lute string all those years, finally snapped. His resentment toward women—kindled by his grandmother in his youth, fanned by the loss of Rosamund, and stoked by Aleta's continued dominance—poured over. Women had stolen his youth, his vitality, his very life force. From women he would regain them.

Urged on by the increasingly strident voices in his head, the aging Saghir sought out women on the fringe of society: courtesans as his mother had been. Subduing them with magic, he would then brutally torture them, then flay them either magically or with special instruments, stealing their life essence as they died in agony. Taking care to clean up evidence of his crimes Saghir would dump the bodies of his victims in West Side alleys. In no time, the Constabulary had dubbed him the "West End Ripper." Saghir did not care, for he did not seek infamy; he believed that upon completing his thirteenth sacrifice, he would receive a sign of favor from the Ancient Ones.

In his fervor, Saghir did not think to explain his sudden age reversal, his new-found vitality—for he had always openly shunned potions of longevity. This nagged at Harald Haaskinz, the son of Saghir's late brother Konstantin. Looking into the case of the murdered prostitutes, Harald found that the victims' life forces had been drained. He clandestinely searched Saghir's laboratory, and found damning evidence: bloody instruments of torture and human body parts.

Harald and his sister Tereis Haaskinz did not confront Saghir about the evidence—not until they had slipped a drug into his wine and teleported him into the dungeons of Westheath as he slept. Upon waking, Saghir found himself imprisoned. His niece and nephew gravely accused him of the West End crimes. Enraged beyond rational thought, Saghir fired spell after spell at the duo...only to find them safe behind layers of magical shielding. Helpless now, but still malevolently arrogant, Saghir spat out a confession. But what would they do? he sneered. Ruin themselves by turning him in?

Silently, Harald and Tereis turned and walked away, leaving Saghir alone in the dark. He stared in disbelief, then screamed. The voices in his head chittered like shadowy spiders—He had failed! He had killed only eleven!

Soon Saghir broke down completely, succumbing to the madness which had threatened all his life. But he did not die; rather, he stabilized a bit over the years, forcing his mind into a semblance of cohesion. His vast and evil knowledge was still intact, and he had such plans —He only needed his spells! Saghir bided his time...

Finally, after the Great War, Harald was appointed Grand Master of the Great School. With neither he nor Tereis able to care for Saghir, the unpleasant duty fell to Harald's weak-minded and estranged wife, Asadel Haaskinz. Saghir openly raved the first few weeks of Asadel's tenure, hurling feces at her through his bars and screaming obscenities. True to form, Asadel quickly acquired some zzonga with which to pacify him. Saghir dutifully took the small doses, then spat them into the small ventilation shaft. He watched, and waited. Sure enough, soon the doses were smaller, and Asadel was much calmer. She was taking the zzonga herself!

Now, Saghir actively plots his revenge as he waits for Asadel's inevitable slip-up. But it is a race against time, for Saghir's body, no longer fed with the life forces of victims, is rapidly aging and deteriorating. He is, indeed, dying. But he is confident: when Asadel's drug-induced stupor slows her just enough, Saghir will reveal his fully lucid state and escape. And then House Haaskinz shall be no more...

Personality & Quirks

Saghir was, in his youth, a lazy and immoral reprobate who was content wasting his family's money, until he stumbled onto the dark arts through his father's bumbling attempts at power. Saghir pledged his soul in exchange for knowledge, but the full meaning of this escaped him until he suffered the devastation of Rosamund's loss, followed by his complete domination by his grandmother. This humiliation opened a chasm of resentment and evil within Saghir which engulfed him. But Aleta did control Saghir, to some extent; her death freed him to commit some of the most heinous crimes in Glantrian history. By the time he was caught by Harald, Saghir was totally mad, and thoroughly corrupt. The years of imprisonment have only served to make him meaner, and more cunning. He is completely certain that he will escape, and alternately ignores his bodily deterioration and obsesses upon it. He constantly (re)convinces himself to bide his time, lest he make a fatal error in judgment.

Web of Intrigue

Saghir hates his entire family, but most of all, he hates Harald. If he were to escape and regain his powers, his first act would be to capture his nephew and slowly murder his beloved son Dominick Haaskinz before his very eyes. Then he would savor draining the meddling Harald of all his life energy, thereby restoring himself to health. And then he would do the same to Tereis...but he is considering letting Asadel live. After all, it is her incompetence which is paving the road for Saghir's return; she deserves something...better than death.

In his demented mind, Saghir believes that, once he takes care of his family, he will become Prince of Sablestone, and seek an alliance with lich-prince Brannart McGregor. Saghir does not know of the recent ascendancy of Sir Angus McGregor. Nor is he, in his plans of vengeance, counting on Harald's Radiance abilities (of which Saghir knows nothing).

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 14th-level necromancer; Str 7, Dex 11, Con 6, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 5; AL C (D&D), CE (AD&D).

Languages: Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Traladaran (Boldavian dialect), Sindhi.

Weapon Proficiencies: none.

Skills: reading/writing, spellcraft, astrology, ancient languages, anatomy.

Before caught by Harald, Saghir was an insane, though formidable, practitioner of the dark arts. As he is no longer permitted spellbooks or components, he has lost all casting ability in his imprisonment. But, should Saghir finally escape his captivity, his first act will be to recover his spellbook—he knows that Harald has not destroyed it, due to the powerful evil enchantments the tome holds. Then his vengeance shall be long, and anguishing, and oh so sweet...

"An absolutely horrid man; he wants nothing better than to destroy the entire Haaskinz line. Did I not love my son, I might actually consider helping him escape."

(Asadel Haaskinz, in jest to Lathan Aendyr)

References: History of House Haaskinz

Author: Jennifer Guerra