Alias(es): Protector of Ak-ta, Defender of the Barren Valley, The Ageless Bolas, The Eternal Child
Rule: at least five centuries
Affiliation(s): —
Location(s): Ak-ta
The Ageless Bolas, commonly called the Eternal Child, is the Throne of Ak-ta and an immensely powerful sorcerer whose small, youthful appearance has remained seemingly unchanged for centuries. Ruthless and enigmatic, he sustains Ak-ta through enormous blood rituals that transform the poisoned waters of the Defiled Lakes into potable water while defending the city against the advance of the Creeping Wild. How long Bolas has truly ruled, or what he is, remains uncertain.
Overview
No reliable account records when Bolas first came to power. Stories of the Eternal Child extend back centuries, and throughout them he appears much as he does today: a diminutive figure with the proportions and features of a child, ruling Ak-ta with an experience and command of Sorcery utterly at odds with his appearance.
Some claim he discovered a means of halting his own aging through Sorcery. Others believe his appearance is itself the result of some ancient spell, curse, or deformity. Stranger stories insist that Bolas is considerably older still, pointing to his peculiar knowledge of the old world and the ease with which he commands rituals few other living sorcerers understand.
Whatever the truth, generations have been born, grown old, and died beneath the gaze of the same Eternal Child.
Protector of Ak-ta
Bolas rules Ak-ta as a despot, but his titles as Protector of Ak-ta and Defender of the Barren Valley are more than vanity. His city-wide blood rituals are brutal spectacles, filling the city’s cisterns with potable water through Sorcery, and strengthening its magical defenses against the encroaching sentient jungle.
The price is paid by caravans of prisoners, captives, sacrificial creatures, and walking tribute, all destined for dramatic public rituals. It is a price Bolas has shown little hesitation in paying.
Whether this makes him the monster Ak-ta must endure or simply the ruler its circumstances require depends considerably upon who is being asked.