Main» Damek the Black

A Slavic necromancer and warlord who lived in the time of Rurik. He was said to possess dark knowledge greater than any mortal before or since; various stories circulated about him — that he was possessed by demons, or that he was a demon himself; that he performed various vile rituals; etc.

Damek used this power to conquer a large swath of the Slavic lands, including much of what is now the Principalities of Kiev and Chernigov. Damek, with his great magical power and his army of undead and subjugated mortal followers, was the greatest obstacle to Rurik's conquest of the Slavic lands around the River Dnieper?. Even so, Damek's forces eventually fell to the Varangian? invaders, and Damek himself was killed by Rurik.

Damek was the author of a tome of necromantic lore called the Book of Bones. Among the knowledge he recorded in this book were descriptions of unique spells of dark magic, and techniques for creating and modifying undead that were unknown to anyone else (and indeed have remained generally unknown until recently).

Though history does not record this, the Book of Bones reveals that Damek gained much of his unique knowledge of dark magic from the demon Azrashak?, who appeared to Damek in visions and dreams.