Seenerl

Seenerl, The Shapeless Phantom
After returning from The Void Seenerl's body got heavily burned and most of it flesh withered away. To stay alive, he replaced most of his flesh with condensed void dust he can easily replenish every time he steps into The Void, and had to remove some of his organs and his entire nervous system to avoid the constant pain he would otherwise feel. Due to exposure to the dust his bones turned black and his remaining skin to purple. In this form he can freely travel back and forth between Void and real world, as long as he has access to a flat surface big enough to fit a Gate large enough for his body.

Seenerl values knowledge above everything else, which over time caused his downfall. The more his lust for knowledge grew stronger the less empathetic and friendly he became. In the end he did not hesitated to kill people who just saved him just for a chance to fullfil his goals. He still holds grudge for Cane who "killed" him, and the Royal Council who stopped his studies of forbidden topics.

Story
To master a skill, it always takes some time and effort, however the amount of time and effort required varies from individual to individual. Most people struggle for years to master magic, yet few are born with innate talent which not only speeds up the process of learning a lot, but allows them to be a better mage than their peers could ever be.

Seenerl was one of these gifted mages. Born in a noble Seran family he had all the money he would even need and the best teachers available on Greavesoyl. He did not wasted his chance and worked hard, eventually surpassing even his teachers. He acquired the titles of Professor and the Grand Arcan in his early 30’s, and refused the offer of a luxurious life as a lecturer in Satran Academy. Seenerl learned all there was for him to learn about the elemental and energy magic humans commonly use. He wanted to know more, and luckily for him, there was so much more to learn about magic.

He travelled far and wide in the search of knowledge Satran libraries did not wanted to, or even were not allowed share. Seenerl learned from mountain men from the south, from kharr shamans of the northern deserts, and even from gods and demons of the wilderness between the human settlements. Eternal ones, as creatures born to use magic, proved to be the best teachers. Seenerl befriended a lot of them during his travels. His immortal friends and their past were what sparked his interest into the forbidden history of the long gone Golden Age, which later lead to him discovering the old tales about the place, or concept, refered to as… The Void.

His curiosity only grew stronger as he found out that almost all records of The Void were removed from the history. He dived deeper and deeper, discovering more things related to the mysterious place outside of his understanding. He found the notes of Nekarian cryomancer, lullabies about the gray one, the records of demonic games and shanties of the spawn of the Kraken King – all things the Royal Council did not wanted him to know. He was ordered to stop digging into things forbidden, yet no matter how many letters from the Emerald Palace he got, and how many times he saw the people in green helmets near his laboratory, Seenerl could not get The Void out of his mind, with his paranoia growing stronger. For years he studied to understand all about magic, yet this forsaken place defied any understanding or calculation. He could not let it go. He had to know.

There was a place where he hoped to find a working Void gate - Ooran Dungeon. An underground complex ruled by a demon released from The Void where countless people died chasing after loot and fame. Seenerl descended into the depths, confident of his skill. Too confided, as a venomous bite of a giant corpse feeder spider would end his life if not aid from a pair of adventurers, Cane and Eleya, who saved him from slow and painful death. Humiliated by his near-death experience, Seenerl agreed to join them in their attempt to reach the lair of the demon at the bottom of the dungeon, but he never trusted them. When Cane dueled the last of the demon’s guardians, Seenerl left him, and found what he was looking for - the Void gate. The ancient device which could tear a hole in reality, granting access to The Void, required more energy to turn on than he could create at his own without severely hurting himself.

At this point, Seenerl was no longer a noble archmage pursuing knowledge. He was a paranoid maniac obsessed with understanding what he never should, and did not hesitated to betray his comrades to power up the void gate. Once again, he overestimated his combat skills. In the matter of minutes, with an arrow in his shoulder and his back slashed by a kraken bone sword, he crawled towards the gate bleeding out and tearing his own memories to power it up. His dying wish was to know what is on the other side and Cane fulfilled it by kicking the traitorous mage straight into the darkness.

In the dark stillness Seenerl found respite. He experienced what he could not understand from documents and calculations on his own body and mind. He saw the infinite. He felt the infinite. He drowned in The Void and he swam in The Void. For his entire life he thought of it as a place, as a world outside of his own. Now he knew it was not truly a place. It was a state of being, and it was everywhere at once. When he finally found the answers he wanted to badly he reached back towards the gave, and burned most of his body in the process of coming back to the real world. He came back as a shapeless abomination, with bones merging with void dust and mind fractured even more than it was ever before.

It all was meaningless now for him. He has finally understood The Void.

In-game
Unlimited stealth and intangibility allows Seneerl to move around the map completely undetected. He can sneak right into well defended points, and thanks to Remember Me stick to his targets, even if they burn their mobility to escape.

Trivia

 * Seenerl was implied to be infected by the Curse of Undying in Deep in Dungeon, which is no longer canon due to the Curse being retconned since.
 * He was the first character with "Very Hard" difficulty rating.