Devland
(Planar half-elf fighter [he/him] / Doomguard / LN)
This reclusive cutter is the Doomlord in charge of the Crumbling Citadel, the faction’s stronghold on the elemental plane of Ash. Although Devland claims to be in the Regulators fraction, and provides support for the activities of the Sifters, his actual beliefs seem to fall more in line with those of the Sinkers. The half-elf’s particular slant on the progress of entropy is that it must be slowed as much as possible in the natural world. (Although he wouldn’t be all that concerned if the “excess” entropy removed from nature was transferred into more “civilised” surroundings.)
Devland was born in the forests of Arborea, son to a wood elf and her human lover. He was raised by his mother’s tribe, and grew up with an instinctive love for the nature and the vast untamed wilderness of his homeland. Being a native Arborean, Devland was very passionate by nature and eagerly threw himself fully into whatever happened to catch his attention. The half-elf soon acquired an intense wanderlust by listening to the stories of his planewalking father. Once he became old enough to travel the planes and survive on his own, Devland left Arborea to travel the planes, with the idea of seeing what other types of wilderness existed. What he found quickly sickened the half-elf. In nearly every place he visited, especially on the Prime, Devland found that nature was not truly respected, merely used or even exploited. He found many places where war or simple greed had destroyed the natural world. Although he tried to fight this waste wherever he found it, the problem was too wide spread to contain. Soon, his Arborean nature led him into a deep depression. It was in this somewhat suicidal and rather susceptible state that he fell in with the Doomguard.
The factioneer he spoke with easily convinced Devland of both the presence and the inevitableness of Entropy. The destruction of nature was just one sign of its progress. Although he didn’t like the idea, the half-elf reasoned that if one can’t beat the system, you could at least work from within to make it more acceptable. Devland joined the Doomguard in order to make sure that his beloved woodlands would be spared the harsh effects of Entropy, and last as long as possible under the spread of a more natural decay. This desire to slow Entropy in nature led him to ally himself with the Regulators; but his dislike of what civilisation does to nature makes him sympathetic to the viewpoints of both of the other two fractions within the Entropy Rats.
Devland has become the Doomlord of Ash not because of any over-arching ambition, but through simple dedication and hard work. He is the most sedate of all the Doomlords, championing the cause of the Regulators fraction with an even hand and a steady pace. While he still favours the idea of letting the civilised multiverse collapse into a mass of Entropy leaving only the natural world to slowly fall into decay, the half-elf does consider other viewpoints and is thus able to remain relatively unbiased when representing his fraction during voting on issues which affect the Doomguard as a whole.
Despite having become a Doomlord, Devland still retains his love for nature and the general solitude it provides. It is for this reason that he restricts the numbers of Doomguard stationed in the Crumbling Citadel – he feels crowded if too many people are around. He prefers to dress in clothing reminiscent of the wood elf tribe who raised him, and keeps a number of plants in his offices and personal quarters. Devland has also covered the walls of his office in bits of wood salvaged from Ash by the Sifters. In addition to his love of nature, the Doomlord also retains some of his Arborean passion. He is able to fully commit himself to a course of action or project and work on it nonstop for days at a time.
Canonical Sources:
- Factol’s Manifesto [2e] p40,43
- Inner Planes [2e] p113
Sources:
- Doomguard Netbook by Ken Lipka
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p128
- Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
