Damocles the Smith

Damocles was a smith born in the Aevum Ortus. There are few written records of his existence from the time period; those that exist are found only in the form of Illian heiroglyphics carved into the walls of his tomb. His existence is substantiated only by the artifacts he crafted and their continued existence in the world. It is known that Damocles became a blacksmith under the tutelage of his father whom he apprenticed under for sometime. During his youth he became interested in the arcane, and in time obsessed.

He was raised in Shadowvine and while many details of his early life are not known, there are a handful of key events historians can be sure of. At some point during his youth, his family was forced into servitude under the oppressive policies of a new warlord who looked to use his father's forge to arm an army to overthrow the monarchy that ruled Shadowvine at the time. We know that this revolt was successful, and that at some point during the war his father was slain. While the details of his death have been lost to the ages, it was a turning point for Damocles.

Just before the war, he had been shipped off to Cycien under the cover of night by his father. An affinity for the arcane had given his family the hope that he would be accepted in the recently constructed Academia Arcanum, and thus free from the chains of their oppressors. While no records exist to prove his education at the hands of the magistocracy, it is widely believed and accepted that this was the case as he rose to be the most prominent enchanter of his age.

Shortly after the death of his father, the warlord his family had served was successful in overtaking the country. Immediately after, their armies were turned on Cycien. Archaelogical evidence from the time substantiates this, as a large amount of evidence has been uncovered that points to a war with Cycien and Shadowvine during the Aevum Ortus. It was during this war that he completed the three works that formed his Magnum Opus. The first of these works was the Hammer of Damocles, a smith's hammer of near celestial proportions that was thought a myth until its rediscovery in the Aurum Aevum in his tomb on the slopes of the Forsaken Mountains on Cycien's North-Western border. With it, he forged and enchanted the Vitemium and Mortemium blades to arm the two Generals charged with Cycien's defense. So powerful were the blades he created, they turned the tide of the war--thus allowing the growing Magistocracy to maintain its independence.

Since their inception, his works have carved an impression into Phoenicia's history at the hand of various champions while the hammer resides in Ostview, where the only smith in the world trained in its craft uses it to forge arms and armor for the Praetorian.

For his creations, Damocles has been canonized as the Patron Saint of Smiths and Enchanters alike by the Proximian Temple.