Overmage

For the race or the Broken World quest, see Cinbri and Overmage of the Cinbri.

The Overmage (or the Overmage of the Cinbri) was the most powerful of the six Cinbri left on Aranna after the First Cataclysm.

He is the main antagonist of Broken World, and the power behind Valdis in Dungeon Siege II.

Biography[]

Service to Zaramoth[]

Zaramoth summoned the alien race known as the Cinbri to Aranna so that they could aid him in taking control of the River of Souls, the source of all the world's magic. Capping the River, and using powerful wards to redirect the flow of magic to the Cinbri City, Zaramoth's evil sorcerers sustained themselves upon the pure energy of the River, having already exhausted the magic of their homeland.

When Zaramoth marched out to face Azunai on the Plain of Tears, only one Cinbri remained to protect their city: the Overmage. Young and arrogant, he ingested voldane in an attempt to do the work of three mages. In his foolishness, he accidentally shut the portal his people had used to reach Aranna. Before he could try and fix what had been done, the First Cataclysm struck, and the Cinbri City was buried beneath the earth. Worse still, Aranna's magic had been fragmented by the Endtime, split into a thousand ley lines, making it impossible for the Overmage to even try and reopen such the gateway.

Gathering the other five Cinbri who had survived, the Overmage and his coven of Dark Wizards stayed hidden in the shadows for centuries.

Preparations for Redemption[]

As time passed, the Overmage concocted a grand scheme to redeem himself by reversing his mistake, and returning his people to Aranna.

The first step of this plan was to uncover the buried Cinbri City, so he could reach the original rift, and provide the Cinbri with a place to live when he reopened the portal there. To do this, he lured an expedition of Dwarves to a vast cave system near Aman'lu, where they founded the Glorydeep Mine. It was all a trap, however, and the Overmage sealed the entrance behind them, turning them into a slave work force that he would use to slowly excavate the city over the next 150 years.

The Azunite Scholar, one of the Overmage's many disguises

The second step of his plan involved finding the fragments of the Shield of Azunai, lost to the desert sands when the Defender fell at the end of the First Age. The Overmage discovered one of these fragments, the Aegis of Death, and brought it to the Elves of Aman'lu in the guise of an ancient Azunite scholar. He gave the artifact to them so that they could protect it until it was needed, also granting Drevisil the Elder an ancient medallion, which was itself a part of the broken Shield.

The third step he enacted by inflicting a Human prince from the Northern Reaches with a terrible illness. The Overmage sent this prince powerful visions as he slipped in and out of a fevered sleep, visions that would eventually draw the young man to the ancient mountain-fortress of Zaramoth's Horns. It was there that this prince, Valdis, took up the lost Sword of Zaramoth.

Dungeon Siege II[]

Over the next thirty years, Valdis would rise to become a tyrant, casting his long shadow across all of southeastern Aranna. The Overmage had convinced him that he was, in fact, Zaramoth Reborn, and that it was his birthright to bring about a new age. To do so, Valdis would require the Shield of Azunai, and so, he sent his vast armies forth to claim the Aegis artifacts.

Using his old disguise as the Azunite Scholar, the Overmage tracked down a mercenary who Valdis had betrayed during his invasion of Greilyn Isle, meeting them at the Dryad Exile Colony. Unbeknownst to this mercenary, they were a descendant of Azunai himself, and an integral part of the Cinbri's plans. Manipulating this brave hero and their companions, the Overmage was able to convince them to gather the four Aegis together, and reforge the Shield of Azunai in order to confront Valdis, sacrificing the other four Dark Wizards along the way, including the Archmage.

Overmage Azunite Scholar — The Overmage sheds his disguise

The Overmage eventually revealed himself during the final battle atop Zaramoth's Horns, tricking Valdis into shattering the Sword of Zaramoth over the newly-reforged Shield of Azunai, and bringing about the Second Cataclysm. With no further use for the foolish tyrant, the Cinbri told the heroes to put an end to his reign of terror. He returned after Valdis' death to taunt them, telling them that the next age belonged to him. Before teleporting away, the Overmage confidently asserted that they would meet again... when the time was right.

Broken World[]

The heroes spent the next year hunting for the Overmage, while he traveled across Aranna, putting the finishing touches on his master plan.

Presenting himself as the first male Dryad, the Overmage became the Great Leader, using the Dryads to collect the pure magic that he needed to reopen the portal to the Cinbri homeland. To serve as the perfect receptacles for this magic, the Overmage tricked powerful wizards into opening themselves up to the unstable energy of the Endtime, turning them into rogue mages.

The Second Cataclysm has weakened the wards on the ancient prison of the Nothriim, or Familiars, who were ancient enemies of the Elves. The Overmage saw them as the perfect way to distract the people of Aranna from what he was doing, and unleashed the Familiar Surgeons upon the world once again.

A group of Morden came to the Overmage, begging him to help cure the horrid disease that had fallen upon their kind. Deciding to delay their inevitable doom, the Overmage gave these Morden a vial of his blood. They became the Morden Ravagers, and served to further some of their dark master's goals.

When the Overmage was finally confronted by the band of heroes once again, he tried to convince them to join him in the new world that was fast approaching, but they were steadfast in denying him up until the very end. Tracking the foul sorcerer to the Cinbri City, these heroes watched helplessly as he fused his own soul with that of Zaramoth the Unmaker, becoming Zaramoth Reborn so that he could tear the portal between worlds open once more.

Before he could do so, the heroes slew the Overmage, foiling his plan, which had been centuries in the making.