He was destined for greatness according to Paladine, but corrupted from birth by Takhisis. He became one of the first true clerics in the Age of Despair. Let’s learn more about Verminaard of Nidus. Buy War of the Lance: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3164/War-of-the-Lance-35?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
There is no better revenge story than that of Takhisis against Huma.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Verminaard of Nidus. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the original DL modules Dragons of Flame, Dragons of Hope, Dragons of Desolation, Dragons of Faith, and the War of the Lance sourcebook for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
This was one of my personal favorite villains even before we learned about his backstory. His presence in every image speaks to confidence and power, exactly what you want to see facing off against a group of heroes. But once you know more about Verminaard as an individual, you may like this villain even more. We all know through legend that Huma Dragonbane from the Third Dragon War around one-thousand and sixty Prae Cataclius, how Huma with the Silver Dragon Heart and the Dragonlance faced off against Takhisis and banished her from the mortal realm to the Abyss. What most on Krynn don’t know is that Takhisis took this act very personally. I mean, how could she not? Defeated by a mortal and a second attempt dragon? I mention this as Takhisis corrupted the first dragons created, the Chromatics, and Paladine then had Reorx make new dragons known as the Metallics.
Takhisis was not one to rest on her laurels, so when the last heir of Huma, Lord Laca Dragonbane of East Borders. had a son named Aglaca, I believe Takhisis began to engineer her revenge. Laca Dragonbane was a Knight of Solamnia, and as proud and honorable as the Knights are, they are still mortal men. Laca would end up having an affair with his friend, Lord Daeghrefn’s wife, a fellow Solamnic Knight. As one might expect, Daeghrefn was not happy about this, and as he traveled through the Khalkist Mountains, his small family sought shelter in a cave during a storm, where the druidess L’Indasha Yman lived, and helped deliver the baby Verminaard. The corruption had begun as this child was a stain on Daeghrefn’s life, he named him after vermin in disgust.
This second living heir to Huma was not on Takhisis’ radar, and though Paladine prophesied that the two brothers would achieve great things and be able to banish the dark forces forever, Takhisis had different plans. Not only would she orchestrate through her minion, the red dragon Ember in the guise of a young mage named Cerestes, the transfer of Daeghrefn’s firstborn son to be fostered by Laca, and Laca’s son, Aglaca would be fostered in turn by Daeghrefn, so that the two heirs of Huma were now in the exact same house, to be tempered by the hatred of their surrogate father and the evil machinations of Takhisis and Ember.
Verminaard would learn of this prophecy of Paladine’s through whisperings by Ember but by the time he was of age to accept it, he had a lifetime of misery and seeds of hate growing within him. He was granted Nightbringer by the Dark Queen to seal his corruption and he would murder his brother, and his true father before leaving to find glory in the only person’s service who accepted him, Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness. Can you imagine her elation at not only corrupting the Huma line, but destroying it entirely, and having the only surviving member of the Dragonbane family as her own devoted cleric!?
This was not the end of Verminaard’s story however. He was trained by Cerestes in arcane magic, before devoting himself to Takhiss and becoming her cleric, so once again, like Ariakas before him, Verminaard’s backstory is one mixed up between Arcane and Divine magic use, but as it’s all granted through Takhisis, what are ya gonna do? Verminaard would join the burgeoning Dragonarmies under the command of Ariakas, and with the failure of Phair Caron in the Silvanesti Conflict, Verminaard was elevated to Dragon Highlord over the Red Wing. The Red Dragonarmy would decimate everything in its path as they claimed Pax Tharkas and actively searched for the Blue Crystal Staff. Verminaard wanted to ensure the Gods of good did not return to threaten the Dark Queen, so he placed a Black Dragon named Khisanth in Xak Tsaroth to protect the Disks of Mishakal, and assigned his Fewmaster Toede to search for the staff.
Verminaard was not to be successful however. With the nudging of Paladine in the form of Fizban, the Innfellows would retrieve the Disks and bring back word of the Old gods to the cleric Elistan. And then through a series of blunders, Verminaard was defeated by these Innfellows with the aid of the senile red dragon Flamestrike. In his final moments, believing he could face off against the Innfellows alone, sheer numbers would prove his faith insufficient. But that was not the true end of Verminaard. And this is where the novels deviate from the modules, because if there is one thing every horror and Dragonlance fan should remember, it is that if you do not see the corpse dismembered, they may not be dead, and could in fact come back later at a climactic moment!
This happens a few times with Verminaard. When the Prisoners of Pax Tharkas are fleeing with the aid of the Innfellows, they are attacked by Verminaard and Ember from the sky, and when they finally enter Thorbardin and claim the Hammer of Kharas, they discover that both Ember and Verminaard are there through the assistance of their puppet Realgar of the Theiwar. This final confrontation with Verminaard is a dangerous and impactful one, but one where the heroes are victorious. And thus Verminaard of Nidus, the last living heir of Huma Dragonbane, and cleric of Takhisis met his end… Or did he?
That’s right, there is one more twist in the story! When the Innfellows are hunting for Eben Shatterstone in Flotsam, they encounter an information broker named Sevil Draanim Rev who assists them with information and stokes confusion and fear at his whim. This mercenary has a nasty gray scar across his windpipe and is loyal to none other than himself. In truth, this is the fallen cleric Verminaard, as his name spelled backwards is Verminaard Lives! While Sevil is assisting the heroes he is as ignorant to their true identity as they are to his, and depending on the chaos of the game, he may work with them or against them. In either case his relationship with Toede seems to be ongoing in some capacity as well. With his new identity, he has truly made a name for himself, and while his ultimate fate is unknown, he is motivated to once more become a cleric of his Dark Queen.
The story of Verminaard is one of both unholy revenge metered out by an infinitely patient evil god, and one of pure sorrow. He is the perfect example of how to corrupt and doom a child by poor parenting. If his surrogate father had chosen to love him, Verminaard’s entire story might be wildly different. Our human history is filled with acts of our vile natures, but I cannot imagine a worse act than to hate an infant. To actively destroy it by their parents, and yet it happens every day in our world. Humans who are either emotionally incapable of being parents or are vile in their actions toward their children. This can be seen as the ultimate cautionary tale. The human animal is born as tabula rasa, a clean slate. We fill that slate with our interactions and presentations to the child through our culture, society, and religions. Our goal should not be to shape a child into something we want them to be, but rather allow them to shape their own individual identities through our support and unconditional love, regardless who the actual parents are.
Outro
And that is all I have to say about Verminaard of Nidus. What do you think of the characters’ seemingly impossible survival? Do you like the revenge story Takhisis exacted on Huma? And finally, would you have known about Sevil if you were playing a character in the game? Leave a comment below.
I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
You might as well say it is refreshing to see a man with his eyes gouged out.
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