Cassana the sorceress.
Cassana was an evil human mage and one of the two main antagonists (the other being Moander (D&D) ) of Azure Bonds, the first book of the Finder's Stone trilogy set in Forgotten Realms.
With the help of Finder Wyvernspur, she created the protagonist Alias as the prototype for an army of artificial female super soldiers made in the sorceress image, before coming to conflict with the Cult of Moander, who wanted Alias to free their god from his ancient prison.
Appearance[]
Cassana's face looks very much like her clone Alias, except older and meaner with a cruel and smug expression. Her reddish hair lacks the luster of Alias' hair. Her green eyes are fierce, and her high cheekbones help give her an evil look overall.
Personality[]
Like many evil mages, Cassana is consumed by a sense of superiority and a hunger for power. She is a bitter elderly woman who takes pleasure in bullying those under her command. She murdered her former lover Zrie Prakis and raised him as her undead servant. She blackmailed the renegade Harper agent Finder into helping her create Alias, whom she always calls Puppet and refuses to see her as a human being, unlike Finder, who sees Alias as a surrogate daughter.
She sees other people only in terms of how they can be useful to her and has no qualms about eliminating those who are no longer useful or simply bore her.
History[]
Cassana's youth is mostly unknown, but her history begins over a hundred years before the events of the book, when she met a fellow magic student called Zrie Prakis and the two fell in love. However their personal ambitions drove them apart. The stories of their lives varied among the tellers, but one thing was certain, both lovers became powerful, narcissistic and evil wizards. When the two met again, their blackened souls had little to no love left for each other and fought to see who is the better mage. Cassana won at the cost of Prakis' life. Conjectures also concern Cassana's mental sanity. Some wondered if killing her former lover is what drove her over the edge. Other speculates she was already mad, and fighting and killing the person she loved was an act of madness in and on itself.
She gathered the remains of Prakis and kept them at her bedside until she was able to raise him as a lich. Cassana now controlled Prakis as her undead servant with her powerful wand. Cassana's desire to dominate everyone reached its peak at this time.
Her desire lead to the creation of the clone Puppet, as Cassana referred to her. This Puppet will eventually be known across Faerun as Alias, the tatooed swordswoman. Cassana's narcissism also manifested in the fact that she made Alias to look exactly like her younger self.
To complete the creation of Alias as the perfect construct, Cassana hired the help of the bard Finder Wyvernspur, who is hiding from the Harpers, and a demon from the Grey Waste called Phalse, who is usually seen in the form of a Halfling. She even hired the assassin's guild of the Fire Knives to be her henchmen. Cassana drew enchanted azure tatoos on Alias' arms so she could magically compel her to obey the orders of Cassana and her minions. But, as is so typical for villains in the Realms, Cassana's plans didn't work out as she hoped and Alias would end up being the mage's downfall.
First, cultists of Moander attacked Cassana's hideout in Westgate to steal Alias before her awakening. Amisdt the chaos, Finder decided to betray Cassana by sending away Alias before the bad guys could fully bind her to their will, and tasked the saurial paladin Dragonbait to protect her. then the sorceress plot was uncovered when during a party where the dorky aristocrat Giogioni Wyvernspur impersonated King Azoun IV of Cormyr in a comedic show. Cassana's Fire Knives goons sent a magical order to Alias, one of the party's guests, to kill the king of Cormyr to test her and she attacked the disguised Giogioni in a berserk fury.
Later, the Cultists of Moander magically compelled Alias to go in the ancient temple of Yulash and free the evil god. Though she did so, the physical avatar of Moander was later destroyed by Alias' companions and the red dragon Mist, killing the cultists in the process.
With the removal of the rival faction, Cassana, Prakis and Phalse made their move, capturing Alias and her friends.
Cassana prepares a magic ritual to erase Alias's free will and make her a faithful killing machine. Dragonbait was able to disrupt the ritual and free Alias from the sorceress' control. Cassana also lost her wand, which was soon destroyed, causing Prakis to turn to dust. Although a dangerous spellcaster even without the wand, Alias and Dragonbait fighting skills proved too much for Cassana and Alias impaled the sorceress with her sword, killing her.
The demon Phalse then revealed that he and Cassana created a dozen other clones of Alias, each one with a different character class and skills. The clones were teleported to random locations of Faerun when Phalse is killed by Alias.