Zerphi Topic /5 ⍟
NPCName
Zerphi's YouthThere is no price you can give eternal life
that some would not pay.
Zerphi's Last Breath"Proof that if you devote yourself to a god of death,
you may be spared from its wrath."
- Icius Perandus, Antiquities Collection, Item 408
Zerphi's HeartWe are incapable of change without sacrifice, for we are both the iron and the forge.
Soulthirst"They say a draught of fine spirits will ward off
the elements and promote a longer, merrier life.
I have found this to be true on all counts."
- Zerphi of the Vaal
The Life Thief"The process of eternal youth is a give and take. You give them death and take their youth."
- Zerphi of the Vaal
Zerphi FlavourText /8 ⍟
nameflavour
The Life Thief
BaseItemTypes
"The process of eternal youth is a give and take. You give them death and take their youth."
- Zerphi of the Vaal
LibraryMilitary2
NPCTextAudio
{Book 2: Zerphi the Murderer}

It is said the Vaalish noble, Zerphi, lived for 168 years. That is more than three times the current imperial average. Were this the only unusual attribute of an otherwise uneventful life, Zerphi might have have been cast into the back corner of history to gather dust with the other inexplicable anomalies. But his life was anything but uneventful.

Zerphi was the Vaal civilisation's most infamous serial killer. Over a period of 128 years, Zerphi abducted, tortured and murdered thirteen victims. All in their twentieth year of life. All of noble descent. All Gemlings. But this feat alone did not catapult Zerphi into the annals of history. Rather, it was the quality of his heinous acts that set him apart, not the quantity.

Evidently, Zerphi was a master at inflicting the most prolonged and agonising demise. His victims' bodies were found in a state of horrific mutilation, yet post-mortem analysis revealed that all of the physical trauma infilcted had occurred while the victim was still alive. Some sources claim that the techniques of torture were so refined that he was able to inflict the most intense and lasting pain the human body is capable of sustaining.

Then we come to the curious matter of Zerphi's death which, as so often occurs with historical investigation, brings us back to where we started. Zerphi was finally found at the side of his thirteenth and final victim, who was unmolested and unmutilated. Simply dead. When the centenarian's body was committed to autopsy, the recorded results are mystifying in the extreme. It is claimed that Zerphi did not possess the body of a 168-year-old, rather that his corpse had the physiognomy of a man of twenty years, no more.

Life and Death have walked hand in hand since the beginning of Time. Could Zephri have persuaded them to kiss?

{ -Trinian - Intellectus Prime}
LibraryMilitary3
NPCTextAudio
{Book 3: The Queen's Thaumaturgist}

In a culture festooned with gems and steeped in thaumaturgy, Doryani must have had quite the exceptional mind to rise to such preeminence as he did. Or perhaps he was simply more ruthless than his counterparts. Such is the impression one tends to garner from the accounts written of events following Zerphi's death.

Atziri's orders are quoted in a number of different texts. Doryani was "to make any effort within the realms of possibility, and to act without fear of question or consequence". And to what was Doryani expected to apply this supreme effort? The investigation of Zerphi's longevity and youthful vitality.

There is a particularly chilling manifest, containing endless lists of names, page upon page. The names of young men and women, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six, sent to Doryani for "processing". Only those of "full and recent maturity" were deemed capable of accommodating the "necessary procedures" required without succumbing to "premature expiration".

Yes, Queen Atziri was prepared to slaughter her own people in the desperate pursuit of perpetual youth and beauty. Vanity, indeed, is the most insidious of all Sins.

{ -Trinian - Intellectus Prime}
CadiroOnZerphisLastBreath
NPCTextAudio
Ah, that flask used to be part of my collection. Zerphi's Last Breath, if I'm not mistaken. He was a serial killer; possibly one who was siphoning life from his victims, since he lived to the ripe old age of 168.
Zerphi's Youth
UniqueItems
There is no price you can give eternal life
that some would not pay.
Soulthirst
UniqueItems
"They say a draught of fine spirits will ward off
the elements and promote a longer, merrier life.
I have found this to be true on all counts."
- Zerphi of the Vaal
Zerphi's Last Breath
UniqueItems
"Proof that if you devote yourself to a god of death,
you may be spared from its wrath."
- Icius Perandus, Antiquities Collection, Item 408
Zerphi's Heart
UniqueItems
We are incapable of change without sacrifice, for we are both the iron and the forge.
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