Feared throughout the Realm as a so-called Dark Lord, Rennoc once served as a Sorcerer vanguard during the Goblin incursions along the southern borders. But the man who fought alongside Imperium Legionnaires with unwavering command would not remain loyal for long.
His break from the Imperium began with an ambush that shattered his convoy — a slaughter from which only he and a small circle of Sorcerers escaped. From there, his path darkened.
For months — perhaps longer — Rennoc led targeted strikes against the Inquisition, raiding prisons and liberating those gifted in magic. What began as isolated defiance soon became something more: a rebellion forged in exile, grief, and the disillusionment of the hunted.
At first, the Emperor dismissed the rising threat as a rogue element — a rabble to be crushed beneath the boot. But after the murder of his heirs, the northern provinces erupted into open war. The rabble had become a reckoning.
Rennoc’s forces were eventually broken on the banks of the Mul-Sul. His body was never found.
Some say he died in the mud and blood alongside his soldiers.
Others believe he lives still — stripped of loyalty, stripped of mercy — shaped only by survival.
Author notes
Spartacus:
Rennoc is what Spartacus might have become — if he’d survived the rebellion, abandoned noble ideals, and rebuilt with brutal conviction. He believes he’s liberating the realm, but his vision of justice is warped, absolute, and increasingly dangerous. He doesn’t just fight for freedom — he believes he is the cause.
Dark Lord:
The “Dark Lord” trope, for me, is a worldbuilding device — not a moral label. We’re conditioned to associate it with evil, conquest, domination. But Rennoc doesn’t see himself as a tyrant. He’s a man who ran out of ways to ask for fairness — and now believes power is the only language the realm understands.
When characters refer to him as the “Dark Lord” in rumour or conversation, it’s either propaganda… or fear. A name shaped by the Imperium, not the man behind it.
Copyright © 2025 by Daniel Butler
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2025