Editing Darklord (section)

===Anibal Coronado===
Darklord of Cumbre de Oro. Arguably the oldest darklord of the Holy Imperial Colonies domains, Anibal Coronado was a infamous mercenary captain who had made a name for himself in the civil wars of the Holy Empire some 170 years ago, amassing a reputation that he parlayed into becoming a famous explorer. After building his reputation there, to the point that the name "Coronado" became synonymous with exotic lands, strange adventures, and foreign wealth, he attempted the most infamous expedition ever: to become the first man to successfully explore beyond the Sierra Acora mountains.

Previous expeditions had all launched in early spring, hoping to cross during midsummer and then return before winter snows closed the passes. They had all failed, as the mountain passes didn't clear up ''until'' midsummer. Coronado proposed instead that he launch his expedition in midsummer, cross the mountains, winter in the lands beyond the Sierra Acora, and then return in the midsummer of the following year.

Long story short, it worked! Coronado became the first man to discover the realms that would become known as Mictlan, but he never would return to claim that prize. In one of his meetings with the natives of this strange tropical rainforest realm, he learned of a mysterious city of gold hidden in the mountains from a chieftain named Jucataan. Coronado's avarice was immediately enflamed with discussions of this city, said to hold wealth beyond that of the Holy Empire itself, and when chief Jucataan warned that the city was taboo and his tribe would prevent any attempt to pursue it, that avarice turned murderous.

Arranging things with his men, Coronado held a banquet in which he invited Chief Jucataan and all the men of his tribe. There, after he got the chief drunk enough to reveal the way to the city of gold, he and his men massacred them all. Once that was done, they set off in pursuit of what they had come to call "Cumbre de Oro"; "Gold Peak".

The expedition swiftly turned into a disaster. Their supplies hadn't been chosen with the tropical rainforest climate in mind, and quickly spoiled. They had no idea what foods were edible or how to find fresh drinking water. Tropical diseases swept through the men. All the while, Coronado drove them on with images of the fabulous wealth they would attain. But when these dreams became insufficient and murmurs of mutiny began circulating, Corando turned on his own men: selecting those he believed to be the ringleaders, he invited them to "discuss" the matter, only to poison their wine. Once they were dead, he paraded their corpses before the survivors, screaming blasphemies and promising the same fate to any who dared rebel, before forcing the terrorized, defeated men to cannibalize their former comrades.

With his men now utterly will-broken, and steadily losing what was left of his mind to sheer avarice, Coranado plunged on into the jungle, his men dropping like flies as he searched and searched. Finally, with only Coranado and two of his original 56 men still alive, they found it: Cumbre de Oro. It was everything that Jucataan had described as being and more. Now totally insane, Coranado turned on his exhausted companions and killed them, before plunging into the city to begin plundering.

That was when he discovered why the natives had left the golden city to the wilderness: it was a necropolis, its people having died and then become [[undead]]. The [[mummy]] of Emperor Maxaantii rose from his tomb at the central step pyramid and attempted to detain Coranado, who fought back with literal lunatic strength. He struck down the mummified emperor and fled with a bag of gold and jewels, but as he did, Maxaantii cursed Coranado that he would never succeed in leaving the city with his treasure. Sure enough, weakened by his trials, the excitement of finding the city, the stress of combat and the effort of hauling his heavy load, the feverish and dehydrated explorer collapsed at the city's outskirts. He could hear a brook just out sight, and if he'd abandoned the treasure to drag himself to the cool, clear water, he probably would have reached it... instead, he refused to let go of his ill-gotten gains, exhausting what little left of his strength in an effort to drag it with him as he crawled along.

As he lay dying, the sounds of the brook still echoing in his ears, Coronado cursed all the gods for taunting him by giving him such wealth only to then take it from him at the last moment. With the last of his strength, he raged and wept, begging any power that would listen to give him one last chance to make the treasures of Cumbre de Oro his.

As Coronado died, head pillowed on the treasure he had given his life to win, the valley was wrenched into the Demiplane of Dread, floating on its own in the mists as an Island of Terror until its former resting place followed it as the land of Mictlan, whereupon it fused back together. Coranado rose from his grave, found his men returned to him as [[avaricio]]s, and began his stint as darklord.

A casual observer might take Anibal Coronado in his present state for a living man, albeit horribly emaciated and clearly disased, with yellowed skin drawn tightly against the bone and yellowed, bloodshot irises. He still wears the ancient, tattered clothing and armor he wore as a living man. Under the AD&D mechanics, he's a unique corporeal undead, similar in many ways to a [[Death Knight]]; in addition to retaining his skills as a 14th level [[Fighter]] and wielding the dread blade Corrupcion (+2 longsword that inflicts magical disease), he has 75% magic resistance, a 10% chance to reflect spells cast against him back on their casters, immunity to mundane weapons, a 5ft aura of fear, the ability to cast Detect Magic and Detect Invisibility at will, to cast Dispel Magic, Harm and Wall of Thorns 2/day, and both Creeping Doom and Symbol of Discord 1/day. If defeated in combat, he dissolves into mist; he will reform 1d4+1 days later, but during that time, he cannot close Cumbre de Oro's borders and his avaricios will ignore intruders unless personally disturbed. There is no known way to permanently destroy him.

Coranado is consumed by his paranoid terror that somebody will steal "his" treasure, and so he prowls the city endlessly on a hunt for intruders. His curse is simple and effective: he physically can't touch the treasures of Cumbre de Oro, and neither can his Avaricios. Add to it that their relatively weak abilities against non-living foes makes them little threat to Maxaantii and his forces, which include both undead and stone [[golem]]s, and all Coranado can really do is drift from cache to catch and vent his paranoid wrath on any living intruders he catches. As a part of this curse, his ability to close the domain borders is limited; when he does so, his avaricios move to begin patrolling the border of the city, attacking anything they see in an effort to kill or capture them. If travelers can break past these patrols, the avaricios cannot pursue them any further than 3 miles beyond the city's edge - of course, fleeing from pursuing undead through dense jungle that doesn't impede ''their'' movement isn't exactly a picnic stroll!