Hazlik

Overview

Hazlik is the undisputed ruler of Hazlan. He is also its Darklord. He is more interested in cheating death and having his revenge upon his enemies, than escaping his gilded cage. The Red Wizard is one of the most powerful spellcasters in the Land of Mists and has taken the extraordinary step of publicly opening a school for the mastery of the arcane. It is called the Red Academy and is hosted by the town of Ramulai, which Hazlik is said to have raised from stone in a day. Peculiarities in the design of the town have invited speculation that it itself is some sort of immense arcane experiment. His private estate Veneficus is set back from the east bank of the Saniset River a fair distance from Toyalis.

Hazlik is described as having "no interest in the politics of his own people, instead concentrating on his magical research." By and large he entrusts the rule of his land to satraps who are left in no doubt whatsoever of the horrible fate that awaits them on experimentation tables should they displease him. It is not clear how carefully he watches them, although he does at least make nominal efforts to appear to be paying attention.

Background

Hazlik's nickname of the Red Wizard is apt, for he was once one of the Red Wizards of Thay on the outlander world of Toril. Along his rise to power, Hazlik became a rival of Thantosya, a necromancer and manipulator of excellent skill. Hazlik coveted her lover Orliab. This led to Hazlik's disgrace. Manipulated by Orliab, Hazlik was lured into a trap where he was captured by Orliab, Thantosya, and the rest of his enemies. Hazlik was branded with humiliating (to him), feminine tattoos. In revenge, Hazlik murdered Orliab and tortured Thantosya before killing her as well. The Mists soon claimed Hazlik thereafter.

Upon first entering Ravenloft, Hazlik wandered the Nightmare Lands for a time, haunted by visions of humiliation and defeat at the hands of his now inaccessible enemies. Even in that hellish land, he still planned and plotted his revenge, and he was eventually granted the domain of Hazlan.

Relationship with the Church of the Lawgiver

The remarkable reception of the Iron Faith among the Hazlani cannot be understood in abstraction from Hazlik. Vaasi, the language of the Church of the Lawgiver, was of course the native tongue of the Hazlani. And the social order was at least as oppressive in Hazlan as in Nova Vaasa, preparing the ground for the reception of The Lawgiver's message. Hazlik himself, however, had profound reasons for being icily indifferent to the cultural sovereignty of his land: to his eye the vast majority of its inhabitants, the Rashemani, belong to an ethnic group and culture inferior to his own ethnic group, the Mulan; and his own ethnic group and culture deserve, for the pains that they have caused him, to be wiped from existence in a transplanar genocide. Finally, this project and arcane research generally, as opposed to the nicities of culture, is what he truly cares about. And his chaotic alignment expresses itself in part by an individualism that seems to take no positive account of groups.

As to the Iron Faith itself, Hazlik is an immensely proud master of arcane magic, which is a blasphemy according to its doctrine and for which, back in Kantora, he would be imprisoned, tortured, and executed publiclly as an example to others. Likewise, whatever faint hope that the Iron Faith had of redeeming him could hardly have survived his revocation of the ban on the use of arcane magic and his opening of the Red Academy promoting it. His tattoos, and those of the Mulan generally, are the visible signs of moral and spiritual degeneracy, serving only to confirm the faith's view of him. It is difficult to imagine that homosexuality is not viewed by the Church as an instance of the violation of the "natural order in the name of self-interest and self-gratification", although it is not clear whether Hazlik hides his sexual orientation. Additionally, the position of women according to the faith is, strangely enough, also an issue, for Hazlik is planning to usurp the body of his female apprentice, Eleni of Toyalis. In sum, Hazlik cuts a figure far closer to the Iron Faith's vision of Mytteri than of The Lawgiver.

Hazlik views the Iron Faith as a tool of social control, although perhaps not in the usual sense. An important clue concerning this matter follows: "The Lawgiver is the state religion in Hazlan and Nova Vaasa. In the latter, Prince Othmar uses it to justify his own regime." That nothing is then said of the former, invites the conclusion that Hazlik, unlike Othmar, does not see the need to avail himself of this crutch. The Iron Faith does perhaps offer Hazlik something that he actually finds useful and values immensely however, the undisturbed quiet to better pursue his arcane projects. Were the Hazlani Church then to disturb Hazlik, to interfere in any tangible way in his ability to do as he wishes, to take, in particular, the hardline on the practice of arcane magic that the Himmelsk Naeve ("Divine Fist") back in Kantora is demanding, a religion that has outlived its usefulness could discover that Hazlik is willing to cast it from his land with a casualness apt to rotted fruit. Not, of course, that he need go so far. Hazlik could decree the independence of the Hazlani Church and impose the necesary changes in leadership and doctrine. His preference might be dictated pragmatically by his desire to quickly return his attention to arcane matters of genuine consequence, mainly the annihilation of a people. Then again, he has a vindictive streak and is nothing if not unpredictable.

Statistics

Male Human (Mulan) Evoker 14, Chaotic Evil

TSR Collector Card

Hazlik's TSR 1991 Collector Card number is 485.

Appearances

Modules

• Fear Itself (RPGA module)

Short Stories

• Tales of Ravenloft: The Glass Man

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Secrets of the Dread Realms Domains of Dread Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - p27 Domains of Dread - p68 Realm of Terror - p99 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I - p139
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp25-27 Domains of Dread - pp68-69 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p66 Realm of Terror - pp99-100 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I - pp137-141
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,25-27 Ravenloft Third Edition - pp15,18,122 Domains of Dread - pp68-69 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p17,66-67 Tales of Ravenloft:The Glass Man - pp279-280 Realm of Terror - pp99-100 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I - pp137-141
		The Red Wizard