Clement I

Clement I was a king of Azartane, the city-state that would become Zaradene, at some point before the Cataclysm. He was the son of Clement the Mage, who evidently was not a king; Clement I's predecessor in office and the means of his ascension to power are unknown, much of Azartane's history being lost to time.

Clement's eight-year reign is viewed favorably by modern historians as a spell of calm in a cloak-and-dagger era of court intrigues. Clement was similarly well thought of by his subjects at the time, who inscribed as his epitaph: "Here lyeth King Clement I, called the Wise; whose Peace, beyond these walls, shall remain eternally as the Peace that dwelleth within them." They did not know how ironic this epitaph was to become. Clement was entombed with three concubines, all quite alive; all were shut away behind the portcullis that was the tomb's only exit. Eventually the concubines starved to death and became pit rusalkas -- trapped spirits that try to condemn the living to the same grisly fate they themselves suffered.

Of Clement's character little is known. A copy of his father's heartfelt eulogy at the tomb's dedication has survived; in it, Clement is credited with bringing a period of calm to Azartane.