"Apocrypha" Short Story Explains Why Iskar Goes Bad

Blizzard posted a new short story called Apocrypha, which details some of the backstory of two important figures within Arrakoa society - High Sage Viryx and Shadow-Sage Iskar.

With 6.2 being tested out on the PTR, many an eyebrow was raised when we discovered that Iskar, the leader of the Arrakoa Outcasts, shows up as Shadow-Lord Iskar, one of the bosses to be fought within the Legion-controlled Hellfire Citadel. Why would the Outcasts betray us and join the legion? Is this the Klaaxi all over again?

Spoilers for the whole story to follow.





As it turns out, our victory over Viryx has had really the best possible effect. The "Order of the Awakened" has become the new dominant force among the High Arrakoa, reaching out to the Outcasts and attempting to reunify Arak. As such, High and Low Arrakoa now mingle freely, and the theocratic fanaticism of the Adherents of Rukhmar has mostly subsided.

The story has a framing device - a High Arrakoa has come to hear stories told by Reshad. Reshad thus tells the story of Viryx and Iskar, back when both were initiates within the Adherents of Rukhmar.

The two were close, essentially assigned to one another as brother and sister, to share joint responsibility and receive joint punishment. Viryx was headstrong, and her misbehaviors got Iskar punished. While the two were clearing ravager larvae for some minor infraction, Viryx spotted a High Arrakoa traveling to one of the Outcast villages. They followed him, despite Iskar's protests. They discovered that the visitor - actually Ikiss, who we all know - was going to Reshad to discover the truth about Terokk, who was remembered as a despot by the Adherents.

Ikiss was discovered, however, and brutally had his wings cut before his banishment, as his interaction with the Outcasts was prohibited, based on the fear that it would spread their curse to the High Arrakoa at Skyreach.

Iskar was tasked with keeping an eye on Viryx by the High Sage, and as expected, she sought out Reshad and discovered the information Ikiss had been searching for - the true history of Terokk, and how the Adherents had betrayed him. But perhaps an even larger bombshell was that the curse of the Outcasts was not due, as the Adherents claimed, to a lack of piety and obedience to the clergy, but from the blood of Sethe.

Upon discovering this truth, Iskar wished to reveal it to the people, but Viryx, having been repulsed by the squalor that the Outcasts lived in, decided that the truth should be buried lest their society be forced to change. As it turned out, this was the test the High Sage had prepared, knowing that Viryx would seek out the truth, but not knowing what she would do with it.

For her loyalty and obedience, Viryx would go on to eventually become High Sage herself, but Iskar, who had sought to unveil an inconvenient truth, was banished, his wings were cut and he was cast into the blood of Sethe.

The story ends with news that Iskar, who had been missing, killed some of the scouts send to discover his whereabouts. Iskar, it seems, is not willing to live harmoniously with the people who betrayed him. The Adherents had become obsessed with the light, trying to destroy their shadowy brethren, but Iskar became too absorbed with the shadow, and perhaps that is why he has turned to those who could bring about a total darkness once and for all.