Alric, also known as the Saviour of Apesto, had been a Magister and Master Chanter of the College of Light since before his student and the future Chaos Sorcerer and Champion of Tzeentch Egrimm van Horstmann had been an acolyte, and who himself had commended van Horstmann for his spectacular rise through the order's ranks.[1a][2a][3a][4a]
History[]
Apesto, the city from which Alric took his title, is an ancient Tilean town saved from a series of terrible earthquakes by the late and respected Master Chanter Alric, "the Saviour of Apesto." Alric was aided in the ritual to stop the earthquakes by two other wizards from the Light Order, Apprentice Steiger and Brother Hetzer.[2a] As Master Chanter, Alric's duties were to guide the Light Order's acolytes through their daily routine.[1a]
Unknown to many, the Saviour of Apesto had a wife, a hedge witch named Albreda. Albreda's natural affinity for the principles of magic allowed her husband to climb the ranks of the College of Light, but she herself refused to enter, believing that the Light Order would not accept women. Alric was working with his wife on the development of many new magical rituals, including one where a pair of siblings was thrown into a pit of snakes. Believing that the serpents would separate the corrupt from the pure, one sibling died, the other survived. Alric never learned that the surviving child would become his own apprentice Egrimm van Horstmann until his final days.[1f]
A trusted confidant of Magister Patriarch Elrisse, the leader of the Light Order, Alric was among the select few to aid the exorcism of the Imperial Princess Astrid.[1b] After van Horstmann had become a full Magister of the Second Circle, he met his former pupil again, complimenting him on his rise to power and on the order of his mind, but warned him that the same order might lead him to try to force things to work out as his plans intended.[1c]
After Elrisse perished in a feud with the Gold Order, the College of Light was pressured by the emperor to quickly appoint a new Magister Patriarch. Alric was one of those that chose to support van Horstmann. As the Gods' Rot plague tore through Altdorf, Egrimm van Horstmann identified the Salzenhaar family as the ones responsible.[1d] When Magister Verspasian Kant discovered the crimes of van Horstmann, he led a contingent of the Templar Witch Hunters into the Light College to face him. Alric tried to stop the Witch Hunters from penetrating deeper into the College, not believing the accusations against his former pupil, when a horde of Daemons attacked, summoned by van Horstmann to delay his enemies as he penetrated the deeper vaults of the College.[1e]
Alric, deeply shocked, helped lead the Imperial strike force into the deeps of the College of Light. When Alric entered the room of his former apprentice, a magical trap was sprung which imprisoned Alric in a fold of space, similar to the one that hid the College itself from the rest of Altdorf.[1e]
Here, van Horstmann confronted his former master, revealing that he had been one of the survivors of the snake pit ritual. To punish Alric, van Horstmann had placed three enchantments in the room that would display the events of the outside world to Alric at all times. One would show Alric how his wife died from Gods' Rot, the other would show how his works and achievements in the Light Order would be forgotten over the centuries and the last one would show him Altdorf. Time would not flow within the room, dooming Alric to watch as the world changed and forgot about him while he remained imprisoned, powerless and immortal forever.[1f]
Canon Conflict[]
In the Liber Chaotica, the title Saviour of Apesto is ascribed to Elrisse instead.[4a]