Meldrath the Mad
Gnome engineer of singular brilliance born as a conjoined twin to a pure-hearted brother; separated by a Steamfont tinker, he turned to dark invention and built mechanical towers to guard his keep in Faydwer.
Overview
Drawn from meldrath1 — in-game book.EQ1Primary · official · best available source
It is said that Meldrath had a conjoined twin with whom he was connected at the chest. One boy's heart was as pure as the waters of the Vasty Deep and his eyes shone with a beautiful light and the other's heart was as dark and cold as the waters of the Ink Sea and his eyes were as black as two pools of oil. Their two hearts beat as one, each balanced by the extreme of the other. So balanced were they, in fact, that they were both known as Meldrath because no one thought of them as two, let alone suspected the extremes of their souls. They lived in peace, gliding through Ak'Anon wrapped in each other's arms like slow dancers. Meldrath's mother, however, wanted the two sons she thought she deserved and constantly sought a way to disconnect them. One day Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane, ruler of the Plane of Mischief disguised himself as a healer and gave their mother a magic sword to disconnect them. She ran home and, finding them asleep, plunged the sword between them. Both were unharmed and the two rubbed their eyes sleepily.
She rejoiced, but as she looked from one to the other she noticed for the first time that one was beautiful and the other ugly. One looked at her with loving, sweet eyes and the other with hatred. Suddenly, the beautiful Meldrath began to rise higher and higher into the air. His mother screamed and tried to hold him down but the ugly Meldrath bit her leg and stomped on her foot. The beautiful Meldrath floated up to the surface of Norrath and into the sky and was never seen again.
Official Lore
5Collected official lore pieces, from in-game and out.
meldrath2
The extent of the ugly Meldraths wickedness and insanity was not at first apparent to the citizens of Ak'Anon. Meldraths temper tantrums and fits of rage abated as he matured yet still he had the look of hatred in his eyes, thus found few friends amongst his fellow gnomes.
Read the full sourcemeldrath3
The mines of Ak'Anon had long been used as a source of materials for the construction of Ak'Anons clockwork guards and servants. That changed the day the whereabouts of the missing sorcerer Meldrath and his pupils were discovered.
Read the full sourcemeldrath4
Meldrath and his apprentices, exiled from Ak'Anon and collectively dubbed the Asylum of the Mad, began construction of a fortress deep in the Steamfont Mountains. For years the Asylum of the Mad constructed clockwork war-machines, far more advanced than any clockworks previously constructed by the tinkers, that plagued the Watchmen of Ak'Anon.
Read the full sourcemeldrath5
After his separation with his evil conjoined twin, the good Meldrath ascended into the planes. What deity is responsible for his ascension is unknown, but most attribute the act to Bristlebane Fizzlethorpe, the deity that provided Meldrath's mother with the means to separate her sons. A demi-plane came into existence as the good Meldrath ascended to the realm…
Read the full sourceITEMNotesOculus
Whew, I've been working on this for hours, and I still haven't gotten it all put together... It's 4 AM, I better get some rest before I run out of power. Note to self, in case I forget, here are the remaining instructions for assembling a Model XLII Spatial Temporal Oculus. Hopefully there will be time before the assault tomorrow to complete this Oculus...
Read the full sourceCommunity articles
1Fan-written encyclopedia entries — useful overviews, lower authority than the primary sources above.