Skeleton King/Lore

Ostarion is the Skeleton King, an immortal being unfettered from the frailties of mortal flesh. Both a king and a collector, he rules over a vast kingdom purely made of bone that is the source of his immortality (or so he thought) and he constantly expands this bony land from the remains of his enemies.

Not content to rule with political power, Ostarion has absolute control over every aspect of his kingdom, and nothing can move in his Empire of Bone without his permission.

Origins
Once a mortal royal, the young prince Ostarion was swiftly brought to the throne when his royal family succumbed to a swift rotting disease. The disease nearly claimed him as well, until their desperate court mage Azorszos cast an ossification ritual on him, scouring the prince's flesh and turning him into a being of animated bone. Having almost experienced death for himself and defied it once, he swore to never submit to death ever again.

Ostarion's ossification was a life changing experience for him. He gained a deep mistrust for all things fleshy and an obsession for bone, which he believed was imperishable unlike flesh. Like what his court mage did to him, he began to recast his family's empire into an immortal land of bone. Each stone of his kingdom was painstakingly replaced with its equivalent in bone; the roads have been paved with bone; the walls of his palace are lined with fired bone, and even the natural aspects of the land such as the trees have been felled and replaced with replicas of bone.

Not content with the lands currently in his domain, and with the belief that he could not die as long as he kept building his kingdom in bone, he set his sights on the neighboring lands and the bones of their inhabitants to satisfy his thirst for life. His armies conquered the adjacent kingdoms, extending the reach of his eternal realm, while he extracted the bones of his enemies. Soon, his kingdom became a cold, immaculate white land made of nothing but bone that could not move unless he willed it.

Campaigns
Ostarion's campaigns as the Skeleton King have been retconned and transferred to his next incarnation Wraith King. This includes his attack against the Dreadknight, and his conquest on a small kingdom known for its textile specialists.

Wraith-Night
Untold years have passed as they accumulated into centuries and Ostarion's domain kept growing larger. Although he was more than content with his immortal body of bone, his skeletal form began to deteriorate after too many resurrections, and he would soon learn that even bone could perish. Word has reached him that there was an essence that was truly more imperishable than anything from the mortal plane and it can be harvested during the longest night of the year—a long night before the eve of Frostivus. Determined to preserve himself for eternity, he staked his hopes on this essence and sought out the advice of his court mage.

Ostarion violently consulted Azorszos the Bony about this solstice and how he could acquire the essence released by it. Threatening him with another lifetime to spend in his current tormenting form, Azorszos pointed him to the books that contained the procedure required for a successful harvest during Wraith-Night. Satisfied, he promised his court mage that if the ritual goes well, he will finally fulfill the promise of death to end his suffering. He gathered his many knights to harvest the Wraith Essence from the ambulatory spirits, the influx of undead, and the possessed wildlife of Wraith-Night while he submitted to a magical trance cast by his mage-physician Azorszos that would last for the entirety of the harvest's duration.

The hordes of ghosts, undead, and possessed creatures closed in on the tower where Ostarion slept on his altar while his all too loyal knights slaughtered them all, releasing sparks of Wraith Essence that flowed to the king. The warriors, oblivious to their expendability, fought through the longest night of the year until they perished and their Wraith-Essence was surrendered to him as his due tribute. At the end of the solstice, Ostarion awoke from his slumber as the sole survivor of the event and saw the sun shining on his face, his skeletal form transformed into a body of Wraith Flesh. A terrifying being reborn on the first day of Frostivus, which should have been a festival of peace and selfless charity.

What ill fortune could this defilement of festivities possibly portend...

Personality and Mannerisms

 * Ostarion is a cruel king.
 * Ostarion is into BDSM.

Family
Even in undeath, Ostarion retains his daddy issues. His father believed that he would never grow up to become something useful.

Subjects
While not exactly a benevolent king, Ostarion has a degree of concern for his subjects. On the other hand, he is fond of killing his own subjects on a whim. He kills his advisors, his blacksmiths, and peasants. He once had need for demonologists and others who dabble with demons, but no longer. It's implied that his court also has healers.

Among the members of his royal court, only a few are mentioned. The most notable member is his mage-physician Azorszos the Bony, who has been serving Ostarion's lineage for at least nine centuries, long before his king was transformed into a skeletal being. During his time as Ostarion's Mage-Physik (another title for mage-physician) he remained in a tormenting form where his bare nerves were wrapped around his bones like vines. He was the one who revealed to him details about the Wraith-Night ritual and played a part in it by sentencing his king into a trance for the duration of the ritual. Azorszos looked forward to this ritual since he was willing to end his own suffering by any means necessary, and got his wish when he was finally sacrificed during the Wraith-Night ritual.

Azorszos secretly regards his king as an ungrateful wretch.

Transactions
Long ago, Ostarion hired (whom he considered expendable) for a "simple job", but the latter failed and was imprisoned in Dark Reef. The exact details of this job are unknown, but judging by Slark's recent lore which was released in the same battle pass as Ostarion's arcana, it could possibly be his mission to steal the "Dead God's Eye" from an exiled member of the Rumusque.

Ostarion and Barathrum's Master brokered a deal sealed by a contract between them. According to Ostarion, the latter didn't hold up his end of the bargain, and the contract is now null and void. When he meets, he tells him to deliver a message to his master that says their contract is void.

Interests
Ostarion is into and the torments she can bring. On the other hand, Akasha refuses his advances towards her.

Enemies
Ostarion doesn't like the Keen. He believes they are intolerable and better off dead. He hates dragons and Faerie Dragons, but he hates the latter even more. He hates demons with ambiguous goals, such as.

Ostarion had a sundial at one point, which was stolen by who was dispatched by. They have broken his sundial, which made him angry.

Immortality
Ostarion got his first taste of immortality when he was ossified in his princehood by Azorszos. The mage-physician cast an ossification ritual to spare him from the swift rotting disease that killed his family and nearly claimed the young prince's life. Naturally, scouring every fleshy part of the body would kill any mortal, but this is a magical ritual. The ritual turned Ostarion into a being of animated bone, unfettered from the needs of flesh and its frailties such as decay and disease. Petrification magic is less effective on him as a result, likely because bones survive the process better than organic material and still remain as fossils even after that. He seems to be resistant to 's poison and acid.

His true immortality doesn't come from the fact that he is made of bone. It comes from his regenerative and resurrection capabilities. And these two are sustained so as long as he keeps building his Empire of Bone. It's unknown how the Empire of Bone sustains him, but it is possible that his kingdom is actually a reservoir for bone marrow (since it's composed of the bones of other fleshy creatures) that he draws upon to heal himself.

It's interesting to note that Skeleton King's reincarnation only extends to his physical form, unlike Wraith King whose spiritual reincarnation can return him from the veil of death and the afterlife beyond it. He may be able to mend and regroup his bones after being shattered, but too many resurrections over the course of at least nine centuries can have a toll on his body, causing it to slowly deteriorate into dust. This is what made him seek an essence much more powerful and pure than bone itself.

Powers
Ostarion calls upon his hellish lineage to fire a from his fist to incinerate his opponents into ashes save for their precious bones. allows Skeleton King to drain the bone marrow of his opponent with each strike he successfully lands, nourishing him during battle.
 * He would soon lose this ability upon his transformation as the Wraith King, replacing his hellfire with wraith flame that now draws its power from his damned lineage.
 * However, his second incarnation regained this ability after one particular resurrection process. On his return passage through the veil of death, the ghost king was attacked by a swirling flame that struggled to drive him back into the endless abyss. Using his mailed fist, he thrashed and tore against the ethereal fire until he returned to the earthly realm.
 * This flame may be his "hellish lineage" that he discarded upon becoming a wraith and his lineage is probably seeking vengeance for abandoning them.

The passive ability of doesn't have much lore, but its active component does. The latter is a demonstration of Ostarion's skill in necromancy, allowing him to summon his skeletal subjects to his side. His dark magic ensures that their loyalty to him will be eternal, even after they have died.

His is best explained in the second and third paragraph of his Immortality section.

Trivia

 * According to, Skeleton King's body contains calcium nitrate.