APEP

Physical Appearance: A great dragon of the European mold
with blue-black and green-black scales, and blue eyes. Even more
than most of his kind, Apep radiates majesty, awe, and dread and
appears to be both incredibly ancient and powerful. (It is not
known if he has any other forms; the few Egyptian legends about him
did not mention shape-shifting capabilities of any sort.)

Personality: Apep is a cold and calculating individual
who would have made Machiavelli proud. He is utterly ruthless,
merciless, and has no compassion, and has a patience in executing
his plans that is positively glacial. His plans tend to involve
many layers and distractions, and often when an opponent believes
they have defeated him, they have actually furthered his more
important objectives (much as with Xanatos' plans).

Beyond this is his kingly air of command – he is of the
royal line of his people – though he isn't arrogant in the way of
Oberon; he knows he is the master of all he surveys, to the point
where it needs not even be said. He is generous to his lackeys (as
he sees it), fearsome to his enemies, and simply more of a ruler
than any of the fay could ever be. Others might figure that he has
mellowed somewhat over the millennia, but he has in fact gone insane
over the time he spent on the astral plane; while it isn't a raving
or otherwise immediately noticeable insanity, it would become
apparent to anyone studying him for long enough. He has his plans,
and he's going to go forward with them; anyone who points out a
major flaw is simply and politely ignored.

One odd aspect about Apep is his faith in humanity.
Whereas Oberon and various other magical creatures dismiss humanity
as barely above the level of insects (or, at most, as useful pawns),
Apep truly believes in humanity's ability to reach new heights and
achieve what might seem at first impossible. This means he is less
likely to dismiss a group of humans as a possible threat, and also
that he plans for and around such `human surprises', counting on
them in some cases. He also has something of a weakness for
attractive human females, even though he disdains human form himself
(I'm thinking of him being an early model for Zeus in this regard).

His one major flaw (other than growing insanity) is his
penchant for being tricked. He can be slipped up or tricked, though
the person doing this must be a master trickster and strike hard and
fast before Apep's machinations can ensnare him or her. This is one
reason he hates the fay beyond hope of recovery, especially
tricksters; he also hates them because they largely destroyed his
people and then took `his' humans from him.

Abilities: Apep's powers begin with his inherent
abilities of flight, fire-breathing, and immunity to direct
applications of fay magic. He is also immensely powerful in the
magical arts, perhaps not quite a match for someone like Oberon
(especially after only just being resurrected in the 22nd century),
but still more than enough to cause plenty of trouble for the Third
Race.

History: In the days before history, before the rise of
the fey in human affairs, dragons ruled the skies of the world.
Though they did not rule mankind, various individuals supported Man,
teaching him some of the rudimentary arts of civilization, while
spending much of their time in grand palaces under rivers and
oceans. Ruled by a wise and benevolent line of Dragon Kings, they
largely dominated events on the physical realm of Earth, though they
often shared power with the Fair Folk from Avalon.

Even so, not all dragons were good; many were of a more
sinister and destructive bent, and so were exiled to the remote
corners of the world. One of these was a blackguard of the royal
family named Apep. The young dragon had been noticed taking
advantage of the humans in his `territory' as well as spending
entirely too much time meddling in their affairs (while dragons
didn't have a strict `hands-off' policy with humans, they were
careful not to get too involved in their affairs), and eventually
the other dragons had no choice but to banish him. Alone and
embittered, thirsting for revenge, the proud Apep journeyed to what
would become the Middle East to plan a return to position and
power. The Dragon-Fey War interrupted these plans, though.

No one knows exactly how the peace between the two races
collapsed and the war began, though some believed it started out as
a fight between the human followers of each species; the conflict
soon mushroomed in direct battle between dragons and fey, and after
a wile the world was locked in a magical war. Though the fey had
the disadvantage of having little more than a direct toehold on the
dragon-dominated Earth at first, they were able to use their powers
of entice more than a few humans to their side. This evened the
odds enough that the fey were able to mount a strike against the
dragons' royal court and destroy it, slaying the Dragon King of the
time and most of his family; only the Dragon Queen escaped to try
and regroup.

The Queen eventually found Apep, still brooding and
planning, and watching the whole conflict up to that point with a
somewhat detached interest. As he was the last male of the royal
line, the Queen and the other surviving major dragons realized they
had little choice but to acclaim him their new King; he might have
major social dysfunctions, but he was a brilliant person and a
capable warrior, and the dragons needed those qualities if they were
to survive. And so Apep fought against the fey, rallying what
remained of his people and their followers into an army capable of
standing against the invaders. His brilliance shone through at this
point, as the fey advance was checked and more than a few powerful
members of the Fair Folk were defeated and slain through the Dragon
King's machinations or at his own claws.

But when the crafty fey enlisted the help of the
halfling named Ra, they found a match for Apep. The powerful half-
breed's magic was able to actually affect the dragons directly, and
he was a sorcerer of great might; in battle after battle, he began
to reverse Apep's gains until, in a final great confrontation along
the river Nile, he was able to defeat Apep and trap him within the
void of a dimensional prison. The fey managed to slay the Dragon
Queen in the battle as well, and with the loss of the royal couple,
the dragons' armies broke and scattered. It was the beginning of
the end for their kind, and the fey now hunted them and their
followers to virtual extinction, while they set themselves up as the
new lords of Man.

Apep watched this all from limbo with a burning hatred;
his kingdom gone, while his enemies celebrated took what he believed
wasn't theirs. He was a patient dragon, though, and bided his time
as his few remaining servants sought to free him. In the meantime,
he began to think of ways to eliminate the fey presence, and do unto
them as they had done unto the dragons. He was still thinking of
this when Isfet managed to unleash him twice into the lands of
Kemet – the land that his imprisoner Ra had built around the Nile.

The first time he was freed was only for a short time,
and he wreaked enough trouble to nearly put paid to the fey court
that had grown up in Kemet; only the intervention of the Timedancer
and his allies re-imprisoned the dragon in limbo. The second time
was a more serious blow, as Apep was slain by the empowered wizard
Uraeus and his spirit sent into the astral realm; only the dragon's
iron will and overriding need to revenge himself on the fey kept him
near the mortal plane.

As his minions, now augmented with the formidable
talents of the gargoyle wizard Harthoth, sought to undo even this
condition, Apep continued to think on how he might achieve his
goals. Isfet had already informed him that the few dragons
remaining wanted no part of war; his culture was dead and gone
forever. The only thing that would satisfy him now would be the
destruction of the fey, and the return of humanity to the aegis of
what few dragons remained.

But as time went on in the astral realm, Apep's mind slowly became
unhinged: he heard about the affect a meteor strike on the Earth
would have and loved the idea, as it would annihilate any traces of
the fey (iron-nickel particles in the air would keep them off the
planet for a while), and the remaining humans could be easily molded
into a new culture based on draconian precepts (he'd always had an
unhealthy level of interest in humans anyway). Of
course, `draconian' came to mean his precepts and beliefs, and he
began to believe too much in humanity's capability to survive an
asteroid impact and its willingness to follow him after such a
disaster. He began to overlook the major flaws in his plan, and
simply see the shining new civilization (with him at its head) that
he would create.

When he was finally brought back into the land of the living in the
22nd century, he began to put his plans in motion, hoping to ally
with the Space Spawn (if they would leave what was left of the Earth
to him) and hoping that the Third Unseelie War would provide cover
for his actions. By the end of Season Four of Timedancer, he is
ready to enact his plans, even going so far as to show his presence
to his enemies (something he would never have even considered in his
early days), including the Timedancer…

Goals: Apep's primary goals are the destruction of human
civilization and the extermination of the Fair Folk. The later goal
is simply a matter of revenge for what the fey did to dragonkind
uncounted centuries ago, as well as a simple power grab. The other
goal, though, has mutated over time; originally Apep had though of
first destroying human civilization and then molding the survivors
into a new civilization based around the dragons (and himself).
However, by the mid-22nd century, his plans have the major flaws of
relying heavily on others to keep the enemy distracted, and having
the potential to annihilate all life on Earth. Of course, Apep
doesn't seem to notice that anymore