Characters / Codex Equus Empire Of Tambelon

Here is a list of characters from the Empire of Tambelon.

To return to the main character index, click here.

---

Empire of Tambelon

The Flag of the Empire of Tambelon, the 'Crimson Ram', by Brutalityinc

General

• Ancient Evil: The Empire of Tambelon had been around since the First Age, and remains a periodic threat well into the Fourth Age whenever Grogar and his city manages to get out of the Realm of Darkness to terrorize the world.
• And I Must Scream: Being thrown into the Realm of Darkness to wander for all eternity is one of the worst punishments you can get for even the smallest of slights, like not celebrating when decreed.
• Control Freak: Being ruled by one itself, Tambelon seeks to become this to the rest of world. Eventually Deconstructed - not everyone could be broken by Grogar, and those who weren't broken had plenty of incentive to help bring him down.
• The Dreaded: The Empire of Tambelon had been an infamous and persistent evil menace across Known History, terrorizing and conquering the world over tens of thousands of years.
• Evil Overlord: A civilization ruled by one turned God of Evil and produces these as side products with their Ram Necromancers and other Goat/non-Goat warlords and sorcerors. On Equus, they are one of those who plays this trope as straight as it could possibly be done.
• Evil Power Vacuum: The disappearance of Grogar and his city causes those of his Ram Necromancers, warlocks and other subordinates who were left behind outside to squabble amongst themselves to take over and go on their separate ways, remaining so for centuries if not millennia until Grogar and his city returns and they rally back under his banner (or were throttled into doing so). The last one is especially prolonged due to Gusty the Great stealing and shattering Grogar's bell with much of his power gone, leaving him and Tambelon to be trapped for far longer than the
• Even Evil Has Standards: They are vicious tyrannical bastards, but it's implied they up to Grogar don't like 'Chaotic Evil' types such as the Hydianites, not so much out of scruples as due to their wild, unfettered and destructive ways of Evil.
• The Evils of Free Will: Given Grogar's worldview, it's implied the Empire of Tambelon shares this worldview in general, motivating their conquests. Since Primeval Law forbids them from suppressing free will permanently, they settle for mass oppression instead.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: When you are ordered to celebrate in Tambelon, you celebrate. Those who failed to do so suffer horribly in punishment.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: It's noted that Tambelon is strictly patriarchal. Powerful males can become high ranking necromancers and officials, but powerful females are often abducted and forced into a Royal Harem for Grogar.
• Regularly Scheduled Evil: Every time, they're defeated, only to return in another 500 years thanks to the First Dreamers making Grogar's spell backfire on him. This created a tens of thousands of years long cycle of Tambelon being defeated and banished then returning in 500 years only to be banished again. Gusty the Great finally broke the cycle by stripping Grogar of his power and hiding his bell, leaving him unable to free the city himself for thousands of years until Mistletoe Dreamer helped him escape. The cycle remains broken, as Grogar is ultimately Killed Off for Real.
• The Undead: Uses them extensively in conjunction with other forces and monsters of Evil, owing to their Ram Necromancers.
• You Have Failed Me: Under Grogar and his rule, the entire Empire of Tambelon is implied to practice this in their main management philosophy. You could get a Fate Worse than Death for as little as not celebrating when ordered to do so, and failure in general is met with death or worse. And as an unfortunate Malrègnarian palace servant learned, even failing to serve food and drinks to him correctly warranted a horrible death.

Tambelonean Pantheon

General

Grogar, the Shadow King of Tambelon

Classification: Elemental/Ascendant

Portfolio: Dark Magic, Shadows, Tyranny, Evil

Rank: Divine (Tier IV/Greater)

"Darkness draws near. The Shadow King Cometh..."

Grogar (his entry here) is the Fallen Ibrexian god of Dark magic, Shadows, Tyranny, Evil, and a pioneer of dark magic as it exists in modern Equus.

---

• Achilles' Heel: He's extremely powerful and dangerous, but he has one weakness: his Bewitching Bell is tied to a bell in Tambalon he can neither destroy or move. If it's rung, his bell is destroyed and the arcane backlash renders him temporally powerless and vulnerable. After his first defeat by the Six Dreamers, this also results in him being banished back to the Realm of Darkness if it happens.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: He's an Ibrexian god who embodies Dark Magic, Shadows, Tyranny, and Evil.
• Arch-Enemy: He made a lot of archenemies over the Ages as he sought to subjugate all of Equus under his iron hoof.
  • Before and during the First Age, he was one of the biggest enemies of the Dream Kingdom and Paradise Estate (later Empire), making him a foe of both Majesty, the Queen of Ponykind and later Megann Wilms/Megan Williams, the Rainbow Empress. He also became one for Gaea, one of the Earthen Triplets and the mother goddess of the Nature Giants as well as the modern Deer Pantheon and civilizations after one of his campaigns of conquests despoiled a lot of Equus' forests and killed/corrupted a lot of their kinds, both mortal and divine, causing them to join forces against Tambelon in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
  • During the Second Age, his and Tambelon's return made him one of the biggest Archenemies of Metamare and the Paragons until Metamare was able to ring the bell and send Tambelon back into the Shadow Realm. He made it particularly personal to Metamare by killing one of her close friends.
  • High King Irminsul and High Queen Arvan both hold undying grudges against him for destroying swathes of their forests, as well as doing extremely horrible things to their mortal subjects and divine children, and then escaping his well-due punishment by the time they finally cornered him. It's deconstructed as both Irminsul and Arvan were so traumatized by the wars that they became extremely puristic and intolerant to anything they deemed 'evil' and 'impure' - so much that it led to them becoming incredibly Abusive Parents to their children, some who were mistreated for not fitting their standards of what a divine Deer sovereign should be. Many of said children abandoned the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in droves to escape the abuse, with a few of them bitterly noting that Irminsul and Arvan became no different from Grogar in trying to avoid a repeat of what happened.
  • On a more humourous side, like many villains and overlords he possesses an undying enmity for Santa Hooves over his inability to stop the Jolly One from entering his domain with impunity and spreading good cheer and joy with presents to his slaves, servants and subjects who had been 'nice' (while giving him and those who were 'naughty' coal), since Santa Hooves cannot be affected by anything but good will. In a Shout-Out to the famous DC Christmas Holiday special, Grogar and his minions again attempted to stop or destroy him when he does it again in one Hearths Warming taking place during his return in the Fourth Age, which incidentally distracted him and prevented Grogar from executing any diabolical plans on that day, allowing Hearths Warming and other equivalent winter festivals worldwide to proceed peacefully.
  Santa Hooves: Ho ho ho! HAPPY HEARTHSWARMING!
  Grogar: ... Do not let him leave here alive.
• Birds of a Feather: While diverging in many ways, Grogar and Iniquitous are implied to get along very well due to sharing similar views and natures, both being domineering incarnations of sapient evil and vice who are masters of dark magic and believe the world is better off with them in charge.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Grogar confessed to Metamare during his return and their confrontations in the Second Age he was astounded to realize killing a certain Pony (who was Metamare's friend) had caused Metamare so much grief, out of the untold thousands of Ponies and other creatures he had already killed. Partly just to spite her, he promised he would kill more.
• Control Freak: Tambelon under his rule is an extreme dictatorship where the people have no free will, and minor infractions are severely punished. For example, whenever his minions did not cheer as decreed by him, they were thrown into the Realm of Darkness, where they would wander for eternity.
• Deity of Human Origin: He was once a mortal ram. How and when he managed to Ascend is speculated in-universe, it's widely agreed that he gained immortality by the time he usurped the throne from Tambelon's original rulers, and has possibly become a demonic force in the shape of the ram he used to be.
• De-power: Gusty the Great defeated him by draining him of his power using his own bell before banishing him to the Realm of Darkness. This left him crippled and incapable of escaping on his own. Notably, due to the Elements having been used to defeat the Legion of Domination as they were, this ultimately permanently damaged him, as even when he's freed by Mistletoe Dreamer, the lion's share of his power is gone and his bell was cracked, preventing him from using it. He's still extremely dangerous, however.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Infamous for this over even the slightest offences. His entry noted he had banished minions to wander the Realm of Shadows for eternity just because they didn't celebrate when he ordained it so. In a Drabble, he reduced a palace servant to charred bones and melted tar just for putting the wrong number of sugar cubes in his drink, and noted to Vicearch Iniquitous he would had done worse had the servant been in his employ and not the Vicearch.
• The Dreaded: Much like G1, he's extremely feared due both his sheer power, competence as a villain, and unbridled cruelty.
  • Golden Scepter is implied to be one for him, as a run-in with the Radiant Emperor in the Second Age caused Grogar to deem him such a huge threat that he spent ages creating a kaiju-sized monster tailored specifically to counter and if possible defeat Golden Scepter should they confront each other again. Said plan could had worked had Golden Scepter not foreseen it and countered by siccing Invictus, his kaiju-sized two-headed Terran Thunderbird Divine Animal companion upon it.
  • Due to the huge losses and psychological trauma he inflicted upon the Elternteil Deer Pantheon and their mortal Deer subjects, Grogar became, in their eyes, the ultimate example of all that is dark, evil, and corrupt in both the world and non-Deer sapientkind as a whole. When Grogar came back during the 'Dark Ages Crisis' thanks to Mistletoe Dreamer, High King Irminsul, the leader of the Elternteil Deer, had a severe Oh, Crap! moment. Unfortunately, in opposing evil, the Elternteil Deer Pantheon became extremely xenophobic, puristic, and intolerant towards anything that deviated from their definition of 'good', with the present-day Alvslog Deer civilizations became just as bad. It got to the point where Grogar praised Irminsul for sinking to his level and commenting he always wanted an heir.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As evil as he is, it's implied he don't like the company he found himself with in the Dark Ages Alliance and their leader Mistletoe Dreamer (who managed to break him free from the Realm of Darkness), and only grudgingly stuck around them while he worked to restore the power he lost with his bell shattered.
• Evil Is Petty: Being the Control Freak and vindictive bastard he is, Grogar often retaliates with vicious cruelty and merciless wrath over even the slightest insult or failure.
  • He once banished some minions to wander the Realm of Darkness for eternity just for not celebrating when he decreed it.
  • Astounded as he was that Metamare would be so furious over him killing one innocent Pony (who was one of her friends), he promised to her that he would kill more innocents just to spite her.
  • During one of his conferences with Vicearch Iniquitous in Malregnar - with whom he infamously got along swimmingly - he reduced a palace servant to charred bones and melted tar with a curse for a screw up. Her mistake? Putting the wrong number of sugar cubes in his drink. Out of mutual respect, Vicearch Iniquitous let it slide but politely warned him not to do it again, while King Grogar agreed to let the Malregnarians deal with future errors like these themselves their way.
• Expy: Codexverse Grogar draws considerable inspiration from Darkseid. He even served as an Arch-Enemy to Metamare and the Paragons during his return in the Second Age in the same way Darkseid did for Superman and the rest of the Justice League, and was widely considered one of the greatest threats before Metamare rang his Bell and he and Tambelon was banished back into the Realm of Shadows. Fittingly, one of his lines is based on Darkseid's lines to Superman in Superman: The Animated Series.
  Grogar: (to Metamare) If I had known one pony's death would pain you so, I would've killed more. And kill more I shall. Carry that agony with you to oblivion, Metamare.
• Freudian Excuse: He's extremely controlling because the incompetence of Tambelon's former rulers convinced him that all mortals are incompetent and weak-minded without the guidance of a strong leader, and that he's the only one worthy to rule over them all.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He's the original Grogar who the Bell used by the Legion of Domination belonged to.
• Hobbes Was Right: As noted under his Freudian Excuse, the reason why he became an extreme Control Freak is because the sheer incompetence of Tambelon's former rulers convinced him that all mortals are incompetent and weak-minded without the guidance of a strong leader. Because of this, he rules Tambelon with an iron hoof, dictating exactly how his subjects live as he commanded them with no room for deviation, and harshly punishing even the smallest mistakes with horrible fates not even death can alleviate.
• Killed Off for Real: Finally kicks the bucket some time in the Fourth Age, having been Secretly Dying since his defeat and mortal wounding by the Elements of Chaos during the Dark Ages Crisis.
• Kryptonite Factor: Due to being a God of Tyranny, he's more vulnerable to chaos. As such, the Elements of Chaos were able to defeat him during the Dark Ages Crisis. It turned out it didn't just defeat him, but mortally wound him and leave him Secretly Dying.
• Last Dance: The Elements of Chaos were used to beat him during the Dark Ages Crisis. As it turns out, they left him mortally wounded with a Wound That Will Not Heal, and thus he'd been Secretly Dying ever since. Once he's about to die, he begins the Final Tambelon War as his final gambit.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: It's noted by Vicearch Iniquitous that the destruction of his Bewitching Bell, while weakening him physically and permenantly damaged him in certain ways, may actually serve to make him more dangerous than ever since he would be forced to become much more cunning and resourceful to compensate in pursuing his ambitions, now that he can no longer rely on his previously great power as a crutch. True to form, in spite of his reduced power he managed to poise a very nasty threat to the rest of the world during the 'Tambelonean Resurgence' where he rebuilds his empire and tries to Take Over the World once again. Given it's revealed he was morally wounded when the Elements of Chaos were used to defeat him during the Dark Ages Crisis, he had another reason to put more effort into it.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Azāzêl's entry reveals he has a Royal Harem of Ibexian ewes that he chose based on their power in search of his perfect heir. Azāzêl notes she was far from willing and he didn't care about consent.
• Royal Harem: It's revealed he has a harem consisting of ewes he chose based on their natural power (physical or magical) out of a desire to sire his perfect heir. Azāzêl notes he doesn't care about consent and refusing him was punishable by horrible punishments.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once, he cut down extremely large portions of Equus's forests to provide resources in taking over the planet. This enraged the nature goddess, Gaea, so much that her rampage forced him to flee to the Shadow Realm.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: He and Tambelon were repeatedly banished to the Realm of Darkness each time he was defeated. Gusty the Great finally stole his bell and used it to steal his power before banishing him the last time, leaving him unable to escape...by himself, at least. It's eventually revealed this seal working as it does was because the Rainbow of Light made the spell he was using to intercept Unicorns using 'winking' teleportation to capture them go berserk, dragging him and Tambalon into the Realm of Darkness and forcing him into the current situation.
• Secretly Dying: It's eventually revealed having the Elements of Chaos used to defeat him during the Dark Ages Crisis mortally wounded him, and he was slowly dying even during the 'Tambelonean Resurgence.' When he's finally about to die, he decides to go for broke.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Weaponized; his entry describes his magic as being based on negative emotions, with focus being on the seven sins. For example, Wrath increases his physical strength tenfold (along with his anger), while Sloth creates instant prisons that contain and restrain his enemies.
• Villain Respect: He developed a grudging respect for Ponykind as a whole, though not for any of their positive qualities. In a private conversation between Grogar and Iniquitous following the former's return in the Fourth Age, this began from the Second Age, during the Great Wars Era when Tellusian Ponykind fought against each other and countless other threats within, without and beyond. While Grogar was contemptous of the 'weakling' heroic paragons like Metamare in that time whom he had fought, he found himself impressed by Ponykind's unfettered determination when pushed into a corner, their willingness to do things even he would not had been willing to contemplate just to beat the likes of him. This led him to believe that it may not be possible for Ponykind to lose, ever, so long as they are willing to go any lengths to survive and prevail, considering their sheer indomitable ruthlessness to be their most admirable quality. This sentiment is not shared by many - although Tellusian Ponykind did survive and prevail...
  Grogar I: [To Iniquitous] You know, Vicearch, I have a dim view of this world and most other beings, but on some level, I do respect your kind. It began aeons back, during the time they called the 'Second Age', when I saw just how far Ponykind was willing to go to survive and win. Metamare and the other 'heroes' of the time were foolish weaklings, lacking the strength of character to do what must be done. But you Ponies? When backed into a corner, you would destroy your own cities and kill your own people; you unleash horrors even I would think twice to do. When it matters the most, it may be Ponykind cannot lose - because you kind would do anything for victory, even if the only victory possible is to prevent me or any other enemies you have from winning.
  
  An admirable quality.
• Villain Has a Point: As he noted to Vicearch Iniquitous in a private meeting, he came to admire the sheer ruthless determination of Ponykind to prevail at absolutely any costs if they were pushed to it, considering it to be their greatest strength. While this sentiment was not shared by many, the Ponies of the Second Age did do many horrible things during the 'Great Wars Era' and they did survive...
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Being defeated using the Elements of Chaos during the Dark Ages Crisis left him with wounds that won't heal. It turns out that they're actually fatal, and he's been slowly dying over the years since.
• Xanatos Gambit: During a Fourth-Age battle between him and Emperor Golden Scepter, as well as their respective empires, Grogar unleashed a kaiju-sized necro-alchebiomantic monstrosity divinely-empowered by him which was specifically tailored against Golden Scepter's power and domains, putting him in a Sadistic Choice between trying to fight the monster and potentially being defeated (if not killed due to his Perpetuality) and letting Grogar complete his then-latest plan, or focus on stopping Grogar and let the monster run rampant among his outmatched sons and his people and lands. Unfortunately for Grogar, Golden Scepter would Take a Third Option with something Grogar himself could not had anticipated: Namely, his own kaiju-sized Divine Animal companion Invictus, the legendary two-headed Terran Thunderbird, which proceeded to brawl with and ultimately kill Grogar's engineered monstrosity while Golden Scepter focused on Grogar and other heroes fought against and ultimately foiled Grogar's plan.

Notable Tambelonean Figures

Bray Line

General

Bray the First

Bray (Fourth Age)

Notable Tambelonean Factions/Forces

General

Ram Necromancers

Troggle Armies

Notable Residents/Related Characters

Azāzêl, the Eternal Scapegoat

Character: Anti-Villainous(?)/Anti-Hero(?)

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Type: Ibexian, Shadow Magic Sorceress, Body Snatcher, Punisher, Noble Demon

Faction: Empire of Tambelon (Former), Herself

"Use me as an excuse. Blame me for everything. Yet in the end, you will have no one to hold to account but yourself."

Azāzêl (her here) is an Ibexian sorceress who steals the bodies of those who use her as a scapegoat.

---

• Asshole Victim: Due to her MO, her victims are normally genuinely monstrous people who are using her service as an excuse to be more evil and monstrous. As such, many see her more as a very dark Anti-Hero than a villain.
• Conditional Powers: Azāzêl can only possess someone if they use her as their scapegoat for long enough without accepting the consquences of their actions.
• Covered in Scars: Her time in Tambelon has left her covered in scars from the many punishments and tortures they inflicted on her.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In general, Azāzêl targets genuinely horrible people who have squandered their lives on wickness and tries to live their lives as a better person after stealing their bodies.
  • She loathes Abusive Parents and makes it a point to see them get their just punishment even if her plans to steal their bodies fail.
  • She can't stand rapists, due to having been raped by Grogar while part of his Royal Harem. Notably, this is one thing that will cause her to flat out kill one of her marks after stealing their bodies.
• Face Stealer: After she's stolen someone's body, she can transform into them at will. She loses access to a form if she traps someone else in a copy of that form, and they 'age' over time and she'll eventually lose them.
• Gender Bender: She has been known to steal male bodies (and in fact escaped Tambelon in one) or assume their forms later. It's noted she's nonbinary and presents as whichever gender her current form is, hence her default pronouns being She/Her.
• Grand Theft Me: She allows someone to use her as a scapegoat, but if they keep doing so long enough or for enough crimes, she can possess them and leave their soul trapped in a copy of her body to suffer the consequences of their crimes anyway. She then steals their life and lives it instead.
• Life Drinker: When she steals someone's body, she absorbs their remaining life span, increasing her own in the process.
• Mama Bear: Azāzêl is extremely protective of children and goes out of her way to be a good parent to the children of a stolen life. Part of why she fled Tambelon was to save her son from Grogar's mechanizations.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: She spent all her life being punished, abused, scarred, and ultimately made a Sex Slave by Grogar. As soon as Tambelon returned from its imprisonment, she launched a plan to escape and provided information to heroic forces to help defeat Grogar. When Grogar eventually escapes in the Fourth Age, she instantly forms an Enemy Mine with the heroes to help stop him because she hates him and would love nothing more than to see him dead.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Her MO is horrifying and would normally break Primeval Law...but she exclusively does it to genuinely horrible people who deserve it, invoking a loophole.
• Rape and Revenge:
  • After being made a part of Grogar's Royal Harem, she was made a very unwilling Sex Slave. As a result, when she fled Tambelon, she provided information to heroic forces to screw him over. When Tambelon finally returns thousands of years later, she instantly forms an Enemy Mine with heroic forces to help defeat him, stating she would love nothing more than to see Grogar die horribly.
  • It's noted due to her past, she despises rapists and is known to flat out kill her marks once she's stolen their bodies if they've committed it.
• Really 700 Years Old: She's actually thousands of years old, but her body stealing and Life Drinker abilities means she looks the same age as when she escaped Tambelon.
• The Scapegoat: Invoked: she allows others to pin the blame for their crimes on her and get away with them...but if they keep doing it, she can eventually possess them and leave them trapped in a copy of her body so they suffer the consequences anyway.
• Sex Slave: Due to her natural talent and being a Shadow Magic Sorceress, Grogar had her abducted and made part of his Royal Harem as he tried to sire the perfect heir. She makes it clear she had no consent in the matter and still holds a great deal of trauma from it.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Part of her MO: allowing others to use her as a scapegoat and play the part of a loathsome villain to activate her body stealing ability, then swap bodies with them and leave them to face the consequences of their own actions.

Ramiel, the Guiding Darkness

Classification: Ethereal/Elemental

Portfolio: Virtue, Guidance, Shadow

Rank: Divine (Tier III/Intermediate)

"Do not fear, for my shadows will guide your way."

Ramiel (his entry here) is the Ibexian god of Virtue, Guidance, and Shadow, and is a genuine hero despite being a son of the dreaded King Grogar.

---

• Anthropomorphic Personification: He is an Ibexian god who embodies Virtue, Guidance, and Shadow.
• Child by Rape: Azāzêl was an unwilling member of Grogar's harem. Despite this, she loves Ramiel deeply and her entire flight from Tambelon was to protect him from his father.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Despite being the son of Grogar, one of history's worst villains, Ramiel grew up to be a heroic, kind god.
• Orc Raised by Elves: Was raised by a kindly couple of Ponies who never judged him for what he is (that includes discovering he's Grogar's son) and taught him to be good and noble.
• Superman Substitute: It's noted he's basically the Fourth Age equal of Metamare. Like Superman, he's also a superpowered being who was raised by a pair of kindly farmers and became The Paragon and a hero. Emphasized even more when he joined the New Paragons Super Team as their 'Metamare' substitute. Ironic, given he's the son of the local Darksied expy.
• Superior Successor: Not only is he extremely moral and good, it's believed Ramiel will eventually exceed Grogar in power.
• The Sacred Darkness: He's a God of Shadow, but represents it as a comforting, benevolent version in contrast to his father.
• Upbringing Makes the Hero: Azāzêl left him with a pair of simple, kind farmers as a baby to ensure he grew up untainted by Tambelon's evil. It worked perfectly, resulting in him growing up to be a Superman Substitute.
• You're Not My Father: When he finally confronts his father Grogar, he rebukes Grogar calling himself Ramiel's father. Instead he asserts his actual father were the farmers who raised him.