Zembahk ("Zem") is heir to the Kaydian magical legacy. His name is not a family name per se, but rather the race of people he comes from. They are a humanoid variant that live cut off in a valley shrouded by magical mists and protection spells. The Kaydian were highly developed while the younger races of Man were still wrapped in furs and carrying clubs. They made pacts and alliances with various unseen forces in exchange for power. Without the influx of to their culture and due to their rather perverse fascination with all things Arcane, the Kaydian became decadent and self-involved to the point where it has become pathological. No one ever leaves the valley and the various nobles war with each other for control of the Empire and the legacy. Technically, Zem is a prince. He is of the royal line of the last Emperor and is the bastard son of one of that man's many concubines. Currently there is no Emperor controlling the Kaydian and they are on the brink of civil war. Political power lies with the leaders of various great houses which vie for control either directly through violence or indirectly through more subtle, magical means.
Zem is an outcast among the nobles for many reasons, not the least of which is that he was born with a flaw that makes him the object of persecution and ridicule. He must expend a great deal of physical energy to work magic (flaw: power burn). Since he was shunned at an early age he spent a lot of time by himself and made the races outside the valley, the "younger races" the object of his undivided attention. Through the various Kaydian scrying devices he was able to observe the various races and cultures of the planet. He began to mimic the aspects of the cultures he liked and became fascinated by physical combat; a practice all but abandoned by the Kaydian. They much prefer to employ otherworldly minions to fight their battles or if pressed, to fight magical duels. Zem in particular fixated on a renowned fighting order known as the Blood Moon School and spent years studying their ways. He also learned to adapt his relatively meager magical ability (by Kaydian standards) to enhance his abilities.
Perhaps because he is the last in the direct royal line or perhaps due to his martial nature, Zem is the favored of the War God Adorok. Adorok doesn't participate directly in Zem's life but he tends to act as his protector from the otherworldly creatures the Kaydian usually deal with on a daily basis. As such, it is much harder for Zem to call on them for aid when he tries and his magical abilities in that area are limited to very minor creatures. Adorok is an inscrutable and fickle god and aids or ignores Zem as is his whim. He does impose quests on Zem from time to time presumably to increase his power on the material plane.
When the last Emperor died, the succession was in dispute. Zem and a second cousin were both backed by different factions vying for control. Zem had become disgusted with his own culture and had no interest in rule. In fact, he longed to leave the Valley of Mists to pursue his own interests among the younger races. Scheming to murder him, his cousin Sunaj made a pact with a particularly loathsome chaos creature (Ordainer demon). The creature came upon Zem in the night and attempted to kill him. On this occasion Adorok decided to intervene, albeit indirectly. He opened a portal to a plane inhabited by beings that, for lack of a better description, represented "aspects" of extreme emotion. On their plane, they had no shape. On this plane they take on the shape of the first and strongest will or desire they encounter. The aspect of Hunger was attracted by the impending conflict between Zem and the demon and came through the gate. Zem, terrified, sought desperately for his trusty Claymore to fend off this demon. The aspect of Hunger became that weapon and took the form of the familiar weapon. To Zem, a two-handed sword materialized out of thin air in front of him. He grabbed it and struck the demon. A horrible keening scream rose from the blade as the battle ensued. It could be said that perhaps any other Kaydian at the time if pressed into physical combat such as this would have surely perished. Due to Zem's years mastering all things martial, he lay into the creature with a ferocity and skill both terrible and beautiful to behold. He employed the spells he had learned to enhance his combat abilities to deadly effect. Suddenly, the battle was over. The demon disappeared from the material plane with a shriek of rage and Zem, nearly mortally wounded, collapsed into blackness.
With the aid of several restorative spells he had learned to heal him subconsciously, Zem awoke imprisoned in the royal dungeons. Naked except for a simple loincloth and with no weapons, he knew his cousin was responsible and that it was unlikely anyone would ever find him. As he became fully conscious he heard the familiar sounds of battle outside his cell door. He ran to the door and pressed his ear to the rough wood. He listened as the death rattle of a guard echoed against the door. Suddenly, the door shook with the blow of a strong blade. He immediately stepped back and watched in wonder as the door was hacked to pieces in just a few minutes. Awestruck, he watched the blade with which he had fought off the demon glide through the door under its own power and settle gently at his feet. Not willing to look askance at such an obvious turn in his fortunes, Zem grabbed the blade and rushed from the cell deftly leaping over the corpses of the fallen guards.
Zem reached his rooms and quickly gathered his belongings, already packed for a long journey. He had been researching a means to pierce the Veil of Mists and leave the valley for years. He had become convinced that the only way to save his people was to infuse them with the lust for life, love, and altruism he had observed in the younger races. He must walk among them and learn their ways. He grabbed the fabulous jewel that would serve as his key to open a pathway through the Veil and rushed from the palace under the cloak of darkness. "Let my cousin wear the crown uneasily upon his brow" he thought. "I'll return with a power he won't know how to fight." "I'll return and pull the crown from his cold, dead hands".