Pinkymod/Attraidies

Attraidies, also known as the Mindflayer King, is a central figure in pinkymod's Universe. Although dead for centuries by the time of the Terrarian's journey, he had waged a devastating war during the years he was active, and was once the most powerful Terrarian to exist. He is the main villain of the Story of Red Cloud, and also it's final boss. The World of Pinkymod occurs in the same world as that of the Story of Red Cloud, albeit it's contents is just one of the many historical events to happen in the lore.

Background
Attraidies was born a citizen of Orespeak, an ancient civilization that was the first to widely utilise magic, and incorporate it into every level of society. Being a capitalist magocracy, Orespeak had strict social classes, of which rules were created and enforced for without a second thought by those in the upper echelons, who are also the most powerful of magicians. Although the young Attraidies already manifested immense potential for magic, he was born to an impoverished family that lived in one of the many slums of the subterranean city and thus never received proper tutelage in magic or any recognition from anyone of power. When the insane sorcerer-lords of Orespeak completed the Homeland Project, a city that could fly through dimensions, the population of Orespeak were rounded up en masse to board the city. Despite having no choice, everyone still had to pay a tax which was exorbitant to the lower-income families. Since the madness had already been so far seeped in Orespeak's magical elite due to their experiments on the Source, they decided that the fastest way to deal with those that could not pay was to cull the population, leading to a week-long massacre of 'traitors and defectors'. Attraidies, along with his brother Verataidies managed to escape due to the sacrifice of their parents. Both sought refuge in an unnamed nearby village.

There, Attraidies and Verataidies lived a miserable existence, shunned by the greater village society due to their Orespeak features(pale skin, extremely skinny). Moreover, they were terrorized by their adoptive brother, a boy named Gertrude, who picked on and regularly abused Attraidies. Meanwhile, Verataidies had no choice but to work to support himself and his brother. The man who would become the Dungeon Constructor however, had divine aid from a being known as the Mind God, who had been unknowingly banished to the terrestrial plane under the false pretext of a mission to obtain knowledge. And despite all the misery of his life, Attraidies himself was still deeply loved by his brother, feelings he returned. Thus, the siblings became each other's best and only friend.

Eventually, their time was cut short when Cultist-raiders invaded and sacked the village for Terrarian sacrifices to their God, although their God did not want any but was unable to communicate with them. Ironically, this very God was the Mind God. As such, Attraidies, Verataidies and Gertrude were all caught in the middle of it. Verataidies sacrifices himself to save his brother and even Gertrude, but was captured and brutally tortured to death. Attraidies was traumatised, but managed to escape into the woods. After wandering for a few days, the boys found themselves low on supplies, prompting Gertrude to betray his adoptive brother, jumping on him and beating him to assumed death, before absconding with all his remaining supplies.

The beaten, broken, traumatised and bent Attraidies wandered on until he could walk no more. In one final unfortunate twist of fate, he stumbled not upon a settlement of any sort, but the Corruption, the anathema of life that crept and infected all. Even the Orespeak feared the Corruption, and told their children stories of it's terrors. At that moment, the boy gave up hope and laid down on the purple grass, using the last of the water in his body to weep as he waited for death. In those few hours, all he experienced was agony and anguish, yet also resolution, hatred and rage. The hours turned to days, but the dehydrated boy would not die. This only made him angrier, as the Corrupt grass began to grow tendrils around him, ensnaring his broken body. Yet, he soon realised that drawing upon his own anger gave him unnatural strength. Drawing upon his sorrows gave him a will to persevere onwards. Of course, the boy had no strength to fight the swarms of Corruption spawn around him, but he soon noticed that they did not care to harm him. In fact, the multitudes of Eaters would caress him in cold embrace. At that moment, Attraidies realised that he had not been condemned to a slow and painful death. Instead, he had found his own salvation, in the land of the defiled and the despised. The corrupt grass wrapped around him was not strangling him, but rather holding him like his mother once did. With his brother dead, all love in the world gone and all hopes for a future snuffed out, Attraidies felt a strange sense of camaraderie with the corruption around him.

Attraidies would walk again in time, empowered by his newfound purple family and enhanced by his own magical prodigy and thirst for vengeance. For the next many years, he would spend his adolescence dwelling in the dark lands, searching for answers and for a way to enact his revenge. His hatred for the self-righteous Terrariankind had been sealed, and there was nothing that held him back. Coupled with the pure rawness of his magicks, Attraidies found himself mastering many dark arts and tomes of the corrupt, wrenched from the rotting grasps of long-dead mages whose towers have since fallen to the Purple Land. This eventually led him to the site of the old Citadel of Darkness, once home to the legendary King Corruptor from when he waged his War against the free peoples. Although Attraidies was inspired by the King Corruptor, he did not idolize him, wishing instead to carve out his own destiny. From the depths of the Citadel, Attraidies would learn the ancient ritual of Mindflaying: Using one's pure emotions to forcefully bend the Winds of Magic into tangible apparitions to wreak havoc on the enemy. With his years of practice, Attraidies became so strong in this arte that his illusions had some degree of sentience, while he could maintain more than a hundred of such illusions at a time - a feat never recorded before. He soon set out to build his own school of magic, finding others that were damned by society but embraced by Corruption.

His new disciples came in many forms. Amongst his first allies was the powerful swordsman and sorcerer known as the Sixth Pupil, a surviving Pupil of Darkness who had survived the defeat and capitulation of King Corruptor's Corruption empire dozens of years ago. He had since gone into hiding to recuperate, but was unable to regain his former power as the Corruption had grown weak during that time. Although it is said that he first saw Attraidies as an impostor, he soon grew to respect him due to Attraidies demonstrating that his power exceeds his. Eventually, Attraidies christened him Dark Lord Unshival, made the Sixth Pupil his right hand man to aid in the expansion of their coven and taught him Mindflayer sorcery. In return, Unshival shared with Attraidies all the knowledge he had learned from a life of total warfare under King Corruptor's regime.

Other disciples included lesser mages, Terrarian and Slime adventurers and even Dryad that Attraidies managed to Corrupt. But those he admired the most were the young boys and girls who laid at the edge of the Corruption, weeping for their future lost. He would teach them to use their strength in emotions so as to be reborn, and then made them his elite Mindflayers. Unlike his predecessor, Attraidies believed that the Corruption should cooperate with one another, and that survival of the fittest was a lousy idea. However, at this point, the Dark Lord was still a mortal, and his coven of the bent and the broken still numbered less than a hundred: Too small to pose any real threat. When the Dryad Circle grew suspicious, they sent a strike battalion of Falling Leaf Dryads to investigate. After watching them effortlessly massacre Corrupt spawn, piling their bodies into the thousands, Attraidies knew that his men would stand no chance. As such, he ordered a retreat, narrowly escaping detection only through conjuring a thick corrupt fog to obscure their movements. Still, he was not ready to accept defeat, and continued his amassing of troops.

At some point, Attraidies would unite the tribes of the Warriors of Darkness, the remnants of King Corruptor's non-magician legions, forming a proper conventional army and stopping their infighting. But the greatest bulk of his new Dark Legion came when he signed a mutual Alliance with the Goblin Empire, which had been humiliated by the technologically superior Hallowstone Royal Army, and also wanted vengeance. With an empire under his command, Attraidies declared himself Mindflayer King, Heir of King Corruptor and the New Dark Lord. His first actions were to gear the Goblin Empire's army up with modern equipment, including flintlock muskets and higher quality longbows and armor. He then sent them to raid random Terrarian outposts to test his enemy's might. The moment Attraidies heard of the promotion of a certain individual to rank of General in the Royal Army, he gave the signal for the invasion to begin.

War on Attraidies
The War on Attraidies was the all-out conflict fought between the Dryad Order, the Slime Kingdom, Pinkymod/Hallowstone and to lesser extents, the Ocean Faction, Jungle Faction and the Underworld Faction. Attraidies conquered city after city, having caught Hallowstone off-guard. His unorthodox battle tactics, including driving whole armies mad with fear via Mindflaying sorceries had no immediate counter - even by the strongest of mages. Pushing out from the Corrupt Lands, Attraidies made it clear that his war wasn't just one of territorial conquest: It was one of retribution. The Goblin Empire and Dark Legion's cooperation ensured none would survive, and for every village of innocents massacred, their Dark Lord only got stronger. Attraidies also turned to another objective: The conquest of the Zonage of Arazium, where most of his childhood had been spent. He conquered the Arazium Desert, of which underneath was the legendary Elengad's Desert Ruins. Yet, Attraidies knew of the place's original name, for these ruins were the remains of Orespeak. To make a statement, the Mindflayer King ordered the construction of his new headquarters in the Arazium Desert. The sight of his new stronghold towering and leeching off the lands that once enslaved him and his family pleased him greatly. Moreover, it was also a staging ground for further conquests.

Despite all his strengths, the Mindflayer King was still post-Terrarian. He held demigod-like powers, and laughed as countless assassination squads reported that they had successfully eliminated him, not knowing that they had just taken down one of his Mindflayer illusions. Yet, he was Terrarian, and could still be killed. Despite all the power he wielded, all the new allies he made and the family of darkness he had nurtured, Attraidies on the inside had never matured. His body had died that very day when he laid to rest, eyes open forever in the Corruption. His mind, persisting on only through magicks and rituals, was that of a child: Lonely in a big world, scared for his future. It was something he had ignored, and spoken of it to nobody. Yet, he knew he could not hide it from himself. Thus, the Dark Lord chose to seek immortality, as his forces reaped the land for him. It is unknown as to exactly how, but Attraidies eventually learned of a legendary ritual that was never successfully performed - existing only in the notes of some unknown Demon Archmage, likely executed by Hell itself for heresy. It involved pouring one's soul into another being, overwhelming their mind in the process. He first performed the ritual on some his Mindflayer servants, but simply obliterated their being when he attempted to pour his essence into them. What was worse, was that he did not even use enough energy to make his own soul budge. As such, he concluded that there needed two things for the ritual: A vessel who was extremely strong in body and mind, and more mana.

This lead the Demigod to create his greatest work yet: A mechanical replica of the legendary Lord of the Dead, Skeletron. This being was known as Skeletron Prime, or when first conceptualised, only as the Machine. In it, Attraidies and his greatest sorcerers poured the very essence of fear itself, forming a powerful Soul which the Machine could use. The magitech monstrosity was equipped with four arms, each a marvel of tinkering by the most brilliant of Goblin Empire scientists and the culmination of centuries of magical research. It's main purpose was to harvest sentient Souls, which it would keep in a shared illusion that it could control. In this illusion, the souls would be tortured for a literal eternity without knowledge of why they were being condemned. In time, the souls would begin to break down in anguish, releasing vast amounts of arcane energy which would sustain the Machine and power the ritual. Skeletron Prime also served as a superweapon against the enemies of Attraidies, and would become the embodiment of the regime of terror that the Mindflayer King had unleashed. This ultimately lead to it's first deployment in Arazium: Against a nameless seaside fishing village. It was not the population that proved a problem, but the fact that it was staging grounds for massive counterattacks by the Ocean Faction. They were lead by the greatest pest in Attraidies' eyes: The Crab Goddess Nora, an immortal crustacean who controlled the tides with periodic dances on the waves and ruled the seas. She was responsible for more destruction of the Goblin Empire fleet than all other factions combined. Moreover, Attraidies was unable to overcome her in direct combat, being mortal himself.

Skeletron Prime was deployed against Nora, backed up by a contingent of angry Goblins who had lost their brothers and sisters in sudden ship-tearing riptides, and Warriors of Darkness hungry for blood. Attraidies and a circle of Mindflayers watched from the back as Nora and Skeletron Prime duelled for a week, neither getting the upper hand. However, it seemed that the Machine was losing, having been cut and smoking. This was exactly what Attraidies had planned. His patience was rewarded when he could finally perform the greatest Mindflayer feat with his fellow mages: To sunder the mind of an exhausted God. Attraidies made Nora believe that she had defeated Skeletron Prime, making it seem that she had knocked the beast to the ground and won. He made it seem that his forces fled in terror, screaming and running for the hills. But in truth, this allowed the Machine to devour none other than the Soul of Nora herself. Rather than being tortured for an eternity as Attraidies was convinced that she could break herself free if she got suspicious, he instead ordered the Machine to create a new realm for her: One of serenity that mimicked her oceanic homelands. In it, Nora was tricked into believing that the war was over, and that she could go back to her job as keeper of the seas, dancing forever to stir up storms only where necessary. The Machine used this to it's advantage, turning the destructive power of the Sea Goddess into a force for the Dark Legion, manipulating the ocean realm that Nora was trapped in to make it seem that certain areas needed storms: While Nora danced typhoons to sunder Terrarian ships.

With the energy he needed, Attraidies set about retrieving a suitable heir. By then, his body was so corrupted it crumbled if not for his robes, and the faces of both him and his servants had morphed into a tentacled monstrosity (A process now termed Illithisation, caused by the practice of Mindflaying). One night, Attraidies received a vision of his heir(A vision planted in him by an unknown being, likely a God of the Forest), and immediately knew where to look. To make matters better, Gertrude was promoted to rank of God-General of the Royal Army, taking complete command over the Hallowstone Army in times of war. This meant that Attraidies could finally enact revenge as his enemy was coming to lead the troops against him on the front lines. The next day, the Mindflayer King ordered the Goblin Army to invade a small family settlement on the outskirts of an Arazium town. The aged father fought valiantly, but eventually fell to the overwhelming Goblin force. His mother was butchered, his wife kidnapped and the Heir himself knocked out cold buried alive by one of his relatives, who Attraidies had manipulated into turning traitor. When he inevitably clawed his way out with all the hate and vengeance that Attraidies once felt but without the influence of the Corruption, the Mindflayer King became fully convinced. In a series of 'games', Attraidies tried to manipulate the man, initially succeeding in leading him down a dark path of vengeance, hate and destruction while plaguing his dreams with visions of his wife being tortured. This was his downfall.

The War against the Hallowstone forces had melted down into a brutal War of Attrition. As expected, Gertrude only led charges he knew would be a victory, and even then often cowered behind a shield. As such, Attraidies could never get close to him. Instead, he decided to focus on the ritual despite his closest aides begging him to focus on their empire first. His manipulations culminated in his 'magnum opus', which was getting the man to kill his traitorous relative in a fit of cold hatred. But then, the man did something unforseen. While at first, he was stricken by guilt and fear from his actions, rather than letting them consume him and finally opening himself up to have his soul erased but mind remain intact, he learned to control his own guilt and overcame it through a simple promise: A promise not to destroy what he hated, but to protect what he loved. This spelled the beginning of the end, as Attraidies lost more and more of his grasp on reality, fighting a stalemated war with one part of his mind, and stressing over creating a heir that had just resisted years of careful planning with the other.

Before Attraidies knew it, the war was ending. His forces were in full retreat, the Goblin Empire had collapsed and dozens of his troops had mutinied. The Machine, although having delivered the Mana as expected, was deactivated by the Man shortly after. With Lord Unshival slain as well, his remaining acolytes begged him to retreat as his incomplete Tower was shelled by cannonballs through the night. But now, Attraidies had lost all semblance of rationality he once had. His mind was torn between survival and vengeance. He gave the non-negotiable order to concentrate all forces and make a final push towards the encroaching Hallowstone army that was led by Gertrude. He was not convinced that the war could be won, and just wanted to get his revenge - which was one of the reasons why he came all the way there for. In truth, there were other reasons, but the defeated and hollowed man had forgotten them, consumed by the darkness a long time ago. Just before he could reinforce his troops in the morning and lead the final charge, he was confronted in his Tower by the Man, who had become a Hero of Terraria decorated by the King himself. Standing before his 'failed Heir', Attraidies toyed, laughed and manipulated him in a final round of games, despite being hurt deep within. When even an Illusion that held all his power was vanquished, the broken man showed himself in person, proclaiming that it was time to end it all. Attraidies despised this man, because in his eyes, he was perfect. He suffered like he did, was bent and broken, and also used their suffering to strengthen themselves. But unlike him, Attraidies was losing, and he was losing everything.

Having fallen so far, the Mindflayer King knew that there were times in which he craved power for a purpose, when he had more things to drive him rather than revenge. But it was all in the past, and the blind, betentacled mindflayer would have shed a tear if he could. The only noise he could make however, were laughs, since his body was physically only capable of a sinister, evil laugh. Eventually, in a last ditch effort to save himself and start again, Attraidies prematurely attempted to finish the Ritual, but was quickly overpowered and impaled. Having never shown his enemy his true feelings and his 'other side', the Hero cast his body aside and ground it to dust under a boot. And when he died, he died with the weight of his sins and shortcomings all crushing him down, stripping him of dignity, honor, or even a proper passing. Having failed to even enact his revenge on Gertrude, the last facet tying him to his humanity was lost forever. In the end, he was nothing.

Legacy
Attraidies marks the final true Dark Lord, who had come close to threatening the world. Although not as successful as his predecessor, he would be known for centuries to come for his insanity, sadism and pure evil as that was the only side he bothered showing. Unlike the previous time, Hallowstone and the Dryad committed to cracking down on all his surviving forces once and for all, to prevent another Dark Lord from building an empire from what remained. The last Mindflayers were hunted down to extinction, and without guidance, the Warriors of Darkness fell back to their warring ways. The Goblin Empire would go through several civil wars, until it finally emerged as the First Goblin Republic, adopting a form of shoddy democracy which was still a leap ahead of any other faction at that time(Which were different flavours of dictatorship). Although no more true Dark Lords emerged (although some like the Cardinal Lacerator would emerge and try to claim the title), Terraria would still be ravaged by war of different kinds. A century later, another vengeful individual would gain command of an Empire and wage a relentless conflict once more.