Cabiros

"There's really no describing what it feels like, to see your own fingers rotting away."

Cabiros (labeled simply Fampyr) is an Engwithan fampyr in.

He can be found sitting on the throne on the statue hand on level 8 of the Endless Paths of Od Nua.

Biography
A strangely composed fampyr, Cabiros was one of the foremost minds involved in animancy experiments performed by Engwithans, working under Od Nua. Whether his boast that none could rival him for arcane power, save Od Nua or his advisors, holds any merit is unknown, but he was in charge of the work being performed on the adjacent floors of the Endless Paths. Cabiros headed a team of twelve of the greatest minds of their generation in trying to crack the mystery of death and find a way to preserve the soul, preventing it from crossing through the Shroud, all to retrieve the soul of Maros Nua. Among many tremendous animantic advancements, they discovered effective immortality. Eager to overcome an old war wound he suffered long ago, Cabiros attempted the transition, becoming a fampyr after combining a lethal poison with their research.

Everyone soon realized the mistake as his body remembered that it was quite dead and began decomposing (he says there's nothing like the smell of your fingers rotting away). Further research revealed that the body could be revived using energy culled from other people or adra. Cabiros refined the formula, which was essential to their survival after the estate of Od Nua fell to the attacking mob that seemingly killed the king. Sealed below the ground, Cabiros harnessed the adra of the titan and the souls within to sustain themselves for centuries, keeping them hale and sane. He even managed to use it to maintain their clothes, armor, and furniture, giving them all a semblance of society and family... Until adra beetles started swarming from the lower levels and eating away at the adra.

However, the coming of the adra dragon upended the ecosystem of the paths. Driving adra beetles and other wildlife towards the upper levels, they began feeding on live adra, cutting the adra-dependent fampyrs off from their source. Despite valiant efforts, they could not defeat the beetles. After making the necessary calculations, Cabiros determined that there was not enough to support the others and the chambers they inhabited... But enough to preserve him. So he cast the others away, promising to burn them all to kindling if they so much as came near. And so he languished in the state of undeath, sitting at his throne and watching over his works.

Until the Watcher came.

Quests

 * The Master Below: If you have already learned the Engwithan language (from Icantha in Heritage Hill), you can talk to him and avoid a fight. He asks you to kill all the other fampyrs on this level for him. Once you've done that, he is willing to share information about himself and Od Nua, and let you pass. After resolving The Master Below, and possibly(?) through diplomatically convincing Od Nua to "let go" (as opposed to killing him). The player will be able to remind the ancient fampyr his name is Cabiros, although the fampyr recognizes the name, he does not believe it's his own. If you don't speak Engwithan, fighting him is your only option for proceeding to the lower levels.

Behind the scenes
In the 1992 game Ultima Underworld: the Stygian Abyss, an idealist named Sir Cabirus attempted to found a utopian society in a mega-dungeon, but the colony fell into anarchy after his death. Given the similar names, plot lines and Pillars' deliberately nostalgic design, the character Cabiros may well be an homage to Ultima Underworld. It's also worth noting that the Stygian Abyss was 8 levels deep, and Cabiros is located on the 8th level of the Endless Paths.