Loraan, Baron of Smallcliff, was a powerful Athyra wizard and necromancer, and also an undead.
History[]
During the Interregnum, Orlaan located a soul (which was later revealed to be that of Aliera e'Kieron), and bound it to a rod. She passed this rod on to Kâna.
Loraan made a bargain with Kâna's cousin Habil, such that in exchange for receiving this rod, he performed the service of opening a partial gateway for a Jenoine during the Pretender's attack on Adrilankha; this had the effect of nullifying the Orb such that sorcery could not be performed through it. (See The Battle of Adrilankha.)
In Taltos, Vlad Taltos managed to infiltrate Loraan's keep by hiding in a barrel being delivered to the keep (because Loraan's defensive spells were meant to guard against Dragaerans, inadvertently allowing Easterners access). Once inside, Vlad was joined by Morrolan, and together they fought off Loraan's guards, and Loraan himself. They recovered the rod with Aliera's soul, and Vlad stole the chain that he later named Spellbreaker, using it to stop a spell that Loraan threw at him.
Towards the end of that incident, Morrolan used Blackwand to fight off Loraan. As Morrolan and Vlad fled the keep, Vlad looked back and saw Loraan on the floor. Vlad's knife was in his stomach, and there was a large cut, as from a sword, in his chest, directly over the heart. He seemed to be rather dead. Given Blackwand's involvement, it would have been a reasonable assumption from seeing this that Loraan was not only dead, but that his soul had been destroyed by the powerful Great Weapon.
The events of Athyra demonstrate that Loraan managed to partially survive (much to Vlad's initial shock and surprise), although how he did so remains unclear. Vlad deduced from this survival that Loraan was at that point an undead.
In Athyra, Loraan was still Baron of Smallcliff, and was still a very powerful wizard and necromancer. He used his necromancy to murder Reins, the Teckla cart driver who helped to sneak Vlad into Loraan's keep some years before. He also sent his soldiers to find and capture or kill Vlad, but Vlad managed to escape, despite being severely wounded. Vlad's wounds were tended by Savn and Polyi, and later by the Teckla physicker Master Wag. Once Loraan realized that Master Wag knew where Vlad was, he had the physicker tortured to extract this information.
As it turned out, Loraan was working with the Jhereg assassin Ishtvan to murder Vlad, but the cooperation between them was not without friction.
During the final conflict between Loraan and Ishtvan on one side, and Vlad, Loiosh, Rocza, Polyi and Savn on the other, Loraan was killed, ironically with the same Morganti dagger meant to kill Vlad, by Savn with Rocza's assistance.
- See also Speculation:Loraan.
Note: The similarities between the names "Loraan" and "Orlaan", and probably also "Rolaan", are purely coincidental.
- See also Meta:Loraan.