Jere Harash

Jere Harash was a legendary magician of the Vizjerei Clan.

Dealing with Demons
"As his heart roiled with anger and rage at the tragedy, Harash reached out to the spirits and made contact, succeeding where so many of his fellow sorcerers had failed. Yet the entity he summoned into our world was one neither he nor the Vizjerei could have ever fathomed - a demon of pure hate and malice. And with that, the once-innefectual Jere Harash was etched into the annals of history forever."

- Dumal Lunnash

Harash was a young Vizjerei acolyte. He was, in the words of Dumal Lunnash, "a most forgettable member" of the Vizjerei. As a young acolyte, he aspired to one day represent his clan on the Mage Council, but he was always outshined by his more talented peers. His growing frustrations came to a head when his parents and sister were killed during a short lived fued between the Vizjerei and Ammuit.

As his heart roiled with anger and rage at the tragedy, Harash reached out to the spirits and made contact, succeeding where his contemporaries had failed. Yet the entity he summoned into Sanctuary was no spirit, but rather a demon. In this instant, Harash had alerted the Burning Hells to the existence of Sanctuary, and changed the course of human history forever. And, by extension, had etched himself into history's annals. Deckard Cain would theorize thousands of years later that Harash's success hinged on the dark emotions he was feeling at the time. Perhaps his anger and rage somehow attuned him to one of the realms of Hell. Whatever the root cause, Harash quickly recognised the perils of the murderous creature he had summoned. After restraining it with binding spells, he informed the Vizjerei elders of his discovery.

The official records of the Vizjerei, written by Lunnash, give a different account of these events. In them, it was written that Harash had discovered the power to command the spirits of the dead. The young boy had claimed the insight was given to him through a dream. Soon, his power became a thing of legend. The boy perfected the process whereby the Wizards drained the energy of the dead, making anyone who used it more powerful than anything that had gone on before. As a result of this new knowledge, the Vizjerei became known as the Spirit Clan. The account further claimed that Harash’s last attempt to master the spirit world completely would prove to be his undoing, however. Upon the young man’s attaining the trance state necessary to transfer the energy to the spells he wove, a spirit had taken control of his body and gone on a killing rampage. Later, the Vizjerei had learned that the spirits they called on and unwittingly unleashed into the world were, in fact, demons of the Burning Hells.

Legacy
"Of greater importance, however, is that Harash's act alerted the Burning Hells to Sanctuary's existence. It was at this terrible moment when the Prime Evils learned of mankind and its potential to be used as a weapon against the Heavens. Thereafter, the Lords of the Burning Hells began formulating a devious plan to corrupt humanity. Mark this date well, dear reader. Nearly all things that come afterward are, at least in some small way, a consequence of Harash's reckless summoning."

- Deckard Cain

Lunnash was said to have witnessed Harash's end personally. Although he wrote the false account of Harash's interactions with "spirits," he did write at least one manuscript that detailed what had actually happened with Harash. Nonetheless, it was the false account that endured, though Lunnash was overlooked for the most part, when it came to Vizjerei history. It was Cain who uncovered Lunnash's original account of Harash's actions. But either way, Harash's actions sent a chain of events into motion that would culminate with the Sin War, and much misery beyond. Indeed, Cain held Harash as being responsible, to at least some extent, for every event that affected Sanctuary afterwards&mdash;such was his mark on history.