Ilahn of Cadador

Ilahn of Cadador is a fictional character, the former Minister of the floating-island city-state of Cadador on the planet Demetria, in the Sigilverse of the comic book series Meridian, published by Crossgen Comics.

Sigil Location: Throat

Plot synopsis
Ilahn was raised on the floating island city-state of Meridian, the younger son of the Minister. Treasuring power and wealth over all else, Ilahn tried to win a young lady named Ideria from his brother Turos, but ultimately she married Turos. Later, when their father died, and Turos became Minister, Ilahn desired his power. He began to poison his brother, hoping to replace him as Minister of Meridian. Meanwhile, Ilahn obtained the post of Minister of Cadador through marriage. He made Cadador both powerful and wealthy, at heavy cost to its natural beauty and its lower classes.

When a bird granted Ilahn and his brother the Sigil, the shock killed Turos, providing Ilahn an opportunity to seize control of Meridian for himself. He ordered his steward, Regor, to kill Sephie, his niece and the new Minister. When that failed, Ilahn convinced Sephie that Meridian was no longer safe and shipped her off to Cadador; in her absence, he seized the island for himself. Sephie became Minister in Exile, and Ilahn named himself Regent.

Soon afterward, Ilahn met the Muse of Giatan, a powerful and mysterious woman, who revealed to him a number of secrets, in the form of riddles. He also met Reesha Teramu, a young woman who asked to take Ilahn as a mentor, replacing Sephie, believed dead, as heir to the Ministries of Meridian and Cadador.

Hearing that Sephie still lived, Ilahn traveled to the surface city of Akasia to retrieve her. He simultaneously staged a small invasion of Ring City, which was quashed by the populace. In Akasia, he learned that Sephie had fled. When Maraya, the Akasian Minister, attempted to hold Ilahn for ransom, he used his Sigil to destroy a large portion of the town and their ships.

He returned to Cadador, where the Muse introduced Ilahn to yet another mysterious ally - Rho Rhustane, one of the First, the gods of Crossgen's Sigilverse, in disguise. In exchange for his hospitality, Ilahn asked Rho Rhustane to take him to Elysia, the homeworld of the gods. At first, he refused, but Ilahn eventually convinced him otherwise; on Elysia, Illahn used the power of the Sigil to drain and absorb the power of many of the First.

Upon returning, he devised a plan to take over all of Demetria, beginning with more complete dominance of Meridian. He assigned Rho Rhustane to oversee Meridian, and Reesha to Cadador, so that he could travel and set into motion his schemes. He resumed an embargo he had set earlier on shipping ore to Torbel. This meant that the island city of Torbel would fall, due to an insufficient supply of floating ore. This was intended, on Ilahn's part, as a show of power to Sephie. Soon afterward, by manipulating Reesha and Rho Rhustane, he indirectly manipulated Sephie into returning to Meridian, thereby playing right into his hands.

In the ensuing battle, it appeared to the onlookers that Sephie killed Illahn, to the approval of all he had oppressed. She, however, saw him teleport himself away from certain doom, but is unable to convince anyone that she is not a killer.

He returned shortly afterwards, in secret, and a decade or two younger. No one knew of his return except Reesha, who he named his official heir to the Ministry of Cadador, ousting Sephie. Ilahn then sought to extend the powers available to him through the Sigil, obtaining a device that allows him to see long distances, and thus to be able to teleport to them. Gaining greater power through the Sigil, Ilahn traveled to other worlds, gathering Sigil-Bearers to help him take over Demetria.

Before he could complete his plan for world domination, Ilahn and the other Sigil-Bearers were spirited away by Danik, a mysterious orange-eyed figure, and one of the most powerful and important in the Sigilverse, to fight in the Negation War (comics).

As a result of Crossgen Comics going bankrupt, the Negation War storyarc was never completed; thus Ilahn's role in those events remains unknown.