After spending his youth adventuring with his boyfriend and their companions, the mage Yzbihn dreads to see it was all folly. Rescuing people, ferreting out corruption and helping the little guy only seemed to reward society with even greater evil and darkness.

Then Yzbihn finally learned the answer.
The problem was never saving people.
People themselves were the problem.

Yzbihn's dark night of the soul saw him depart from his long-time lover and depart for places unknown seeking forbidden knowledge. As a mage he also learned the dark arts of necromancy as he began to unveil his master plan. When all was made final, Yzbihn completed the rite of lichdom and would lie dead for thirty years.

Upon being resurrected by his servants, he would rise as the Red Goat and unleash a whirlwind of terror in the land of Deadwood for over two centuries ushering in a new dark age. But to Yzbihn, he was saving people from themselves and their corrupt ways.