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Few characters in Conan Exiles are quite as mysterious as Mek Kamoses. Starting as a religious teacher, his role and stature in the game have evolved massively over the past year. Do you still have questions about the serpentine sorcerer? Worry no more. Today, we are diving deep into the lore of Mek Kamoses.
TL;DR
After his imprisonment in The Exiled Lands by Thoth Amon, the slave bracelet blocked Mek’s sorcery. He lingered for years, plotting revenge against Thoth, unable to weave his arcane arts. Kurak and his cult arrived, bringing magic to The Exiled Lands, rousing the curiosity of Mek.
He sacrificed sorcerers and studied their blood to craft his tome of sorcery, bypassing the magic of the slave bracelet. He plotted a ritual to destroy the cursed walls of The Exiled Lands to free himself so that he may enact vengeance. This ritual required royal blood and the head of Kurak. The Exile killed Kurak and delivered his head to Mek Kamoses.
The ritual began, but just as the cursed walls were about to fall, Conan the Barbarian appeared after hearing the screams of the Princess. He ravaged the camp and decapitated Mek Kamoses, though strange sorcery would keep Mek alive.
If you’d like to experience this story in a visual format, this video from myself showcases how Mek’s story arc played out in-game.
Who’s Who?
To fully understand this story, knowing the key characters is vital. They have too much lore behind them to explore here, but below, you’ll find a brief description of the crucial individuals:
Mek Kamoses
A Stygian sorcerer and former member of The Black Ring.
Thoth Amon
Stygian sorcerer and creator of The Exiled Lands as a prison. After stealing the Serpent Ring of Set.
The Black Ring
A group of esteemed sorcerers found in the empire of Stygia
The Exile
A prisoner plays an important story role. Analogous for the player character
Kurak
A mysterious sorcerer who reintroduced magic to The Exiled Lands.
The Dark Man (Nyarlathotep)
The Messenger of the Gods, Nyarlathotep is a malevolent force working behind the scenes.
Conan the Barbarian
A Cimmerian barbarian travelling through The Exiled Lands. The main protagonist of the source material.
The Princess
A foreign princess of unknown origin. Taken for sacrifice in Mek’s ritual.
Warmaker Klael
Warmaker Klael is the unwitting catalyst for the events of this story. Klael is the final living Giant King and inadvertently told Thoth Amon where to find the Serpent Ring of Set.
Part 1: The Black Ring
Mek Kamoses was not always a prisoner. Years before his imprisonment, he served as a sorcerer of the Black Ring of Stygia, a conglomerate of powerful mages and sorcerers. Stygia is an empire with a deep and mystical connection to the arcane, and the Black Ring held heavy influence in Stygian society.
Amongst the group was another sorcerer, the young and ambitious Thoth Amon. While perhaps not as experienced as the others, Thoth Amon sought to seize whatever power he could and rise to the top within The Black Ring. He traveled far and wide across the world, eventually finding The Exiled Lands. He explored and discovered The Unnamed City, where Warmaker Klael remained in the ruins.
Thoth Amon spoke with the Warmaker and found it within the city upon hearing of the Serpent Ring of Set. He stole the ring, alongside the slave bracelets, and returned to Stygia with these artifacts. The Serpent Ring of Set is a powerful artifact, and his possession of it gave Thoth the prestige he sought, allowing him to rise through the ranks of the Black Ring. Thoth offered his services to King Cstephon of Stygia, using the ring and bracelets to create a prison in The Exiled Lands.
Mek Kamoses opposed the rise of Thoth Amon, though we don’t know why. Seeing Mek as an obstacle, Thoth used his political sway to banish Mek Kamoses from the Black Ring. Mek was imprisoned in The Exiled Lands, doomed to live out his life in the barren desert, unable to use his potent sorcery.
After being exiled, Mek Kamoses found little worth in his new home. He traversed the southern desert and eventually found rest beneath an enormous spire. Making this place his own, prisoners would come and go. Mek spoke of vengeance, yet all he could offer was teaching the ways of Set to his fellow exiles. Deprived of his sorcerous power, Mek could do little to grasp his salvation. He waited in limbo, angry and fuelled by a stoic hatred, waiting for fate to divine a path to salvation.
Part 2: Kurak’s Cult
Through those years of waiting, Mek had found no miracle to save him, yet a dark force was beginning to descend on The Exiled Lands.
Kurak, a powerful and mysterious sorcerer, arrived with his cult of arcane disciples. Sorcery began to spread through the land, subverting the magic of the slave bracelets and allowing prisoners to weave powers of illusion, necromancy, and more. This potent art caught the eye of Mek Kamoses. From his spire, he watched as men far weaker than himself wielded magic beyond comprehension. Despite his indignation, Mek had discovered a light in the darkness and endeavored to chase it.
Mek recruited the services of a group of Khitan mercenaries also imprisoned in The Exiled Lands. Through this coalition, Mek sought to research the powers of Kurak’s sorcerers, dead or alive. He tasked the Mercenaries with delivering these mages, deceased or captured, to the Khitan mercenaries in exchange for weapons, armor, and similar gifts. Mek used this bountiful harvest to gaze deeper into their power. His research was grim, and sorcerers divulged their secrets by mouth or by vein. Through each bloodletting, Mek’s knowledge grew until he found the power he sought in blood.
Mek began to scribe his tome of the arcane. He daubed the book in blood and crafted his arcane art, one he wielded with power and vengeance. Imbued with potent magic, Mek had finally regained his arcane might and could begin his plan of vengeance against the traitorous Thoth Amon. Before that, however, Mek would discover a deep evil lurking in the darkest reaches of this prison.
Part 3: The Crawling Chaos
To find the path forward and strengthen his newfound powers, Mek peered through the void, to see what drove the dark sorcerer Kurak. His intentions were veiled in mystery, yet through stoic divination, Mek would find a puppet master tugging at Kurak’s strings. Kurak was in communion with a dark figure, a man of terrible energy that Mek was incapable of reading.
While the new sorcerers served and worshipped Kurak, he was but a stooge, reverent of this dark man and his commands. The plot was revealed: this dark man sought to summon an immense doom, one that would swallow The Exiled Lands whole, leaving nothing in its wake.
Mek’s intentions were far from noble, he bore no love for these lands to which he was relegated. However, this impending doom would cast awry his plans, ensuring revenge would never be achieved. Mek was not an altruist, he cared little for the freedom of his fellow prisoners, but he certainly did not intend to die in these scorching sands.
He looked further through the void and discovered a catalyst. The Giant Kings, exterminated long ago by the Khari and Lemurians, were key to his freedom. Their bones fell ashen to the winds of time, but their mystical blood survived.
It ran in deep rivers beneath the earth, and beneath the will of an unknown force, had hardened into a crystal, animating the earth itself. With these blood crystals, Mek could bring forth a ritual to collapse the cursed walls and free himself from this prison.
Many prisoners would deliver blood crystals to Mek. However, the ritual required two key components. The first, is royal blood, a vital part of any powerful blood magic. The second was the head of Kurak himself, a double-edged sword that would grant Mek’s freedom, and crush the prospect of lingering doom the dark man brought forth.
A foreign princess was found amongst the sands, and captured by the Khitan mercenaries for the ritual. Mek offered the task of slaying Kurak to any prisoner with the will to do so, and The Exile accepted. He journeyed through the portal, humming with energy beneath the blood moon, and arrived within the Kurak’s lair. Therein, passing poison pits and emaciated corpses, Kurak screamed in arcane tongues to Nyarlathotep for freedom from his earthly chains.
The Exile entered Kurak’s cave, fighting off his hierophants with their arcane iron and vile necromancy. The endeavor was successful, and with his hierophants dead and the ritual broken, Kurak lay defenseless, corrupted to the bone, too weak to fight back.
The Exile emerged from the portal, adorned in cobwebs and rot, carrying the head of Kurak. In death, his true form was revealed beneath the hood, a scaled serpent face gazing empty to the void beyond. The Exile gave the head to Mek, and taking his rewards, disappeared into that blood-moon night.
Part 4: The Ritual, Interrupted
With the preparation complete, Mek could begin his ritual. The Princess was strapped down, screaming upon the altar. Kurak’s serpentine head sat next to her, and the blood crystals powered a great beam leaping skyward. Mek seized his ritual dagger and began to read his arcane communion beneath the eclipse, ready to finally grasp the freedom he sought. The Princess’s screams carried through the night, landing upon the ears of a wandering Cimmerian. Conan, drawn in by the arcane beam, answered the call. His hatred of sorcery ran deep, and Conan was prepared to stop whatever was taking place and save the unwitting participant.
Approaching Mek Kamoses’s Spire, Conan saw the beginnings of that terrible ritual. He sprinted in, sword in hand, endeavoring to prevent its fruition. Khitan Mercenaries attempted to stop him, but it was little use. Conan cut through them, others fleeing into the night from the hulking, steel-muscled Cimmerian. Braziers fell, and fire began to take the camp, burning the guard towers and spelling doom for even more of those Khitan Mercenaries.
His focus knocked, Mek stepped back, seeing that blood-drenched Cimmerian climbing the stairs to his pedestal. Mek attempted to resist, but Conan was far too fast. In a fell swoop, the blade swung, and Mek’s head fell loose from his shoulders, ending the ritual. Conan used the same blade to free The Princess, and carried her into the night, to find safety from the schemes of those terrible sorcerers.
Part 5: Life Eternal
As the blood eclipse settled over the horizon, the dust followed suit at Mek Kamoses’s Spire. The Khitan Mercenaries who escaped the massacre returned, finding their friends and leader slaughtered. Picking through the ashen remains, where the embers still glowed, they unveiled a surprising discovery amongst the ruin.
Mek Kamoses’s eyes opened, blinking around at the ruin. Despite a wound that would kill any man or beast, Mek survived. The Mercenaries placed the head into a wicker basket, and under his command, began to search for a new body. Mek Kamoses still resides at his ruined spire, flanked by his remaining mercenaries. He has few words to say, but those he speaks are typical of his stoic demeanor.
The loss of a body is a small matter for one who commands the obeisance of many other bodies. By and by, I shall bide my time, and by my so potent art, make myself whole again.
What does the future hold for Mek Kamoses? For now, as the Age of War rages on, he remains deprived of his body, immobile and helpless in his spire. His Khitan Mercenaries doubtless are searching for a way to restore him to his old body, or a new one. For now, though, it seems Mek is relegated to his wicker basket for the foreseeable future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Is Mek Kamoses a good guy?
Answer: Mek is much more of a grey character. He does good things, like stopping Nyarlathotep’s plot, but for his selfish gains. Mek also tortures sorcerers and is prepared to sacrifice an innocent woman, so he’s a bit more complex than good or bad.
Question: What happened to Nyarlathotep?
Answer: After Kurak’s death, Nyarlathotep fades from the narrative. Given that Nyarlathotep himself is a god, he’s likely far from finished with his plots and may return in the future.
Question: Where did Conan take The Princess?
Answer: The Princess and Conan are together in Waterside Tavern in Sepermeru. Conan is quiet as ever, but The Princess tells a brief story of her father giving her to Thoth Amon, who sent her to The Exiled Lands.
Question: How did Mek survive being beheaded?
Answer: It’s hard to say for certain, as I explored in this video. However, my main theory is that his connection to the magic of The Outer Dark kept him alive.
Conclusion
Though it may not yet be complete, the story of Mek Kamoses is compelling. It was the main narrative beat during The Age of Sorcery, and though we’re currently surviving through The Age of War, Mek’s story is far from over, and we’ll likely see more of him in the future. As always, don’t forget to stay tuned into ConanFanatics for all the Conan Exiles news, guides, and tips.
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