Editing Sheltem

{{CharacterInfobox
|image = Sheltem.png
|caption = 
|race = [[Android]]
|gender = Masculine
|world = [[Terra]]
|status = Destroyed (as of the [[Unification Ceremony]])
|death = 850 [[Xeen calendar]] (~ 1100s [[AS]])
|occupation =  [[Guardian]] of Terra<br/>Ruler of [[Castle Alamar (VARN-4)]]<br/>Ruler of [[Castle Alamar (Xeen)]]
|affiliation = The [[Ancients]]<br/>Castle Alamar (VARN 4)<br/>Castle Alamar (Xeen)
|aliases =Sheltem the Dark<br/>The Omnipotent [[Alamar (VARN-4)|King Alamar]]<br/>The Imposter<br/>Nemesis of the Ancients<br/>The Supreme Law of Terra<br/>Imposter XX21A7-3<br/>Alamar<br/>Alamar the Benevolent
|introduced = Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
|appearances = {{Icon-MM1}}{{Icon-MM2}}{{Icon-MM3}}{{Icon-MM4}}{{Icon-MM5}}
|mentioned = {{Icon-Swords}}{{Icon-MM7}}
|class = [[Pyromancer (H6)|Pyromancer]]}}
{{Quote|I am Sheltem, Guardian of Terra. Twice now you have defeated my tests, thinking yourself worthy of invading my world. Walk carefully then through this third challenge, and take heed your final decision is truly what you desire - for the course of destiny cannot be turned once set in motion...|Sheltem|Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra}}

'''Sheltem the Dark''' (''{{tooltip|legacy official bio|Sheltem was a Guardian, an android created by the mysterious Ancients to rule over the world of Terra. However Sheltem started to resent the Ancients’ interference with his mission. Sheltem was finally taken into custody by another Guardian, Corak, because of his erratic behavior. Sheltem escaped and left a trail of deceit and destruction over several different worlds on his way back to Terra. Sheltem’s rampage was finally brought to an end by Corak, who sacrificed himself to destroy the mad Guardian.}}'') is an android who acted as the main antagonist throughout the series from ''[[Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum]]'' up until ''[[Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen]]''. He was a '''S.H.E.L.T.E.M. unit''' [[Guardian]] who was designed by the [[Ancients]] to act as the overseer and ''"Supreme Law"'' of the seeded world of [[Terra]], but poorly-implemented directives and logical faculties caused him to turn renegade: resolutely convinced that the Ancients were working against his goal to protect Terra, he launched an interplanetary campaign against his creators, driving worlds into their suns and disrupting the destinies of numerous projects.

Sheltem's corruption became a force to be reckoned with when his counterpart, [[Corak]], was dispatched to deactivate and retrieve him once the Ancients learned Sheltem had been engaging in ''"experiments in self-sufficiency"''. He outmaneuvered the Ancients' agents, escaped to [[VARN-4]] and, armed with newfound heurism and emotion, masqueraded at the formerly-benevolent King '''[[Alamar (VARN-4)|Alamar]]''' for several years. Upon being unmasked, Sheltem fled VARN 4, and battled Corak on three successive worlds. His zealous plots in the name of Terra's defence would set the stage for the quandaries depicted in all of the series' early installments.

The malfunctioning Guardian's rebellion came to a head on the world of [[Xeen]], when Corak, assisted by the [[dragon pharaoh]] and [[Defenders of Xeen|a band of native adventurers]], successfully apprehended and cornered Sheltem in [[Castle Alamar (Xeen)|Castle Alamar]]. Their duel ended in a stalemate, and Corak was required to sacrifice himself to destroy his nemesis, thereby bringing the interstellar crisis to a bittersweet close. In spite of his destruction, Sheltem's actions had left a profound impact on the Ancients' colonies, and his name continued to be invoked long after his downfall.

==Biography==
{{Text|Sheltem is a [[Guardian]], an android created by the mysterious [[Ancients]] to rule over the world of [[Terra]]. However Sheltem started to resent the Ancients’ interference with his mission. Because of Sheltem’s erratic behaviour, he was taken into custody by another Guardian, [[Corak]]. Sheltem escaped and left a trail of deceit and destruction over several different worlds on his way back to Terra. Sheltem is ruthless and tyrannical, and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even if it means destroying whole planets.}}

Sheltem first makes his appearance on [[VARN]] as the escaped prisoner of 'aliens,' when he escapes the capture of [[Corak]]. When he is caught by the heroes to be impersonating the King and is pursued by Corak, he makes his escape through 'gates to another world' to [[CRON]] (''Central Research Observational Nacelle'').

Sheltem escaped by a magic portal and has landed on CRON. Sheltem has driven it off of its course and hurls it toward the sun. While the heroes are trying to stop CRON from being destroyed, Sheltem escapes again.

Sheltem has escaped to the planet [[Terra]], where he landed with six biospheres from the space station. Parts of those biosphere become to be known as the [[Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra|Isles of Terra]].<ref>Chapman, Ted - ''Might and Magic VI: Mandate of Heaven Official Strategy Guide'',  Czech edition, 1998, Prima Publishing & Stuare s.r.o., ISBN: 80-238-2672-7</ref> But the heroes find out what he's doing behind the scenes and they drive him off course. Sheltem escapes (again) in a space shuttle and Corak goes after Sheltem in another shuttle. Our eight adventurers take a third shuttle and follow Corak and Sheltem. Sheltem safely landed on [[Xeen]] (''Xylonite Experimental Environment Nacelle''), but Corak does not appear to land as safely. The heroes never land, and are 'never seen again,' reappearing in [[Might and Magic VII]].

''Log Entry XLDBA: The X.E.E.N. project looms ahead. All three ships will crash into it tomorrow. My stasis generator will protect me and my ship from the impact. Mostly. May the Gods smile upon me.''

''Log Entry XLDBB: Impact complete. Stasis passed in the blink of an eye. My sensors indicate that the main ship passed through the atmosphere of the other side of the world and burned up, but not before safely beaming the Terran natives to the surface. Corak's escape pod landed in lava and is stuck there. How sad.''

A new party of adventurers is formed with a vision of peace to defeat a new undead calling himself [[Lord Xeen]], dwelling in the Clouds of [[Xeen]], a world in Xeen's sky. When the heroes defeat him, we see a vision from Sheltem saying "You have defeated my general, Lord Xeen, but the Darkside will always be mine. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

Sheltem is again masquerading as [[Alamar (VARN-4)|Alamar]] (an interesting sentimentality on his part as the people of XEEN had no idea who the real Alamar was) and is still driving biospheres into their suns. The [[Dragon pharaoh|Dragon Pharaoh]] summons the heroes, and they have to perform many tasks to set things with the planets right again. The adventurers find Corak's shuttle, in which they find a [[Soul Box]]. With this device, they can smuggle [[Corak]]'s essence into Sheltem's castle without Sheltem knowing. When the heroes get there, they release Corak, and the two confront each other. Sheltem has grown much bigger and stronger over time, and it seems that Sheltem will win. But Corak grabs Sheltem and activates his self-destruct mechanism, destroying them both. This ends the original Might and Magic storyline.

Might and Magic VII manages to combine Might and Magic V and VI, which had completely different storylines. The eight heroes that were lost in the void from [[Might and Magic III]] make a reappearace and undergo a schism; four of the heroes are looking to rebuild the heavenly forge from the time of the [[Ancients]] in order to take over the world, and the other four are looking to rebuild the portal that will reconnect them with the Ancients, post-dating the [[Silence]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
DevilMM2.png|Sheltem in ''Might and Magic II''
MM5Sheltem.png|Sheltem, in ''Might and Magic V''
HeroSheltemMM5.png|Sheltem's icon in ''Might and Magic V''
Sheltem.jpg|Sheltem, in ''Heroes VI''
HeroSheltemVI.png|Sheltem's icon in ''Heroes VI''
</gallery>


==Trivia==
*Sheltem was one of twelve of the ''Might and Magic'' series' most prominent characters honoured in the first volume of Ubisoft's ''Might & Magic Chronicles'', which are displayed on the ''[[Might & Magic: Heroes VI]]'' official website to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the series. He is one of four characters who was classified as a villain, alongside [[Archibald Ironfist]], [[Sandro (Enroth)|Sandro]] and [[Mutare|Mutare Drake]].<ref name="MMChronicles">[http://might-and-magic.ubi.com/heroes-6/en-GB/news/details_chronicles.aspx?c=tcm:21-11489&ct=tcm:6-231-32 Chronicles Vol.1 - Legendary Heroes from Might&Magic!] at the official ''Might & Magic: Heroes VI'' website]</ref>

==Appearances==
*{{Icon-MM1}} ''[[Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum]]''
*{{Icon-MM2}} ''[[Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World]]''
*{{Icon-H2}} ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars]]'' (mentioned only)
*{{Icon-MM3}} ''[[Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra]]''
*{{Icon-MM4}} ''[[Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen]]''
*{{Icon-MM5}} ''[[Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen]]''
*{{Icon-WoX}} ''[[World of Xeen|Might and Magic: World of Xeen]]'' (mentioned only)
*{{Icon-MM7}} ''[[Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor]]'' (mentioned only)
*{{Icon-Swords}} ''[[Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen]]'' (mentioned only)

==Sources==
{{reflist}}
{{Succession
|before = Unknown
|title = Guardian of [[Terra]]
|current = Sheltem the Dark
|years = ?- ~500 [[Terra calendar]]
|after = [[Corak|Corak the Mysterious]]/None<br/>Never assumed position
}}
{{Succession
|before = King [[Alamar (VARN-4)|Alamar]]<br/>
|title = Ruler of [[Castle Alamar (VARN-4)|Castle Alamar]]
|current = The Imposter<br/>~ Four years, [[VARN calendar]]
|years = 
|after = King [[Alamar (VARN-4)|Alamar]]
}}
{{Succession
|before = [[Dragon pharaoh]]<br/>?-850 [[Xeen calendar]]
|title = Ruler of the [[Darkside of Xeen]]
|current = Sheltem the Dark/Alamar
|years = 850 [[Xeen calendar]]
|after = [[Dragon pharaoh]]<br/>~ 850-? [[Xeen calendar]]
}}
{{MM15char}}
[[Category:Might and Magic I characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic II characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic III characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic IV characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic V characters]]
[[Category:Swords of Xeen characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic VII characters]]
[[Category:Might and Magic II unique monsters]]