Solveigalyn
Solveigalyn of House Danalian, 4th level chaotic good female gold elf fighter, born in 774 After Mandador (A.M.) at Elfhome in Dantareth (current year is 888)
Contents
Background
Solveigalyn is the daughter of Assadrin of Elfhome, the last priest of Miorka, the ancient elven god of metalworking. Her mother is Solvera, youngest daughter of Sovayne, the eldest elf of Elfhome, and brother to Captain Yesterii, a warrior amongst the armies of men of Dantareth. Solvera, Yesterii and his father Sovayne are the last direct-descent nobles of Elfhome, which makes Solveigalyn a member of the noble house of Danalian. Solvegalyn is a high elf, or gold elf as some prefer, a descendant of Kallathay, and her people are the inheritors of the legacy of the Council of Ranriel, the last great nation of the elves before their banishment by the god Mandador over 500 years ago.
Although young for an elf, Solveigalyn is old enough to remember the old barons of Dantareth, and will remember men in armor and battles, which she would have watched from a distance, having not been permitted to involve herself in the affairs of Men. She will also remember the golden years of Elfhome before yet more human wars took away so many lives. Her very long childhood would have been influenced by the craft, faith and wisdom of her father, the rustic virtue of her latter-day elf brethren, and the beauty of the golden oaks and apple orchards of one of the last homes of the gold elves.
Solveigalyn's native community of Elfhome would have always been understood by her to be one of the final refuges of the Kallathay elves (gold elves). Located in the remote and wild barony of Dantareth, it was set away from the great kingdoms of men, and was protected by one of the last gods of the elves, the god of the hearth, known as Kalyent, whose protection would have sheltered Solveigalyn and her few remaining people from the woes without.
Elfhome When Solveigalyn Reaches Maturity
In the early 880s, the long isolation of Elfhome was interrupted by the appearance of a great outside power in the form of an evil god named Ordos, and his minions amongst goblins, orcs, trolls, giants, men and the evil drow elves. Amidst this looming threat appeared a party of human heroes. Calling themselves the Ceruleans, they came at the head of a small army of men, and included in their number two women, Elatie and Sanyo. The first serious and the epitome of martial virtue, and the second wild, disheveled and impetuous, they were both young, beautiful and powerful, and gained the respect of the wisest of the elves. These two women, named Elatie and Sanyo respectively, as well as the other Ceruleans, likely would have made a strong impression upon Solveigalyn (see Elatie under Ktandeo).
As is the way with the affairs of humanity, the Ceruleans came and went. For several years the Ceruleans protected Elfhome from evils that would have otherwise surely overwhelmed the elves, and for this some of the most powerful weapons and magical treasures of the elves were given to the Ceruleans. In the end, the youthful elves joined the Ceruleans, and the evil god was defeated, but not before the cream of the elven youth had been lost to war, with almost every one of the Ceruleans paying for their victory with their lives.
Solveigalyn's youth protected her from this cold war against Ordos, but alas many of her childhood friends had either died or in the aftermath remained wrapped up in the human world. She likely also would have felt repressed, for although some of the younger male elves were also kept from joining the Cerulean's army, Solveigalyn would know that she was discouraged by many to even be tempted to join, for the elves were already few in number, and many in Elfhome were very reluctant to let their women take up arms.
Solveigalyn Takes Up the Sword
With the war against Ordos at an end by 886, and with the immediate threat to Elfhome averted, Solveigalyn became involved in a movement with the youngest of elves of Elfhome to get a taste of the heroics that many of their elders had so recently experienced. Solveigalyn became the only female member of a group of young elves who were seeking the mysterious hidden elven community of New Len.
Although her mother worked hard to prevent her from leaving Elfhome, pushing her relatives to pressure Solveigalyn to stay, her famous father Assadrin the Priest of the Craftsman God secretly allowed her to leave. Crafting for her the immodest armor that her youth preferred, and providing for her a magical sword he had earned in his own early adventures, he bid farewell to her with the final gift of a beautiful golden amulet that he himself had been wearing for centuries, insisting that it would protect her.
Solveigalyn traveled all with young elves. Two rangers, Lennesfore and Ducallion, led the party. Her young friend, one of the last mages of Elfhome and Solveigalyn's would-be suitor Mythos accompanied them, as did a young acolyte-priest of Kalyent named Danthur. They indeed reached New Len after several adventures, passing through the human city of old Len, which had been embroiled in war. At New Len, hidden away in the forests, they met the secret lord of the high elves there, a young ranger named Ystiai. They eventually returned home with gifts and some treasures, and thus helped cement a relationship between New Len and Elfhome, as the two elven communities had long been without communication or friendship.
Later, in 887, Solveigalyn and her companions traveled to the land of Zlin to the west of Dantareth, and there met surviving clusters of the wood elves. With her ranger friends set on helping the prince of New Len form the elves into a loose but secret league, Solveigalyn explored ancient ruins and drove out a fledgeling black dragon, but not before receiving a nasty burn from the beast's acid breath weapon, which badly scarred her left leg, and remains even until the present.
In 888, Solveigalyn, Mythos and Lennesfore traveled yet even further west to the Quadrain and the Osholan Forest, and more precisely to Manlen Grove, which Solveigalyn has learned is the seat of the last circle of druids in this part of the world, as well as it is the home of a powerful community of faerie folk and forest elves. The forest elves were welcoming, and there Solveigalyn met the Rangers of Manlen Grove, an order dedicated to its protection, along with other elf heroes. Helping Mythos search for lost and powerful magic beyond the southern boundary of the great Osholan Forest, Solveigalyn and her friends met a strange, secretive but peaceful race of farming orcs (a must unusual thing). Quickly learning that these peace-loving orcs were threatened with various evils from a nearby civilization of corrupt halflings, they went about aiding these orcs, who called themselves Ondonti, and adventured around some of the strange ruins that dotted their lands.
Returning to Manlen Grove after several months of being away, Solveigalyn learned of the forest elves' consternation at the sudden military defeat of allied human armies and the appearance of an Encyclonian knight in the lands of southern Quadrain and the Osholoan Forest. This great black knight from a foreign human land was demanding ten knightly challengers, and should they all be defeated at the lists in jousting, the elves and the Rangers of the Grove would be compelled to show the knight the location to a secret but very powerful magical sword this Encyclonian knight obviously coveted.
Solveigalyn's Most Recent Actions and Motivations
With elven peoples, lands and interests once again threatened by humanity, Solveigalyn may feel motivated to be one of the challengers to this black knight, the Encyclonian count named Solonochos. Without a knighthood, Solveigalyn has rode on her own back to New Len, where she would try and wrangle from Prince Ystiai a knighthood so that Solonochos would deign to fight her. During her absence, since she lacked suitable armor for a dangerous joust, she would have commissioned from local humans full plate mail to fit her lithe and elfin female form. This would have been at the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, a religious outpost and feudatory strong place outside of which Count Solonochos was encamped, and whereat the jousting tournaments were to be held. Leaving the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, she returned there from New Len after nearly a month. There she found that the Count had gone, and that the central keep of bailiwick had been devastated. She would have learned from survivors amongst the villagers that evil had come, that a green dragon had attacked the bailiwick and its bailiff, and that if the region was to be spared of evil, it would rest with the slaying of this green dragon and his wizardly master. Solveigalyn would also have learned about the The Dawnbreakers from the villagers and survivors. With her heavy armor and her steed's barding plate mail still not finished despite a rush order, Solveigalyn elected to wait and deal with the black knight after first aiding in the slaying of the green dragon in question. With her elf friends still far away dealing with the issues of the Ondonti orcs, Solveigalyn rides alone to the decaying citadel under which the dragon is said to lair...
Physical Description and Personality
Magical Items and Key Equipment
- long sword +1/+2 versus magic-using creatures (paternal gift): a pure mythril sword of great value. It's hilt is wrapped in gold. It was made specifically for Solveigalyn by her father.
- golden amulet of protection +3 (paternal gift): this amulet is dedicated of the Craftsman of the Elves. The god Miorka is depicted at his forest forge, with the Five Shields of the elven deities warding the bearer of the amulet from attack.
- well-crafted female-formed light chest plate, wristguards, elbow guards, greaves, should guards and girdle (in total, this ensemble grants AC 5) (paternal gift)
- cloak of elvenkind
- very expensive stallion heavy war horse
- full plate mail and barding is being rush ordered for her at the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane.
