Twilight Isles – Who, What, and Where

   Here we have a list of the currently-active major characters – and parties – in the Twilight Isles campaign. It’s worth noting that NPC’s often get adopted as characters, and that some characters have dropped into the background, either because their players have found another character that they like more or because the player is no longer available.

   Aboard the Seasprite:

Currently in the harbor at Verdeiryr Isle.

   The current primary party includes Baron Ector, Synerlien, the Red Knights of Iskarin, and assorted tag-alongs and allies aboard the Seasprite. After all, once Fredronon managed to blow up half of Valear Island – and convert the rest of the place into a wilderness full of giant monsters – it was definitely time to leave.

• Baron Ector (Patrick): A human supervillain specializing in diplomacy and supernatural vocal powers, the Baron arrived in the Twilight Isles thanks to a slightly-bungled escape from some bothersome heroes. He wasted no time in stepping into the local leadership vacuum to seize command of the nearest strongpoint and band of potential adventurer-minions. Now that he’s finished building his terrible Dark Stronghold, arranged to once more begin recruiting faceless minions, and is leading his forces out to – well – steal whatever they can get their hands on. Baron Ector has been frustrated to find that the Twilight Isles tend to be so dark gray that it’s quite difficult for a villain to stand out, and is beginning to fear that he will have to create some heroes just for contrast.
• Synerlien (Derrick): This Shadow Elf Theurgist possesses remarkably flexible magical talents, and is fond of unleashing large numbers of stored spells all at once – a habit which puts him at constant risk of poisoning himself with his own power. Synerlien has participated in the Spike Wars intermittently, preferring to intervene only when his help is critical.

   The Red Knights of Iskarin are a small party of grandiosely-named shallow, greedy, mercenaries. They like treasure, glory, and popular acclaim – to which end they hire bards to praise them and seize on any cliched heroic quest that comes along. Such efforts rarely suffice to make up for the random disasters they cause, but they do try.

   Thanks to their foolish experimentation with the Rite of the Silver Key, they’ve been jumping the dimensions, adapting to each one as they go. Thanks to some ritualistic manipulations by Baron Ector, the Twilight Isles became their next stop… Upon their arrival in the Twilight Isles (where their new races have provided them with powers far above the norm, but where situations are often far more complicated than they’re used to) they fell in with Baron Ector – and have since helped him fight off a horde of undead, build a stronghold, obtain a ship, and have sailed off in it in search of glory and plunder.

   This sub-group includes:

• Hilsaryn Rollyn (Anthony): A minor witch and classically-styled thief, Hilsaryn has been having a hard time adjusting to his new abilities as an Ikam – such as the inability to lie to people.
• Temorath Marbane (Zeke): A reasonably formidable Runemaster as a human, Temorath has found that the impressive physical capabilities of his new, Veltine, body have considerably improved both his durability and his gesture-based magic. Still, he’s finding adjusting to being a werewolf-creature a bit awkward.
• Serrulan (Eric): The most truly “heroic” amongst the Red Knights, Serrulan is an Archer and Wilds-Ranger. His new talents as an air-affinity Thunder Dwarf have simply added to his skills – and have proven unusually easy to adapt to.
• Obian Bloodwrath (Available): A Shadow Elf “Barbarian”, Obian possesses impressive speed, is capable of pulling off the occasional quite fantastic stunt, and goes into impressive berserker rages when he loses his temper.

   Secondary Characters (All Available – although only a few are really adventurous)

• Salen Khrydon: An older Shadow Elf, and a skilled ritual magician. Salen has relatively little immediate power – although he can prepare some triggered rituals – but is capable of some quite impressive feats given time and ingredients. He has a quarrel with Tarlin, who sacrificed one of his sons to demonic powers out of pique, but currently believes that Tarlin is dead.
• Averisin “Ragnar” Gynt-Haaken: An elderly Shadow Elf Priest with some fairly formidable positive-energy and magical powers, Ragnar doesn’t get the respect that a Shadow Elf of his power level would normally get. That’s because he’s a priest of Anok-Mithan the Stormwalker – the local equivalent of Godzilla – and almost everyone he meets considers him blatantly crazy.
• Guard Commander Issian: Another older Shadow Elf, Issian is a reasonably skilled commander, capable of drilling new recruits, getting the best out of his troops in battle, and bringing most of them through a fight alive.
• Rovorath Brecnasti: A youthful Shadow Elf master of Unseen Servants, who can give them the ability to attack (if not very effectively) and to perform complex labors. Thanks to a bit of ritual circle-amplification by Salen, Rovorath is currently providing most of the “Crew” for the Seasprite. Fortunately, he’s given up on attempts to assassinate the party.
• Jerin Elithine Trochar: An adolescent Shadow Elf with the sport ability to concentrate and extract magical essences via a lengthy ritual. Currently somewhat rich, thanks to the parties tendency to vastly overpay for anything that’s really really destructive and his ability to provide such things.
• Auros Lychian: A Shadow Elf youngster with the ability to create an unending supply of Floating Discs, allowing him to transport lots of stuff, create a spontaneous dock, and provide extra floatation.
• Lirilith Orsier: A “teenage” Shadow Elf girl with the ability to duplicate cantrips and first level spell effects that are being cast within arms reach. She’s rather over-greedy and over-opportunistic (especially during times of war), and is currently serving a term of “community service” – although, since that was supposedly under Fredronon, who has now vanished, her status is rather in doubt.
• Varkishnar: A middle-aged Shadow Elf. An expert tracker and scout with a talent for laying various charms on arrows, a taciturn conversational style, and an extremely pragmatic nature.
• Odian Sylaris: An expert in chaining cantrips to produce higher-level effects, Odian tends to be a scholar (with enhanced knowledges) and is especially good at abjuration effects.

   The group is also accompanied by:

• About thirty Shadow Elf slaves, including eight kids who might have some potential.
• Semed Em Semerkhet Ankh: A prehistoric, once-human, mummy lord in search of his lost kingdom of “Mulharond” and the souls of his people. Semed currently believes that both are to be found above the Jav-Sabok, and is attempting to organize an expedition there. Personally, he’s a formidable master of Dominion and Mystic Architecture, as well as a competent Spirit-Mage.
• Velrathos Offyrdyn: Once a semi-piratical explorer who was obsessed with discovering new places, new lands, and new magics, now a six-hundred year old Shadow Elf Lich. Velrathos is a bit (OK, far more than a “bit”) obsessed with occult research, but has agreed to be the Seasprite’s Sailing Master as long as he gets to share in any new magical discoveries made along the way, to perform his own research, and continues to get updated on the various magical discoveries that have been made since his death.
• An assortment of hostile Giant Spiders, who have been brought along because Giant Spider Silk is valuable. Unfortunately, they’re extremely stupid, and both lay lots of eggs and forget all about the fact that the characters are feeding them between meals.
• “Rhodan”: Once a simple hawk-familiar belonging to Fredronon, “Rhodan” was infused with vast amounts of positive and magical energy during Fredronon’s Catastrophe. Now far too powerful to be a familiar, he’s free – and of colossal size. Baron Ector persuaded him to give the group a lift to safety after the destruction of Valear Island, but his influence over the creature is somewhat limited.

　In Port Valear:

   The original party was assigned to protect Valear Isle and it’s population from an army of undead. To do so, they gathered most of the local population in Port Valear, the island’s largest town. For good or ill, after a good many back-and-forth gambits, Fredronon the Conjurer accidently imported a dimensional entity that encased the town in a private pocket dimension – which promptly sank into the ground (and the magma below) until it ran into the magical wards some two hundred miles “down” – leaving most of the surviving population and several characters trapped, even if it is in a benign pocket realm. Fredronon’s familiar is, however, currently attempting to at least get the place back to the surface.

• Vehn Rageclaw (Patrick): An eccentric Veltine mystical “inventor” and organizer, Vehn has currently taken command of the remaining population of Port Valear. For reasons as yet unknown, Vehn regards himself as Fredronon’s brother. Most of the players regard it as sort of sad when the ravening werewolf-creature is the calm, rational, and organized one in a town full of Elves.
• Rudra Mogzul (Available, since Margaret has moved to Chicago): A Thunder Dwarf with a Water affinity and formidable defensive powers, Rudra played a major supporting role in the early days of the Spike War. Since then, she’s been somewhat less active, since she’s been focusing on teaching Peregrine to be a person, rather than a pet.
• Ahriman (Available): An earth-affinity Thunder Dwarf with the ability to generate magical auras that enhance himself and his allies, Ahriman played a modest role in the early days of the Spike War, but soon found that his abilities almost always cast him in a defensive role, working with the militia to enhance them and generate fortifications for them to fight from.
• Ysmir Gynt-Haaken (Zeke, now Available): A Shadow Elf scout-sniper (using his innate flame powers), Ysmir rapidly became known for his obsession with explosives and remarkable knack for self-destruction. In his initial outing he managed to get himself transformed into a giant, magic-resistant, armor-plated snake that breathed blasts of negative energy. When recovered from that, he continued to blow himself up until he was finally encouraged to take a Familiar with the ability to recall him. Unfortunately he also developed the ability to get utterly improbably weapons to work, and then went quite mad. He’s currently in dream-therapy, and likely to reawaken considerably changed.
• Peregrine (Follower, now Available): A young Veltine who was unfortunate enough to be born in canine form, Peregrine was raised as a guard animal – and eventually sold to Rudra, who had no idea what she was actually buying. With training, Peregrine has learned to shapeshift properly, and has become considerably more independent. As might be expected, he’s a formidable expert in unarmed combat with his natural weapons, but really no good at all at anything else.
• Sovath S’stam (Follower, now Available): An Ikam Sovath currently in the service of Rudra as a bodyguard. He’s good at both physical and magical defense, but isn’t much for offense as of yet.
• Sovath I’kerin (Eric, now Available): An Ikam Sovath Psychic Healer specialist, who was assigned to Port Valear for reason’s as yet unrevealed.
• Sidhthil Maranchir Fanachfaid (Anthony): A young Shadow Elf who wanted power without actually working for it, Sidhthil managed to become Fredronon’s Familiar – and so got a great deal of power without working for it. Currently he’s anchoring Fredronon so that he can still reach Port Valear and working on raising the town back towards the surface.
• Lia (“Gamera”) : Originally Fredronon’s sea-turtle Familiar, now a gigantic creature with vast flame and positive energy powers. Fortunately, fairly benign.

   On Kyrshae Isle:

   In trying to arrange a way out of Port Valear, Fredronon has managed to establish a link – through his Familiars – with Kyrshae Isle, even if he isn’t exactly welcome there.

• Fredronon Cadeyriliour Lahanar (Anthony): A Shadow Elf Conjuration Specialist, Fredronon has access to far moremagical power than he can properly control, a reckless streak, and – fortunately (at least for him) – the ability to return from death as long as it’s self-inflicted. So far, in one way or another, he’s needed to use that ability quite a lot. Fredronon’s been responsible for quite a streak of disasters, and – currently – is grimly contemplating the possibility that he may have set the end of civilization into motion.
• Kristin Stanwell (Zeke): A dimensional wanderer, Kristin is, technically, a Primordial Elemental rather than a “human” (regardless of what she thinks), thanks to her time in Atheria (a realm of pure magic, too close to the center of creation for conventional matter to exist). Kristin has been a visitor in quite a few realms, but may shortly have a closer bond with the Twilight Isles than with any other dimension she’s visited so far, since she’s currently carrying Veltine twins by Peregrine.
• Vensiren Balinest (Eric): Fredronon’s second – and unintentional – Shadow Elf Child-Familiar, Vensiren is currently acting as the other end of the link that allows Fredronon to visit Port Velear – and is greatly enjoying experimenting with her impressive new powers. Unfortunately, she’s even more reckless than Fredronon is…

   In Other Locations:

• Tarlin “Magma” Malority (Eric). Currently on what’s left of Valear Island, Tarlin was originally a Thunder Dwarf with a death affinity. Having managed to split his soul in two, becoming a demon, an undead, and a possessed undead, in short order, Tarlin was caught in Fredronon’s Disaster and managed to survive by merging himself with the energy wave. This resulted in him being reborn as a magma elemental. Originally he was an assassin-priest of Haerun, currently he’s not so good at being subtle any longer – so he’s dedicated himself to constructing a mighty (if very well hidden) temple to his god.
• Kesara Galano (Available): A Shadow Elf who channels a bit of the essence of an otherworldly dragon, Kesara is immensely tough, very dangerous in melee, and commands the magics of light and positive energy, albeit at relatively low level. Currently, however, she’s somewhere out at sea in her private yacht crewed by her selection of awakened, anthropomorphic, crocodiles.
• Ishinomorel Elthik (Available): A Shadow Elf Totemist/Transmutor who dabbles in Archery, Ishinomorel usually acts as a scout. He was last seen shortly before the destruction of Valear Isle, departing on a survey of the nearby islets looking for signs of renewed undead incursions. At the moment, he’s feared dead.
• Tristan Galanodel (Available): A Shadow Elf Mystical Pirate with an immense variety of skills to call upon, Tristan was being pursued by those of his crew who hadn’t escaped being turned into undead aboard a ghostly ship. He was last seen attempting to lead the entire precession into a trap, but never returned. Also feared dead.