Still waitin' for some adventure 'round here . . .
Yeah, Omrob, you can tell my wife! She has given me so much and is a very loving spouse. Still, she has yet to produce a horde of orcs to over run our neighborhood, nor an epic CR monster for me to go one on one with. So, till then, . . . I remain horny for adventure.
Everyone's characters look cool and I can't wait to meet y'all on the boards. Here is some background on Lester (aka Angel of Adventure, or the "L") and a place that we are likely to encounter together - The Temple of Elemental Good!
The Temple of Elemental Good – A 5-Part History
as recounted by Gallagio - Court Bard of the Temple of Elemental Good
I. Elementalism and the Origins of Lester
The Oceans of Cydra are home to many interesting, beguiling, and unknownable religions. Of these religions, none is more alien in nature than that of Elementalism. The religion boasts no patron deity or even demi-god. In fact, the strange and obscure powers encompassing each element, and to lesser extent para/quasi-element, do not care at all for their worshippers. In fact, their interests are so far removed from those of mortal Cydrans that they do not even bother to notice when their powers are invoked. The Elements are eternal, uncaring, and without ethics or morals.
Lester the Elementalist, who would one day rise to great heights of Elemental power, began his life on Strogass – aka the Dark Continent. He was raised by relatives within the Church of the Elements and was forced to witness brutality after brutality in his youth, either by word of Imperial Law or at the hands of morally disinclined Elementalists from his own church. Yet, Lester was never swayed to the darker side of morality. He always had a live-and-let-live attitude, and took no pleasure in invoking the elements for purely ignoble purposes. “The Elements may be distant and uncaring,” he would tell his fellow Elementalists, “but we need not be. Live your life, love others and Elements as best you can, and do not strike others who would not strike at you.”
Unfortunately, this touchy-feely attitude was not a popular philosophy on the Dark Continent, and Lester was forced to leave on a journey that has never ended . . .
II. Lester & Co. vs. the Temple of Elemental Evil
If your deity gave you some of the most powerful magic on all of Cydra and did not care what you did with it, what would you do? Well, if you were morally bankrupt, easily swayed by demonic powers, and an Elementalist, you would probably erect a mighty temple in veneration of your corrupted ways. After careful consideration, you would give it a name that would forever taint the name of Elementalists everywhere – The Temple of Elemental Evil!!!
Lester and his friends came upon the ToEE while doing something Lester is extremely passionate about – Adventuring! It was around this time that he first met his good friends Dexter (yes, Dexter the God – son of Galador) and (soon-to-be God King) Malford the Magnificent. Their trials in the ToEE were very difficult and eventually shaped Lester into the creature he is today.
Lester’s main issues with the ToEE were two-fold. First, the Elements are the purest building blocks of all reality. While they did not care to impose morality upon their followers, Lester was positive that they would not want to be mixed up with something as debased as a powerful demonic influence. Second, why choose evil when your underlying religion fosters an inherent neutrality? Something had to be done to spin the negative image of Elementalism back into a more positive light. Thus, Lester began formulating the beginnings of the Temple of Elemental Good as a philosophical and spiritual counterpoint to the Temple of Elemental Evil. He even donned the moniker of The “L”, short for The Elementalist, to hold himself out as the founding-father of a new school of Elementalism.
Lester established his original church with the friendly confines of Var, then Baron Malford’s city. Var always had a very open attitude towards religion and no one took much notice of another shrine. However, the seed was planted and would bear fruit once the Temple of Elemental Evil was destroyed (and over 100 years passed).
The ToEE did eventually meet its downfall in two stages. First, after much adventuring and cleansing, an adventuring party comprised of the greatest heroes and villains in all of Var cast out Zuggtamoy, the evil demoness of Fungi, who once commanded the worshippers of the ToEE. Second, the unstable elemental nodes within the temple were collapsed by Lester and company at a later date to begin a reaction that pushed our heroes back in time to save Nature itself from the darkness of Tharizdun. (That is another very lengthy story and, yes, it is commonly known that Lester is the person who pulled the Lever that unlocked Tharizdun’s most powerful Angel of the Apocalypse - Fulgin. . . but he also eventually saved Nature and established a permanent reality for all, so that makes him about even from a Karmic perspective.)
III. The L’s Return to Cydra
Our heroes did not return to Cydra for over 100 years after collapsing the Elemental Nodes. Once back, they wasted little time eliminating Fulgin, the foremost puppet of Tharizdun, who had ravaged the city of Var and destroyed, among other things, the original Temple of Elemental Good. Such an act was consistent with his ruling motto: “If it’s not Evil, destroy it!”
When freed from Fulgin’s evil grasped, Malford claimed rule of the entire continent of Dorhaus. He based his throne in the remains of Var and immediately began to rebuild the fallen city. He graciously allowed Lester to rebuild the Temple of Elemental Good and, freed of Fulgin and the shadow of the ToEE, followers and pilgrims gradually trickled in. Lester continued to supervise them in a very laid-back fashion, content to let them be so long as they helped with general Temple matters and stayed out of trouble with the citizens of Var.
The L, though of legendary repute and personality, could not find a way to stay out of trouble. The adventurer in him longed to move on, test boundaries, and evade the law for as long as possible whenever he ran afoul of it. He traveled far and wide, leaving his church for years at a time to help Malford restore the continent and establish his kingdom. Eventually, he was imprisoned for an extensive amount of time for a deal gone wrong in the Delphenatie, an island of powerful mages and other spell casters. Then, after several unfortunate and embarrassing incidents, King Malford asked Lester to leave (or, banished him, depending on your interpretation) for a period of no less than 10 years. While his reputation and Malford’s open religion policy fostered a gradual growth, the Temple of Elemental Good’s progress was most definitely stunted during the L’s absence.
IV. The L returns to Var
Lester did see the shores of Dorhaus for over 15 years. When he did return, he brought with him his good friend and constant companion Orbius Visionary, better known as The Eye.* Through shrewd diplomacy and a hefty donation to the royal coffers, he and God-King Malford made amends. A visit to the Temple of Elemental Good revealed a remarkable sight – it was thriving! During his travels, Lester made numerous friends and converts, the most notably Anvar the Paramentalist. While Anvar and his other apprentices were not at the Temple of Elemental Good, many others had arrived and greeted their missing leader with open arms.
Everything seemed peaceful and good, which Lester could not tolerate for long. He needed adventure, excitement, and danger. After an extended stay at the Temple of Elemental Good, he and The Eye left for the exotic country of Pesh.** Many adventures followed, and the two were eventually brought back to Var to face yet another challenge from the rival Temple of Elemental Evil.
Felenga, arch Lich of Tharizdun and Angel of the Apocalypse , had awoken when the ToEE summoned all four Elemental Princes of Evil. Felenga, a truly horrible creature with an appetite for nothing but destruction, immediately razed the Temple of Elemental Good in response to our heroes’ assassination of Farenth, Champion of Elemental Evil, and Imix, Prince of Elemental Evil – Fire.***
Before taking a journey to destroy Felenga, Lester began to deeply regret the error of his ways (jail time, banishment, retributive strikes, etc.) and decided that he needed to take better care of his flock. He split the Temple of Elemental Good into five groups, leaving one in Var to rebuild and scattering the rest throughout Dorhaus. He also realized that his church needed a Shepard in his absence and he sought out his favorite apprentice, Anvar. After much consideration, Anvar recruited his old friend Krunkshank and left his life of solitude to watch over the Temple of Elemental Good.****
The journey to destroy the second minion of Tharizdun was an arduous task than took Lester and his friends to the Far Realms (after a dangerous artifact – The Deleter), into Darkhold (where Felenga attempted to destroy reality again), into the Tomb of Horrors, thru the City of Moil, and ultimately to the Demi-Lich Acererak’s Fortress of Conclusion. Ultimately, both Acererak and Felenga were destroyed, though the L would never be the same. In his confrontation with Acererak, Lester’s skin was bleached white when his soul was nearly sucked from his body and a large white streak puntucates his black afro.*****
With Felenga’s demise, the second defeat of the ToEE was completed, and Lester’s church could once again rest easy.
V. A New Day for the Temple of Elemental Good
Felenga’s ultimate defeat left Lester feeling relieved, yet wary. Yes, the ToEE itself was destroyed by the very Elemental Princes of Evil summoned to serve it. However, it had been destroyed before, and Lester worried that it would one day find a way to rebuild itself. One thing was certainly clear: in his absence, Evil had prospered and his Church eventually suffered.
What would Malford do?, thought Lester. Since entering the Tomb of Horrors, easily the most challenging dungeon of his career, Lester contemplated what this God-King was all about. Yes, King Malford was the greatest adventurer that Lester ever met. Yet, this one-time pirate was able to create a kingdom for himself, establish a legitimate rulership, and ably protect his citizens from a great number of threats.
I will need to do the same for my flock, thought Lester. I will need a title reflecting my guardianship of them, perhaps one with a holy ring to it. And, I’ll need to find a way to train them to defend themselves against any beings that would harm our Temple.
Thus, Lester reunited the Temple of Elemental Good within the Bendrock Mountains and announced his return as their Angel of Adventure. While his old moniker – The L – could still be used in polite company, his new name reflected the driving force that destroyed the ToEE twice, as well as Lester’s new role as the Temple’s foremost benefactor. Though Lester never desired to take away their freedom of thought or action, he would serve as their constant guardian and make sure that they never forget that a blind morality often results in a slippery slope towards evil! “The Elements may not care, this be true. However, we need to help each other, so do unto others as they would unto you!”, Lester told them. Moreover, while the thought of a conscripted army sent chills through his body, Lester would personally train anyone in the church with a thirst for excitement, accomplishment, and adventure.
So, in addition to making the Temple grounds more permanent and helping out his followers with whatever they need, Lester – aka the Angel of Adventure – officially establishes his School for Adventurers to train those who would fight to make sure that all threats to the Temple of Elemental Good are squashed.
And so our adventure begins . . .
*For more on the meeting of Lester and Orbius, please see the soon-to-be-released Story Hour – The Eye and the L!
**See Jester’s Story Hour – Agents of Chaos – for more details.
***This episode ends Jester’s Agents of Chaos Story Hour
****Anvar made his first appearance in Jester’s Old Story Hour
*****This entire adventure is presented in Jester’s To War against Felenga Story Hour
