Haltherrion
First Post
Suchet is my wife's nymph-sorceress in a new campaign. There's details on the other portfolios (collection of PC and friends/foes) at http://www.four-hands.com/ophir/portfolios/portfolios.html.
Suchet is an 8th level sorceress. (The nymph is cut back from the monster manual version.) Sorry about the bold-face. Can't seem to clear it.
Marc
___
Around the world, the name Suchet conjures the twin images of beauty and tragedy. Her tragic love affair in the middle years of the Age of Archons is the staple of legend and story to this day. Though scarred by her lost love, Suchet still attracts close, devoted friends. The Firstborn Argent Storm was with Suchet through her trials during the Age of Archons and Chasya has sworn service as her bodyguard. Honoria and Tryphana are also dependable friends.
Suchet was born in the forests of Gladya in the month of Firststar about the year 1525. Her exact birth date is unknown as Gladya was a fey realm where few kept precise track of time. Even for a nymph she was extraordinarily beautiful. On a midsummer's eve in the year 1571, the young nymph met and captured the heart of Alric, Firstborn and ruler of the ancient domain of Saba. Over the next century, the two developed a bond so strong that Suchet did the unthinkable for a nymph: she left her native wildlands and became his queen.
The early years of the Age of Archons were tumultuous and often brutal as the Firstborn battled among themselves for supremacy. Alliances shifted and treachery was common. Like Braigh, Alric was one of the few who stood by honor and never broke an alliance. Unlike Braigh, Alric's noble heart cost him his life.
When the Archons set their domains free of the bonds of the earth and set the first islands into the sky, the power structure on Ophir was radically altered. The ability to cast land into the sky (and keep it there) was priceless. Many Archons turned to any means in order to gain this knowledge. Alric would not stoop to treachery but as ruler of Saba he had to find a way to protect his lands and subjects. So Alric strengthened his alliances with the more reliable of the other Archons (many of whom were part of the Crystal Orb alliance by the end of the age) and built his forces and defenses around highly mobile, elite warbands. The best of these bands was led by another Firstborn and former lover of Alric from the Dawn Age, Argent Storm.
Over the next few centuries more of the surface of Ophir was stripped into the skies and the surface of the world became permanently foggy. Alric eventually had no choice but to move his own people to the sky. A brilliant warrior, he was not as good at the arcane arts and did not have the means to loft his kingdom into the air as other Firstborn had done. His only choice was to abandon his throne to an Archon in return for a safe haven for his people.
Alric selected Marquilla for the honor. Though not as trustworthy as Braigh (no Archons were), Marquilla was over all reliable and in this matter proved true to her word. Gates were secretly prepared from Saba to Eidos, her sky domain, and under the cover of the warbands, the people of Saba abandoned their homes and fled to Eidos in only a fortnight.
The last part of the evacuation concerned lands not truly part of Alric's domain but ones that he had long kept a protecting eye over: the wildlands of Gladya, Suchet's birthplace. Thanks to Alric's subtle attention, the fey of Gladya had been able to ignore the machinations in the larger world and remain largely untroubled. But with the descent of the perpetual mists, Gladya's bucolic forests were dying, replaced with a gloomy place of dripping fern trees and bog. The Gladya fey could no longer ignore the greater world and though earlier had rebuffed Alric's attempt at more formal alliance, when he came to them with the news of his impending departure, most of the fey understood that they too would have to flee. There was no safe place in Gladya to construct portals so at the proper time, the fey would have to march the 90 miles overland to the nearest Saba portal.
Unfortunately, for Alric and Suchet, not all the fey appreciated their position. A faction led by her mother Aidelyn believed that with the right magic and the right patron Archon, they could restore their Gladya forest and remain on Ophir. Aidelyn betrayed Alric and Suchet to the Archon Ekerd. As the rearguard under Alric and Suchet herded the last of the fey from Gladya, Ekerd and his companions set upon them. But Alric was prepared and had located strong points on their path. He was able to guide the last of the fey and Suchet to an impregnable cave. Here they hoped to weather the attack until Argent Storm and her warband could come to their aid.
But Aidelyn's treachery was not yet realized. In the small hours of the night, she let Ekerd into the cave. Ekerd's force went straight for Alric. In a confused fight deep in the cave, Suchet and Alric were separated. Using Aidelyn as a lure, Ekerd captured Suchet but was unable to find Alric before withdrawing.
During the next two years, Ekerd kept Suchet prisoner in his great fortress. Alric and Storm tried several times to free her but with no success. The captive Suchet and the gallant Alric became fabled around Ophir and many warriors came to Alric's aid at this time, including Chasya and Tryphana.
Aidelyn's treachery had won her haven in Ekerd's lands but not the restoration of Gladya. Ekerd's son Pyrrhus made a half-hearted attempt to turn back the fog but no magic could protect enough of Gladya to matter. The last of the trees died. Pyrrhus, however, fell to the allure of Aidelyn's nymphly charms and the two became close companions.
After two years, Ekerd contacted Alric: the Suchet affair had proven too costly to his prestige. He would release her. While Ekerd had always intended to gain advantage from his attack on Alric and would have killed Alric under the right circumstances, he was somewhat capricious and had no real enmity for Alric. Suchet's release was arranged for the Concordia festival held on the highest island in Ophir where by tradition, no fighting could take place aside from mostly bloodless tournaments.
On the first day of the festival, in a grand display of magnanimity, Ekerd returned Suchet to Alric and the two were reunited. The love story had drawn even larger crowds to the festival and the next two weeks proved legendary. The greatest duels, the best dramas, the grandest feasts graced the Concordia festival. The finale on the last day was a great melee of Firstborn. No Firstborn slaying weapons were permitted but all else could pass. Treachery had occurred on this field before so elaborate measures were used to ensure no foul play.
Ekerd and Alric fought side by side for the battle. Pyrrhus fought beside his father, Ekerd. At the height of the melee, in the greatest confusion, Pyrrhus released a Firstborn slaying dagger from a magic stone hidden on the field and pierced Alric in the back. Alric lasted just long enough for Suchet to kiss him one last time.
Aidelyn had orchestrated the base deed. Aidelyn blamed her daughter for all her woes and could not stand the thought of her reunited and happy. She had turned Pyrrhus against her father and used him as her weapon of vengeance.
Ekerd himself uncovered the hand of his son in this affair and sought to slay him but Aidelyn used her sorcery to save him and escape. Ekerd's rage at this betrayal was appropriate to one who is now a storm god and he hounded his son for centuries, finally trapping him in a boggy hole on one of the lowest of the Misty Islands. Here he thought that he had slain Aidelyn and Pyrrhus at last. He had in fact killed Aidelyn but Pyrrhus had fooled his father with a simulacrum. Though still an outcast, Pyrrhus lives to this day, brooding and planning vengeance on all who have wronged him through all the long years, first and foremost, Suchet.
That day, her greatest happiness turned to ash for Suchet and she withdrew for centuries from the world. In time, she emerged in Eidos, in Marquilla's domains.
Suchet lived in obscurity into the Age of Heroes. But in time, all wounds heal and though her heart still burns for Alric, she found the desire to walk in the world again. However, her heart was a little colder and she was now willing to take her place in the warbands of Eidos.
At the battle of Ramel where King Farresh first turned the tide against Mottul, all would have been lost by noon had Suchet not rallied the troops at the bridge-fort and held out for five long hours. This heroic stand turned the battle to Eidos and for the stand itself and for winning the battle her gained nearly as much renown as for the tragic love affair centuries earlier.
Suchet is an 8th level sorceress. (The nymph is cut back from the monster manual version.) Sorry about the bold-face. Can't seem to clear it.
Marc
___
Around the world, the name Suchet conjures the twin images of beauty and tragedy. Her tragic love affair in the middle years of the Age of Archons is the staple of legend and story to this day. Though scarred by her lost love, Suchet still attracts close, devoted friends. The Firstborn Argent Storm was with Suchet through her trials during the Age of Archons and Chasya has sworn service as her bodyguard. Honoria and Tryphana are also dependable friends.
Suchet was born in the forests of Gladya in the month of Firststar about the year 1525. Her exact birth date is unknown as Gladya was a fey realm where few kept precise track of time. Even for a nymph she was extraordinarily beautiful. On a midsummer's eve in the year 1571, the young nymph met and captured the heart of Alric, Firstborn and ruler of the ancient domain of Saba. Over the next century, the two developed a bond so strong that Suchet did the unthinkable for a nymph: she left her native wildlands and became his queen.
The early years of the Age of Archons were tumultuous and often brutal as the Firstborn battled among themselves for supremacy. Alliances shifted and treachery was common. Like Braigh, Alric was one of the few who stood by honor and never broke an alliance. Unlike Braigh, Alric's noble heart cost him his life.
When the Archons set their domains free of the bonds of the earth and set the first islands into the sky, the power structure on Ophir was radically altered. The ability to cast land into the sky (and keep it there) was priceless. Many Archons turned to any means in order to gain this knowledge. Alric would not stoop to treachery but as ruler of Saba he had to find a way to protect his lands and subjects. So Alric strengthened his alliances with the more reliable of the other Archons (many of whom were part of the Crystal Orb alliance by the end of the age) and built his forces and defenses around highly mobile, elite warbands. The best of these bands was led by another Firstborn and former lover of Alric from the Dawn Age, Argent Storm.
Over the next few centuries more of the surface of Ophir was stripped into the skies and the surface of the world became permanently foggy. Alric eventually had no choice but to move his own people to the sky. A brilliant warrior, he was not as good at the arcane arts and did not have the means to loft his kingdom into the air as other Firstborn had done. His only choice was to abandon his throne to an Archon in return for a safe haven for his people.
Alric selected Marquilla for the honor. Though not as trustworthy as Braigh (no Archons were), Marquilla was over all reliable and in this matter proved true to her word. Gates were secretly prepared from Saba to Eidos, her sky domain, and under the cover of the warbands, the people of Saba abandoned their homes and fled to Eidos in only a fortnight.
The last part of the evacuation concerned lands not truly part of Alric's domain but ones that he had long kept a protecting eye over: the wildlands of Gladya, Suchet's birthplace. Thanks to Alric's subtle attention, the fey of Gladya had been able to ignore the machinations in the larger world and remain largely untroubled. But with the descent of the perpetual mists, Gladya's bucolic forests were dying, replaced with a gloomy place of dripping fern trees and bog. The Gladya fey could no longer ignore the greater world and though earlier had rebuffed Alric's attempt at more formal alliance, when he came to them with the news of his impending departure, most of the fey understood that they too would have to flee. There was no safe place in Gladya to construct portals so at the proper time, the fey would have to march the 90 miles overland to the nearest Saba portal.
Unfortunately, for Alric and Suchet, not all the fey appreciated their position. A faction led by her mother Aidelyn believed that with the right magic and the right patron Archon, they could restore their Gladya forest and remain on Ophir. Aidelyn betrayed Alric and Suchet to the Archon Ekerd. As the rearguard under Alric and Suchet herded the last of the fey from Gladya, Ekerd and his companions set upon them. But Alric was prepared and had located strong points on their path. He was able to guide the last of the fey and Suchet to an impregnable cave. Here they hoped to weather the attack until Argent Storm and her warband could come to their aid.
But Aidelyn's treachery was not yet realized. In the small hours of the night, she let Ekerd into the cave. Ekerd's force went straight for Alric. In a confused fight deep in the cave, Suchet and Alric were separated. Using Aidelyn as a lure, Ekerd captured Suchet but was unable to find Alric before withdrawing.
During the next two years, Ekerd kept Suchet prisoner in his great fortress. Alric and Storm tried several times to free her but with no success. The captive Suchet and the gallant Alric became fabled around Ophir and many warriors came to Alric's aid at this time, including Chasya and Tryphana.
Aidelyn's treachery had won her haven in Ekerd's lands but not the restoration of Gladya. Ekerd's son Pyrrhus made a half-hearted attempt to turn back the fog but no magic could protect enough of Gladya to matter. The last of the trees died. Pyrrhus, however, fell to the allure of Aidelyn's nymphly charms and the two became close companions.
After two years, Ekerd contacted Alric: the Suchet affair had proven too costly to his prestige. He would release her. While Ekerd had always intended to gain advantage from his attack on Alric and would have killed Alric under the right circumstances, he was somewhat capricious and had no real enmity for Alric. Suchet's release was arranged for the Concordia festival held on the highest island in Ophir where by tradition, no fighting could take place aside from mostly bloodless tournaments.
On the first day of the festival, in a grand display of magnanimity, Ekerd returned Suchet to Alric and the two were reunited. The love story had drawn even larger crowds to the festival and the next two weeks proved legendary. The greatest duels, the best dramas, the grandest feasts graced the Concordia festival. The finale on the last day was a great melee of Firstborn. No Firstborn slaying weapons were permitted but all else could pass. Treachery had occurred on this field before so elaborate measures were used to ensure no foul play.
Ekerd and Alric fought side by side for the battle. Pyrrhus fought beside his father, Ekerd. At the height of the melee, in the greatest confusion, Pyrrhus released a Firstborn slaying dagger from a magic stone hidden on the field and pierced Alric in the back. Alric lasted just long enough for Suchet to kiss him one last time.
Aidelyn had orchestrated the base deed. Aidelyn blamed her daughter for all her woes and could not stand the thought of her reunited and happy. She had turned Pyrrhus against her father and used him as her weapon of vengeance.
Ekerd himself uncovered the hand of his son in this affair and sought to slay him but Aidelyn used her sorcery to save him and escape. Ekerd's rage at this betrayal was appropriate to one who is now a storm god and he hounded his son for centuries, finally trapping him in a boggy hole on one of the lowest of the Misty Islands. Here he thought that he had slain Aidelyn and Pyrrhus at last. He had in fact killed Aidelyn but Pyrrhus had fooled his father with a simulacrum. Though still an outcast, Pyrrhus lives to this day, brooding and planning vengeance on all who have wronged him through all the long years, first and foremost, Suchet.
That day, her greatest happiness turned to ash for Suchet and she withdrew for centuries from the world. In time, she emerged in Eidos, in Marquilla's domains.
Suchet lived in obscurity into the Age of Heroes. But in time, all wounds heal and though her heart still burns for Alric, she found the desire to walk in the world again. However, her heart was a little colder and she was now willing to take her place in the warbands of Eidos.
At the battle of Ramel where King Farresh first turned the tide against Mottul, all would have been lost by noon had Suchet not rallied the troops at the bridge-fort and held out for five long hours. This heroic stand turned the battle to Eidos and for the stand itself and for winning the battle her gained nearly as much renown as for the tragic love affair centuries earlier.
