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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aholibamah" data-source="post: 3634784" data-attributes="member: 53031"> Personalities IIPrince Mane Andoe is the leader of the elvish military force in Fineberg currently. He is a fully mature elf but young by the standards of many. As nephew of the High Prince of Lioslinn (Prince Findi Lamat) he has a great deal of status but even more of it was earned as Commander of the Southern Border where he was in charge of the Tower Rannach, the main elvish fortress facing the Goblin Confederacy.Mane Andoe is the eldest of four brothers and has along with that a strong sense of responsibility. While he is capable of enjoying beauty, repose and celebrations with other elves something grim entered his spirit during his border duties, and he is always aware of the presence of evil in the world. As such he sometimes is rather imposingly dour company. Raven hair would fall well past his shoulder and his faintly golden skin colour makes him look exotic, especially as that hair is often elaborately braided in the elvish martial fashion. A beautiful figure, he is sometimes referred to by humans as "The Statue". Mane Andoe always wears silver, blue and black, his armor superbly linked elvish chain, his demeanor courteous but grave. Other elves find him puzzling save for his few closest friends. Among his closest friends are a few humans, including General Carmel and Nestor Khalkimedes. The Prince would prefer to be in his homeland if he were honest, breeding hippogriffs and talking to those elves who are able to lighten his heart with their music and tales. Possibly it is this side of him, the young poet-warrior who went so gladly to help defend his lands, that he is protecting by his brooding silence. As a magician he is specially skilled in such arts as lend themselves to war. He firmly believes that goblins and evil men and other such creatures plan to make foul bargains with demonic creatures from Outside and conquer all that is good using them. The unavoidable evidence of this, which he has shared with those he trusts, fills his dreams and he realizes that only if some human nations will join with the elves in defending the good will good survive. Unfortunately there are elves and there are elves. Many elves do not share his concern, having ages ago decided to slowly fade from the world regardless. Others hate and loathe humans. Both share a common sense of the reason for this. Elves believe that the world is alive, that the world sings, and that there are creatures that dull or even still this singing. For instance to elves goblins and orcs hate themselves and all life, and want it made dour and dark and hateful. Humans are in a way worse: for all their gifts they appear deaf to it. By turning all nature increasingly to the fires of industry and commerce they are drowning the singing of life. Mane Andoe desperately does NOT want to believe this, but he believes as well that he must hope for the best. It is for this reason principally that he is aloof with humans, because he does not dare let their sometimes considerable charm woo him from discovering the truth. In the meantime, due to his sworn friendship with Carmel, he has come to defend not just the elvish community in Fineberg but his personal allies as well. Those who followed him are in many cases admirers from the border service but also those who are following his reputation. Prince Mane Andoe has elvish chain that for all its lightness is remarkably strong, able to withstand the blow of a battle axe (though probably if directly hit he would be knocked unconscious) and a magical spear that can fly unerringly to twelve targets in a day and return to his hand each time.  Duke AndermanDuke AndermanOf all King Cleothas' greater vassals, Duke Anderman is among the most ambitious. He is in a curious position. As ruler of the great city of Deva and its surrounding lands he is one of the richest and most powerful men in the Kingdom of the Northern Celts. He is also in a precarious position...where he could fall fast or rise high. Anderman's grandfather was essentially a pirate, albeit one with a title. The small chain of islands (called the Falcon Islands) that he ruled were essentially rocks, with little more than kelp and seabirds and a few shaggy goats to make a living from. It is possible that initially his people became pirates by plundering wrecks, since the area is notorious for them...though it is also possible that they caused the wrecks, since the area is also notorious for a dark druidic cult that worships the more violent forms of the elements. At the same time the Yasg city of Deva was increasingly under attack by humanoids and barbarian tribes--perhaps not directly but its trade routes were increasingly becoming risky. Yasg was in the stage of a dynastic war and Deva and other outlying areas were essentially cut off from Imperial support. The only possible protectors were the house of Nuath--a celtic tribe to the north along the Sinan river, and the MacLannad family whose pirates had hit upon the shrewd idea of charging protection of Devan trade ships. Soon the plaids and seal furs of highlander and pirate were swaggering openly in the streets of Deva. A marriage between the two families produced Anderman's father, Conderan. Conderan's first great act was to prepare regular escorts for trade, and to enact harsh penalties for those who attacked caravan or flotilla. He gathered together warriors, the dark druids of the Falcon Islands and other advisors to enable him to rule the area. Deva was officially independant of this, but in fact was totally dependant upon Conderan (whose style was "the Warlord") with one exception: the Arcanum. The Arcanum was an organization of Psionicists of various types who were the official protectors and advisors of the city, but whose ranks had grown thin and whose ways were isolationist by tradition. They often acted as healers, truthtellers, and warriors but had grown involved with internal politics. The city of Deva itself had long been internally ruled by princely merchant families whose great wealth and ties to old aristocratic families in Yasg was their chief concern. The Yasgs regard themselves at any rate as a wholly superior people in culture to nearly everyone except possibly ancient races such as elves and their Yuan-ti forbears. The Arcanum saw their danger too late--they attempted to play the intimidation and political game with Conderan and in fact had largely succeeded when he unexpectedly was drowned when visiting the Falcon Islands. Ironically, the rocks he came from claimed him. Anderman rose to power and for a time simply ruled as his father did. He managed to tame a number of humanoid tribes and gave them resources (carefully controlled) in exchange for their services. In addition he made an alliance with the King of the Northern Celts, Cleothas, and in fact was his strongest ally on the borderlands. However he was coming under threat from the Yasgs who by now had ended their war, with a princely Yuan-Ti descended clan claiming protection over a new puppet monarch, a child of three. To prevent war he agreed to become the vassal of the land greedy King Cleothas, and in exchange was able to marry one of his daughters to the recently bereaved king and became Admiral of the Royal Fleet to boot. Some longer standing vassals grumbled at this, a man little more than a warlord and pirate becoming part of the king's council and of such high rank as well...Two events marked his life following this. The first was his purge of the Arcanum. Haunted by dreams and fearful of mental powers being used to influence him, he was persuaded by his dark druids to order a fearful sending to the Arcanum, whose might they could not withstand. It is certain that some fled but others were captured while still unconscious following the attack by dark elementals upon their estate in the city. These were placed in captivity using carefully magicked collars that inhibited their abilities. In addition Anderman demanded that the city leaders acknowledge him as the ruler of Deva as a demonstration of loyalty. This they did with alacrity, with only a few made brutal examples of. With their heads decorating pikes outside the commons Anderman received their fealty. In congratulations of this King Cleothas ackowledged him as Duke of Deva. The other significant event was the war. Anderman was pressured into leading the main coastal attacks himself by rivals at court, and could hardly refuse. His only favour was that any lands he captured he would be able to hold in fief of the king. Anderman is thus in a position while besieging Fineberg of trying to be patient while he constantly worries about what is happening on his borders, whether the Yasgs will try to pay off barbarian tribes to attack him whether his rivals are stabbing him in the back and so on. His main hope is his daughter's influence with the king. He knows the king is using him, playing his more traditional courtiers off against him and keeping them all from genuinely having power and influence. He also knows that if he controls the New Edomite coast he will truly be the most powerful noble in the kingdom. He fears that the king invited the giantish help precisely to curb this...Anderman the person is now middle aged, with a somewhat thickened but still powerful body. His father bade him never to forget the ways of his two peoples and so he has remained a good rider and a good sailor, known among his followers for being willing to stand at a tiller or lead an attack if need be. He has dark hair salted with grey and a face somewhat dark for a celt's, due to his father's marriage to a merchant prince's daughter of Deva. Anderman is wary and sometimes savage towards magic using folk he does not trust. He is always accompanied by at least one magical advisor, and every one of them is in debt to him in some way. He can be good humored and magnanimous, as befits a ring giver and prince, but also brutally ruthless towards his enemies as demonstrated earlier. He has a magical bag that is sealed by a spell known only to a wizard who is now dead, which contains the various amulets and other devices that control his personal advisors, druid or wizard. He also posesses a rare horse that is of Sidhe descent and can ride over water or even climb the air, though it can only do this as fast as a normal horse can move. However it is very tough and can run twice as long as a normal horse can. Dragons of the New Edom CampaignThe following dragons are actually featured in the game and are known to exist:1. The Shadow Dragon of Carnmag. (this being was summoned by the lich at Duke Anderman's request, and now lurks in a region of this elvish principality. It has an entourage of shadows and generally terrorizes the region)2. Marlee the Blue. This is a small very young blue dragon that is companion to one of the pcs, just big enough to ride but not for great distances. She hungers for vengeance against the mysterious elves who slew her father, imprisoned her mother and stole the family horde. 3. Ingenaf the Wise. This is secretly the name of Hrothgar II, King of the Dwarves. The greedy dwarf while still a prince sought to steal a dragon's horde and was eaten for his pains. Realizing that the missing prince had caused a near civil war among the dwarves the gold dragon decided to take his place. He rather enjoys the joke. However he relishes it so much that he can only be a dragon on the sly--he is very much the focus of attention as ruler and is loathing the idea of having to marry and stay on the throne too much longer. He is trying to prepare an heir of the dwarf's family so that he can fake his own death and leave. He is also wondering how much he deserves his title--really derived from a set of riddle games with a Yasg sage.4. Samathrax the Great: this is an old Green Dragon that the King's mother bequeathed the friendship of. Arrogant but cunning he sees himself more as a powerful ally than Cleothas' servant. Samathrax has rarely been seen during the war; he is at a stage when dragons are somewhat contemplative and sleepy and will only be roused by a direct request from the King. 5. Talavar the Kinabandoner: Talavar is the only survivor of an earlier brood of Marlee's parents. As a rare only child dragon he grew very full of himself and always hated the later brood. Furthermore he chaffed at having to bow to the will of his parents. Approached secretly by dark elves he agreed to betray his parents. Talavar is very cruel and evil and secretive. This last is noted by the fact that he prefers to surprise opponents and then unleash a devastating attack upon them. He is closely tied to the cult of Tiamat and is growing in power to become one of her champions. If he knew Marlee was still alive he would certainly kill her. At present he has been searching for a mate of his own--dragons are increasingly rare and a dragon may search for years before finding a mate of a suitable lineage.Elmaneshee: The dark elves and the lich Kalikazan turned Marlee's mother into a dracolich. The process is nearly complete and they plan to unleash her as part of a large force that is intended to destroy the city of Fineberg once and for all.</blockquote>

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