Flavor Thread

[Anastasia]

To expand on older NPCs for new players. As Yuth requested. For now it's mostly copy/pasting things I've previously written.

[Anastasia]

Antenora

Background

Antenora was born as an erinyes in Cania, Della the Bloodflier. Her life was unremarkable by Hell's standards until Zquujaj's invasion of Avernus. The pressure this put on Hell caused a great deal of upheaval. In Della's case, the thought of Hell's perfect order being disrupted was unacceptable. She called on favors and escaped Hell for one of the many worlds of the Prime Material Plane, intent on forging her own kingdom of iron law there.

It is there she met Alicia Reynes and the Crimson Guard. Her schemes were defeated and Antenora was brought low in battle. She plead for her life and promised to reform herself, desperate to avoid a return to Hell. To the surprise of all, Alicia stepped forward and accepted her offer. She took Della into her own house, where she took the name Antenora. Make no mistake, for she had no intentions of reforming. It would be a simple matter to corrupt Alicia and her household and start anew.

That did not happen. Antenora found a match in Alicia, who routinely engaged Antenora in debate. Here she agreed with Antenora's devotion to law and used it as common ground to attack evil. Remarkably, Antenora found her arguments matched and often defeated. This was joined by a regime of seeing the acts of good firsthand, as well as growing fond of Alicia and her allies. Alicia's sheer charisma joined by cold logic and personal entreaties began to melt Antenora's will. Without the support of Hell and subjected to Alicia's own will, Antenora's resolve began to crack.

This crack allowed sorrow to follow. Soon, Alicia's sister, who had fallen under the thrall of Hell, sought to escape Hell's grasp on her. This required the aid of an extraplanar entity, who tasked Alicia and her sister Beth to travel to Stygia and free souls held in the Halls of the Vanquished. While they did succeed, the quest came to a tragic end. The disturbance in the Halls of the Vanquished caught the attention of Duke Agares, who barred the exit and confronted the intruders. In a short battle Alicia was brought to the brink of death, as she was no match for Agares.

The frozen floor of the Halls began to crack and black Styx-water began to flow in. Beth saw her chance, willingly exposing herself to the Styx to save Alicia and slip by Agares. The two escaped thanks to the sacrifice of Beth, who lost all her memories to the hungers of the Styx. Antenora saw the aftermath and Alicia's heartbroken tears, yet she did not triumph in them. She only felt miserable at Alicia's sadness, and at that moment began to truly understand her own misery in evil.

This sacrifice and miracle began the process of Antenora rising from Hell's grasp. In time she survived the painful loss of evil itself, and then a transformation into a mortal form to atone. She was forever at Alicia's side as a warrior-in-arms, taking on the vows of a paladin and the unbridled wrath of a hellreaver. She was with Alicia and the Crimson Guard for all the great battles and the exploration of the gnomish ruins. She stood with Alicia against countless assassination attempts by Baator, as even the mighty Spark Hunters were vanquished.

When Alicia became a quasi-deity after defeating Triel's Furnace, Antenora rose with her. She became a full angel and oversees mortal souls that pass into Sylica, Alicia and Syala's divine realm. She also oversees redemption for Sylica and promotes it to any and all. Antenora knows she is a rarity, but it does not stop her. She sincerely believes that evil can be defeated and that even fiends can be saved. No matter if only one in a million efforts will bear fruit, she relentlessly applies herself to her newfound duties.

Antenora's name is used in various rituals by the faithful of Alicia and Syala, especially spells relating to bravery, redemption and hope. As both faiths are still small and newborn, this practice has not spread far yet.

Appearance

Antenora appears as a tall angel with black hair. Her body is flawlessly formed and symmetrical. Her wings are tingled opal blue, which match eyes solidly colored the same. Oftentimes a glow of the same color surrounds her in a gentle halo of light. This beauty is matched with the steely spirit of a crusader, as she has firm posture and an unrelenting gaze. While beautiful, most see her as inspiring more than alluring.

Antenora wears her armor and white dress in most instances. Otherwise she prefers dresses in white and a few bits of gold jewelry. She dresses simply, favoring function over form. When she's not involved in her duties, she cares little for what she wears and sticks to white out of personal preference.

Mortals who see Antenora find her easy to understand. Something about her speaks to them, be it hope for those free of evil to fear and hate to those lost in evil's misery. Immortals share this, with good immortals finding her reassuring. She is the pinnacle of Good's ability to redeem and defeat evil itself. Those of evil conversely see her with nothing but hatred. Devils deserve special mention, as they all wish to defeat and capture her. Traitors are not suffered by Baator, and should she be captured and brought to Hell, the captor would be richly rewarded.

Personality

The Opal Angel of Redemption can be best described as a crusader. She is forthright, firm and filled with conviction for her cause. She is not a soft nor a weak woman, but instead projects confident power. She strives to set an example and inspire others, to show that even the darkest soul has hope of a better life.

Servants and minions are treated well. Antenora believes that a leader should teach by example, much as Alicia taught her. She does not forget the virtue of kindness and believes it is well applied to those that follow you. To equals, friends and family, Antenora softens. In these times Antenora allows herself to relax. Antenora prefers to be a follower in these situations rather than a leader. She spend centuries struggling for meaningless authority in Baator, she has no desire to repeat that mistake with those dear to her.

Enemies are met by an offer of reformation, especially fiends. Should one accept, Antenora will go to any length to see that they have a fair chance to atone. Those that reject this offer find that Antenora will rarely ask twice. While she values redemption of all types, she has great insight to the folly of evil. Those steeped in it are often beyond reasoning and must be defeated instead.

In truth, all of these interactions greatly bolster Antenora. She finds all aspects of her new life satisfying. Her rise showed her the flaws of evil and how empty her own life in Baator was. The merest authentic interaction in the Heavens is worth more to her than her centuries of life in Hell. She refuses to allow herself to forget this. She holds onto what she learned, for this knowledge allows her to confront evil on a level few celestials can.

Relations

Antenora's family in Cania is a long forgotten memory to her and she has no further contact with them. However, Antenora's natural charisma and her circle of friends has allowed her to fill this gap. She is on good terms with those that serve her, often blurring the lines from superior to friend. She keeps some reservation from them as is only proper for her station, but this provides her a large pool of friends to draw on.

Meanwhile, Antenora relation with Alicia is that of a savior, a sister, a mother, a friend, her deity and many more feelings. Her thoughts about her are tremendously complex, but she is loyal to Alicia beyond all other things. She serves her loyally and without any reservations at all. She took Alicia's last name as a sign of respect, love and loyalty.

Antenora's relationship with Alicia is only exceeded by one - her wife, Marie. She has fallen madly in love with the eladrin shapeshifter and the two are happily together. The relationship was born over long arguments over law and chaos that morphed into deeper feelings. While the two still routinely argue, it is mostly a pretext for their affections than any real fire now.

Her relations with the rest of Sylica are all warm. She is friends with Jessica Reynes, Latha, Ebony and other figures there. As one of the highest ranking celestials in Sylica, she knows many people there and has a great deal of authority.

Beyond Sylica, Antenora maintains a string of friendships across the planes. She keeps in contact with risen fiends when she finds them. One example is Mial, a succubus purified by Empress Sulia. These friends understand each other in ways no other can. Otherwise, Antenora is known in most courts and planes as a servant of the newly risen deity Alicia. Antenora's past is no secret, and thus most are aware of it.

As for enemies, all of Hell considers Antenora a traitor to be exterminated. To turn away from Hell is the greatest insult to its order and an example must be made of her. Antenora's current position keeps her safe from most reprisals, but several more powerful entities have tried. The Spark Hunters attempted to capture her and Alicia but ultimately failed, while the efforts of the now deceased Duke Agares were fended off repeatedly. Infiltration attempts by the Order of the Lie have likewise been foiled, including the redemption of a corrupted pixie asset sent to spy in Sylica.

The sole exception to Hell's wrath is Beezlebub. As Alicia was the one to finally defeat Triel's Furnace, he has taken a personal interest in Alicia and by extension Antenora. His interest is more on the effect Alicia has had on Antenora rather than Antenora herself, but nonetheless results in him withholding his agents from working against her.

Combat

Antenora is never afraid to enter combat. While she attempts to defuse battles by turning her foes towards redemption, she knows that oftentimes that combat is inevitable. Against opponents that are no great threat, she relies on her spell-like abilities. Righteous smite, flame strike, superb dispelling and holy word are her favorite choices. She relies on divine succor in case an opponent gets in a lucky blow, chaining together two in a single round should it be needed.

More worthy opponents are faced by direct charges. Antenora charges in, using her smite, furious strike and power attack abilities to eliminate an opponent in a single blow. If Antenora has swift actions left after this, she invokes a paladin spell relevant to the battle. The next round focuses on repositioning, healing and preparing for another charge. If needed, Antenora will use the boots of the battle charger's ability or a greater teleport. Opponents that can press her cause her to fight on the defensive, using her various healing abilities as she whittles down her foes. Her goal is to weaken them enough that a charge can break them completely.

Generally, Antenora will not retreat unless commanded by Alicia or if she is engaged in a meaningless battle. The latter mostly occurs against dedicated diabolical attacks against her, as Antenora knows enough of Hell's methodology to greatly fear unfolding ambushes. As a side effect of this, Antenora rarely battles alone. This is not out of cowardice, but out of the simple fact that if Hell catches her with sufficient forces off guard, such as Nessian Pit Fiends or powerful unique devils, that she may be overwhelmed and dragged back to Hell. She has no illusions on what will happen to her should this occur, and fears that she will be taken to Asmodeus himself to account for her diabolical heresy. If nothing else, the insult of sullying the reputation of the Spark Hunters demands the King of Hell's attention.

[Anastasia]

Jessica

Note: This format is on purpose. It's not an unfinished outline or anything like that. I experiment with different styles to make writing fluff more enjoyable.

- Jessica was once Beth Reynes, Alicia's blood sister and a mean-hearted bitch. She made her life as an assassin, trading lives for money.

- In time, she took an assignment to assassinate Archduke Salman of the United Baronies. She failed, was defeated by the Crimson Guard and captured. Circumstances, including her sister Alicia joining the Crimson Guard, lead to her execution being postponed.

- Unfortunately, Alicia had kicked up a fight with Hell over the fate of Antenora, an erinyes who Alicia sought to redeem. The sisters did not have a good relationship and a hellish envoy offered Beth a chance at revenge in exchange for her soul. Beth accepted. Alicia defeated the efforts and ultimately confronted Beth. Turns out the deal Beth got was invalid, as it was predicated on Beth becoming an erinyes - but no devils are promoted into that form, erinyes are born instead.

- With her soul damned and her confidence shaken, Alicia gets through to Beth and the two finally make a shaky peace. They sought atonement for Beth, which involved traveling to the 5th layer of Hell and raiding the Halls of the Vanquished, a repository of foes defeated by Baator.

- In the end, the sisters freed several unjustly held souls and celestials, before being confronted by Duke Agares as they tried to escape. The might of a Duke of Hell was far beyond Alicia and she was brought to death's door by the Duke's assault. The icy floor of the museum was crumbling and the black waters of the Styx were splashing in. In an act of genuine altruism, Beth braved the waters of the Styx to escape Agares with Alicia and activate their magic to flee Hell.

- While Alicia survived thanks to Beth's sacrifice, Beth's memories were lost to the Styx. The woman left behind was the opposite of Beth: kind, gentle and warm. With Beth's memories lost to the Styx (and thus Asmodeus or perhaps the imprisoned Levistus), she took the name of Jessica and started a new life with her sister. A hard life at first, as few were willing to forgive the woman who wore the face of the popular Archduke's attempted assassin.

- Despite this, Jessica endured. She found love and a husband while slowly discovering the lethal arts Beth left behind. Only this time she used them in defense of her new family: her husband Roald, her sister Alicia and her friends; the astral deva Latha, the courre eladrin Marie and the risen erinyes Antenora. She took on the role of group mother, maintaining the house and making sure all were taken care of.

- Jessica found herself living with exemplars of good, even her sister was made into a half-celestial by Mystra defeating a horror of madness from the Beyond - a nightmare that could unravel Creation itself if allowed to exist in it long.

- This exposure to so much concentrated Good and the essence of the Heavens lead Jessica to become a native outsider. In time, Alicia's struggles to protect the United Baronies became more intense, harder as many enemies sought to tear down what the Crimson Guard and the United Baronies had built. When Mystra herself offered Jessica celestial blood and power to aid her sister, Jessica took the offer.

- In time, Alicia and her lover Syala cleared Triel's Furnace, vanquishing the impossibly ancient remnant of Beezlebub before his fall from grace. The plane itself attached to Alicia and Syala, beginning their rise as demigoddesses. Jessica followed her family to the new realm, Sylica. Since that time, she has become a full celestial as she continues as she has before.

- In essence, the Styx scrubbed all that Beth was away. What was left was what Beth never had - compassion, gentleness and protectiveness. Yet the legacy of Beth's life lingered in the form of her assassin's skills. Jessica is the result of this unusual fusion, a result guided by the light her sister surrounded herself with. In many ways Jessica is a result of Alicia's meteoric rise to power, as few can claim to be surrounded by angels and offered power by a goddess.

[Anastasia]

Syala
Angel of Love, Mother of the Pride
Demigoddess
Symbol: A stylized red heart embraced by a tree's branches.
Home Plane:Sylica
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Love, family, protection
Worshipers: Mothers, defenders
Cleric Alignments: LG, NG, CG
Domains: Family, Wrath, Good
Favored Weapon: Blessing of the Twelve(Greathammer)

Syala oversees those that watch over love and family. She seeks out those who nurture life and prepare warm homes for all that strive in conflict.  She welcomes those who need strength to protect a family with one hand, while the other seeks out those who would foster love to create the bonds of family in the first place.  Those receive her attention, love and support if they are willing to embrace her lessons.

Syala believes that those who are encouraged to grow without being confined or force grow best. She plants the seeds for her followers to develop, giving them just enough to realize their dreams with the proper effort.  Yet unlike her consort Alicia, she is willing and able to make her actions known if she feels it is for the best good possible. 

The acts of love, marriage, childbirth and family rearing are highly valued by Syala. From the family comes growth and from growth comes a better life and new life. The only thing she values more is the holy wrath of those who defend love and family. Those who would violate the sacred tenets of the cycle of life must be stopped and punished to the utmost. To protect a family or love is the highest calling of any follower of Syala. Those who do so are guaranteed a place in Syala's realm after death, to reap the benefits of a life well lived.

Syalan clergy is loosely organized, with less structure and more of encouraging independent agents to work towards their ends, cooperating when it benefits them. They favor simple clothes, albeit often flashy, enticing or otherwise wearing clothes that show off their bodies. Ysgardian armors that protect while showing off are highly valued in the clergy, believed to be favored by Syala. If not available, bracers of armor are combined with titillating but ultimately worthless armor. This leads to no small derision outside of the faith, especially by hard headed warriors who prefer to live behind a wall of steel and adamantine.

History/Relationships

Syala was created as an angel in the service of Sharess.  It is said she took after Sharess's often forgotten martial side, having a flair for battle and promoted into the form of an Astral Deva. Thereafter she was assigned to guard the Tree of Idun, a magical tree said to have apples that grant eternal life. At the end of this centuries long service she met Alicia Reynes. Between them love formed, leading in time to the creation of the realm of Sylica. While she rules Sylica equally with Alicia in name, in reality she focuses on different matters and allows Alicia to freely take the forefront.

Beyond her consort, Syala has good relations with Brightwater, especially Sharess, Empress Sulia and Sune. In particular Sharess has an interest in her former servant, supporting her in her new role. They agree on almost everything, both enjoying pleasure, love and celebration. Syala however places a greater focus on protection and celebration of what these things can bring, while Sharess is concerned entirely with the acts. In this degree Syala is closer to Sune, though they share the same split that Sharess and Sune do; Sune believes that Syala pursues pleasures too great and with too much abandon, leading her into further excesses and a dark path. Empress Sulia and Syala share a curious relationship. Empress Sulia represents martyrdom in the name of love, while Syala represents protecting love and family. Syala would prefer for there to be no martyrs, Empress Sulia honors those who do so in the name of love. Despite this they respect each other, understanding that protecting love naturally leads to martyrs, and that martyrs of love are the natural end of many who serve Syala.

Good relations extend to the rest of Brightwater, though none of the other powers there are particularly close to Syala. She maintains friendly relations with Hanali Celanil and cultivates goodwill with Corellon Larethian. There have also been attempts to grow closer to powers of nature such as Lathander, Chauntea and Mielikki, though any results have not been immediately evident.

Syala does not have many foes as of yet, being a young Goddess. She shares many of Alicia's foes, the enmity between her  consort and them enough to include her.  However, her church takes a strong stance against Shar at all times, preaching that the Lady of Loss must be stopped.

Dogma

Love of all stripes is the most beautiful thing in all Creation. Romantic love is a gift, be it between men and women, men and men, women and women, or any other variety.  Familial love is a gift to yourself, be it by bonds of blood or bonds of closeness. Nurture all these loves in yourself and in others, while being the shield to ensure that none of these loves are profaned. Blessed is he who falls in love, graced is she who gives life from within her. When love makes children impossible, take orphans into your home and make them your children and love them as your own. Expand your love as far as you can go.  Be especially wary of those who would subvert it, especially those of Shar.

Temples and Clergy

Syalan clergy strive to uphold the teachings of Syala and spread them in the world. Temples are often run by a married couple, sharing power whilst raising a family.  The loose nature of their worship makes the temples wide spread and often transitory, few permanent temples known of. Followers of Syala are known as Syalans. Syala sponsors an order of Battle Dancers known as the Band of Idun who adhere to her teachings, as well as a scattering of paladins of freedom and sorcerers.

[Anastasia]

Amaryl

Background

Amaryl Gaial was born to the Gaial clan, one of the six leading familes of the elven nation Pallanth. Her early life was one of idle nobility in a privileged position. It was a good and comfortable life until the head of the clan, Lavandear Gaial, abruptly died. This caught the entire family off guard and lead to a round of complicated internal politics. As a result of a deadlock, Amaryl was elevated to head of the clan. Her position was to be that of a puppet between interests, a compromise that could be tolerated by the various houses. As Amaryl was a shy and retiring young elf, there was little doubt she would go along with it. Indeed she did, slipping into a withdrawn despair as she lamented her lot in life. The life of a house leader was not to her tastes, nor was the constant pressure and responsibility.

This state of affairs lasted until Seira came to the Citadel of Noon to establish ties between Pallanth and the human nation of the United Baronies. In that visit Amaryl caught Seira's eye. Over that visit and later ones, Seira forged a friendship with Amaryl. In time Seira convinced Amaryl to leave behind her unhappy life and come with her to the United Baronies. Here she reinvented herself as a warrior with Seira's help, gaining confidence and a happier life. She became a famous adventurer tied to both Seira and the Crimson Guard.

In this time she went under many legendary adventurers. She say the fall of the Empire of Malmuth, the defeat of the cabal of liches known as the Dark Six and Seira's rise to full dragon-hood. She became romantically involved with Seira and found further happiness there. When Seira discovered the lost Cauldron and the divine spark, Amaryl came with her as her wife. She has learned many secrets from Seira and has risen to the rank of quasi-power. While she is not a full deity yet, she hopes to join Seira soon.

Amaryl rules the Cauldron at Seira's side. She has taken on the blood of dragons much has Seira has, followed by becoming an outsider during her divine ascension. She oversees the efforts of the Cauldron to find harmony between the elements and combine them into a greater whole. While her own divine legend is still forming, it will likely involve rangers, scouts, archery, confidence and heroism. She is tied to spells relating to such in the faithful of the Cauldron, though this practice is not widespread yet due to her recent rise.

Appearance

Amaryl appears as a female elf with long blonde hair. It has taken on a bright, fiery luster in recent times that tints it towards orange. She is on the short side and lean, with hints of solid muscle to add definition. Her hands have a delicate curving towards being claws and her skin has small patches of skin akin to scales. Both features add another dash of inhuman exoticism to her appearance. Her face retains her elven beauty without the sense of fragility that most elven women inspire. Generally, Amaryl wears magical equipment and gear suited to the stereotypical description of an elven ranger. This is joined by her chain mail and bow.

The majority of creatures find Amaryl inspiring. She strives to live up to the example Seira has set for her, this reflects in how other creatures see her. She greets most with a smile, letting her natural charisma and exotic appearance carry things rather than bolder stunts. She builds up and establishes herself with creatures she meets.

Personality

Amaryl is quiet and withdrawn by nature, preferring to follow rather than lead. However, she suppresses this aspect of herself and strives to be active instead. Regardless, she comes off as well read, refined and graceful. She is the product of a high elven upbringing and this shows through. She also tends to be insightful as well as opinionated about matters she cares about, the latter of which surprises people that don't know her well. In total she comes off as a well spoken princess with unexpected strength of character if pushed.

Relations

Amaryl's mortal family are not close to her, as she left them on bad terms and has not sought to mend this rift. Likewise her friends on the Prime Material have been largely left behind. While she does stay on occasional contact with magic and letters, her new responsibilities keep her away from them.

Her new family is Seira. The two are happily married and working together to make the Cauldron the best it can be. Seira takes the dominant role in the relationship, guiding Amaryl as Amaryl supports Seira. The two are content and a natural pair. Beyond that, she's close to the various members of the Cauldron, including Donald, Lady Sanzha and Valar.

Past the Cauldron, Amaryl maintains a small but firm circle of friends, supplemented by a wide net of acquaintances. Many of these are with more agreeable and ethically tolerable genies from the elemental planes, as well as servants of the Archomentals of Elemental Good. This is in support of the Cauldron's mission to unify the elements, she in particular has strong ties to the court of Zaaman Rul. The Prince of Elemental Good in Fire has been a steadfast ally and natural friend to Seira and Amaryl, as his temperament matches Seira's well. Her ties to the Outer Planes are somewhat less developed, though she's become known in Arborea and Arvandor.

As a fledgling power, Amaryl has relatively few enemies. She has waged war with Hell more than once, though Baator is primarily Sylica's enemy and she is secondary to those struggles. Her main enemy is Shar and all that serve her, as she has seen first hand what horrors those that follow the Lady of Loss bring. She dedicates a good deal of her energies to opposing Shar's machinations whenever she finds them.

Combat

Amaryl prefers to defuse battles before they begin. Well worded diplomacy can stop a battle before it begins, a practice she has honed when dealing with the elemental planes and their denizens. There's no glory in bloodshed to her, but instead it is the inevitable result of those who are not willing to listen to reason. Should her opponents prove themselves to be thus unreasonable, she does not hold back at all.

Amaryl's first choice of action is to use her time stop spell-like ability, followed by increasing her combat abilities with her improved blink spell-like ability followed by casting Amaryl's arrow mind, surge of hope, shield and dragonskin, as the amount of time in time stop allows. Once done, or not if she's had sufficient time to prepare for the battle beforehand, she focuses on moving across the battlefield and using manyshot. She attempts to eliminate targets based on the danger they pose to others and then herself, preferring to guarantee the safety of allies or innocents first.

Should a battle turn against Amaryl or should she be reduced to less than 200 hit points, she will use time stop again. She will summon celestial elemental monoliths (via cauldron's blast) if the situation allows, otherwise she will focus on increasing her own abilities or making a get-away.

[Anastasia]

Donald

Donald? Of course. I look out for everyone that trusts in luck, sometimes.

- Tymora, The Lady Who Smiles.

Well...

The decision not to accept him as a paladin was not unfounded. He's better suited to arcane studies and whatever he's done to himself, let alone the way he has of putting his foot into his mouth. Lord Lathander, is your favor not evident in him, for how else could the blood of elves, fey and dragons co-exist?

- Eternal Morninglord Sunnar, moments before getting an answer he really wasn't expecting.

Frankly, he's a bright mind with no wisdom guarding his mouth. I cannot fault his conduct, only his personal choices and penchant for ill-timed comments. He fights the good fight for what's important in Creation. Compared to that, what are personal follies?

- Antenora, Opal Angel of Redemption.

...then again, I do have the patience of the Heavens. The phrase is, ah, results may vary.

- Antenora, Opal Angel of Redemption.

If you must know? Seira needed him, even when he aggravated her, Amaryl or her friends. Let alone when he borrowed her research on dragons. He would lay down his life for her, that loyalty is more important than anything else. It's why I sent him back when he died.

Besides, he keeps things interesting there. Now that was a good idea!

- Lathander, the Dawnbringer.

[Anastasia]

Lady Sanzha

- Lady Sanzha is a former Padisha of the Marid. During her rule, Imix swelled in power and created Imix's Cauldron. Seeking to prevent Fire dominating Water, Sanzha managed to seal the Cauldron and hand Imix a defeat. However, such a deed was not without a price, as the fallen Eblis ultimately interfered. She was sealed away herself and lost her voice until she was freed by Seira Aryn, who sought the power of the Cauldron. Since then, she has cooperated with Seira and aided Seira's studies into elemental harmony.

- Sanzha's appeared in B1 and B3, the latter of which was the main aid to Afina studying elemental unison within herself. Her true goals and desires are somewhat opaque, but she seems loyal to Seira. It is known that she lost a great deal of power since her sealing, only a little of which has returned. The lords of the genies (such as the Grand Sultan of the Efreet and the Padisha of the Marid) have divine rank and hit dice to match, so a 'mere' 26 hit dice is a great setback for her.

- The lords of the genies tend to rotate every so often. It's the same office occupied by different people. This is more akin to how planar lords work than true deities. When Sanzha lost the throne, another rose to take her place. Still, having held the office for a time entitles Sanzha to be treated as divine rank zero now. Really, there's various entities like Sanzha about, the losers and unlucky of divine politics. Sanzha mostly got unlucky, for the record. In comparison, proper deities tend to be eternal and everlasting.

- Sanzha is a bard due to her long period of sealing. One of her few joys there was a piano and she focused a great deal of her energies into playing it. This also explains why she has skill focus and epic skill focus for it. She may replace some bard levels with a prestige class in the future, but right now she's concentrating on recovery rather than diversification. She has a long ways to go.

- Speaking of bard, Sanzha's bard spellcasting is something of an afterthought for her. Those powers are relatively new to her, so she's still feeling out what she wants from them.

[Anastasia]

Short bios, part 1.

For simple, one paragraph or so bios of old characters. Think of the bios of a character the attract mode of an arcade game would show.

Hellman Oberuth

The Commander of the Crimson Guard, Hellman Oberuth is a warrior and mage slayer dedicated to the United Baronies. Given a dubious blessing of immortality and nightmares by the lich Sylian, Oberuth prepares for a great war against Shar while trying to save endure the nightmares...and wishing he lived in a world without magic, without mythic complications.

Lady Sanzha

A former Padisha of the Marid, Lady Sanzha was imprisoned as a result of a conflict with the Archomental Imix. Freed by Seira Aryn, she aids the Cauldron's efforts while finding out what she wants in life. Is there a place for a loser of the cosmic games of power in Creation, or is she doomed to fade into obscurity again?

Syala

Alicia's wife and demigoddess. A former astral deva in the service of Sharess, Syala protects families and motherhood. Formerly chastised for excessive violence by Sharess, her naturally aggressive nature contrasts a protective side that seeks to see Sylica grow. Now she looks on at Shar and prepares for a battle that will rock Creation to its roots.