Lightbringer

I was born to the elven kindred, begotten of Aingeal and Li, in the year 879 of the Age of Truth by the reckoning of my home world. It was upon the ninth day of the month of Hammer that I first drew breath within a noble house of ancient lineage—the House of Shadows, which bears the high Dragon Mark. My youth was spent within the elven town of Oneralos, a sanctuary founded in the elder days by my ancestor Tylana after the great overthrow of the Grand Lich Archimond. There, beneath the green boughs, I was schooled in the hidden lore of our house by Master Turiland, and I was initiated into the deep secrets of the Druids, learning the speech of the wild and the mending of the earth.

When the days of my tutelage were accomplished, I was sent forth to broaden my understanding, assigned to an organization known as the Zhentarim Agency in the great city of Emenaren. The year was 1000 AT when I came under the guidance of its master, Jack the Mechanic, who tasked me with gathering new souls to aid our hidden cause. Upon my very first venture—a perilous quest to recover two stolen eggs of the pure Gold Dragons—I chanced upon three remarkable companions: Eldigan, Kade, and the newly hatched Xiagonia, who, though born of gold stock, had been altered by twisted sorcery into a dragon of shimmering blue. We returned the unhatched egg to its rightful nest, and for this deed, we were granted the high rank of Wind Riders, permitted to mount and ride the great beasts of the air. Moreover, by soft words and counsel, I persuaded Xiagonia’s mother not to cast out her altered daughter; and the mother gave unto her a charmed necklace to cloak her blue scales, lest the ignorance of mortals bring about her death.

Our next journey led us to the rescue of our fourth companion, a Gold Dragon named Kaen. He was, in truth, the rightful Prince of Rethasa, the Metallic Dragon Empire, who had been cast out into the wilderness to perish by the hand of his own envious brother. Being delivered from doom, Kaen bonded in spirit with Kade, who became his chosen rider. Soon after, we were summoned to save yet another drake—Chiedhat, once a proud Silver Dragon, who was held captive by a renegade elf of the royal house of Rethasa and tortured with foul venoms deadly to his kind. We broke his chains, and the dragon bestowed his loyalty upon Eldigan.

From that hour, our fellowship endured many great trials. We braved a dark and forbidding cavern where none before had survived, a place filled with the chaotic roiling of wild, crystal magic. From the deep recesses of that earth, we brought forth dragon shards of wondrous power, which were later used to fashion an epic airship unmatched in all the world. Among these stones was a shard of dark potency; through our arts, we turned its purpose from the bringing of death to the giving of life, presenting it as a gift to the city of Emenaren. By its virtue, the fields brought forth abundant harvests, feeding the great host of new citizens who sought refuge within the city walls.

Then it came to pass that we marched against a band of orcs who were harrying the local trade routes. Because I labored to understand their rugged tongue and looked into the heart of the matter, I discovered that they raided not out of malice, but because their kindred were wasting from lack of food. Rather than putting them to the sword, we provided them with sustenance and offered them honorable employment as guardians of Emenaren, that they might send support back to their hearths. We then confronted the high chieftain of the orcs, whose excessive taxation had brought about the famine; during this strife, we revealed that his mind was enslaved by a wicked djinn. When the spirit was dealt with, the orcs became our steadfast allies. It was after this victory that Xiagonia at last gave me her full trust, and our spirits were bonded.

Thereafter, we journeyed to my ancestral home of Oneralos to treat for a lumber trade. But as we sat before the council, a shadow fell upon Eldigan, and she received a terrible revelation: she was the reincarnation of the Grand Lich Archimond, our ancient foe. Not long after, we were summoned to the encampment of the Sylvelielie University amidst the ruined temple of Nera beyond the city gates. We delved into a long-forgotten, undisturbed vault, which we found swarming with spiders and the grim zealots of Lolth. We cast out these defilers and restored the holy authority of Nera to the sanctuary. In that dark hour, knowing Eldigan's true nature, I sought to end her existence, but my strength failed me; Kade was named the Herald of Death, and the slumbering spirit of my past self—Tylana, the bane of the Grand Lich—was awakened within me.

When we emerged from the depths, we returned to Oneralos only to find my noble house overrun by fiends and walking corpses, summoned by the Master Wizard Allendale. As we cleared the desecrated halls, we found a gathering of deathlocks seeking a tome of the Grand Lich; it was this very book that had unlocked Eldigan’s dark memory and revived her ancient power. We slew the invading monsters, save for one—the Arachtilian Abomination—which nearly brought about our undoing before it fled into the night. When the mansion was cleared, a tense truce was struck between Eldigan and myself, under the solemn oath that should she sway toward wickedness, my blade would find her end.

Upon our return to Emenaren, we were enlisted to guard a company journeying to purify a cursed farmstead, which had once supplied the city with vital provisions. There we found the cultists of Orcus laboring to tear open a portal into the black Abyss. Yet the lightning of Xiagonia flashed with such fury that it drew the gaze of the demon commanding the ritual; he was overthrown, the portal was shattered, and Orcus, in his wrath, swore a blood-vow of revenge against our fellowship.

Shortly after these deeds, the Emperor of Rethasa was foully assassinated. We traveled in haste to the capital city of Tel’Kexymala to deliver a captive agent from bonds. Upon our return to headquarters, we learned that the Empress, maddened by grief or shadow, had declared open war upon Emenaren. During the first great siege, we defied the captain of the guard and shattered his host; his lingering phantom revealed to us that the soldiers were bound to servitude by black collars forged about their necks. These we disrupted using an ancient artifact held by the Hierophant Druid, which, when awakened, quenched all magic within a great circle around it.

With the army delivered from the spell, we hastened back to Tel’Kexymala, broke into the silent tombs of the kings, and by our arts revived the fallen Emperor. It was our hope that he might turn the Empress away from the dark paths of Tiamat and back to the light of Bahamut. We forced our way into the high keep where Kaen, his father, and his brother confronted the Empress. There it was unveiled that her mind had been withered by Allendale, who fed her fear that the Emperor would destroy her unhatched egg, even as he had attempted with Kaen. At the sight of Kaen living, the spell upon her heart was broken. She turned upon her advisor, Allendale, but the sorcerer unleashed a cloud of deathly gas across the halls, and in the bitter fray that followed, both the Emperor and Empress were slain. Yet the precious egg was preserved by the Arachtilian Abomination, whose mastery we had wrested from the wizard. From the creature, we learned a dire truth: Allendale was another reincarnation of the Lich Archimond. Kaen and his brother then ruled the realm in fellowship, awaiting the hatching of their sister.

Months passed, and tidings came that Allendale sought the hidden heart of the Tower of Necromancy. We pursued his disciples through the bleak wastes of the Shadowfell and down into the burning pits of Avernus. Along that dread path, we overcame an Ancient Deep Dragon, from whose dark scales I caused a suit of custom armor to be fashioned. In the depths of Avernus, by strange fortune, we restored the fallen Aspect of Tiamat to full vigor; in gratitude, she named Xiagonia the Herald of Tiamat, granting her the terrible breath-weapons of all chromatic kind. But Orcus soon smelled our presence in the pit and let loose his legions upon us, forcing our company to flee back to the mortal realm.

We returned to Emenaren only to find the city plagued by a nest of vampires. When the streets were cleared, we sought their subterranean lair to rescue the abducted councilwoman, Lady Cornaith, whom some styled "Rainbow Throw-up." In the deep places of the earth, we encountered the very god of the vampires, who offered us an alliance if we would cast down the reigning vampire lord, Barghast—a creature we had previously delivered to our agency for blackmail, only for him to be turned into a monster. The deity sought to replace him with a vampire more compliant to his laws—one who had formerly walked in our own order and sat upon the council of Emenaren. We broke the host by flooding the subterranean vaults, destroying the general Barghast had set over the city, and we gave to Argus, the lover of Cornaith, a potion of resurrection that restored her to life, binding him to us in gratitude. Yet when our organization commanded us to enter Castle Ishtein and place the god's chosen vampire upon the throne, we found the fortress a mad vortex of war: Argus stood there with a host of Celestials, Barghast held the center with a legion of fiends, elemental giants marched from the south, and rebel vampires fought in the shadows. Seeing that the day was lost to madness, we chose to slip away from the ruin.

Word reached us then that Allendale had secured the heart of the tower. We made our preparations within the Tower of Divination, where the tides of time are slowed to a crawl, and drifted once more into Avernus. There, the high powers of Tiamat and Bahamut were forced to shield us from a spell that would have ended our lives. We fought against the living stone of the tower, mastered its power, and confronting Allendale head-on, we destroyed him utterly. When Orcus rose to claim the ruin, I cried out to Nera, and she sealed the demon prince away in the dark.

Upon our homecoming to Emenaren, we found the seat of power altered, the city falling entirely under the hand of Jack. He bestowed upon me the leadership of our local order. Yet the peace was brief; the city was soon raided by Chromatic Dragons seeking the Herald of Tiamat. We met them in parley, and they spoke of a prophecy given to their high priestess from the Tower of Divination: that the chromatic and metallic empires must unite or both kingdoms would fall to ruin, and that the Herald was required to seal the bond. We answered that we must first journey to Tel’Kexymala, for Kaen’s sister had slain his brother during our absence in the pit, but promised we would hasten to their isle when the sorrow was mended.

In Tel’Kexymala, we found the selfsame prophecy had been received. The young Empress and her royal advisor proposed a union between the empires; since the chromatics were ruled by a queen, they deemed that Kaen should wed their leader to fulfill the word. We sailed then to the isle of the chromatics, where Xiagonia endured the dread Trials of Tiamat, emerging as their undisputed queen and transforming into a magnificent Rainbow Dragon. We returned to the capital, and there Xiagonia and Kaen were wed under the ancient blessing of Asgorath; and Kaen, touched by the grace of Bahamut, became the only Platinum Dragon, wielding the radiant power of the dawn.

Many battles followed, but at long last, the world fell into stillness. Xiagonia and Kaen ruled the dragon hosts with justice, forging alliances with many kindreds before their first brood was hatched. Aella, whom the folk call Whirlwind, was among them. She is well-named, for she walks ever in mischief, casting forth the blended breath-weapons of both her royal parents. It was my fortune to tend this spirited little drake when her mother grew weary of her wild behavior. Yet, by some unknown art, Whirlwind found her way into the deep vaults of Emenaren and struck an ancient relic with her breath. The artifact awakened, tearing open a portal of swirling light, and the young dragon leaped instantly through the rift. I arrived only to see the tip of her tail vanish into the void. Without thought, I sprang after her. Now I find myself cast away in a strange and diminished land, where nothing bears resemblance to the world I knew. My high powers are faded, and both Whirlwind and the relic that brought us hither are lost to the mists. I wander now upon a lonely quest, seeking the young drake, the lost stone, and the road that leads back home.