Caelynn

## Lady Caelynn Galanodel

Caelynn in the Underdark

The Reidargard

## Background

### Early Life

Caelynn has always been her father's favourite, out of all of his children, only she turned out most like him in temperament. As a child, she knew that she was unlikely to have a great inheritance and so became determined to make something of herself, despite her mother's protests about 'unladylike pursuits'. Her elder sister, Callidora, had been promised to the service of Silvanus, the god of wild nature, and spent much of her time training in the ways of Rangers. The bond between the two sisters was so strong that, even thought they were eldest and youngest, Caelynn's interest was encouraged and nurtured by Callidora.

It was shortly after Caelynn's 180th birthday that the dragon came. It is believed that the dragon was aiming for the family keep but paused at the nearby village when it encountered armed guards. During the ensuing fight, Caelynn and Callidora snuck out of the keep to join the fighters, knowing that their mother would never allow them out if she'd known their plan.

Callidora was killed by the dragon as she attempted to pull its attention away from an injured guard. Caelynn, rage fuelling her movements, picked up her fallen sister's bow and joined the fight. From that day, she has held a deep seated hatred of dragons.

True to the two girls' predictions, their mother was horrified that they had snuck out, even their two brothers hadn't tried to join the fight. It was due to this incident that her mother began to worry about how wayward her daughter was. She had cultivated a friendship with the Ilphelkiir family, a wealthy family of minor nobles, long before and now broached the suggestion of an arranged marriage between Caelynn and Soveliss, their eldest son.

Caelynn hated Soveliss, and told her mother as much. But her words fell on deaf ears. Soveliss began to make a nuisance of himself, interrupting Caelynn's archery and melee practices to tell her that she should be focusing on learning to run a household. Despite the fact that Caelynn outranked him, he felt entitled to her because her mother supported the match.

With the help of her father and brothers, Caelynn left her family home to make her own way in the world, taking the weapons that had been crafted for Callidora with her.

### Wanderings

At first, Caelynn lived using her family name, staying with other nobles until they began to broach the idea of her marrying into their families. Soon, she was spending longer and longer in the wilderness until she felt a calling to the ways of the ranger, much like her sister before her.

For a time, she lived with a pack of wolves. It was winter and they allowed her into the cave that served as their den. At first, the animals remained aloof, ignoring her as long as she didn't come too close. But soon, she began hunting and bringing food back to the den, not just for herself but for the wolves too and they began to treat her as 'pack'. By the end of that winter, she had forged a bond with the wolves and, to this day, she still feels a kinship for the animals.

### Called by The Reidargard

Caelynn was staying at an inn in a small town, approximately six miles from the capital city Soren's Fist when a mysterious letter arrived. It was a call to join The Reidargard and instructed her to travel to a small inn in the town of Karthfield to meet the other new recruits. Having spent some time in the capital in the past, Caelynn was well aware of the Reidargard and their exclusivity so she immediately set off for Karthfield and the inn.

Once there, she met the people who were to be her companions. At first, she was dubious of them, especially Perrin who seems to continuously attempt to swindle people at cards. But upon fighting with them, she began to appreciate them and now considers them to be close companions and even friends. During the journey to Soren's Fist, one of their companions, Hamar, unfortunately lost his life in an encounter with a wolf. This forced the group to have to kill the animal, much to Caelynn's internal distress. Since that night, she has had nightmares if she sleeps for longer than the four hours her Elven nature requires.

### The Sorensgard

Their arrival at the Reidargard brought the news that they had been brought together by prophecy, having been chosen by the Raven Queen. A new companion joined their group after Hadeyr persuaded Handra to give him a chance. It was duing those early days that Caelynn gained herself an animal companion, the wolf she named Fenrir, with whom she forged a bond so strong that she cared more for him than her own life. It was during this time that they met Tommy, a young recruit of the Reidargard that the group took an interest in and who was chosen by the Raven Queen to serve as her Paladin.

As the Raven Queen's champions, the Sorensgard, the companions were called upon when it became known that there was a traitor in the Reidargard. Believing the traitor to be Cecil, they set off into the Underdark to persue him. However, during one of their early battles with a Death Knight, Fenrir died, something that caused severe mental trauma to Caelynn. After a long time, the companions were captured by Drow who revealed that the real traitor was Rike. This was revealed to Handra when Aera returned to the city to ask for Tommy's help in redeeming the soul of the Death Knight. Upon their return they informed the group that there was an invasion of the Undead occurring up in the city.

With Tommy's help, they travelled to the Astral Plane while Aera was still suffering from exhaustion due to his frantic dash to get Tommy. The group were soon set upon by ghosts and Caelynn was posessed by the spirit of her dead sister, Callidora. This increased her trauma from Fenrir's death and she began to speak less and less. The group redeemed the soul of the Death Knight without having to fight him but had an encounter with Rike's Astral form. During Rike's rant, parts of his story resonated with Caelynn and the losses she'd felt.

Shortly after returning from the Astral Plane, the group was ordered to return to the city and make their way to the palace. Their trip back up the stairs was frought however, they made it back to the Palatial district intact. They were sent on a mission to investigate Rike's house, by which time, Caelynn was entirely mute from grief. After sneaking their way through undead infested streets to the location, Aera destroyed many of the undead and the group was able to make their way into the basement to investigate. There they found a portal which took them to where Rike had been sending his undead army from. It was here, that they discovered the fate of the still missing Cecil. He had been transformed into an undead creature with a grudge against Tommy and the Sorensgard protected their companion and defeated the undead Cecil, albeit only temporarily.

## Character

Caelynn can be standoffish and almost snobbish at first meeting however, when you get beyond her walls so that she considers you a friend, she will fight with her all to protect you. But hurt or offend her in some way and she will never forgive you. In many ways, she is still the headstrong young noblewoman that she was when she set out from her family keep however, her nature has been tamed somewhat by wisdom gained from her travels so she no longer insists on everything done according to her plan as she had in her youth but instead will listen to her companions and follow their plans and suggestions. Her nature contains a slight tendency towards depression due to her sister's death and this is only made worse by her PTSD from losing Fenrir.

Like her father before her, Caelynn follows Selune, the goddess of the moon, and believes that her race were created by that particular goddess. Attempting to interfere with this deep rooted belief is a sure way to make an enemy of Caelynn. She has a healthy respect for the other deities, especially the Raven Queen, but none of them are as close to her heart and psyche as Selune.

## Physical desctiption

Caelynn is 5'6" with long blue-black hair that she customarily wears in a braid to keep it out of her way. She has deep blue eyes that stand out against her very pale, almost alabaster, skin and is slender, despite her ability to fight.

When given the choice of what to wear, she tends to lean towards deep blues and greens while avoiding reds and browns.