Ealwant Besculus

Ealwant Besculus was an Atral wizard that at a time served as the Archmage of the Guild of the Crimson Blossom. After the soul sliver containing his original consciousness was recovered, he was resurrected by Ronan.

The Pillar of Ualune served as his place of residency when not staying with the Guild.

## History

Ealwant Besculus was born to a wealthy Atral family, of which he had at least one sibling - an older brother. Throughout his childhood he revelled in simple games of imagination, bolstered in his fledgling arcane talent for minor illusions, alongside fishing in the lake at the end of the family's estate. In his early teens, whilst fishing for lampreys, he was attacked by a Milfoil Stalker and saved only by the intervention of a passing Knight-Errant seeking out opportunities to prove themselves as part of the Trial of Spirit.

Further inspired into a path set before him, Ealwant was inducted into the Guild of the Crimson Blossom as an acolyte, dedicating himself to his studies. Over the course of several decades, his competency grew further still, until finding himself as the assistant to the Archmage at the time, the high elf already past his seven hundredth birthday when Ealwant first joined the Guild. Coercing the elderly and infirm mage into declaring him his successor, he ascended to the title of Archmage of the Guild of the Crimson Blossom a few years later.

Ealwant's patriotism defined much of his actions as Archmage, just as it had throughout his initial training. While supportive of the Guilds' policies transcending geopolitical borders, his allegience remainded squarely focused on Atral interests, bolstered further following completing his Trial of Spirit, the final declaration of virtue decreed by King Gilbert IX Goldlor himself. The pair had developed a deep friendship come news of the start of the Astedian Ascension to the east, with Ealwant spearheading the defence process when war eventually came to Atral borders. As the conflict raged onwards, he acknowledged the overwhelming might of the Astedian Empire, and so started to seek out new arcane secrets with which to counter the technological prowess they faced. Such research brought him before the fell throne of the Keeper of Whispers, with whom he entered a secret pact in exchange for eldritch knowledge unknown to even the Astedians. Subsequently compelled to act in accordance with his patron's wishes, he unleashed the Syphonic Void during the Siege of Iron, shielding its presence through summoning of a localised wild magic surge to provide it sufficient time to siphon the epicentre of the battlefield for the Keeper's own purposes. This wild magic surge would then spread by its own volition, becoming the chaotic and pervasive mist of the Ashenvale.

Despite such efforts, Ealwant had failed to prevent the Astedian advance.

After the Guild of the Crimson Blossom was dismantled by the High College of Claxinns, Ealwant Besculus was one of the few members that refused the offer of membership to the new primary magical organisation in Ahlus, instead drawing loyal mages both experienced and novice to him and creating a rival faction known as the Sealed Tome. The organisation, pledged directly to the Keeper, used their newfound magic to undermine Astedian interests in what was once Atralran, before the vast majority of the members were captured by the denizens of High Inquisitor Misk Soulbay and sentenced accordingly. Ealwant however evaded capture, compelled further and further by the Keeper to seek out secrets and knowledge unknown to mortal minds. Such efforts would find him falling into the sphere of influence of a reconstituted fragment of the Darkbringer known as Hadar, and acknowledging that his plaything was now corrupted, the Keeper stripped Ealwant of his identity and allowed him to be sealed away by the Guardians of the Flock.

Ealwant's body, reduced to a vacuous husk, was freed from the Seal within Grimvern Bluff and sequestered away within the dungeons of the Arken Den. Later, when a party sought to visit the Plane of Dolurrh, he was resurrected by Ronan using his Soul Sliver. After initial confusion, and through use of an enchantment to mollify the subsequent anxieties and concerns, with promise of both the Goldlors' survival through Sílon and the intentions to move against the Keeper, he was drafted into aiding the party. Recovering his belongings under the careful eye of Lady Zareyl Arkenviir within a demiplane of his own creation, he joined the party on their journey to Dolurrh - although did so under constant suspicion from much of the party. At the culmination of the conflict, he channeled vast arcane might to *Wish* a route for the party home, allowing Zareyl to *Word of Recall* much of the party to safety, Ealwant himself left behind. Only a Divine Intervention by Hassk with the return of half a group delivered him home, alongside a greviously aged Fonteyne and Forgemaster's Pride - Ronan already contained within, having been slain.

Ealwant would later take part in the Battle of Manifestation's Return, wielding the arcane to aid the defenders against the ingress of Hadar the Cinder Star. His magic would ultimately prove instrumental in the defeat of the Harbingers and Hadar themselves. After offering his guidance to resume teaching at the Guild of the Crimson Blossom, Ealwant proclaimed that he intended to channel all his might to clear the Ashenvale in name of the newly-crowned King Eldarion I, but instead proved beyond contact or response shortly after venturing into the region in 23WD.

## Possessions

**Staff of the Archmagi**

Hewn from polished and pale yew, wreathed in cloth and silk coloured amber, azure and crimson, the staff’s crest ebbs with a likewise shade, a sapphire of great size meandered and filigreed in lashings of lustrous gold.

**Red Claw’s Regalia**

Fine aureate meshwork weaves between scales of ruby-scarlet, garnet-red, mahogany-sanguine, rising to a golden frill that shields neck and nape alike. At wrists, waist and trailing threads amber embers flicker and singe, though from them no heat spreads.

**Shard of Divinus - Mastery**

A shimmering crystalline shard reminiscent of amber, thrown into steady orbit around Ealwant's brow.