Tân Ysbryd

Autumn Eladrin Wizard of the School of Enchantment

#### Origin

Hailing from the strange and weird lands of the Feywild and their wily courts, Tân is the son of Adainlas the healer and Weidwyn the musician who owned a small piece of land at the borders of the Summer Court's domain. Tân had been an autumn eladrin for his entire life, always having felt kinship with the season of harvest. He was schooled in magic by the secretive and mysterious "Merriam", whos presence on his parents' land soon turned out to be Tân's saving grace...

Tân's blissful childhood was cut short by his dark soul-sibling, Yngwyth. Centuries older than Tân, Yngwyth forged her own path many years before - a path frought with prophecy and tragedy, a path that made her a knight of the Gloaming Court's Order of Twisted Mirrors and a favoured champion of The Queen of Darkness and Air herself. Yngwyth claimed Tân possesed the soul of her long-dead twin sister who scorned Yngwyth and set her on her dark path for which she seeks vengeance... no matter which body her sister's soul now inhabits. This was a terrifying revelation to Tân, his horror only tempered by his disbelief... until he experienced his First Reflection (*See Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Chapter 2, 'Living in Reverie', 'Adolescence'*) - he saw himself passing judgement on a creature not unlike what Yngwyth had become, and he knew then that Yngwyth spoke true. Once Yngwyth had made her intentions known, Adainlas and Weidwyn petitioned the fey courts to intervene and called due the favors owed for their stewardship of the enigmatic "Merriam".

And Thus Spoke The Summer Court: "By boon of service, as long as the Bean Sìdhe (Merriam) is in the care of Tuatha Dé Ysbryd (the Ysbryd family) on their land, Soul-Sibling of Tragedy's Darkest Get (Yngwyth) is denied ever to inflict harm, shame, discourtesy, or misconduct against the kin of Our sworn."

Years passed, and on Tân's 101st birthday he decided to strike out on his own. His reasoning was two-fold: one, he knew at some point he would have to face Yngwyth and he needed to be ready and posses enough power to survive, if not triumph. Two, Merriam's restoration and Mandread's destruction (*See "Curious Tale of..." below*). Tân decided the best place to experience magic and grow was among mortals other than the long-lived but complacent elves... after all, time was of the essence, even though he didn't know exactly how much time he had.

The material plane was a wonderful and delightfully static place. At first, Tân had trouble navigating the social norms of the native races but eventually learned, despite still being something of an oddity wherever he went. A gifted wizard paired with his otherworldly fey features attributed to him strange tales and myths in the years following his wake; "the Witch Man will trade good fortune for food", "The Pumpkin Lord dances with maidens at dusk", "the Autumn Elf leaves treats for nice children", and the like. Few were based in truth, but most had a sliver of it...

Venturing out of the very rural areas in which he inadvertedly had come to be well-known, Tân eventually came upon more civilized peoples - some of whom even knew of the Feywild and its native elves - and here he quickly found companionship among wanderers, adventurers, and scholars alike. Some sought him for his magical skills as an adventurer and others to fill their books about the Feywild and its denizens. Now in the company of a group of brave comrades in Bastion Bay, Tân awaits the sea voyage to treasures, adventures, and experiences unknown.

Tân has a kind soul with a naturally calming presence which belies a fun-loving and mischievous streak. He is often perceived as generous which, while true, is mostly because he cares little for gold and wealth and spends what he has with little regard to his own basic needs (a fact that more than once has left him on the brink of starvation). Tân enjoys creating cozy and warm environs and seeks to provide comfort wherever needed, big or small.

Beyond the confrontation with his "sister" and Merriam's salvation, Tân hopes to one day join the ranks of the Archfey and become Tân'ethain of Autumn, Keeper of the Kindly Hearth, Warden of the Twilight Realm; using his arcane might to protect, guide, and nurture others. His greatest fear is becoming that which he fights; someone lost to darkness, apathy, and wickedness... an all too-real threat as winter's icy shadows trace their claws across his heart.

#### The Curious Tale of Merriam Hollystockings the Matronly Lich and Tutor of Tân

The story of how Tân learned magic starts a few centuries before he was even born - it starts with the villainous Archlich Mandread the Unmourned and Merriam the Halfling Scullery Maid. A few centuries back, Mandread the Lich was on the hunt for a powerful artefact, it's location known only to a cleric of Lathander, a powerful adventurer in her own right. Mandread had besieged the city of Gelder in which the cleric and her compatriots had chosen to make their stand against their undead foe and his army of decrepit corpses. The battle reached its climax with Mandread the apparent victor, the cleric gravely wounded and her brave companions dead or dying. Mandread's plan was to magically wrest the clerics mind and soul from her into his own so as to know all she knew - confident that his arcane might and deathly will was stronger than hers. As he gloated before his final ritual was complete, an unassuming halfling scullery maid, having heard the entire exchange, ran from her hiding spot - dirt-stained apron flapping, the halfling threw herself at the cleric, knocking her away, and before Mandread knew what had happened the magic took effect. What then began was a battle of wills. For what seemed like hours, the unlikely duo fought for dominance within the archlich's mind with the matronly halfling foiling every attempt to censure her... and then, as the dread lich balefully realized, to fend her off. Her mental assault was relentless; in the lich's mind, the halfling was wielding a rolling pin wreathed in divine light as she wacked at his psyche as though she was disciplining an unruly hooligan. Finally, mercifully, the wacking stopped. Mandread realized, to his epic discomfort, that he had lost control of his own mind and body, now inhabited by the halfling matron, with Mandread himself forever jailed to the metaphorical backseat of a horse carriage.

"Curse you, wretched woman! Insignificant speck! Damn you and your verminous race!" Mandread called from his unsightly mental perch. "That's *MISS* Speck to you, Dead Thing", the halfling retorted. The cerebral hierarchy settled, what followed was a very confusing conversation between Merriam, the grateful but perplexed cleric, and the city's governing body - with occasional howling from Mandread, heard (and readily ignored) only by Merriam. What exactly was discussed, Merriam has since forgotten, but it ended with her leaving the city... and then the plane as she eventually found and sought refuge in the Feywild. Merriam the Archlich told her story to a reprehensive Archfey, but her tale was such an unlikely and entertaining one that she had the whole court either baffled, crying with laughter, or just plain speechless. As a reward for her amusing tale Marriam the Unlich was granted sanctuary, a small cottage on a piece of land owned by a physician, and whatever arcane components needed to keep the former inhabitant of her body imprisoned, which, as it turns out, was nothing; the eldritch laws woven into Mandread's spell brokered no chance of escape, unless Merriam the Not-So-Much-A-Lich decreed it.

Her halfing sensibilites preserved, Merriam the Scullery Lich was content as she spent the next few centuries tending her small garden of roses and occasionally talked about the magical mysteries of the planes with Mandread or, as she came to call him, "her very grumpy neighbor", since he had little better to do to fight off the maddening boredom of botany and gardening.

Not three days after his 62nd birthday, Tân of Autumn came upon Merriam's lovely garden and in short order found himself having tea with it's occupant(s), the Matronly Lich, on her wooden porch sorrounded by roses, orchids, and lillies of every vibrant colour imaginable. A few years, and many afternoon luncheons later, Tân asked to be tutored in the ways of academic magic, a notion Merriam found delightfully novel, if unexpected, and she gleefully began preparing teaching lessons of something other than what kind of soap to use.

And so it came to pass, that Tân the Autumnal Eladrin of Faerie, learned the basics of magical theory from Supreme Lichmistress Merriam Hollystockings, formerly of the Scullery Arts (with the occasional chiming in from her old grumpy neighbor).