Neleous

**Neleous** (pronounced /nɛljiːoʊs/) is an Aasimar Warlock, a member of the Bureau, and assisted the Primal Seven in their investigation of the king in Artemis Cove and fight against the Necromancer. They ran into the group in Posttown after being ditched by the people they were originally with, and was revealed to assessing Adrasteia on her suitability for a soulmate.

## Description

### Appearance

Neleous looks mostly human, being of an average height of 5'8 and slim build. His skin is a grey-ish pale, and his hair is brown and purple in colour, usually tied in a bun at the base of his neck. In terms of clothing they wear a plain cream toga, beige trousers, knee length sandles, basic leather armour, and a purple sash over their right shoulder.

That's where the normal features of Neleous end. As an Aasimar, his skin has a feathered texture to it, with more feathers visable around his neck, back, and framing his face. Their ears are large lilac feathered appendages that are fully mobile, and on their back two deep purple scars run vertical near their shoulder blades. Unusual for an Aasimar, instead of feet he has large sharp talons. His eyes are also vaguely unsettling, with the iris being a deep purple but the sclera completely black.

Notably, they wear a silver circlet embedded with purple crystals which serves as their arcane focus, and a brooch of celestial bronze shaped as a dove holding a myrtle branch.

### Personality

Outwardly Neleous is quite charming and generally a friendly face. They're happy to help when they have the time and most find them easy to get along with. However, once Neleous gets an idea or a goal he is very single minded in it's execution, often refusing any advice or help. Not sure on who he is as a person (and honestly hasn't really had enough time to figure himself out) he focuses a lot on his personal differences and deficiencies and struggles to let go of past feelings.

## Biography

### Background

Neleous was born to two human parents. Desperate for a child of their own, his two mothers prayed to the gods for a blessing. Not soon after, one of them fell pregnant and a healthy child was delivered to them with their blessing apparent on their appearance. This caused a lot of strife in their childhood, with bullying from the other children making him feel quite isolated and alone. That all changed, however, after a new family moved into the area. Their son - a gnome named Kellen - made it his mission to become friends with the lonesome Neleous, and he succeeded. The two of them became extremely close, dreaming and drawing up plans of one day escaping the confines of their dreary village life.

Their wish was finally granted in their mid-teens, when a travelling merchant from the other side of the continent offered them both an apprenticeship. From there, they accompanied her and her caravan on their journey, learning the tricks and trade of running a business. Eventually, the two of them had enough experience to set out on their own, opening a hand-crafted jewellery shop on the coast. And somewhere along the way, they fell in love.

After a few years of calm success tragedy unfortunately befell the two. One night Neleous returned to the shop to find everything overturned and in disarray. Product had been stolen and the building covered in scorch marks. The only thing that remained was a brief note pinned to the far wall with a dagger. Neleous and Kellen had been wrongfully accused of stealing profits from a rival merchant guild; as retaliation, Kellen had been taken as hostage until an agreement could be reached. Blaming themselves for their partner getting hurt, Neleous immediately sought out to rescue him and ran as quickly as they could to where Kellen was being held. Refusing to bargain, he attempted to fight those holding his partner but was quickly overpowered. The last he saw of Kellen was his frightened face before he was teleported away.

This sent Neleous into a deep depression. The business they set up with their partner fell into ruin and they spent a few years working odd jobs just to distract themselves from their loss. Many times they went over what he could've done differently so Kellen would be safe, almost becoming completely overwhelmed and corrupted by loss and despair which left a lasting impact on them. He had been too weak to save the person they loved and it threatened to destroy them. Instead, however, he became determined to acquire as much power as possible to be able to save his partner, refusing to address the idea that he was likely dead. Through the random work they took and rumours they came across, Neleous was led to a secluded temple of Aphrodite. They had the intention of asking the priests that worked there for guidance but he was met with something much more different upon his arrival. Or rather someone different.

Neleous was instead greeted by Hedylogos, one of the Erotes working under Aphrodite. In exchange for his services, the minor god promised him the power he needed to go after and rescue his lost love. Desperate and with no other option, Neleous agreed and entered a pact with the god.

Neleous now works as one of Aphrodite's 'matchmakers' - warlocks who enter pacts with the Erotes and go assess if certain people are ready to meet their soulmates. In return for their service they are granted magic to do with as they wish. Neleous has been a part of this for fifteen years now, and can feel (or is hoping) that they are finally close to the end of their tenure. Just a few more cases to go..... At least that's what he keeps telling himself.

## Relationships

### Hedylogos

Their boss who overworks them and could give less than a shit about him tbh.

### Kellen

Neleous' closest friend and long-term partner whom they feel immense guilt over losing all those years ago. They are currently travelling to Invurnes after a tip-off to go rescue him.

### The Primal Seven

Whilst they did not make the best first impression on him, the group grew on him enough that he was willing to lay down his life fighting for them after a very heartfelt talk with Adrasteia. They are proud and quite honestly surprised Adrasteia was able to pass the Bureau's test but does regard her as a close aquaintence.

As for the rest of the Primal Seven, Neleous did not have much time to spend with them. They regard them all as decent, albeit a little insane, people and particularly enjoyed Leoven's company. He found Khantos to be a strange but interesting character, and Oto to be trustworthy and genuinely regrets that he didn't have enough time to get to know them all a bit more personally.

### Clay

Clay is an Earth Elemental summoned from a magic bean given to Neleous by Theobald. The two of them quickly bonded, it becoming so strong that the magics of castle in Artemis Cove could not break it. Clay was a helpful companion in the investigation in the kings potential murder, and gave the final killing blow in the group's fight against the Necromancer. Their heart left with Neleous when he was recalled by the Bureau and remains his faithful companion. They are currently trying to teach him Primordial as they travel to Invurnes.

## Character Information

### Notable Items

* ***Eyes of Charming***, standard equipment issued by the Bureau.
* A short bow, standard equipment issued by the Bureau.

### Abilities

#### Aasimar Abilities

* Darkvision (60ft)
* Celestial Resistance
* Healing Hands
* Light Bearer
* Necrotic Shroud

#### Warlock Abilities

* Arrows of Love
	+ Starting at 1st level, you can fire enchanted ammunition that cause the target struck to fall deeply in love for a short time. When you hit a creature with a ranged weapon attack, you can attempt to charm the target. When you do so, the ammunition used disappears and deals no damage. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC, and does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. On a failure, the next time the target sees a creature within 10 minutes after it was hit by your attack becomes charmed by that creature for 1 hour. This effect ends immediately if the creature charming the target does anything harmful to it. If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it. If the creature is of a species and gender the target is normally attracted to, it regards it as its true love while it is charmed. You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your warlock level. You regain any expended uses of this feature when you finish a long rest.
* Heartbreaker
	+ At 1st level, you can remotely detonate the love enchantment on your charmed targets, causing a wave of heartbreak and rejection to wash over them. As a bonus action on your turn, choose a creature that you have charmed within 60 feet of you. The creature takes your Charisma modifier + your warlock level (minimum of 1) psychic damage, is no longer charmed and becomes hostile towards the creature it was charmed by. Alternatively, you can use your reaction to use this feature when the charm on the target naturally breaks.
* Flights of Fancy
	+ Starting at 6th level, when you take damage, you can use your reaction to sprout wings and move up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space. Until the end of your next turn, you have a flying speed of 60 feet. In addition, you do not provoke opportunity attacks when you fly out of an enemies reach using this feature. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
* Pact Magic
* Eldritch Invocations
* Pact Boon

## Trivia

* Neleous is based on the player's old Percy Jackson OC they made years ago - a demigod of Hedylogos.