Nivmir

**Nivmir** was a Chitine from the settlement of Yathchol. During the Rage of Demons, Nivmir abandoned the worship of Lolth common among his people and began to venerate a being he would only call 'The Lady'. Although he was born free, Nivmir spent time as a slave, only being freed after he was purchased at an auction in Gracklstugh by Elaxalim Diro. After being freed, Nivmir was misled into following his liberators, until their pursuers caught up to them and claimed Nivmir's life.

Nivmir was a sidekick NPC in the currently ongoing Out of the Abyss adventure.

## Description

Nivmir, like all naturally-born chitines, was sexless. He resembled a twisted and corrupted male elf, standing tall at about 4 feet tall (1.2 meters) and weighing around 85 pounds (38.5 kilograms). Like all chitines, Nivmir had four arms covered in oily gray fur and sharp claws at the ends of those arms. He had six dull yellow eyes, an oversized spider mandible alongside sharp teeth, and finally long hair and ears reminiscent of his elven ancestors. Nivmir did not wear any armor, and walked about the Underdark covered in rags.

## Personality

Nivmir was a overly paranoid and aggressive chitine, easy to provoke and annoy. For a majority of his life he was almost indistinguishable from his many kin, hating the drow with his every breath and serving the whims of the Spider Queen through her servants- the Choldriths. Chosen at an early age to take part in raids against the drow of Ched Nasad, this aggressiveness and loyalty only grew as he became more and more experienced. That was until the Rage of Demons, when Nivmir took part in a raid that went badly and altered his perception on the Spider Queen and the false matriarchy he lived under at Yathchol. For reasons likely related with the Rage of Demons, Nivmir went mad, abandoning the worship of the Spider Queen in favor of a new goddess he could occasionally hear in his deepest thoughts. 'The Lady', as he called the entity, encouraged Nivmir to abandon his life and kin, as well as heightened his worst most violent qualities.

Despite the fact that his goddess was seemingly conjured from nothing but self-told lie, Nivmir saw her as the absolute authority in everything- refusing to stand in her way even when it meant curtailing his worst habits. Perhaps as a result of his devotion, Nivmir was surprisingly gullible, as shown when Elaxalim was able to deceive Nivmir into believing his mental messages were those of 'the Lady'. Even though Nivmir detested being near the drow of Elaxalim's party, he restrained himself to avoid angering his divine patron, only unleashing his anger for the drow on those not explicitly protected by her mental messages.

Nivmir's greatest flaw, however, was his overconfidence regarding his importance to the Lady. When faced with debilitating injuries and the threat of becoming a lycanthrope in the night, Nivmir refused to take part in any plans to keep him safe- believng that the Lady would always restore him to good health for his service. This flaw led to his brutal death.

## History

### Life as a Warrior

Nivmir was spawned alongside many others in the year 1463 DR by Uelwen Droweater, Matron of the Othmo 'House'. Like all his chitine siblings he had no familial relationship with his mother, as the Choldrith matron was the mother of most of the thorp- and there was always a chance that a young Nivmir could die at an early age. A true priestess of the Spider Queen, Uelwen would have been a fool to care for any of her vast amount of spawn, especially when attachment would only serve to weaken a cleric of Lolth. Despite the lack of maternal love, Nivmir would go on to serve his Matron and the other priestesses of the Othmo thorp loyally, training as a raider who brought prey back to his village to be eaten. The only being that inspired more loyalty and fear than his own Matron was the Spider Queen herself, who Nivmir venerated with extreme favor out of a belief that worship would bring more victories for him and his kin.

In the year 1486 DR, Nivmir participated in a large raid on the outskirts of Ched Nasad, a drow city in the process of rebuilding after disaster during the Silence of Lolth. Led by a choldrith sister of his thorp, Nivmir trusted in the Spider Queen to deliver him to victory, and that trust was broken in the disaster that followed. Nivmir's party had spotted two priestesses and a handful of male guards, and acted quickly. The drow guards, heavily scarred and wearing masks over their faces, silently slew his priestess sister before his kin had casted her first spell. The death of the other chitines followed at the hands of one of the priestesses. Only Nivmir remained out of all those who had come to raid, and he himself only lived because his utter shock at their quick defeat caused him to be distracted. The remaining priestess, a drow woman of great beauty, cast a spell that forced him into a trance and allowed the others to knock him into unconsciousness.

### The Lady's Gift

From there the drow captors, presumably to sell him on the market, brought the unconscious Nivmir to the City of Splintered Webs, unaware of the happenings in his own mind. From the moment he'd been rendered unconscious, Nivmir was forced into one long string of visions. In them he saw the crushing defeat again and again, hearing his own prayers to the Spider Queen and those of his choldrith kin before the raid had even begun. A voice in his head, understanding and sickly sweet, took pity on the chitine. The Lady, as Nivmir would go on to call her, made him see what he had failed to notice before. The drow, sworn enemies of his people, were still favored by Lolth, no matter what the choldrith priestesses said. His people had died, and would continue to die, in a conflict with no end and no purpose. He, a lowly chitine, would never be anything to the Spider Queen he had sought to have the favor of. Nivmir was forced to see the truth in the Lady's words and despair.

When he awoke in Ched Nasad, it was in chains and within a cage meant for a monster, overseen by the same priestess that had chosen to keep him as a prisoner rather than simply killing him. He wanted act against her, but found that he couldn't. The voice demanded he didn't, and promised great rewards if he was patient. The priestess who watched over him was silent and confident, and as if she knew Nivmir would not defy the words in his head, she freed him from his bindings and set about healing the captured mad chitine. The silent priestess eventually brought Nivmir to the slave market of Ched Nasad, aided by the stern reminders by the Lady that kept the unbound Nivmir from attacking all the drow within sight. The priestess only spoke to sell him away to visiting duergar, and when she did, she spoke with the same sickly sweet voice he had been listening to all along.

The Lady spoke one last time as the chitine was chained and dragged away, commanding him to remain loyal, and to do as pleased against all those he hated when he reached his destination. Although he would never see the strange drow again, he remembered her face, and he remembered her voice. She had spared him, saved him from the drow and the Spider Queen, and she would let him be free to gain his revenge on both the drow and all those who called Lolth their patron. Most importantly though, Nivmir would begin to manifest magicks he'd never had before- just days into his journey to far off Gracklstugh.

Nivmir's first attempt to escape the duergar was a failure, as was the second and third. Each taught him something new he could do which he couldn't before, and each served as an example to his new owner that he could not possibly be allowed to roam in their own households. They had been swindled, unknowingly charmed into purchasing Nivmir at an exorbitant price, and now their newly bought slave was rebelling far more than they were willing to accept. At Gracklstugh the gray dwarves did everything to break Nivmir's spirit without breaking their property, and this effort failed completely.

### 'Freedom'

Nivmir's purchase was ultimately such a loss that in Ches of 1487 DR, he was put on auction at the Blade Bazaar, where his owners neglected to inform the auction visitors of Nivmir's potential. Nivmir would ultimately be bought by the sun elf Elaxalim Diro, who had discovered by mental communication that the mad chitine had immediately believed him to be the Lady. Determining that the party could earn protection through this act of deception, Elaxalim took on the role of 'the Lady' whilst speaking to Nivmir telepathically, manipulating the chitine into doing what he deemed necessary. It was through this deception that the party avoided Nivmir attempting to murder Sarith Kzekarit and Malady Fahrashil for being drow.

Together with this group of adventurers, Nivmir got to put his skills to use when they began a riot in Laduguer's Furrow to lead the derro out of Gracklstugh, as well as when the party was confronted by drow forward scouts a tenday after he was 'freed' from slavery. During an encounter with these scouts led by Jorlan Duskryn, a cave-in occurred, causing rubble to collapse on both Nivmir and Jorlan. The party worked to get both of them out, but Nivmir was heavily injured and incapacitated while the party had to navigate through an exposed and slowly submerging ancient ruin to get themselves, Nivmir, and Jorlan to safety. Nivmir made a partial recovery when he woke up hours after the cave-in, but the injuries needed more time to heal, time that Nivmir would never receive.

After a confrontation with the lycanthropic Stoneskin Clan at the Oasis of the Stone King, most of the party, including Nivmir, was bitten by a werebat and needed to be isolated just before a full moon. Despite his severe injuries, Nivmir intently believed in his ability to recover due to the Lady's Grace, and during the full moon he encountered two canoloths that had been summoned by Ilvara Mizzrym to kidnap members of Nivmir's traveling companions. Unable to restrain his own lycanthropic rage, and outclassed in every way by the two yugoloths due to his injuries, Nivmir died a brutal death at the hands of fiends that had only been hired to pursue his companions.