Ertai Branwen

Devil (former)

Deity

Ertai Branwen was an alcoholic human divination wizard who adventured with White Dawn and eventually ascended to becoming the God of Time. Often viewed as a controversial figure, he often tends to focus on the greater balance of the universe rather than what's good or right.

Ertai, when mortal, was a powerful divination wizard with a wide array of utility and control spells; although notably did not fight using any damaging spells. It's unknown how powerful he is with his divine status.

## Description

While adventuring with White Dawn as a human, Ertai stood 5' 6", of average weight, dark messy hair, an unkempt beard, and dark robes. Many would assume that he was a drunkard rather than a powerful wizard, although he was often heavily inebriated.

Through his journey, Ertai perfected a method of altering his form without changing his abilities, leading to him taking the form of a silver dragon and the Devil Lord Titivilus. It's unknown what form Ertai prefers to take while acting as the God of Time, although he was seen at least once keeping a form similar to his original human form.

## History

Little is known about Ertai's past or childhood. In fact, he isn't even from the Core Timeline at all. In his original timeline and dimension, Ertai mastered power of time and space and jumped to another timeline, where he met a fellow Ertai. The two of them worked together to achieve the status of becoming a twin God of Fate and Time, respectively. However, the two quickly found themselves in disputes and began to battle against one another for power. Realizing this would cause absolute ruin, Ertai dispersed both of their divine sparks and used the remainder of the fraying power to hurtle himself back to a new timeline and dimension. Once there, he manipulated the memories of those around him and himself to create a new life.

His new life was that of a young professor with the rank Master Wizard at the College of the Arcane. He became married to a high elf jeweler named Alison and had a daughter named Serra Branwen. Shortly after, Ertai Branwen began to push a theory about the dynamics of arcane magic and the afterlife that resulted in him losing his status at the College of the Arcane. The loss devastated him and turned him towards alcoholism, a downwards spiral that eventually resulted in Ertai abandoning his home to prevent his wife and daughter from becoming destitute.

He spent about sixteen years wandering as a medical doctor without using his powers until he was approached by White Dawn to join their party as they needed a divination wizard to track down the missing Kran Malkizer. He quickly rose to becoming an influential member of White Dawn because of his array of magical abilities, although his drunken demeanor was incredibly unpleasant to be around. When the party tracked down Kran, now under the control of Vecna, to Sigil, Ertai confronted Vecna with a game of chess. Although Vecna was the winner, both understood that Ertai decided to lose to irritate the lich. This interaction started a long running competition between Ertai and Vecna where they could find themselves in conflict repeatedly to this day. During these events, Ertai managed to coerce an imp nicknamed Abe into becoming his familiar.

After Vecna was defeated, Ertai participated in the events of The Crusade as a core member of White Dawn. Notably accomplishments at this time involve becoming the archmage of the College of the Arcane, defeating Runas in an arcane duel by conjuring a wall of force on top of a moving train and deciding to seal away both Damion and Iliya in a time loop using Damion's rapier and Ertai's ability to warp timelines.

In between the events of The Crusade and The Return of Cypher, Ertai discovered a method of transforming his body into that of a silver dragon, although he kept himself polymorphed into a human as a disguise.

After the Return of Cypher, Ertai entered a period of seclusion away from others. He spent this time creating his own magical tower, in addition to building a relationship with the Raven Queen. This relationship resulted in Ertai receiving information on the Raven Queen's ascension to godhood, a ritual that he'd later use and modify for his own purposes. At some point, he was teleported by Selune to Vern to assist in unraveling the mystery of a new creature; a mindflayer.

When White Dawn began to recollect, they eventually found him at his Arcane College. He assisted with uncovering the spelljammer ship, the Ray of Dawn, and became the ship's pilot using his incredibly arcane knowledge.

## Trivia

* Ertai's real name isn't Ertai, although his true name is unknown.
* When inebriated enough, he had a habit of using rituals to call various deities.
* There are no other Ertai's in other timelines. Those who were Ertai but not drunks were killed during the events of the Return of Cypher. The Ertai's who were drunks survived those events, but were all collected by the Infinite Mage shortly after.
* Everything is Ertai's fault.