Elluin Ethanderal

—Elluin hanging off the cliff at Abavale Gorge.

Reference art of Elluin.

### Family

Telor Ethanderal (father), Iorwyn Glyndŵr (mother), Emrys (brother), Fioled (sister).

**Elluin Vennyr Ethanderal** was a high elven battle mage, bandit, and force of personality. He was a tad full of himself, but a powerful and charismatic man who could command powerful elemental magic. He rose from a lowly peasant to become a student of magic, then to a wanderer-turned-outlaw serving a cruel master, and he finally fell as a man tormented by pain and love.

## Destined Honour

Elluin was born to poor parents who lived in a village on the isle of Maeldaf, near Yw Ffaros, one of the larger towns in the Fallo. His name, *Elluin*, came from the Fallonese word *elwyn*, meaning 'destiny', and his middle name *Vennyr* was from the word *fenwr*, meaning 'honour'.

His father Telor Ethanderal was a carpenter who worked at the local dockyards, and his mother Iorwyn Glyndŵr was a basket weaver. Elluin was the youngest of three children - he had an older brother called Emrys, and his oldest sister was called Fioled. Elluin was a remarkably gifted and inquisitive child, always bored of mundane work, but nevertheless helping his father's carpentry.

## Étudiant Arcane

His parents saved up just enough money to send him off for all of 1556 at the age of 20, to attend the Sanctum Mage's Collegium for a year, enough for him to grasp the basics of magic and its disciplines. He was the first of his family to attend such formal education. Doubtless he was gifted at it, and was able to memorise some fairly complex and powerful spells. However, they could not afford to keep him in school for more than that, and his technique was commented by his teachers to be '*chaotic and messy'*, almost *'dangerously unpredictable'.* He returned home to Maeldaf, with but a taste of the outside world.

## Bad Memories

In 1561, four years after he returned home to a rural life again, his costal village was bombarded and attacked by a small fleet allied with the Vortais-Lakayan Navy, who were en route to Waterdeep. A few ships raided the village for supplies, or perhaps out of cruelty. For whatever reason, the town was set upon, and many villagers were killed. Elluin was one of the few survivors, and the only one of his family to make it. With no reason to stay save for bad memories, he set off across the Maeldaf Strait and onto the mainland, looking for work, lodging, and a *purpose.*

## Running With The Wolves

By late winter 1561, Elluin had honed his self-perfected spellcraft and had enough money to afford a decent horse and good quality bedding and camp. He continued to travel around, but a lucky (or unlucky) encounter changed his life forever- he met Malak Coldblood. The story Malak and Elluin told would vary depending on who they were talking to, and how many drinks they'd had. However, it usually went like this:

On a road alone one night, Elluin was riding, when a cloaked figure held him at the point of a flintlock, demanding his money. Elluin rapidly disarmed the man and pointed the gun back at him, but then both began to laugh.

Whichever way it happened, the two became fast friends. Elluin joined Malak's gang, the Moor Riders, as a battle mage, and slowly rose to second-in-command after many years of raids, travels and robberies.

## Love, Death and Shackles

In 1579, the Moor Riders were ambushing a small encampment when a guard, Wisp, threw him off his horse. He was almost killed by the combined efforts of the group of guards and travellers that would soon be called the Moomyns. The fleeing Malak tried to silence Elluin with a sharp shot to the ribs, and it was Filomena who saved him with her gentle healing touch.

They kept Elluin as prisoner for several days, beating him, tying him up, stabbing him, and refusing him aid. They tied him to posts, ripped open his pockets, and kicked him on the ground in a market when he tried to plan an escape by pocketing spell components. However, Filomena was the only one who was not outright hostile, and perhaps it was this kindness that Elluin noticed. He certainly felt something between them, fleeting and brief. However, it was not to be. After the unrelated assassination of Zasenna Salmastrien, he was locked up and handed over to Abadas B. Mollyock of Abavale. He staged a brief escape, running through the Abavale Iron Mines where they talked it out with shadows dancing on the walls and collapsing platforms. The group cornered him, and Rama talked him down, only for Herakles to sucker-kick him. Again, Filomena kept him barely alive. He lurched out of Rama's grasp as they dragged him out of the mine, and tried to jump off the cliff - Wisp grabbed him by the cloak with a spear. He spent his final moments with a pained realisation, and they were full of poignance - you can read about them here. Elluin was finally allowed to die, and was dashed on the rocks far beneath. In his final moments, he felt love.