Salagar Feynn

> *"If you gaze long into Oblivion, Oblivion also gazes into you." - Salagar Feynn*
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Salagar Feynn is scholar and warlock of the Mages Guild chapter in Wayrest and publisher of various books on the arcane and Oblivion.

## Appearance

To any who are unaware of his Reachman origins, Salagar would appear like a Breton in his thirties. The elven traits typical of this mixed race would be particularly evident: slightly pointed ears, high cheekbones, sharp eyebrows. Not muscular, but in reasonably good shape. He normally wears robes decorated with arcane symbols and runes, and often carries a staff slung across his back. Occasionally he could be seen with a polished and engraved human skull hanging from a sash around his waist, the only telltale sign of his heritage.

#### Physique

Salagar is reasonably fit, due perhaps in part to his Reachman blood, coupled with the belief that a healthy mind requires a healthy body, and with a positive attitude towards physical labor. His main physical weakness is a very low tolerance for alcohol. A single glass of wine or a few sips of juniper draught is all he can manage before getting drunk. He normally prefers to drink milk, to the great amusement of any Nords in the vicinity.

## Personality

Salagar enjoys fishing, mostly because he finds it a very meditative activity, as well as occasionally a source of food. He likes going on long walks and hikes, especially when he is running low on alchemical reagents, and he is a decent swimmer. He also used to own and look after a few goats – mostly for milk.

#### Factions & loyalties

Salagar is a member in good standing of the Mages Guild. He is emotionally attached to the Guild and loyal to its mission and principles of pursuing knowledge and sharing it for the benefit of all. He would not hesitate to describe the Guild as his second family. He remains critical of some of the Guild’s views on certain topics, but he believes that the Guild is overall a force for good, and he would rather try to influence its development from the inside.

As a fairly high-ranked member of the Mages Guild, Salagar adheres as strictly as possible to the Guild’s policy of neutrality in the Alliance War. Nevertheless, he believes that the views espoused by the Daggerfall Covenant are the most suitable ones to bring long-term peace and well-being to Tamriel.

## Strength & weaknesses

> *"Magic always comes at a price." - Salagar Feynn*
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Salagar's powers and flaws evolved over years in ways which were not anticipated and which often surprising. Salagar is a powerful character under many aspects, his strengths and weaknesses are often the two sides of the same medal, and his powers are often self-limited and usually employed in support of other characters. His mastery of the lore is largely dependent on what the mage had studied. Salagar's often finds himself pondering on made mistakes and what he could've done differently.

#### Magic

Salagar is by any standard a very powerful mage. His main strengths lie in domains such as mysticism, Daedric and elemental magic, but he is well-versed in most other aspects of magic as well. Salagar is a skilled enchanter and an experienced ritualist, and at times (and under certain conditions) he has shown himself capable even of rare feats of magic such as Psijic projections and time manipulation. From his Reachman background Salagar learned the mysteries of blood magic - and over the course of recent years he has sometimes paid a heavy price for it, to the point that he has now virtually abandoned its practice. As part of his research at the Arcane University he also developed a good understanding of necromancy, but he has hardly employed it other than for research purposes (and even then only on animals) - nowadays he would take a stricter view, and avoid the practice altogether.

His magic is not without limits, however. For example, he never devoted much time to practice Restoration, and his magic healing skills are therefore average at best. He is also not very accomplished in the art of Illusion, which he always shunned on moral grounds, feeling a certain distaste at the notion of manipulating other people's minds. Additionally, his magic relies commonly on incantations, ritual gestures and (especially for the spells he casts more rarely) spell components - for example, he would need to use a feather as a focus in order to cast a spell to make an object lighter. For some spells he would also need access to a grimoire, since he cannot commit to memory the incantations of every single spell he is able to cast. Additionally, some of his limits are self-imposed: Salagar believes that magic should be employed sparingly, that it is unethical to use it as a shortcut to solve one's every problem, and that there is always a risk of unexpected repercussions when using the Aetherial power of magicka to alter the world's natural order: magic always comes at a price.

#### Academic knowledge

Salagar's mastery of Tamriel's lore is one of his greatest assets, and often the greatest contributions he makes to the success of a quest derive precisely from his knowledge, whether it be about translating an Ayleid inscription, or simply providing valuable information to his companions about history, theology, Daedric curses and whatnot.

Of course no one can specialize in every facet of mortal knowledge. Salagar is particularly knowledgeable, for example, about topics such as magical theory, Ayleid history and culture, or the Reachmen. His expertise is considerably lower in some other subjects such as Dwemer artificing. What he does not know, of course, he may be able to research.

#### Combat skills

Salagar is a man of peace, always preferring peaceful debate over direct conflict. And in fact, over the course of recent years, he has discovered a keen talent for diplomacy - on different occasions, for example, he convinced an angry mob to negotiate, he talked a group of Reachmen warriors into revealing vital war intelligence, he parlayed with cultists and ancient vampires, and once he even confronted Molag Bal himself!

While he proved to be a capable duellist already during his years at the Arcane University, he had never faced the reality of war and killing until he moved to Wayrest. His martial skills have improved over time, and he even received training from an accomplished battlemage such as Haakon Stormblade. But Salagar is no battlemage himself. A man of reflection and careful speculation, he often lacks the instinctive reflexes and battle awareness which are so useful in a fight. Additionally, some of his most powerful spells require time and concentration to cast - not something he can easily do in the middle of a fight, unless there is someone else to protect him and to keep the foes busy.

## Profession, wealth & possessions

Salagar is a scholar, but not a rich one. His main sources of income are the meager royalties from his books, and the revenues of the alchemical and enchantment services that he offers through the Mages Guild. However, Salagar does not carry out these activities with much business acumen, and he is content with earning just as much as he needs to pay his Guild fees and to lead a sufficiently dignified lifestyle for his rank and status. After all, he would much rather spend his time in research, meditation and study than in accumulating wealth.

#### In his bag

When on an expedition, Salagar usually carries a book or two, including a small grimoire; a quill and a journal; a few spell reagents, and sometimes a couple of vials filled with alchemical mixtures; and a small ritual dagger.

#### Notable possessions

* A powerfully enchanted staff. One of his finest enchanting works, his staff is an improvement on the one that he received as a gift from his late mentor at the Arcane University. Salagar had three ebony inserts grafted onto the top the staff, each enchanted with the animus of a different elemental Daedra: the contrast between these different elemental energies is what gives the staff its power and makes it particularly suited to conjuration and elemental magic, but at the cost of making it sometimes unstable and difficult to control. In a bout of arrogance and self-importance, a younger Salagar dubbed it "the Staff of Daedric Elements". Nowadays he'd find that quite embarrassing.
* A sturdy and reliable old mare named Hortense, of whom Salagar is quite fond. Once a companion of many adventures, nowadays she mostly enjoys a well-deserved retirement.
* A small plot of land off the road between Wayrest and Evermore, on the edge of the swamps. On that land once stood a humble house which Salagar bought thanks to a generous loan from Lord Haakon Stormblade. He finally managed to repay the loan, but the house mysteriously collapsed in 2E 585.
* A transliminal scanner: a magic optical device used sometimes by conjurers to survey the planes of Oblivion. Salagar took it with himself the last time he left the Arcane University on a trip. He says it was part of the benefits he received as a faculty member, but there are some who have claimed he stole it. With the Arcane University now lost to the Worm Cult, it is impossible to check the proper records.

## Bibliography

Salagar is first and foremost a scholar, and to know him one needs to know his writings. His first book was a *Compendium of Daedric Runes* – a large and heavy manuscript that he compiled as his final dissertation at the Arcane University. Three copies exist: one is presumably still at the Arcane University, if not destroyed; one is kept in the Arcanaeum of the Evermore Mages Guild; and the last one, copied in a different handwriting, is in Salagar’s possession. Salagar’s second publication was a *Handbook of Magical Theory* which served as a companion to his lectures at the Arcane University – unfortunately all copies are probably lost. Most of his books were published after his transfer to the Wayrest Mages Guild: it was in Wayrest that he found a good publisher, thanks in part to the business contacts he made through Avelyn Laci, once a local bookshop keeper and friend. Here is a list, in order of publication:

* *On the Nature of Elemental Magic* – 2E582
* *A Guide to Common Herbs and Fungi* – 2E582
* *Mysticism: the Power of Paradox* – 2E582
* *On the Utility of Fire Magic* – 2E583
* *Rethinking the Schools of Magic* – 2E583
* *Theory of Interplanar Travel* – 2E583
* *Spellbook: Basic Wards* – 2E583
* *People of the Reach: a Historical and Ethnographical Treatise* (Volumes I to IV – 2E584)
* *Mystical Towers* – 2E585

## Biography

#### **Between 2E545 and 2E555**

Salagar was born in an anonymous village on the Druadach Mountains, in the Western Reach. His father, Meroch, had died a few months earlier in a hunting accident. His mother, Narith, was left a widow to raise her three children: Rondach, Gerhda and Salagar. The Reach witch Velorech helped Narith in Salagar’s delivery, and she took an interest in the child for his magical potential. Salagar’s family were descendants of a shaman from the Fey Nomad tribe (hence the name Feynn), to which Velorech also belonged, and which maintained friendly trading relations with the village. Velorech took Salagar into the tribe as soon as he was weaned, in order to train him in the ways of the Reach and its magic. Salagar would spend most of the time with the tribe, and go back to his family when the tribe was camped near the village a few months every year.

#### **2E 563**

Salagar’s mother decided that life in the Reach was too brutal and dangerous, and that her youngest son could hope for more from life. She took him along on a trip to Evermore, to sell pelts at a market fair. While there, she entrusted him to a local School of Julianos. One of the monks, Father Marcus Annaeus, took particular interest in the boy and decided to mentor him personally. His enrollment in the School of Julianos was the first written record of Salagar’s name and, in fact, of his existence.

#### **2E 563-572**

For nine years, Salagar was a student at the School of Julianos in Evermore. He soon found out that the people of Evermore harboured a general mistrust and enmity towards Reachmen, motivated in no small part by the invasion of High Rock led by Durcorach the Black Drake in the early 2E 540s. Salagar learnt to hide his accent when speaking the common tongue, in order to better fit in. He received proper schooling in most magical disciplines, as well as philosophy, logic, theology, and history. He had a difficult time adapting to his new life, and the scars on his back are a testimony to this day of the harsh discipline to which some monks subjected him for his misbehavior. During these years, he had no contact with his family or with the Reach. Often homesick, he developed a somewhat idealized view of the Reach.

#### **2E 572**

Salagar left Evermore together with Father Marcus to travel to the Imperial City. Father Marcus had been offered a position as lecturer in Magical Theory at the Arcane University, and Salagar followed as his assistant. This year marked the beginning of one of the most intellectually stimulating periods of his life. Salagar appreciated the open-mindedness and cosmopolitanism he found at the Arcane University, at the centre of the Empire. With the Reachman Leovic on the Imperial throne, Salagar – although still reserved about his origins –grew less fearful of being persecuted for his ancestry. Salagar learnt to appreciate the philanthropic and egalitarian values of the Mages Guild. For the first time in many years, he felt at home again.

#### **2E 574**

Following two years of research at the Arcane University, Salagar presented his *Compendium of Daedric Runes* to a board of Mages Guild scholars, and – upon Father Marcus’s recommendation, taking into account his years of education and research, as well as his services to the Arcane University – joined the Mages Guild with the rank of Evoker.

#### **2E 575**

Father Marcus died unexpectedly. Salagar asked to stay at the Arcane University, and was allowed to take over his late mentor’s lectureship.

#### **2E 575-578**

Under the patronage of the Mages Guild, Salagar would divide his time between teaching and research, climbing up the ranks of the Mages Guild first to conjurer and then, after the publication of his Handbook of Magical Theory, to Magician. His focus lay mainly in elemental, Daedric and dark magic: in these areas he hoped to find magic in its most primordial and raw form. Similarly, he took an interest in primitive and tribal magic. He spent some time studying the goblin tribes of Cyrodiil, and eventually managed to secure enough funding from the Imperial authorities to conduct several research trips to the Western Reach. On these journeys, he re-established contact with his family, with Velorech, and with the Fey Nomad tribe. During one of these trips, Salagar’s mother passed away. Salagar also learnt that his brother had left the Reach years before. His sister left the village to join the Fey Nomad tribe after their mother’s death. In these years, Salagar also experienced the horrors of war from within the walls of the Arcane University, as the Colovian troops led by the rebel Varen Aquilarios took over the Imperial City (2E 577). Although he was not aware of it at the time, among the students attending his lectures in those years were two "troublemakers" he would later meet in the Wayrest Mages Guild - a certain Valcur Maius and a certain Aeryn Tuleim.

#### **2E 579**

Salagar was on one of his study trips in the Reach when the Soulburst occurred. He felt the ripples of the magic explosion clearly, and fell into a coma for several days. He only recovered thanks to careful ministrations of Velorech and of his sister.

#### **2E 580**

Travelling back south, Salagar learnt from rumors that the Imperial throne lay vacant, that the Elder Council expelled the Mages Guild from the Imperial City, and that the Arcane University had fallen to the Fellowship of Anchorites – a façade for Mannimarco’s Worm Cult. Instead of travelling back to the Imperial City, Salagar returned to the only other city he ever knew: Evermore. There he joined the local Mages Guild chapter.

#### **2E 580-582**

Salagar spent these years pursuing his teaching and research work at the Evermore Mages Guild. Having lived in the city for a large part of his youth, he understood the local environment well enough to earn the moniker “Salagar of Evermore”. He kept travelling occasionally north to the Reach, and his research on tribal and primitive magic also led him onto several expeditions to establish connections with Wyrd groups in Bangkorai and Glenumbra. After one such expedition he published his work On the Nature of Elemental Magic, and was promoted to the rank of Warlock.