Kaelyn Lorara

Art By: @SaintCinder

**Kaelyn** is a player character in Fire & Ice Dungeons & Dragons Campaign, played by Mirhi. He is a wood-elf monk, Path of the Ascendant Dragon. He joined Acquisitions Incorporated after being rescued by some of their adventurers from an ancient red dragon. He travels with Altan, Zira, and Milo as part of Acq Inc's new Ten-Towns office in Bryn Shander.

## Description

### Appearance

Kaelyn has fair skin, blue eyes and red hair usually worn up in a bun. His face is usually impassive and blank with little emotional affect.

He wears no armor and wears traditional monk clothing given to him from his monastery, though he has modified it to adapt for the harsh cold in Icewind Dale. He carries with him shurikens and a sword that is broken at the hilt. The sword was given to him by Altan and is formerly the sword of Remliel.

### Personality

Kaelyn's is soft spoken and impassive. His past misdeeds have given him a quiet resolution and a contempt for those he deems are not living up to their full potential -- he is harsh to others, but even harsher to himself.

He spends most of his spare time in quiet contemplation, whether meditation or prayer, thinking of how to make amends for his past. His deepest desire is to bring peace to the ones he's wronged and the maligned peoples of the Sword Coast.

While normally quiet and peaceful, Kaelyn can be quick to anger at those who he deems zealots. He has a deep belief that faith used to control people or perform extreme actions is inherently evil.

Kaelyn has a passion for painting, which he does to calm himself and to remember moments of his life, both good and bad. Mostly he paints scenic landscapes.

## Biography

### Early Life

Kaelyn was born in a small tavern in the town of Kheldell, just north of the Westwood forest. His mother was a polyamorous follower of Sune, and Kaelyn was one of six children born from different fathers that his mother met. However, with so many children being raised alone by one woman, his childhood was one of squalor.

His father, a disgraced high elf on the edge of high society, once tried to leverage his mother's influence and his siblings to blackmail a Neverwinter noble -- it backfired spectacularly. His father was imprisoned and his mother was violently attacked and assaulted before being murdered while Kaelyn and his siblings listened on from the adjacent rooms. The children all fled into the night in separate directions, never seeing each other again.

The next several years, Kaelyn spent on the streets of Yatar where Kaelyn resorted to petty crime to keep himself fed. His life changed when a preacher, named Nasir Ru'aes, came into town and invited Kaelyn to his temple in the Grey Peak Mountains. Unbeknownst to Kaelyn at the time, the monastery, named Hurthixen, was carved out of a former lair of an ancient red dragon and was one of the main temples of the Cult of the Dragon.

Through his teenage years, Kaelyn learned the ways of chromatic dragons along with a plethora of Cult propaganda. He also learned self discipline that he lacked on the streets, and also the sacred art of the Vaeridara -- the Dragon Dance. After a few years of this, Kaelyn and the rest of his class of monks were sent to the small village of Orlbar by Severin Silrajin, ostensibly to strike back at the mortal who had helped annihilate the chromatic dragons.

It was during this raid that Kaelyn killed several people in the town and had a confrontation with a mage who questioned Kaelyn's devotion to the cause, and what the hatred in his heart really stood for. This was the first time Kaelyn began to doubt Master Nasir Ru'aes's teachings. Despite the mage's protests, Kaelyn breathed fire at the man, flinging him out of the window where he fell to the ground dead.

Kaelyn surveyed the destruction of the town that he and his fellow students had wrought and felt disgust and shame immediately. Upon returning to Hurthixen, Kaelyn couldn't stomach the praise that Nasir gave to him and his friends. It was at this moment that Kaelyn made his decision to leave. He stole the Red Dragon Mask that belonged to the temple, with plans to sell it and fled.

He went east, into the Anauroch Desert, hoping to find a caravan of traders to ride with but found no one -- not even bandits. Eventually heat stroke overtook him and he collapsed until an ancient red dragon known as Tindharkhan found him on the brink of death. Kaelyn used every courtesy he had been taught to honor the dragon who was impressed with his courtesy and showed him the mercy of keeping him alive. However, Tindharkhan's kindness ran out quickly and over the next two months Kaelyn was routinely tortured and battered by the dragon, in what the dragon called "sparring", though the two did share conversations in between their encounters.

It was at the end of this two months that Kaelyn was rescued by some adventurers from Acquisitions Incorporated after they slew the dragon. Having few other options, he asked to join Acq Inc to start their Icewind Dale branch.

### Background: Acolyte

Kaelyn's propaganda from the Cult of the Dragon gave him great insight, albeit biased, on the Gods and different faiths. He currently has taken an interest in Bahamut and Lathander and has been praying to them. He now feels resolute in his faith after his encounters with Altan and Remliel.

## Relationships

### Altan Edenwalk

Kaelyn's relationship with Altan started off foreboding. After discovering Altan in an altercation with the airship's mage, Kaelyn rushed to help Altan and thrust the mage from the roof of the airship. However, something about the encounter didn't sit right with Kaelyn, and so a subtle resentment and distrust lingered for weeks in their travels. Kaelyn's own bloodied past didn't help put Altan's mind at ease either, especially after Kaelyn's freely admitted to murdering several people.

Eventually, perhaps due to their circumstances, or bonding over time through their trials, the mutual distrust turned into an understanding and respect -- bridging the gap to friendship ever-so-slightly. Perhaps more than anything else, realizing the great burden thrust upon Altan's reincarnation and relationship with his celestial patron, Kaelyn began to understand Altan's inner conflict and battle against himself.

Their friendship has now settled into what could best be called a brotherly relationship. While their encounters gradually brought them closer, and both of their spiritual transformations brought their philosophies closer into sync with one another, there was one event that cemented their brotherhood. After the death of Altan's patron Remliel, Altan gave Kaelyn the angel's sword as a symbol of Kaelyn's change and trust in one another. The two embraced warmly and have been extremely close ever since.

### Maru

Kaelyn and Maru hit it off immediately. Maru's jovial nature forced Kaelyn to stop dwelling on his own past actions and indecision. Their initial affection led to them spending more time together, joking and playing around, but also discussing some of the deeper questions on the nature of being, and duty to themselves and people around them.

The only partial conflict the two had was when Kaelyn had confrontation with the druidic zealot Vurnis, choosing to kill her rather than attempt to bargain with her. Maru wasn't entirely pleased with this as a creature of the Fey Wilds, but quickly got over it. At Maru's wedding ceremony, Maru gave Kaelyn Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments as a good bye gift.

### Zira

Initially, Zira seemed a bit cold for Kaelyn and the two did not have much interaction. There was never any awkward or hostile tension between the two, but just a bit of mild neglect or indifference. Eventually the two found ways to bond over Zira gaining control over her abilities and sparring together. Kaelyn aimed to quiet some of the longing and discontent in Zira's heart and helped her learn meditation. He also, over many weeks of training, gained some of her resilience while she gained some of his speed.

Currently, Kaelyn feels a bit of fear both of and for Zira. Her powers remind him of the energy he has drawn on as part of his time in the cult, and it worries him for her safety as well as his own. In addition, Zira's sentiment sword Howler has led to Zira severely hurting Kaelyn during sparring sessions to the point where he was worried she may try to kill him. Now that this situation is in the open a bit more, Kaelyn feels ever-so-slightly more at ease, but he won't feel totally safe with Zira until she gains the kind of inner peace needed to chain her demons.

### Milo

Kaelyn's first impression of Milo was mostly positive, but that was short-lived. In the time since knowing each other, Kaelyn only becomes more convinced of Milo's incompetence or outright foolishness. Despite ostensibly being a wizard, and occasionally providing some good value with magic, Milo's spells seem erratic and unintentionally destructive. More to the point, Kaelyn believes that Milo has an inflated sense of his own ability, both in terms of magic and general aptitude.

This doesn't mean that Kaelyn *dislikes* Milo. On the contrary, Kaelyn is happy to have his boundless positivity in contrast to his own stoicism or Altan's broody demeanor. It helps balance the group. Kaelyn also finds Milo to be a loyal friend and comrade. Kaelyn only hopes that Milo comes to grips with his true nature and a real understanding of what he can contribute -- and what he can't.

## Equipment and Gear

Kaelyn had a Red Dragon Mask that he stole from the Cult of the Dragon that he kept on him at all times. While initially he kept it completely concealed, even from his party members, over time he began to trust them enough to show it off temporarily. He occasionally wore it in times of dire need, or intimidation. Eventually it was taken back by Master Nasir before Nasir fell to his death, just prior to the destruction of Ten Towns.

Kaelyn was also given a legendary dragon blade named Darakepesk by his ex-lover and current Cult of the Dragon recruiter Trisha Kane. The weapon allows Kaelyn to enter the Daraharn (a dragon rage). Kaelyn eventually gave up this weapon when he received Remliel's sword from Altan.

At Maru's wedding, he was given an array of Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments, which make creatures and objects come to life off the page.

At some point, Kaelyn was left a scarf or shawl of what looks to be white dragon scales. Though it seems exquisite, and perhaps magical, nothing seems to have come of it yet. It is believed this was left by Trisha Kane after Kaelyn battled against his former master Nasir Ru'aes.

As previously mentioned, after Remliel's death, Kaelyn was given the sword by Remliel which supposedly will become whole over time. There wasn't an explicit mention of how to restore it, but Kaelyn's assumption is based on his personal growth.

### Abilities

* Kaelyn is a Monk of the Ascendant Dragon, and as such will sometimes enter a dragon rage because of his sword Darakepesk, rather than chaining together stunning strikes like many monks do.

## Trivia

* Kaelyn's master from the Cult of the Dragon, Nasir Ru'aes, was revealed to be Kaelyn's father. Whether this is actually the man Kaelyn remembers his father being (a disgraced noble) or if that man was only *believed* to be his father, and Master Nasir was secretly his father, is unknown.
* Mirhi drew inspiration from the League of Legends character Yasuo for inspiration for Kaelyn. The aspects of Yasuo that were most inspiration were his public notoriety and inability to clear his name for his past deeds, but a constant desire to atone for them regardless. In addition, while Mirhi isn't strictly a Buddhist, he has studied and enjoyed Buddhism, and wanted to make a character more in line with this life perspective.

## Quotes

* "Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
* "If you bow at all, bow low."
* "A needle is not sharp at both ends."
* "I was angered, for I had no shoes. Then I met a man who had no feet."
* "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one."
* "A clear conscience never fears midnight knocking."