A Hail Fellow, Well-Met Character

florentinus cathartes, high elf necromancer, good time guy. theresia de la lune, half-elf mage and priestess, not a good time guy. laridae the gull, chronomagy specialist and smuggler, sort of a good time guy. magra sulicont, alchemist and glorified school vice principal, we-have-food-at-home guy. nat souven, human sorcerer warlock, good time guy jr.

from here // always accepting!

whatever my baby wants my baby gets!!

viator cathartes

flor's older brother and middle child of the cathartes family.

there are significant age gaps between druso, their eldest brother, and viator and between viator and flor. in human-terms, viator would have been a teenager when flor was born.

a scholarly, gentle young man, with a natural gift for necromancy (the actual, intellectual discipline of magic, not the fake warlock shit flor does) and an interest in history.

because of his knack for necromancy, viator and his mother had an almost close relationship and he felt a strong connection to his family's long history as wizards.

though his studies kept him busy, he made a point to make time for flor. of flor's immediate (and extended) family members, viator was the one who was kindest to him and most indulgent*-- a contrast to their strict parents and largely absent oldest brother.

when flor took a fancy in this instrument or that sport, viator was the one to listen to him about it. when he teased flor about how quickly his interests faded, it was with affection, not real disapproval. he helped (tried to help) flor with his lessons, though he never really understood why flor did so poorly in them. viator never fully gave up on flor eventually showing an aptitude for necromancy.

*flor and his brothers had what i would describe as period- and class-typical bad childhoods. think your dad who grew up in the 60's-70's who casually drops that his parents hit him when he talked back and left him alone all the time.

viator never expected or wanted the responsibility of "head of the family." he was really very content flying under the radar as an academic, maybe eventually wedding to cement a family alliance, but maybe not.

when his brother-- whom he'd always admired**-- died, followed by his and flor's parents, viator took it hard. he felt considerably pressure to step up and honor them and their name.

during this time, the different ways their grief affected them pulled viator and flor apart. viator withdrew while flor acted out (in a carousing way).

**the Thing about flor and his brothers is that each sees one of the others as demonstrative of The Way to Be a Man™. viator felt that way about his older brother, druso, who was a stoic soldier type, bound by honor and duty. meanwhile, flor idolized viator, who was intelligent, gentle, and hardworking. if you really want to get silly with it (and let's!), you can extend that to nat, who models himself on flor's generosity, warmth, and charm.

viator became obsessed with rediscovering the art how to create a baelnorn, something that was once the crowning jewel of high elven necromancy, but had long been lost. he saw this as a way to prove himself as the head of his family. my wife has aptly dubbed this "going sailor moon crazy".

his obsession and research eventually led him to the last elf to ever become a baelnorn: empress leontine iii. when he found her, she was comatose as a result of vecna's curse on her, which had weakened her mind and drained her magical power, but could not fully kill her because she was already undead.

from here // always accepting

hello, friend!! thank you! please allow me to present effi! bc you and i have a laridae thread and because i feel like lira and effi could get along.

effi

no last name, like cher.

this is because she killed her abusive father and, as you might imagine, did not especially want to keep using his name after that.

laridae and effi met when he helped her hide from the guards. they've been inseparable every since.

they are about the same age i.e. pushing 40. extremely older millenial-coded.

effi is an assassin by trade. when she and laridae were starting out, they took a lot of unsavory jobs they either wouldn't accept or would outsource now, including murder for hire.

their usual combat m.o. involves laridae buffing the shit out of her to hone her ability to hit hard and fast.

a reserved, guarded person by nature (and nurture), effi quickly gets awkward when confronted with too much friendliness or optimism.

effi is the kind of bisexual who either dates a man whom she steps on or a woman who steps on her.

she doesn't have a great track record, romance-wise.

she and laridae have tried dating a couple of times (he falls into neither of the previously mentioned categories, for the record), but it ultimately never worked out and they stayed close friends. effi and laridae have also had several instances where they were into the same woman. not a good scene!

effi loves music in all verses and, when not on a job or hovering menacingly outside laridae's office, she is moshing in a grubby bar.

from here // always accepting

oh my gosh hiiiii! i present to you (in part for the purpose of comparing and contrasting to margot's mountain), nat and flor's patron!

empress leontine iii, hera varvara leontius

why yes, her first name is hera. additionally, elves in general usually have animal-themed names (something started by one of the pc's in our game which i carried through to the elven npcs). hera's name is meant to evoke barbary lions. the last photograph of a live, wild barbary lion is deeply haunting and, in part, the vibe.

she took the name leontine iii when she ascended to the throne. her grandmother was leontine i and her father was leontine ii. their specific line only lasted 3 emperors-- a distant cousin of hera's took over from her after she was cursed.

the curse sitch was 100% an own goal. hera attempted to make a deal with vecna in order to gain the upper hand in the empire's disastrous invasion of the underdark (a war her father started that she happily continued). her husband and daughter both died in the conflict and, though revenge was part of her motivation, her desire for it stemmed from something uglier, more possessive, and more prideful than simple grief at their loss.

initially, after her cousin became emperor, nobles and governors still came to hera for guidance. when one let slip that her cousin was planning to call an end to the underdark campaign and seal all entrances to it, hera went berserk and staged a one-woman coup.

unfortunately for her, at this point, vecna's curse had weakened her significantly. though they couldn't-- and didn't totally want to-- kill her, her cousin and the lords loyal to him were able to seal her away in the crypts below the high elven capitol. there, she grew weaker mentally, magically, and physically, until she fell unconscious.

even now that she is conscious again, her betrayal (in her mind) and long isolation have turned her into a caricature of woman she once was. explosively angry when she has been disrespected, wildly xenophobic, and completely inflexible. hera is the empress, not just of the empire as it stands now, but of it as she dreamed it would be, engulfing the whole continent and everything beneath it too. even heads of other states mean little to her-- if and when she has her way, there will be no other heads of state.

hera has something like fondness for flor's brother, viator, who initially woke her from her coma. she does not care for flor, whom she finds dithering and maudlin. she only barely tolerates nat.

in our dnd campaign, upon meeting the party, she only spoke with sylvana and greeted her as her "sister in bondage." i've brought this up on the blog before but it bears repeating because oh my god. she is the kind of woman who thinks this is a normal thing to say.

There are a few reasons why someone might want to possess it and attune to it. Its original function– preventing mind-reading– is still active. Even without that, Evie is a bit of a get in and of herself. She was a spy for multiple countries across the continent for over a hundred years. Though she never had the full picture, she has plenty of bits and pieces that could be valuable in the right hands. That is, assuming you can trust her. A skilled spellcaster could talk to her without also attuning to her necklace.

Also, when someone is attuned to her necklace, Evie can attempt to possess their body. This takes a lot of energy on her part; at most, she can stay in control for 24 hours before needing to rest. Being in control is not all it’s cracked up to be either– Evie feels only a pale shadow of the sensations her host’s body experiences and it’s overall awkward, like driving a rental car. By and large, Evie does not find the juice of this to be worth the squeeze and will typically not attempt it nor reveal that it’s something she can do.*