#tav lore

She’s a 150yo Seldarine shadow sorcerer and alchemist from Skullport. While she’s not a Bard (by nature), music is a very important part of her. She’s a violinist, and loves to sing and dance. She’s quite good but she’s no performer—prefering to play for herself or in a small group with no audience. Olorna also loves to read and write poetry (which she’ll sometimes turn into songs). She’s no artist but she can sketch decently for research diagrams, reagent journals, and spell scrolls. She owns an apothecary/bookshop where she sells her alchemical concoctions (mostly poisons), hand drawn spell scrolls (mostly shadow magic & necromancy), body parts/cadavers/bones (for witchcraft and necromancy) and unusual magical books that she’s gathered during her travels.

She's Lawful Neutral/Evil, and morally ambiguous. She doesn't believe 'evil' is this monolithic archetype of malevolence. Evil, to Olorna, is part of life. Everyone is capable of evil, and everything has evil lurking within. She prefers to embrace and accept evils of all sorts, so long as they are rooted in purpose. Directionless, careless evils are where the wickedness of the world lies. Olorna's main motivation is protecting only herself and the people she cares about/trusts (which is a very small circle). She's reserved and slow to trust others. That being said, she isn't heartless. She's cautious, but curious and perceptive.

The Tadpole Adventure is not her first rodeo. She’s part of a very small, tight-knit adventuring group made up of herself (obviously), Vernon: a Wood Elf paladin, Hazel: a halfling rogue, and Kel’tyrr: a Seldarine Bard. Vernon is the leader of the group, and usually the one initiating the adventures. When she’s away, Olorna shrouds her shop in a protective darkness so no one can find it. (I’d love to talk more about her relationships and past adventures with these lovely peeps but I’ll leave it at that for now. I’d also love to talk more about all three of these characters in general at some point. I’m quite fond of them as well!). They were adventuring in Cormyr when the Nautiloid came. One of Olorna’s personal goals after the crash is to find her friends—or clues that they were never abducted in the first place. She usually keeps a journal. One for every adventure. Her Cormyr adventure journal gets the nastiest page break in history…

I’ll speak a little more about Kel’tyrr because he’s her closest and longest friendship. They’ve been friends for about 60 years. They see each other as siblings at this point. They met at an instrument/music shop in town. Olorna was looking at violins (of course) when Kel’tyrr knocked over a display of lutes. She’d made a comment about how Bards are supposed to be dexterous and acrobatic. He called her “preposterously presumptuous” and they both laughed. Kel’tyrr gifted her a gorgeous ivory violin with black chrome filigree details for her 100th birthday. He taught her Bardic magic over the years, and in turn she writes extra spell scrolls for him. She carries the ivory violin everywhere—even on adventures, & even though she isn’t a bard and could certainly leave it at home.

Seldarine Drow typically don’t gather in Houses since there’s not really a concentrated city state or societal nobility for them. But her family has been in Skullport for many generations, and have established a sort of House. It’s really more of an underground Coven. Auvryndar means Blood of the Black Hearts and it's full of Shadow Magic practitioners—mostly Sorcerers but also a few Wizards and a couple Bards! Their gatherings and operations are kept under the radar. They keep to themselves and are reluctant to allow new members for fear of being uprooted by Lolthsworns and for general mistrust of others. House Auvryndar doesn’t have a patron god. Most are part of House Auvryndar by way of birthright, but there are some who were able to prove themselves trustworthy enough to join. Their main belief/attitude is that darkness shouldn’t be feared or viewed as monolithically wicked. There is beauty in darkness, and accepting the darkest parts of yourself is the key to leading a happy life. Indulging in the evils of life is fruitful and should be done with care, purpose, and awareness. This is their main reason for staying in the Underdark (especially Skullport), despite the conflict. Olorna initially feels Shadowheart is a kindred spirit in this sense. But as Shadowheart opens up, Olorna realizes how brainwashed she is and how Shar has perverted the meaning of darkness. (I’d also love to dive into House Auvryndar lore/happenings and how they function within the social climate of Skullport but again, I’ll leave it at this for now.)

Emmeline is a high elf warlock, whose patron is Levistus.

Part of their contract involved Emmeline bearing Levistus’ child, his eventual successor as the Archdevil of Stygia. That is, once Geryon the Usurper has been dealt with and the child accepts its intended purpose to be Levistus’ puppet.

Emmeline, not willing to condemn her baby to a life of evil, hatred and loneliness, entrusts the child to the cambion Raphael.

Raphael makes a deal with Emmeline: her soul for the safekeeping of her child. He casts a powerful charm to disguise the winged, icy-blue cambion infant as a tiefling, and leaves it for a tiefling couple to find and adopt.

The baby is named Bloo as a term of endearment.

Raphael, however, intends to use Bloo as a pawn in his plot to acquire the Crown of Karsus. He also intends to tempt her with the chance to rule Stygia independently from her father. This is another deception, since he would also use her as a puppet once he becomes the Archdevil of the Hells.

Bloo grows. Everything's daisies and sunshine.

Raphael spies on her (to make sure she hasn't died or something) from time to time.

Then, Bloo starts to show signs of magical abilities.

She starts to sprout gnarly wing-like protrusions on her back.

Her adoptive parents notice that she gets physically sick when she eats anything other than meat.

A pervasive burnt smell seems to follow her, as if someone had struck a match and let it burn down.

She was just odd. She made the villagers uneasy, to say the least.

They called her a freak.

She ends up friendless, shunned by her village, and hated by the father she came to know as her own.

The turmoil of her home life makes her magic unstable and at times destructive. Like a beacon, Levistus hones in on his spawn's energy and despair, tracking her down before making himself known. Not yet as her father or liege lord, but as someone she can find solace in (a manipulation tactic). A strange friend, but a friend no less.

Bloo reaches young adulthood more or less unscathed, embittered by her experiences and dreaming of a life somewhere she's wanted.

Finally, she gets accepted into an apprenticeship. Her father is more than happy to send her on her way with a bagful of clothes and as little money as he can spare. On the road, Bloo gets abducted by the Mindflayers and implanted with the tadpole.

She goes on the journey, companions in tow, but being an outcast makes it hard for her to fully connect with everyone. During the journey, Raphael and Levistus fully reveal themselves and their respective involvement in her life. Basically, both devils bid for her loyalty, banking on their past efforts of manipulation and isolation.

Raphael restores Bloo to her true form - gives her back her wings and unties the knot on her infernal talents.

Levistus lends his own strength and abilities to his spawn, allowing her to channel ice- and storm-related powers.

Bloo, in her desperation to be loved and wanted, to feel useful, to feel in control for once in her life, decides that she would get the best of both worlds. She signs Raphael's contract, promising to deliver the Crown of Karsus in exchange for the Orphic Hammer and the Throne of Stygia.

She deposes Geryon and rules in her father's stead. He remains frozen in his icy prison.