Aravan

(19th December 2006 - 8th May 2007)
Initial Sheet
First appearace
Death

She is small boned with fine features, 5' 8" feet tall and weighs 133 pounds. Her hair is dark brown, short and curly, her skin smooth and tanned, and her eyes are green.

Born in Githmardon, in the far northern marches of the Elenorian forest, Aravan's early life was spent in spartan and dangerous conditions. Only a step away from the dreadful wastes of Athalius, their little homestead was an island of warmth, backing on to the limitless trees of the great Forest.

Her parents were of the lowest class of Elenorian society, little better than serfs, and her upbringing was set against a background of constant want. Nonetheless, she was brought up in a solid Elenian faith, perhaps because of their descent traced from a cousin of the legendary Merlynar, regarded by some as the first priest of Elena.

Their subsistence was derived from herding the hardy goats that were about all that could survive so far north, as tenant farmers under the local lord, Isadrien. As Aravan grew up strong, hardy and valiant, the lord's sergeant Beliad marked her out for military service, and began her training a little after her hundredth birthday. Although her removal from the farm would greatly increase her family's hardship, she took to the warfare training with relish, and was placed under the tutelage of Silmanduil, a blademaster with the short sword.

Disaster struck, however, in the year of the war between Rosen and the Drenai. She and her brother Lómárith captured a Rosen spy scouting the northern border, and she was sent to summon the lord's soldiers to take him away. When she returned with them, however, they found her parents and her brother disappeared, and the spy gone.

Isadrien accused her and her family of conspiring to free the spy, and would have had her arrested, but she fled with nothing but her clothes, horse and weapons, working around the eastern border of the Forest and down eventually into Myrid, where she met Danat Perez and her story really begins.

Unbeknownst to her, back in Githmardon, her brother and parents still live; Lómárith eventually captured the spy and returned him to prove her innocence and she was cleared. Aravan, however, still believes she is a fugitive, and will not return to Elenoria if she can help it.

She was one of three companions to meet the fleeing Danat Perez after the rescue of Raven from Vrostar, and together with Amblay the Marraq one of the two survivors of the final battle with him.

After Damat's death and the slaying of Vrostar's men-at-arms, she and Amblay took the decison to get as far away from the wars in the north as possible. Aravan, of course, had other reasons for distancing herself from Elenoria, and the pair headed south through the agency of Amblay's Fly spells, finally arriving in the lost land of Tiros Tilean, outside the ruins of the city of Hurlis.

Joined by new companions - the Nadir assassin Axe, the Jandraki thief Graz Tak and the Darim agitator Dagoran Sunspear, they persistently ignored the good advice to avoid the haunted ruins of Tiros Tilean and set out to explore Hurlis. There, they met, fought and slew the vampire Dathar, before falling through a time portal into the past - fifty years previously, and the eve of the final siege of Hurlis by the Darim.

Aravan and Drathor, just before Axe strikes from behind!

Dagoran was both a benefit and a hazard here, because his Darim features allowed them to blend in with the attackers, but also brought them under suspicion from the defenders. Each were able to contibute useful skills, however, and all were needed.

While exploring this loop of past history - and wondering whether to contact Aravan and Amblay's past selves, alive somewhere in this past world - they encountered a man calling himself Muzael, acting as the Darim King's chancellor, but apparently well aware of where they themselves had originated. Deeply suspicious, the group had nothing to do with him, and went on to discover means of returning forward to their own present.

This gave them ideas, and they hatched the plan to return to the past, loot the falling city, hide the proceeds, and dig them up once returned to the future. This started well as they witnessed the killing of the last King of Tiros Tilean, Kular Rockspawn, by his Chancellor Julran and looted his corpse, but spiralled out of control once they got trapped in the cellars, enmeshed in a peculiar set of encounters with dopplegangers of the dead royalty of Hurlis (also dead), and fought a mysterious lizardman who seemed to be in charge of some of the Darim soldiers, before being flung back to their present by the impossibility of Graz Tak being killed by Julran.

On their return, they discovered a mysterious black tower had appeared in the ruins; although it hadn't been there before, it had always been there now. Something fundamental had been changed.

The tower turned out to be the outpost of Darim soldiers, hunting a monster. A monster created by the party - Khular's queen, now a mighty vampire and holding imprisoned the last King, Khular Rockspawn, now an old man. Slaying her, the group decided to escort Khular to Aldegarde, where he could possibly start his comeback. On route, however, in the mining town of Shaaft, a chance encounter changed their fate forever.

A man named Malnigar, fleeing south, clearly having stolen something, and pursuing him Jinar, a Darklander sword master. A chase that had been going on for decades, but was ended by an arrow from Axe. Malnigar slain, the destiny that had sustained Jinar was lost and he too died, leaving the last product of Aran Rinshai, the greatest Darkland swordsmith in history, in Axe's hands.

From then on, the party were relentlessly hounded by a plethora of those who lusted for the blade. Axe separated himself from the others and travelled in deep disguise, and this kept the hunters away from the weapon for a long time..

In the city of Agras, dominated as is all Kulland by the church of Jarik Saal, Kozai, a Darkland swordmaster with a burned face, attacked Aravan, Amblay and Graz, despite their repeated truthful assertions that they did not have the sword. He was killed fairly easily by Aravan, but a priest called Lohas tried to arrest her and Amblay. They were rescued by a priestess of Elena named Jeela, but from that day Aravan bore a distrust and dislike of the arrogant totailitarians she perceived Jarik's priests to be.

Jeela and Amblay became lovers around this time. Despite this, the unusual bond between Amblay and Aravan also strengthened, and they formulated their objective to end the hate between Marraq and Elenorian.

Also around this time the depredations of the thief Tstane Tschermak began to seriously affect the party. Aravan knew he had stolen her Ring of Protection,  but bided her time for revenge until another piece of thievery got Graz Tak arrested by the Silk Guard. He would have been executed were it not for internal treachery within that company of wyvern-riding telepathic guards of Aldegarde's Jarik temple. Aravan recruited the Jandraki and together they plotted Tstane's death.

On reaching Aldegarde, the 'City of God', Aravan was introduced by Amblay to a fellow Marraq, Amorhaz, the Silk Guard's telepathy trainer. A traditionalist, he hated Elenorians, and reacted very badly to Aravan. She and Amblay resolved to change his viewpoint, and succeeded to the point that Aravan and Amorhaz became lovers and she concieved his child.

Khular Rockspawn appeared to have had second thoughts about a restoration, and retired into the Temple of Jarik. A Darklander swordmaster named Irridai threatened the group in a bar, and was compelled by Amblay's now mighty mental powers to kill himself in the street. This went down very badly with the churches of both Jarik and Elena, and Amblay was a marked man after that.

Shortly after, Axe was killed by a mob of Darklander thugs, though the Rinshai was rescued by Tstane. This convinced the others to flee Kulland, aided by the cart of the Jandraki explorer Dax. Pursued by renegade Silk Guard serving Saloth, fallen priest of Malkar, they were caught in the Agras Pass and attacked. Amblay was slain, and Aravan swore vengeance, for him and for their lost dream.

Continuing to try and flee out of Kulland, the party were assailed by Saloth, who slew Tstane and stole his body. An epic battle saw him slain and Amblay avenged, but at what cost? The wounds sustained in the fight ended the life of Aravan's unborn, mutilated her beyond bearing others, and darkened her spirit forever. The Rinshai blade, finally seen for the cursed thing that it was, was buried with Tstane/Saloth. When Drenai spies tried to drug Dax in pursuit of the weapon, Aravan butchered their leader mercilessly, a contrast to her previous more reasoned approach.

Wounded, shocked, directionless and embittered, Aravan travelled on with her companions, able to comfort the Eleneian pilgrim Yu after her facing down of the Drenai killers, but increasingly subject to flashes of murderous aggression when provoked.

Determined to evade the reach of both the Church of Jarik and the Drenai, the company continued east and eventually took ship for Nyrn. Harried by the inexplicable pursuit of Drenai and Malakaran agents, they were finally wrecked on the north coast of Nyrn, and left to foot it south with the ship's captain, Yu and Aimaris, a priestess of Elena.

After encountering some peculiar mutated elves, far more orcs than was really comfortable, and a priestess of Elena disguised as a unicorn, a warrior named Ymrick Talovich gave them a better picture of life in Nyrn. Apparently, here, Malakar was revered as a god of good, and his church had hitherto been a harmonious part of society. Lately, however, Malakar's real nature had been emerging and the king - Gralnadar - was struggling to retain control. A few loyalists - King's Men - of whom Ymric was one, regarded this as a bad thing but most Nyrnians were Malakar fundamentalists and blind to the looming disaster.

Parting from Talovich, the group next encountered an elf named Vestril, who at first aided them, but gradually became more and more inflamatory, arrogant, aggressive and unpleasant. Claiming to be a prince of Khulandir questing for a talking sorcerer-horse named Varadas, he appeared to be almost trying to get the party into fights. Finally, their suspicions were confirmed by the apparent recognition of him by two Malakarn priests (who seemed almost afraid of him). Dax challenged him, and he was fought and slain. In the course of the fight, his illusiory form failed and he was revealed as a horrible undead monster. Disdaining his tainted equipment, the companions burned his body and pressed on.

More outlaws, loyal to the King but despising Malakar's infulence, were encountered, and Aravan suggested that they ought to gather together as a resistance; a suggestion that seemed beyond their grasp.

The next day a mighty elven warrior-lady met them, flanked by two bodyguards, and claiming to be Queen Jirenna of Khulan. Worse, she claimed to be the mother of the abomination calling itself Vestril! The others seemed gulled by her soft words, but Dax and Aravan were deeply suspicious - and when her guard was down Dax launched an attack. Aravan instantly joined him, and the others were drawn into the fight willing or not.

A titanic struggle ensued, during which Aravan fought the Queen to within an inch of her life, but fortune, no longer Aravan's friend, was not with her that day. Her defences were just a touch too slow once, and once was all that was required; Jirenna slew her with a single blow.