Æshir Þorlássón

(a.k.a. Child of Sun and Sea, Vessel of Vetrano, Light of the Deep)

"His life was characterized by constant duality—between the material plane and the water plane, adventure and family, nobility and simplicity. This gives it, among other things, the unique quality of having some element to inspire just about anyone."

Tenmoda Trueanvil

Æshir Þorlássón was a bard and cleric known for his membership in the Light Brigade.

Early Life

Æshir was a water genasi, found as an infant on the steps of the Mother of the Sun Temple on Mount Metreliou in Vundkrag in 965. He was found with a small scroll bearing the name "Æshir" and a medallion with engravings in a language none at the temple could read. The priests there raised and taught him, and as Æshir grew up he developed many interests and talents, including linguistics, folklore, and music. Aðar Kunyngs, the temple's presider at the time, sensed in Æshir a great potential as a scholar and adventurer, and so began sending him every day to the town of Jónborg at the foot of Metreliou to train in combat with the local guard while the clerics taught him basic magic. The temple then began sending him on research expeditions beyond Hinterfeld with the honored company of the Rundfahrim, or traveling researchers, and Æshir became the youngest of the temple’s community to ever leave the safety of the plains in its 900-year history. He spent the next decade in this work, and eventually became captain of the Rundfahrim, but faced tragedy the following month, when he accidentally killed a fellow member of the guild, his close companion Gunþarix. After a year of house arrest and mourning, Æshir was absolved of all ties to the temple and exiled. For three years he spent time traveling and studying in various locations, first Silverkeep, then Ba Sing Se University, and later various villages of the Rimstall Mountains. At this point, after being waylaid by highwaymen and dumped into a cave, Æshir was captured by illithids and dragged to the Underdark, where he remained for six months before at last finding his way back to the World Above with the help of the mindwitness Kaladomth. After spending some time healing in the city of Saldim, he began a long journey all across the continent of Talazic, and had just visited Averov at the far end of Gaulvista out of curiosity for the shrine to Kress there, and shortly afterwards joined with two companions, the gnomish druid Ku and the barbarian Grond.

The Eventide

In late autumn of 999, Æshir was making his long winding way back to explore Thessélias further when the trio happened upon the disaster at Jeldine. During the incident, a Cube of Strimien came into Æshir's possession, and he was thereafter spurred by a want to discover its significance to the growing threat in Talazic and the plans of Mavislak the Blood-eyed. Shortly afterwards, having gone his own way from Frug and Grond, Æshir was again attacked by brigands, but this time was saved by Caledaya Alvishar, who had been directed to assist him by her angelic guide. They had traveled together for only a few weeks before they met Wivvyrholdalphiax Adrex, Silaqui Serpenthelm, and Zachár Flame-tongue in the town of Ecrindon, where they investigated a missing cleric and disrupted a cultish ritual. From there, the party set their sights on Geldereth, at the behest of Silaqui. On the way, Æshir gave the Cube of Strimien to Archcleric Aldo Simeria of the temple to Vedanav in Saender for study and safekeeping. After reaching Geldereth, the party encountered Strimien the Lightless, disguised as a surface half-elf named Naal. After leaving Geldereth, the party passed through Arvallad, where Strimien reported Zachár's presence to the guard and he was put on trial for his destruction of Fairbell Inn. Æshir attempted to charm the captain of the guard to prevent Zachár from being convicted, but was reported by Adrex and fined. Æshir, along with the rest of the party, assisted Zachár in carrying out his sentence. As the party quickly traveled southwest afterwards, trying to track Strimien, as Æshir had been intent upon doing, he betrayed them from within their ranks, landing them in the Underdark town of Trigafor, where they were to be executed. They escaped, and later, Strimien joined them, having been slated for execution himself for the slipup. While traveling through the Lowerdark, the party came across an ancient shrine being guarded by a spirit naga. Here Æshir picked up a large yellow gem, and, unbeknownst to him or anyone else at the time, was possessed by the soul of Vetrano the Illustrious, who had been imprisoned in that gem for over a thousand years. After the Light Brigade escaped the Underdark, Æshir officially became one of the founding members of the Light Brigade when King Talesan Fairfell of Jeltir hired them to seek out the three artifacts the nightbringers were after: the Tether of Kaeli, the Phial of Miranelle, and the Eternal Flame of Kishike. He was with the party over many adventures in the following weeks, despite his condition: in the first few days after leaving the Underdark, he began to experience blackout episodes and bouts of exhaustion, phenomena which could later be attributed to Vetrano's covert attempts to overtake his body now that he could draw energy from the light of the sun. Though Æshir attempted to discover the source of these problems, he was unable to, and was discouraged from doing so by his party, who were trying to conceal Vetrano's presence. During this time, the itinerant Vyselrin the Wanderer had joined the party, and was later observed by Adrex to have been the main driving force behind the decision to keep Æshir in the dark. Vyselrin also, while seeking a fabled sword in the Skydrum Islands, saddled Adrex with the Curse of Ragnvild, putting his life in imminent danger. Æshir helped Adrex rid himself of this curse. These adventures took place as the party awaited the formation of an army in Silverkeep to go search the Tors for the Tether, which Æshir himself had requested while visiting the Kaelic temple. When they met with the army and the Prime Squadron they would be traveling with, Æshir teleported them to the Tors using the teleportation sigil given to them by Vetrano, with whom Adrex and Caledaya had been communicating during the night. In the first few days in the Tors, Æshir met the spirit of Arumawann Strimp of the Guardians of Banemarsh, from whom he learned how to hear the music of the universe. After a few days, unbeknownst to Æshir, Adrex and Caledaya revealed the truth about Vetrano to Darekrun Bonecleaver, general of the army, who declared that anyone who wished to return home would be allowed to in light of this development. Upon making contact with Delmirev Rhogar, whom he had briefly met some weeks before during an episode that broke his mind and was thereafter erased from his memories, Æshir experienced a relapse and fell into a comatose state. His party, acting on the premonition of Nemmonnis Inuthra, found a sacred pool blessed by Kaeli which healed him, but, amidst the chaos happening in his mind, he had met Vetrano, though he was still unaware of his true nature. This incident led Adrex and Caledaya to finally reveal the full truth about Vetrano, which in turn caused a significant rift between Æshir and his two friends. Over the following weeks, Æshir began to experience many adverse reactions to Vetrano's presence in his body, which may have been exacerbated by his awareness of that presence. These reactions included fits of madness, lapses of memory, and bouts of unconsciousness. At one point, he saw in a dream the memory of Vetrano being attacked by, and subsequently killing, Epherion Gelathirniell after finding the Tether over a thousand years prior. Finally, when the party apprehended a party of drow about to find the Tether themselves, Æshir, having been weakened by Vetrano, was struck down by the lightning of a favored consort, and found himself in the Space Between, where he learned that Miranelle had recently extinguished the stars, thereby preventing the passage of souls into the afterlife. Æshir was approached by Adrex and Caledaya, who, facilitated by the ki-rin Amin-El, had risked their own lives and bargained with Na-Ima to give him a chance to return. This gesture all but healed Æshir's relationship with his party, and led his soul to return to his body without Vetrano, whom the party presumed dead after the incident. After the party defeated the undead Epherion, guardian of the Tether for many centuries, losing Caledaya and Inuthra therein, Æshir was the only one among them to touch the Tether, bringing it back to Silverkeep, and eventually back to Hemejdd to turn over to King Talesan. After describing the events in the Tors, they were sent to address the monster attacks originating in Delamett Forest just outside of Larnwick, hometown of Adrex. Æshir assisted as they uncovered a plot involving disguised drow and fiends, and, after Adrex's mind was broken by the spell feeblemind cast by one such fiend, it was Æshir who contacted Riswynn Tedrektid to have him cured. Immediately after leaving Larnwick, the party was sent urgently to investigate strange goings-on in the refugee camp then known as Farriston. In order to prevent a city of aboleths from passing through a portal from the Elemental Plane of Water and enslaving everyone in the camp, Æshir passed through this portal and dismantled it, causing a shockwave which led to a tsunami. The party could not search for him until after ensuring the safety of the camp, and when they came back out to sea many hours later, they found only a few pieces of debris from among his equipment. It was later discovered that the portal had collapsed as Æshir had been passing through it in an attempt to return to the material plane, which sent him to the Astral Plane. By his perception, he was there for only a few minutes, having time only to grab the Tether of Kaeli, which he also saw there; in the inner planes, four months passed before he found himself yanked to the water plane by the marid Kashif-Na Varud al Far, who Æshir discovered was his father. He also discovered that Failani Anseld was his half-sister, and was charged to find her by their father, who believed her to be in danger. Æshir spent several days recovering from his venture, experimenting with his newfound clerical powers, and meditating on how best to protect the Tether, which had become his primary concern, before returning to the material plane to request the advice and assistance of his party. He found that, in the time he had been gone, the cleric First had joined the Brigade, Pellen Overvale had been killed, and Zachár Flame-tongue had rejoined the Brigade as a warlock. Æshir discovered that Vetrano had survived Æshir's death by means of a clone that had long lain hidden in the Rimstall Mountains, and that Strimien was now assisting him and, indirectly, the Light Brigade in their attempts to prevent Mavislak from fulfilling his plans.

"I have missed you guys so much... but this Tether... If I said it meant the world to me, one, that would be really cheesy and dumb, but two, more importantly, it wouldn't even get at what this thing is. It doesn't just mean the world to me. It means the world to everyone."

Æshir

In the few days Æshir was back with the party, he helped to remove Failani from the employ of Vetrano, suspecting her to be charmed—though unable to confirm it until later—and met the horizon walker Hiradree Dama'exiti, whom Kaeli directed him to trust to guide him across the planes to keep the Tether safe. He departed with her and learned a great deal from her about locating portals in the following two weeks, during which they traveled through Mechanus, Arborea, and the Beastlands. He returned to the material plane after receiving dreams which he believed were Kaeli directing him to do so, though he did so by hiring a githzerai wisewoman to cast banishment on him. Hiradree elected to continue to traverse the planes and try to find an alternative rather than appear in the Underdark. Thus Æshir appeared in the small village of Vasmunti, where he had been born. He met with his party briefly before he and Adrex confronted Vetrano and used the power source they had acquired from the Crepuscule to strip him of his powers. This was his last deed before fighting in the Battle of Geldereth, during which he was attuned to and wielding the Tether of Kaeli, giving him a truly celestial appearance, with his eyes turning golden and a bright halo wreathing his head. The Tether continually healed him as he fought, and he stuck close to the Brigade for the most part—at one point briefly polymorphing Adrex into a giant crocodile—before withdrawing to the eastern gate as it was about to be breached. Around this time, Kashif-Na Varud al Far appeared with a small team of water genasi adventurers to assist in defending the city. However, as the situation was turning dire, he sent Æshir to the water plane to protect both him and the Tether, effectively removing him from the battle.

Later Years

Æshir was able to return to the material plane a few days later, but only very briefly, before disappearing for three years. When he was seen again on the material plane, he would only say that he no longer had the Tether. However, he spent most of the following years on the water plane, getting to know his father and finding a place for himself in the Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls. Taking advantage of his status as recognized son of Kashif-Na Varud al Far, he became established as a scholar and researcher, also going on occasional adventures organized and facilitated by his father. Æshir also made semi-frequent appearances on the material plane, mostly in association with other members of the Light Brigade and with family members, mainly Failani and her family, though he also finally met his birth mother, the peasant woman Anita of Vasmunti, and her family. One of Æshir's earliest exploits on the water plane was to travel to a small triton protectorate in the Deep Sea that had been overtaken by three aboleths called the Feared Ones. He spent several months slowly and covertly freeing tritons from aboleth control before beginning to lure them away and ambush them with the forces he had amassed. In the end, the protectorate of Pivenstath was freed from aboleth control and Æshir hailed as a hero. In early 1012, Æshir met a genasi named Tulia, who became his wife five months later. They had three children: Yuna, Lissi, and Ashi Þorlássón. Around 1014, Æshir began working on establishing the first and only temple to Kaeli on the water plane, in the heart of the Citadel, and successfully did so two years later. During his time on the water plane, he maintained an active friendship with Zachár as he moved to the Citadel and rose to great fame there, and Æshir spoke well of him following his death, offering support to his grieving wife and sons. Æshir was noted by the genasi of the Citadel for using his position in productive ways for the welfare of the common folk rather than ever abusing it. One incident somewhat stained his reputation in the water plane: on one of his adventures, in the year 1064, he passed through the genasi fragment town of Iplisha, and was tricked by a thief called Maleshi into helping him steal a valuable item that Maleshi claimed was his. Æshir was caught, and willingly served his yearlong sentence after realizing his error. He was remarked to be at peace even in imprisonment, praying steadfastly and rejoicing in the sacrifices justice demanded of him. During this time he halted communication with his father, who he knew would send servants to demand he be released. By the end of his sentence he had moved the hearts of many in Iplisha, and two genasi traveled back to the Citadel with him to become acolytes at his temple there. On the way, the three were assailed by a huge monster none of them could identify. As they were about to be struck down, Æshir cried out an earnest prayer, and with a sudden flash of blinding light, the creature darted back into the deeps. He continued adventuring until he was very old, at which point he shifted to spending most of his days on research and prayer. Tulia passed away in 1088, with Æshir following her two years later. They are interred together in the mausoleum underneath the temple to Kaeli in Silverkeep.