Tilinay Ailistan
Tilinay Ailistan (a.k.a. Tili)
"Don't do this Tili!" screamed Leaf as her sister sprinted forward. "Lead them home dear sister!" Tili cried back as she raised her arms to the darkening sky. Massive bolts of purple lightning rained down from the heavens onto her foe, a blackened wyrm larger than either sister had ever seen. "Come back," mouthed Leaf, knowing her words would not be heard. At that very moment, the gaping maw of the dragon engulfed Tili as the bolts of electricty smashed into the nape of its neck. The electricity entered the dragon's organ storing the preasurized gas for its breath weapon. Its body exploded just as its jaws closed around the silver elf. Her sacrifice saved hundreds of wood elf refugees that were only tens of meters away. -Drennon, "The Book of Karenthian History"
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Tilinay Ailistan, known as Tili, was born a couple centuries before the fall of magic in Els'tar. She grew up with her older sister Leaf Swiftarrow and four older brothers. Tili was always attuned to the natural world, and to the magical one. The magical energies of the divine and arcane coursed through her body thicker than blood, and all of the elves knew she was someone special.
Fey blood is still relatively pure with her family, as it is with all of the silver elves, for their race is long lived, even for elves, and their population grows slowly. The interactions between the fey and the elves was not that many elven generations past.
Tili grew up playing with Leaf, who was only 10 years older, very close in age as far as silver elf siblings go. They wandered and played in their forest homelands, and frequently traveled with their parents to visit relatives or gather supplies. While Leaf spent time mastering the bow, Tili studied the magics of the world, until the fateful day, not long after she turned of age, when magic disappeared from the world.
With Tili's sudden loss of magic, she quickly became depressed, as if half of the world had been taken from her. She would shut herself away for days and weeks, or leave on long walkabouts through the world, often alone, and other times Leaf would follow her to keep her safe. For over a century she walked in her darkness, sadness often overtaking her better judgment.
It was during the last of these walkabouts when things would change for Tili. She came across a baby white dragon caught in a bear trap. But Tili knew white dragons to be evil, but something was different about this one, and she went to help the small beast. Using a thick ironwood branch she pried the trap free from the creature's now grotesquely maimed leg. For the next several days she would care for the dragon, bringing it food, as Leaf watched from a distance. Tili knew her purpose now, to help the creatures of the land. Eventually the dragon's mother, who was circling the forest looking for lost drake, arrived. It was a matronly silver dragon, pleased to find its babe being cared for by one of the ancient race. The mother indebted herself to Tili, and so a bond formed lasting many years. With this, Leaf left to go on her own adventures.
Tili spent the next seven centuries saving innocent creatures and protecting the wild places of the world. She learned to fight with the weapons nature provided, especially with the fey charmed staff she found early in her travels, but also with clubs, rocks, slings, and natural traps. She never stopped practicing her spells, and practiced magics found in the tomes she recovered, somehow hoping magic would return. She also accumulated books and old objects, that were thought to have once been magical, in the cave where she lived.
In -87 BA, magic returned to Els'tar, and it filled Tili's body like a long lost friend's love. Worried she might lose it again, Tili began using her magics, turning her cave into a fortress underground in the matter of weeks. She spent less time wandering, and more time practicing. Her skills advanced far quicker than should have been possible, but the centuries of practice paid for itself many times over.
Tili's ambition did not stop there. Realizing she now had the power to do much more to protect the wilds she loved, she ventured out once again. She fought off bandits and unnatural creatures, stopped trappers, and killed a necromancer.
When Tili returned to her old village after centuries, everyone was in awe that she was still alive. Upon Leaf's return shortly after Tili's return, many tears were shed as the two embraced.
The two shared stories of their past for weeks. Leaf telling of her harrowing adventures in a far away land fighting the evil armies of a mad overlord, and Tili sharing her past. Tili was slightly jealous of Leaf's vast adventuring experience, but soon found solace when the two of them decided to team up to deal with a new, more local threat, the Dragon Lords.
As the two fought the armies of the Dragon Lords across Els'tar, slaying numerous dragons, saving villages, their names became legendary. But they got swept up in the newest offensive of the Dragon Lords teaming up, and were forced to help lead refugees ahead of the swarms of orcs, ogres, and worse.
When they met up with the famous adventuring party, the Order of Eight, a mutual admiration between all involved formed. Leaf and Tili, along with some of the members of the Order and other veterans, followed behind the mass of people while protecting the flank. The protectors were some of the last through Freedom's Gate into Karenth.
Tili's Legacy
As the mass of refugees broke into several factions to find places to settle, Leaf and Tili were among a contingent of a few hundred wood elves heading southeast of the gate. The two sisters acted as scouts and protection for the whole as did a few of the other elves. They fought their way through a mass of orcs and giants, wild beasts and even a beholder before Tili met her end with the dragon. The battles Tili and Leaf fought became the stories of the new lands. The death of the elves' beloved Tili was the rallying point for all of the elves to build their new city of Elenoran within the old Nethen city, and to endure the next several years of difficulty.The Return of Tili and Birth of the Aspect of Light
Centuries passed. Leaf had left the wood elves behind to continue adventuring. Two hundred one years later, on the celebrated aniversary of Tili's death, a day known as Great Souls Passed, a strange silver elf appeared in Elenoran. Only two silver elves made the trip to Karenth, and only one still lived, or the people believed this was the case. The woman appeared dressed exactly like Tili, and the appearance was unmistakable, but her demeanor was very different. She seemed deep in thought and distant, not responding to anything around her for some time. Taking offered food without acknowledgment but never sleeping, she stayed in the city for three years until Leaf returned to the city. Upon seeing Leaf, Tili's eyes came back to life and she was once again jubilant, but Leaf was left in tears and confusion. Eventually everything between Tili and Leaf reconciled for some time and then Tili's personality changed again. This time she became distant, reverent, and inspiring. She used her magic to heal, feed, and build the city. The people of Elenoran began to worship her. Leaf was disturbed by this unnatural change, and the shear magnitude of Tilli's abilities. As more people came, Tili's power grew. And three years after Leaf's return, Tili disappeared again. A few of her most devout followers suddenly became capable of casting priestly spells, and they began to rebuild an old Nethen temple, the temple of light, and many of the people began to worship the diety, Tili.Education
Tili grew up among the silver elves and was schooled in languages, reading, writing, nature, and combat. When her aptitude for magic was discovered she began tutoring among the wizards, sorcerors, clerics, and druids of the area.
Tili by Scott Weeks
Divine Classification
Aspect of light
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Realm
Life
1636 BA
1 AA
1637 years old
Circumstances of Death
See introductory quote.
Children
Gender
female
Eyes
Dark purple with blue sparks
Hair
Long and silver with purple highlights
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale dull silver
Height
5'8"
Weight
120 pounds
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