Adelard Greenhand

Born and raised on the southern coast of Erumir, Adelard Greenhand is a famous botanist who left his life on land behind in exchange for the sea. As a botanist this seems rather peculiar at first, but the sea brims with plant life too. Adelard fell in love with life beneath the surface, leading him to pursue a change so drastic that permanently returning to land is no longer an option for him.

Adelard? Pff, traitor, sinner. Turning his back on the Mother and Father…

— Enthuri fisherman

Early Life

As a boy, Adelard rarely played with the other kids from his village. Instead, he would spend whole afternoons sketching plants in the forest or collecting shells on the beach. His interest in nature eventually led him to the village healer, who taught him about plants and often sent him out to collect certain herbs.
When Adelard reached adulthood, he decided to move to the nearest city to study botany. The library contained so many books on plants that he would never be able to read all of them in a single lifetime, but soon Adelard realised that none of the books contained what he was looking for. Knowledge on coastal and water plants was minimal. And so, pleading with his superior, Adelard got approval for an excursion to the Sparkling Chain across the Temiss Sea to study the plants growing there.

Love for the Sea

On the islands, the expedition stayed at Enthuri settlements, but soon, Adelard got friendly with the native inhabitants: the Inu Zim, merfolk. Their knowledge on plants was different. Instead of dissecting the plants in a strictly analytical way, their knowledge was almost philosophical. It reminded him more of his village’s healer.
After three months, Adelard spent more time with the Inu Zim than his own people, specifically with one woman: Amarí. And he fell in love. As the expedition reached the end of its scheduled time, Adelard didn’t want to leave. Amarí had started to take him beneath the waves, and, oh, how beautiful it was. He fell in love for a second time. As the ships left back to Erumir Proper, Adelard was not on any of them.
For several years, it was suspected Adelard had perished beneath the waves. The story went that he had been seduced by the Inu Zim witch, and she had taken him to one of their ocean floor cities, thus drowning him. However, after three years, Adelard returned home. He didn’t take a ship to cross the sea, he no longer had to for he was no longer human, he was now merfolk.

Scientific Contribution

Adelard, now going by the name Del'ari, was shunned from his home. People screamed, people prayed. It must be a curse. It might be infectious. In the end, it had been a choice. The only reason Adelard had come back home, was to present his work from the past years to the village healer, who then shared it with the rest of the world.
For many more years, Adelard studied the flora beneath the sea, writing tome after tome. While controversial in Erumir due to Adelard changed nature, his knowledge spread even all the way to Namda, where hedge-witches and -wizards greatly benefited and improved upon their potion making.

Life

2421 SD 2509 SD 88 years old