Fedrona I

First Didact, Lifegiver of Magic, Master of Invention, and Mother of Mothertongues

The legendary founder of The Didacy, first Didact, and architect of all modern magical spells in use on Perradin, Fedrona I was known as the Living Tome and is viewed as a mythical figure often being spoken in the same breath as minor deities. Her expertise in manipulating the magic of the world as well as her dedication to science led to breakthroughs that have never since been matched over 7000 years after her death. The Didacy she founded would go on to, for better or worse, shape the face of Perradin for eons. While her legend endures, it is uncertain how much is true, if any. Some scholars even posit she was not a real person, but in fact an amalgamation of the earliest Didacts' greatest achievements.

Mythical Origins

Conflicting legends and myths surround Fedrona's origins, and none can seem to agree on her original nationality. One legend claims Fedrona was born into a family on the frontier of the early Final Kingdom, where she learned to control her innate magical talents with frightening potency with the first recorded use of verbal and somatic components. Another claims she was a long-time hermit of the Great Ice Fields, living for centuries by tapping into ancient fonts of magic and controlling them with her voice and body. Even more outlandish myths, often circulating from the Free Cities, claim Fedrona was mage veteran of The Wizening War who learned great magical secrets in her many years fighting the Nameless Empire, despite the war being nearly six centuries before her apparent birth. Other religious sects claim she was the goddess Mystra or the Primal Being Iane incarnate, bringing magic or new beginnings to the people of Perradin.
Despite all of the conflicting origins, all tales share one universal thread: The world before her teachings were characterized by magic only being wielded by those with innate talent, defined by the chaotic energy flowing through them, resulting in magic being feared and taboo. Fedrona's control of the chaotic magic proved to be teachable to others, garnering a significant following of students. Despite her apparent human nature, she did not appear to age, leading to her outliving every student she took on. For over 500 years, Fedrona traveled Sinderlan teaching the people the secrets of wielding magic to their whims.
One day, Fedrona appeared in Throne wielding incredible powers and a mysterious staff as a focus, convincing many of the most brilliant inventors and mages of the city to join her in traveling south into the Great Ice Fields, away from the Kingdom and the cultural norms around magic. The thousands of followers she amassed traveled for months into the cold dark wastes, eventually arriving at Perradin's South Pole.

The Great Thaw and Founding of The Didacy

On arrival in the early 13th century, Fedrona cast an unknown spell at the exact south pole of Perradin. This spell, immensely powerful in nature, permanently shifted the climate. The Great Ice Fields, over the course of several months, melted away and revealed solid land that no living being had ever laid eyes upon. Somehow this Great Thaw did not result in rising sea levels, likely due to a feature of the spell.
Upon the Thaw, the south pole was revealed to be a small island which Fedrona made flourish with her magic, erecting great stone buildings and shelters for her followers. Her people, in awe of her power, proclaimed her Prime Didact. The island became known as Greenwave for the great choppy sea that now surrounded it, and the settlement became known as The Didacy in honor of their leader's new title. Fedrona became Fedrona I, and over the course of the next decade, she led the new Didacy in creating new spells, technologies, and medicines which caused the people of the Kingdom to flock to the south to learn and buy. She also allegedly developed the first Common, Early-Archaic Dwarven, New Standard Elven, and Giff alphabets, universally standardizing written language across the entire continent, even eventually being adopted in Pillarin centuries later due to their efficiency and flexibility.

Death and Legacy

Sometime in the second decade of the 13th century as the Didacy's, Fedrona gave birth to a daughter named Kiranna Scipia. Shortly after, she died of unknown causes. Legends state she died with a smile on her face in her bed, with her daughter at her side. She is said she was interred in a secret location to protect her mortal remains. Her death was mourned by her followers and by the Kingdom at large, but over time her daughter proved to be just as talented as her in the ways of magic, leading to her being proclaimed Didact as a teenager.
While none of her story is verifiable, the contributions to society made by her and the Didacy are incalculable. The Didacy itself endured, and following her death, her heir, Kiranna I, followed her example and continued to innovate and develop new spells. The Didacy expanded, and settled many regions in southern Sinderlan as centers of learning and advancement. The Snowmelt Basin became a verdant landscape, home to forests and huge wildlife diversity imported by the Didacy. Great partnerships were forged with The Final Kingdom to bring the new systems of magic and technology to the world. However, only three centuries following her death, the Didacy became the perpetrator of the War of the Starfall, which left the entire world scarred. The Didacy would later recover, but eventually faded into relative obscurity following the Didacy Civil War of 3434 and the foundation of the Didacian Consulate. Despite this, the Didacy's contributions of global magical infrastructure such the modern spell casting systems, the Teleportation Commission, and the Sending Stone Network would endure for eons.
She is often referred to as the Lifegiver of Magic, Master of Invention, and Mother of Mothertongues. Her descendant, Didact Victus I, created the Warforged and perpetrated the War of the Starfall, forever scarring Perradin. As a result, her reputation was tarnished in the ensuing centuries, but eventually recovered. Over time, she became revered almost as a deity, being worshipped as a goddess in some regions of The Final Kingdom and Free Cities. Her bloodline, usually referred to as the House of the Didact's Blood, has endured for eons despite being thought long-dead following the death of Didact Cassius III. The current Didact, Victus XXII, is apparently her heir and now rules the Didacy.

Species

Human of Perradin

Age

Over 600

Date of Birth

7th Century

Date of Death

Early 13th Century

Birthplace

Unknown (Contested)

Place of Death

Greenwave

Family

House of the Didact's Blood

Sex

Female

Aligned Organization

The Didacy