Sha'Ren the Lost

This document has been contributed by: Yxjun

Sha'Ren the Lost

No, no, you wrote my article, I get to write yours.

That's not how this works-

Oh, yeah, like you decide how it works. Last I checked, you don't run the Library, do you?

— Yxjun and Sha'Ren arguing

Sha'ren is an elf raised in Khastoro, who made a deal with Yxjun that resulted in him becoming a fey. He is a member of the Unseelie Court, known as the Lost, as he attempts the fruitless endeavour of leading every lost soul that finds their way into the Feywild to safety.

This project is not at all fruitless. So long as the folk of the material plane can be educated about the Feywild, they can be taught to navigate themselves out of the Feywild, or otherwise how to find me to aid them.

Personal History

Childhood

Sha'Ren was born in the town of Amyndiir, just west of the then-Khastoran capital of Aalindare. He was born only a few centuries before the start of the God War, far enough that he was able to experience life as it was in times of peace, but soon enough that there was still some foreshadowing for the War soon to come.

The God War

Soon into the start of the God War, attacks from both sides began to have damaging consequences on the world around them. Monsters began to overrun the continent, as people began to focus on attacking rather than protecting each other. Amyndiir was caught in the crossfire, destroyed by monsters.
This is where Sha'Ren's obsession with monster hunting began. He wanted to "protect" the people around him, and did so by hunting down and killing completely unrelated monsters. This had a vaguely moderate impact on the morale of the people in the villages that still stood for the beginning of the God War, though had less of an impact as it neared its end.

Young Sha'Ren by Dx_man2001 using HeroForge

Okay, first off, it is not an "obsession". I had and have completely valid reasons for my monster hunting. Secondly, the monsters that I was killing were not "completely unrelated", they were posing a threat to the people of nearby settlements. And third of all, my monster hunting definitely had an impact, you just don't want to admit it.

Deal with Yxjun

God War Sha'Ren by Dx_man2001 using HeroForge

As the God War raged on, Sha'Ren soon realised that his skills alone were no match for the monsters that he was facing. He tried many different sources of enhancing his powers before eventually turning his eye towards the Feywild.
He then met me, Yxjun, Archfey king of the Unseelie and leader of the Unseelie Realm. I was his last hope, and so he made a deal. I would grant him the powers that he would need to continue his monster hunting. In exchange, I would have his left eye, and I would ask a few favours of him every now and then. These favours were monstly minor things that took very little of his time - though he would always act as though they were a huge inconvenience for him.
It was through this deal that he gained warlock-esque powers, at the simple cost of his own blood. He learned how to utilise them well, and became quite the formidable fighter.

Your favours were definitely not minor. For one of them, you literally dropped me in an entirely different continent, where I could not speak any of the languages spoken there. I'd say that's a bit more than a minor inconvenience.

Oh, come on, that was one time!

Retirement

After a few centuries of enduring his horrible deal with me, Sha'Ren decided that it was no longer benefiting him, only myself, and so decided to leave. He began to wear an eyepatch over his left eye, and while he did continue some monster hunting, he spent most of his time kind of just sitting around.

Okay, Yxjun has no clue what I was doing these years because I never told him and he couldn't see. After I had broken off the deal with him, I would travel between villages and write my books.

Literature

During my time alone, I decided to complete the book series that I had started while still a vessel - the Book of the Lost, Vol. 1, a monster-hunting manual for those trying to learn about it. It has now reached 93 volumes, and has been discontinued. I also wrote the Anthology of the Lost, a collection of short stories based on my experiences working for an Archfey. Later on in life I published The Lost's Guide to Surviving the Feywild - though that's skipping ahead a bit.

Adventuring

In the year 1985, Sha'Ren began to become an active adventurer again. I'm not sure why, but he got attached to this group of adventurers who he wanted to help with something or another. Regardless, he soon realised that he was rusty - he was no longer as skilled with his abilities as he had been nearly 2,000 years ago. As the group began to face more formidable threats, Sha'Ren again realised that his own skills were not a match for the foes that they were going up against. In a particularly harrowing encounter, Sha'Ren and this party were surrounded by a horde of undead, and he decided to take off the eye patch. After a brief conversation, we agreed to continue the deal and I brought him and his party so generously into the Feywild. From there, things continued generally as they had been before. Of course, Sha'Ren now had an adventuring party, which meant more people to help him on the missions that I'd send him on. Of course, he'd always complain about my "interrupting important business", but usually whatever he was up to wasn't actually that important.

Sha'Ren by Dx_man2001 using HeroForge

You brush over this by saying what I was doing wasn't important - you fail to mention that you interrupted my investigation into the health of the Khastoran Princess while she was dying. Multiple times. I'd say that's pretty important.

You really just love picking out the one situation that makes me look like the bad guy. Besides, it wouldn't have been the end of the world if she died! They had another heir!

Becoming a Fey

Fey Sha'Ren by Dx_man2001 using HeroForge

After his time adventuring, Sha'Ren decided that he wanted to become an Archfey, rather than a vessel. I granted this desire, as generous as I am, and he joined the Unseelie Court. He did not gain a domain, like most Archfey - as his focus was those lost in the Feywild, he simply wandered the Feywild himself.
His appearance also changed after he became an archfey. He gained beetle wings, which glowed a bright purple colour, and his eyes changed to be a similar purple and glow. His magic changed as well, as it became his own rather than mine.
He did not waste time before roping others into monster hunting for him. Now that he had responsibilities in the Feywild, he could not waste time going to the material plane just to hunt monsters. So instead, he leveraged exiting the Feywild against killing monsters on the material plane. A strange thing to get from his deals, in my opinion - but he seems insistent on this, and honestly, I don't care enough to stop him.

Character Sheet

D&DBeyond Link

Alignment

True Neutral

Current Location

Feywild

Species

Elf

Honorary & Occupational Titles

The Lost
Patron of the Lost
Archfey of the Lost
The Elven Unseelie

Date of Birth

20th of Nevelil

Year of Birth

223 E.G 2224 Years old

Parents (Adopting)

Yxjun

Current Residence

Feywild

Eyes

Purple

Hair

White

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Purplish grey

Height

6'0"

Aligned Organization

Unseelie Court

Known Languages

Vehasic
Sylvan
Paldoran
Aukkthoran
Eillakkithe
Thaulak

Sha'Ren by notahumanhand

Physical Desription

General Physical Condition

Sha'Ren appears to be much older than any other elves currently living. He is not actually older than all living elves (though he is not exactly young either). This appearance comes from years of using blood magic - particularly, blood magic that wasn't his - which took a toll on his body. Whether this appearance actually reflects aging in the elven species is yet to be determined; no other elves have reached an age where they have begun to show signs of aging.

Identifying Characteristics

When Sha'Ren was an adventurer, his primary indentifying feature was a glowing orange eye that did not match his other, grey right eye - courtesy of muself. However, since becoming a fey, his eyes are instead a bright purple colour.
He can also currently be idenified by his similarly bright purple beetle-like wings - I am unsure if these wings actually allow him to fly, as I have not seen him attempt to do so.

Apparel & Accessories

Despite his ability to obtain much better clothing, the majority of the clothes that Sha'Ren wears are old and well-worn, with rips and patches and mismatched fabrics. This could have started out of necessity, though I am beginning to think this was a fashion statement on his part. Now, what that statement could actually be is beyond me - maybe that he liked to walk around looking like an overflowing garbage can?

I wear my clothes because I like them. Does it have to be more complicated than that? Why would I get new clothing when what I have works perfectly fine?

Mental Characteristics

Education

Sha'Ren received an elementary education in his hometown before the God War. However, he did not pursue any higher education. His knowledge on monster hunting is primarily his own, as he has both taught himself the monster hunting techniques of his time as well as the abilities that he used in his trade. He has not changed from using the old and outdated monster classification systems, insisting that it did not need to change in the first place and that the old system works just fine. To his credit, the only real downside to using the old system is that it is confusing to anyone that he tries to talk to about it.

Intellectual Characteristics

Sha'Ren is fairly intelligent, though though this intelligence comes more in the sense of environmental awareness than technical knowledge. He has a lot of experience in dealing with other fey, so while he is not particularly great about interacting with people from the material plane, he is excellent at interacting with other fey. Though he does not like to call it such, he is adept at manipulating the other Archfey - though not me, of course.

Morality & Philosophy

Sha'Ren's morals can be described as somewhat grey. He likes to think of himself as better than some of the other fey in terms of morality, but this is not entirely true. Sure, making a deal with him may be "better" than making a deal with some of the other Archfey - but you still do have to make a deal with him to get him to help you out of the Feywild. Which, really, makes him no better than the rest of us.

Wow. Even when writing about someone other than yourself, you manage to be a stuck-up as ever. I should congratulate you.