Common Statistics []
Shalarnes Marthdal
Race: Sun Elf
Age: 287
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 110
Hair: A Deep, Rich, Coppery Red
Skin Tone: Golden Tanned
Skin Texture: Soft, smooth, warm to the touch and well cared for.
Eye Color: Gold, Green, Blue, Grey . . whichever color best matches her outfit.
Accent: Nobleborn Elf
Recognizable Features: She smells of sweet strawberries and peaches, arrowhead shaped tattoo on her left forarm (which she usually keeps hidden. Few know this to be the mark of Duskwind)
Spoken Languages: Elven, Common, Draconic, Drow
Left or Right Handed: Right
Deity: Angharradh
Class: Sorceress
Alignment: NG
Known Living Relatives :
- Daughter: Ari'nes Marthdal
- Son: Nai'lan Marthdal
- Half Sister: Drem Starbreeze
- Half Sister: Kyra Windsong
- Half Brother: Davy Luckfoot - estranged
- 4 unnamed 2nd and 3rd wood elf cousins who live in the High Forest
Base Ability Scores []
Strength (8): Below Average, She has skinny arms, skinny legs, and not very much muscle. She is noble born and had no reason to ever do any manual labor. What muscle she does have is hidden beneath her shapely curves.
Dexterity (16): Above Average for her race. She has the body of a dancer. what muscles she has are tone and she is able to move with grace greater than even many other elves.
Constituion (12): Above Average for her race. Though her race tends to be a bit less hearty than others, Shala is more healthy than many other elves.
Intelligence (14): Above Average. A life time of learning has shaped her mind into a critical thinking tool, though she knows she is not nearly as crafty as most wizards.
Wisdom (10): Average. She is easily fooled sometimes and her willpower can be weak toward certian vices. What wisdom she does have has been learned through experience with failure after failure in her long life.
Charisma (26): Godly. The curve of her hips, the shape of her eyes, the fullness of her breasts, the tenderness of her lips, the glow of her skin: physically her beauty is the benchmark to which others of her race strive to match. When she speaks, her melodous voice is hard to ignore and hard to dislike. Her overall presence is a commanding, it is difficult not to want to do everything she asks. Her inner power, the ability to which she shapes her Art to her whims is both potent and powerful.
Skills[]
Lore: After spending a century and a half working in some of the best libraries all across Faerun, Shalarnes has picked up a lot of lore. She is very skilled at researching knowledge and finding her way through libraries. Her areas of expertise include: Arcane, Arcane Artifacts, Elven History, Geography, and the Drow. A little known tidbit about her is a paper she wrote on surface dwelling drow was published in a very prestigious journal. This paper was written after her twenty year stay with the surface drow of the Temple of the Dark Maiden.
Spellcraft: Shalarnes is a master of crafting and reading spells and identifying them from the ripples they make in the Weave.
Concentration: She is a master at the ability to focus her mind on one task and block out all other distractions.
Preform: She can sing, play the lute, and dance very well. She would describe her ability as amateurish because she knows she cannot hold a candle to the true elven masters who dedicated centuries to the art. When she sings, plays, and dances it is for fun and enjoyment only.
Persuade: A key ability in the world of business, Shalarnes is better than average at persuading people to do what she wants. Mostly by force of her personality, but she does have some training in this area too.
Bluff: Though she rarely uses this ability, she is a very skilled liar. She can make many people believe anything she says through her force of personality as well as the way she crafts a story.
Known Feats[]
Epic Spell Focus (Transmutation): Shalarnes dislikes killing. She would much rather turn her enemies into stone or something cute, furry, and harmless. Thus she has focused greatly upon the school of transmutation.
Metamagic Feats: Shalarnes knows a variety of ways to enhance or change her spells. This adds to the overall versatility of her spellcasting.
Craft Wonderous Item: Shalarnes desires to start up her own trading company. She started this venture by learning how to craft magical items. Her current best selling item are the Boots of Teleportation of which Shala estimates that she owns at least 80% market share on all of these boots sold in the Southern Moonsea and Northern Dales area.
Appearance:[]
She has the body of a dancer or fashion model. Her deep richly colored copper red hair is well cared for and soft to the touch. She is often seen with dustings of pixie dust through her locks to make it sparkle just a little. Her lightly golden sunkissed skin is warm and soft touch and looks well cared for. Her rosy red lips seem tender and sweet. Her tall shapely body, the curve of her hips, her full breasts, the curve of her back, her long shapely neck and her long legs add up to a very beautiful and healthy looking woman.
When holding her, she can feel so fragile yet she is tougher than she looks. She walks with graceful elegance, each step wistfully follows the other. When she speaks, her melodious voice carries a tone few have a hard time disliking. It is difficult to not find yourself doing everything she asks of you.
Personality:[]
While she might be a sun elf, Shala has been heavily influenced by her sylvan elf cousins and the sprite with whom she shares a mind with. Shalarnes is a creature as changing as the winds, She is sometimes a vain, sometimes humble, sometimes haughty, sometimes empathetic. Through the influence of her paladin father, she tries to keep herself on the humble, empathetic, matruely noble side, but sometimes her vanity and pride will rise to the surface and be shown for all to see. She can be very cocky and she can act very rashly, though usually she has a good reason for doing everything she does.
The many failures and successes in her long life has given her a wisdom which she is quick to share with almost anyone who would listen. Usually she likes to show the side of herself that is noble and empathetic. She likes people thinking of her as mature, level-headed, and serious. Though sometimes the more whimisical part of her personality comes out and she just wants to have a good time and act like a bimbo. It can be difficult to figure her out at times, though some insist on continuing to try.
Goals:[]
- Her first and foremost goal in life is to raise her daughter to be a happy and healthy woman. With all the death she has seen, she feels she needs to do this to help repair some of the damage her people have endured in recent decades. She hopes to have more children as well, at least 5 in all, but not all at once. She is currently retired from adventuring and living in Myth Drannor. She has regular hours running her own trading house by day and taking care of her daughter by night. She has recently given birth to a handsome white haired, jade eyed son by the name of Nai'lan which translates to "Oak son" in the old tongue.
Relationships:[]
Pixiebell: Pixiebell is Shala's ever-present companion. This sprite has been with Shala ever since Shala was 80 years old: over 200 years now. So close is their bond that Shala does not really know if an idea in her head was made by her or Pixiebell. In a sense they are one mind. This close bond can account for some of Shala's more whimsical behavior at times. When they fight together, the dance is mesmorizing. Pixiebell twirls gracefully around Shala providing distraction while Shala comes in around and makes use of any openings her friend has made only to make openings of her own in the enemie's guard in which Pixiebell comes around to take advantage of.
Ari'nes Marthdal: This golden haired, golden eyed cutie is Shalarnes's infant daughter of almost 4 years of age. Though she is young, she seems to have developed a strong connection to nature. Already she can call small birds and squirrels to her and they feel safe in her presence.
Cerin Te'les: Shala admires his uncanny insight, his ability to keep a calm in most situations, and the soft spoken insightfully mature image he presents. She loves the sensitivity and empathy of his heart and how he cares for people and the land. She loves his long white hair and the smile on his face when he looks at her. After a being his friend for many months, she has begun to feel closer to this druid. As they have become more intimate recently, she has found even more to love about Cerin. In recent months, the two have become a couple very much in love with each other. At present time, Shalarnes is carrying Cerin's baby though this is a closely guarded secret. Shalarnes plans on retiring from adventuring as soon as she escapes from the mists and hopes Cerin will follow her in time. She hopes to spend the next century raising their children together in some place quiet and relatively safe.
Saeryl Kethvanna: Shala thinks of Saeryl as if she were a younger cousin. She worries about Saeryl's drinking and the ease at which she takes foolish risks, though she knows she cannot do anything to stop her. Shala thinks she understands the place Saeryl is in due to her loosing her own family and friends and she tries to offer Saeryl some comfort when she needs it.
Valin Llanowar: Shalarnes feels as if Valin is that exacerbating cousin in the family with whom someone in the family is always mad at, though she does not really know why. He is an honorable warrior and mage who can be counted on in the important times. However, she thinks he is difficult to become friends with as he has an imposing look about him which is intimidating on first impressions.
Aly'Faerae Auvryath: Shala has to keep reminding herself that Aly is Ilythiir. While Shala feels she can be trusted in all things, she still has a dark side that rises to the surface at times. Yet overall, Shala thinks of Aly as a cousin as well, she is just that cousin with the dark past that used to beat up the boys instead of wanting to date them like the other girls.
Sol'murss Autumnleaf: Another Ilythiir. While she trusts Sol to not betray her, she is still quite annoyed with how he pops in and out of shadows. She is wary of all stealthers like him because she knows they are always plotting something. However, she is fairly certain what he is plotting is not against her.
Gregor Fomingbeard: Gregor is a very close friend of Shala's. She admires his insightfulness and his sensitivity. She also admires the his commanding presence and the strength he has when times are at their worse. She knows he is a rock in which she can be anchored against when times grow tough and he can always be counted upon to understand the mysteries of her heart.
Alasia "Shadowtouched" Eskaven: Alasia has been a long time associate of Shala's. In the beginning when, they were enemies. In Shala's opinion, Alasia was jealous of her because of the ease in which she could get attention of the boys while Alasia's only lover ended up betraying and killing her in the end. In Highmoon, the two became allies however, though they never fully trusted each other. Shala believes Alasia lightened up a bit because in Highmoon, she had very few evil partners to work with. Because Alasia does desire companionship she lightened up enough so that Shala and the other good guys would talk to her. Now, with the white polished marble streets of Highmoon being replaced by the dark, sooty cobblestones of Yulash, Alasia has no reason to be a good girl, so Shala thinks. Currently Shala does not consider Alasia an enemy, she still hopes Alasia can be turned from her destructive path.
Ariela Firess: Often refered to by Shala as "the fire witch", Ariela is probably one of the few long time enemies of Shalarnes. Their history goes back for several years to when they were living near Yulash before everyone moved to Highmoon. Back before Ariela got tangled up with archdevils, She was simply a very annoying bimbo in Shala's opinion. Though after loosing both her life and her child from her infernal entanglements, she was resurrected and became the angry, vengeful, bitchy, fire witch everyone since has come to know. In Highmoon, the two were rivals for the Archmage of Highmoon job,a job Ariela won due to cheating in Shala's opinion. Ever since, Shala delights in giving Ariela a hard time whenever she can.
Alabyran Haladar: Alabryran is one of the first friends Shala made after leaving Evereska. He has been by her side in both the good times and in times of intense peril. She thinks of him as a brother who can be counted on when the world turns upside down. She also thinks he is a really good dancer and a good father to his children
Kriegnar The Warmonger: Shala considers this orc to be a pimple on the ass of the moonsea. He just keeps getting bigger, uglier, and more revolting everyday.
Cadius Eldanesh: Shala considers this individual to be nothing more than a human with long ears. Though her opinion is changing since he began to pray to the Seldarine. She knows he is young and has much to learn, but thanks to his relationships with Saeyrl and Cerin he sems to be shaping up now. She does not quite trust him yet, but as long as he continues on the road he has been on in recent months she will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Background:[]
Beginning[]
Shalarnes Marthdal was born in the Year of the Rose (1098 DR) to retired adventures and leaders of the semi-famous Order of the Seven Oaks Gardan and Kay’la Marthdal. Sadly, due to a hidden curse picked up in their adventuring days, Kay’la died in child birth. Shalarnes almost died as well, but the quick thinking priests were able to save her just in time. Despite the grief of loosing his wife and his shattered dreams of rearing a family together, Gardan was a good father who never let his own troubles get in the way of being there for his daughter. He accepted a mid-level officer commission in the army of Evereska and he had the fortune from his adventuring days to provide the best of everything for his daughter. She had the best clothes, best servants, and best toys gold could buy. Together in their tree top home in Evereska; Shalarnes, Gardan, and their servants, Gizel the nurse, Tomlin the cook and housekeeper, and Zan the treeshaper grew together and became a family.
Childhood and Early Adolescence[]
When Shalarnes was forty and ready to start training for a profession, Gardan enrolled her in the College of Arms in Evereska. He was a warrior and he knew his daughter could dance ever so gracefully. She was also a fair shot with the short bow too. He thought she would make a fine warrior like he was. Shalarnes wanted so much to please her father and she tried her best to succeed in warrior college. Unfortunately after five years of trying and pushing herself, she was dismissed from school because she just wasn’t strong enough. She was always last in running obstacle courses and she could barely move when armor was placed upon her. Though he was disappointed, Gardan had to agree his daughter just wasn’t warrior material.
Since Shala’s mother was a priestess and Shala had always shown an interest in reading and religious studies, Gardan thought she might make a fine priestess. At 45 years of age, Shala was entered into the noviate program to become a priestess of Corellon. Shala did better here. She was good at learning the tenants and memorizing rules and rituals taught to her. Unfortunately, living a sheltered life and never really looking after herself had left her lacking good common sense. She had made several mistakes and had been fooled many times when trusted with responsibility. What was worse is that even after ten years of trying, she could still not even make water holy where most students could do that by their fifth year. She just wasn’t cut out for the Church. Again, Gardan accepted this judgment though he was disappointed.
Next, Shalarnes was enrolled in the College of Magic in Evereska when she was 55. She had intelligence and a desire to read and learn. Perhaps wizardry would be her path. She had barely passed the entrance examinations but passing is passing. For the next five years, Shalarnes found she had to study twice as hard as most other students. Though she had some talent for memorizing arcane runes, this talent came with much work. Though she wasn’t last in her class these first five years, she was in the second half despite how hard she worked. Then one day in her sixth year, something clicked in her mind. She began to see magic and the Weave in a whole new way. She just seemed to be able to hear the Weave and innately understand its flows and ebbs. After this, learning spells became really easy. She merely needed to watch her instructor demonstrate a spell a few times and then she could replicate it instantly. She immediately moved to the top tiers of her class after a few months time.
She had found her talent, she was so excited. Her father was excited as well. Unfortunately, her instructors were not excited. They suspected her of using dark magic to learn and a quicker rate. They demanded to see her spell book, but by then, she had stopped keeping one. It was then they knew she was a sorceress. To them, sorcerers were dangerous. They learned magic to fast and did not have the discipline needed to command such power responsibly. After ten years of study in the College of Magic, she was expelled for being a sorceress.
Gardan was furious. He tried to hire a tutor, but no wizard in Evereska would work for him. His daughter had been blackballed by the wizarding community. His daughter had finally found her talent and no one would teach her. He tried calling in favors from his contacts in the military, he asked for favors from his superiors, he did everything he could, but no one would help him. He finally resigned his commission over this in protest.
Mystrians[]
Soon after Gardan resigned his commission, he was approached by a half elf on the street. This half elf was a priest of Mystra who had heard of his plight. He was trying to start a small church of Mystra in Evereska and he had offered to arrange for his daughter to receive the training she needed. Mystra loved sorcerers as much as wizards after all. Gardan agreed. So began Shalarnes’s life with the Mystrians. Shalarnes spent the next ten years training with the Mystrians to learn how to use and control her power. So impressed with the Mystrians were they that both Shalarnes and Gardan converted to Mystra’s faith. Eventually Gardan became a paladin of Mystra and was put in charge of guarding the growing temple and insuring the safety of church emissaries. When Shalarnes was 75 and finished with her training she began working for the church as a librarian and keeper of magical artifacts. When she was 80 she met Pixiebell on a spell component gathering trip into he swamps with her church. She was trained in restoration of magical artifacts and she also helped others with their research.
When she was 110, Shalarnes began to feel the wanderlust most elves feel at her age. She had the need to get out and explore the world on her own. Gardan was fearful of this however. She was ill equipped to protect herself and was easily fooled by tricksters. Once again the Mystrians came to the aid. Shalarnes was placed in a church worker exchange program. In this program, she would work in the library in churches allied to Mystra throughout Faerun. For the next 140 years, Shalarnes worked in a different church every 20 years throughout Faerun. Some of the places she spent 20 years working were the House of the Moon in Waterdeep, the Edificant Library in the Snowflake Mountains, the House of the Dark Dancer in an undisclosed location, and the College of the Lady in Silverymoon.
Husband and Son[]
When Shalarnes was 180 or so, she met a strange elven boy in the forest. He was no more than sixty years of age and had been living in the forest away from people his whole life. He was raised by bears and had a strong connection to nature. Over the next fifty years, Shalarnes took it upon herself to teach him how to read and how to be an elf. They eventually fell in love and when he was 110 the two were married. They soon had a son they named Calen who was born in the Year of Moonfall (1344 DR). They were very happy together. Shala still worked in the library and Dail kept charge of the near by forest. In the Year of Maidens (1361DR), Calen was eighteen years old and Dail wanted to take him off into the forest to meet some of his animal friends before he started grammar school. Shalarnes had to work so she let them go. Sadly, both ran across a tribe of Malarites who killed both Dail and Calen. Shalarnes was devastated. Thankfully she still had her father who helped her thought the grief and kept her from letting herself die.
Elves Attacked[]
Year of the Unstrung Harp (1371 DR). This was a bad year for the elven people. Early in this year saw the attack on Evermeet itself by drow and malarites. Thousands of elves died in that attack. Then, later on in this same year, the Shadovar and phaerimm attacked Evereska, thousands more died including Shalarnes’s father, all the servants she thought of as family, all her childhood friends and former lovers, almost everyone she ever loved. She was still grieving for her husband and son who were lost just ten years before and now this. She had nothing left. Not even the tree her home was in survived, it had been burned to the ground. All the while when the attack went on, she who had never learned to fight, hid in the caves with the children. While elves half her age fought and died for her people, she hid. Never had she ever felt so ashamed of herself. Never had she felt so much grief or felt so worthless. She would have let herself die right there, but she was too ashamed to face Corellon. Soon after, Shala was sent to Harrowdale to work at the House of Mystra. She needed to get out of Evereska where nothing remained for her. The priests thought she would be able to rebuild her life in Harrowdale away from all the war and loss.
Time of Retribution[]
Shortly after arriving in Harrowdale, Shalarnes learned to turn her feelings of shame and fear into anger. Her gentle spirit was displaced by a creature driven by pain and revenge. She blamed the Malarites for everything. They took her son and husband; it was they who started this whole trend of pain and anguish in her life. She began to train her body and train her Art, she grew quickly in power. Within two years she had gone from casting second and third circle spells all the way to mastering the ninth circle. No one was there to hold her back; not even herself. She also met friends. Mateo, Nadin, Aramil, Alabryan, Altair among others with whom she became close to. They helped her train and together they all grew strong. Bent on anger and revenge she began to hunt the local Malarites of Vellarswoods. With each kill she felt a little bit better yet her heart still felt empty. She grew so desperate she offered to whore herself to a druid known as Oakheart who had a rather unfavorably sexually perverted reputation in exchange for the location to the Malarite village hidden deep in Vellarswood. She intended on destroying everyone in that village; even the women and children. Shalarnes was surprised when Oakheart refused. Though she tried her best to seduce him for the information, Oakheart proved to be a man of honor and refused her best temptations. It was then she realized the folly vengeance. She was becoming something dark and ugly her loved ones would be sad to see. To this day, she is grateful to the druid Oakheart and her friends, Mateo and Nadin for helping her see what she had become.
A new lifetime[]
In the years following, Shalarnes has dedicated herself to defense of the people. Never again will she be the one hiding in a cave with the children while elves half her age fight and die. Though she has found many lovers she has come to care deeply for, she has never found a love as deeply as she had with Dail. He was her soulmate. Despite this, in the Year of Rogue Dragons (1373 DR) Shalarnes had another child. After seeing so much death of her people in the last ten years, she began to feel she could best honor their loss by having children and repairing the damage to the elven population. With her new child, she decided to begin a whole new lifetime. With her new focus on life she changed deities from Mystra to Angharradh, the elven god of defense and mothers. While she still honors Mystra, she feels Angharradh is more closely matches her heart in this new lifetime. Through adventuring she has saved countless lives, many of them children. Through her treasure, she founded Highmoon College of Magic and Arms in order to aid her community and to aid all the children of the dales. She applied for the job of Highmage of Highmoon, but sadly was not chosen. She soon moved to Elventree afterward and is currently trying to start up her own trading company as she gradually retires from adventuring to become a pillar of the Elventree community.
Sadly, with the coming of the mists, Shalarnes had to leave the area because it was not a safe place to raise children. Using a timely loophole in the misty barrier, she managed to escape the mists alone and make her way to Myth Drannor where she currently lives. She has since given birth to a new son named Nai'lan which means "oak son" in the old tongue. She owns her own trading company in Myth Drannor where she runs supply caravans throughout the Southern Dalelands, Sembia, and Cormyr. She even has a portal to the Silver Marches and she runs shipments to and from that region.
In Game Highlights:[]
- Founded Highmoon College of Magic and Arms.
- Successfully recovered her daughter from two seperate kidnapping attempts and she twarted a third before it happened.
- She bought and reshaped the Gold Cave from a one merchant general store to a multi-merchant underground marketplace that can be used for a shelter in times of war.