THE
ENCHANTRESS
EIR
MELONE
SWANHILD
OF CIOSA |
Eir Melone Swanvild, later
known as Melone of Ciosa during her public
career, was born circa 1550 a.S. During her relatively short life, the tragic
mage would not only assist her compatriot, Raeis
Boldsnout in establishing the "Children of the Mind", but also win the
hearts of the Manthrian people though her
limitless compassion and extreme talents. In addition to being both a member of
the infamous Triad and close friend of the High Inquisitor, before her early
death the enchantress mastered the Children’s ability of disguise, know as
Glamouring. While with the Children, she acted both as a kindhearted teacher and
served as Mistress of Secrets, organizing all the covert operations of the magi
under Raeis.
Miss Swanvild is also the only member of the Children of the Mind to ever have
been able to walk freely throughout the
Santharian Kingdom without fear of Ximax,
though she is said to have preferred incognito locomotion, as a result of the
popular sympathy she received through the spread of the tragic tale of her
romantic endeavors, most notably her notorious affair with the masochistic
Phillip.
Her fame was only amplified by her unexpected death. Despite the elongated life
provided to her through the Tome of Time, it is said that Melode of Ciosa lost
the will to live after the execution of her lover and thus, at the young age of
thirty five, was reported to have jumped to her death from the
Zirkumire Mountains. Following
her death, her body was recovered from the Cyon Sola Bay and returned to her
family in Ciosa.
Appearance.
A connoisseur of magical disguise, Melone's
vanity and talent enabled the sinewy
Avennorian to morph slowly into a feline elf
as she aged. Translucent ashen hair framed her doll-like features, seemingly
wrought of a blend of dark chocolate and immaculate porcelain. Her countenance
displayed an array of delicate features; a gentle nose; protracted eyebrows;
delicious lips unfastened seductively, eyes like crystal pools frozen in an cold
anger that chills the air about her.
Sleek and ghastly, Melone’s sparse apparel famously lured the casual male eye,
demanding an unwavering attention. Strongly akin to the gothic garments of
Queprur’s
Voidwalkers, the enchantress’s attire appears analogous to the
lisdra, its elegant form constricting
the delicate figure before disappearing into the substantial mass of a leather
choker set with brilliant sapphires. Knee-high boots of brown leather envelop
lissome legs, punctuating sculpted form.
Biography.
Birth (1547). Born the daughter of the poor
fisherman, Garolv Swanvild and his wife, Mevinna, Melone’s childhood was shaped
by her family’s poverty. From the age of four until the time her “gifted’ status
manifested itself around puberty, the young girl was expected to contribute to
the family economy, either working on her father’s boat or in their exhausted
shack with her mother, crushing and reshaping
whale bone into products able to be sold at the market.
Recruitment to
Ximax (1559). Tragedy struck the
Swanvild family when an unexpected storm suddenly appeared around the family’s
small boat. In the fifteen minutes the squall lasted, the ship was reduced to a
pile of driftwood by fierce winds. After not
surfacing for three days, Garolv was deemed ‘lost at sea’. Mysteriously, his
teenage daughter was found unharmed, apparently thrown from the boat and carried
back to shore.
Though exactly what triggered such a violent and sudden burst of
magic, Mevinna blamed the girl for her
husband’s death and, using the meager savings she had accumulated, sent her
daughter away to the province of Xaramon.
An Ill-fated Assignment (1572). Having progressed
through the first two Spheres of Ximaxian
magic at an astounding rate, Melone’s successes
caught the attentions of her superiors within the Sky Tower. Thus, when it was
decided to form a team to investigate an artifact recently returned from the
ruins of the fortress of Tak’dinal, the
young woman secured a spot with ease.
Over the course of the year, the three researchers, unlocked the secrets to the
book’s powers of longevity and slowly were corrupted by its ancient knowledge.
Deciding to keep their extensive knowledge within their group, the trio fed
false information to the Sky Tower, using their true discoveries to strengthen
their own power and convert followers under the alias of the Triad.
Flight from the
Magical City and Establishment of a Resistance
(1573). A year later, having converted a sizeable number of followers,
all within the Sky Tower, rumours of the Triad reached the Archmagi of the
Yellow who proceeded to ferret out the three traitors. The self-anointed Triad,
fearing for their lives planned to flee the tower. Gathering their followers,
the three powerful telekinetics stole the Tome of Time from its hidden vault
using their new found magical discoveries to
outsmart the guardians and fled from the peninsula, across the Steppes of
Kruswik, finding shelter in the cradle between the Upper and Lower Fores. It was
here, nestled between the two Fores, that the Triad shaped their rag-tag band of
followers into a structured order, and disbanding them into small groups that
would disperse across the continent.
Suicide (1582). Determining it she would rather die
then live without her beloved, following his capture during his failed attempt
to subjugate the Archmage of the Sky Tower, the desperate woman planned to take
her own life. Traveling back to the province of Xaramon, Melone is said to have
climbed to the highest peak of the
Zirkumire Mountains
and at the hour of Phillips execution, jumped to her death.
It is rumored that the mage Raeis Boldsnout
attempted to recover both the bodies of Melone and Phillip and enshrine the two
in his cave dwelling, however, before he could secure either body, both met
alternate fates. The Avennorian
town of Ciosa fought for the right to house
their celebrity’s body and were eventually granted it.
Importance.
The second member of the council known as the Triad, Melone’s fame derived from
both her power as a mage and her popularized romantic escapades. Already
destined to be a mage of great power during her time in the Sky Tower of
Ximax because of her rapid progression in her
studies, the sorceress’ fame expanded enormously with her assistance in the
theft of the Tome of Time and her flight from
Ximax. While with the Children, Melone discovered, mastered and taught the
illusionary art of the Order known as Glamouring, a semi-permanent form of
illusion of a magnitude and depth previously unknown to the
magical community.
During her time with the Children, Melone served on the Order’s ruling council,
known as the Triad, from its inception to the time of her death as Mistress of
Secrets, second in command to Raeis. Charged
with the responsibility of maintaining the secrecy of the magi, she coordinated
the school’s roving classrooms, yearly Order meetings, the recruitment of new
Gifted and the movements of full members.
Equally as noteworthy is Melone’s popular fame resulting from rumours circulated
about the mage’s love affairs with various men of power in Southern
Sarvonia. Thus far, no proof has surfaced
to verify any of these incidents save for her renowned relationship with
Phillip. Despite the lack of factual evidence, the alluring woman still managed
to captivate the Kingdom of Santharia with
her wild fantasies both before and following her death.
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