Aerel Thelon's page

Cantrips (4/day) - All magus cantrips

1st level (3/day) - Dancing Darkness, Snowball, True Strike, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Darting Duplicate, Thunderstomp, Obscuring Mist

Born in 4561 in the elven settlement of Crying Leaf, Aerel Thelon was the child of a mediocre wizard (a diviner) and her husband, a dancer and performer whose natural way with people made him ideal for keeping relations up with local Varisians and Shoanti.

Even at an early age, Aerel demonstrated an interest in and talent for both magic and dance, though his parents allowed him a great deal of liberty in his pursuits of childhood, as is often the case in elven families. Decades went by with only minor disturbances to Aerel’s life - when he was in his 30s, his parents had another child, Kyona, whom Aerel adored immediately.

When it came time for him to begin practicing a trade, Aeren followed in his parents’ footsteps - simultaneously. His father, Ithelien, worked with him for years at a time to master ancient dances, while he studied magic under his mother’s careful eyes, copying spellbooks and practice scrolls. As he did these things, it slowly occurred to Aerel that his two pursuits were more interconnected than most gave them credit for, and he began walking down the path of a spell-dancer.

In 4606 the world shattered, and with the death of the human god Aroden, much of the era of plenty that had surrounded Aerel’s life was shaken. The Age of Lost Omens saw a return of many elves to Golarion, and Crying Leaf was no exception. Among the returnees, an elderly spell-dancer arrived in Crying Leaf, and Aerel’s training began in earnest.

Two decades later, the Thelon family moved from Crying Leaf, going southwards through Riddleport, where they spent a few years trading and living amongst the Chelaxian imports, before continuing to Magnimar, where they lived for another decade. Finally, as Aerel turned eighty (4641), the family moved to Korvosa, where they would stay for the foreseeable future.

Whilst he was in Korvosa, Aerel received several offers from the Academae to help him along the path of the arcane, but his parents advised him to refuse, and he agreed - the Academae was overfond of summoning imps, and the spell-dancer found this practice, in addition to many others, utterly repugnant, to say nothing of his awareness that as an elf, certain expectations would weigh upon him if he went to the school. Instead, he elected to remain with his parents and family, learning magic at his own pace in his own way.

It was in 4691 that Aerel first met Khara the Clever, a half-elven bard whose passion for dance and magic rivaled his own. The young elf quickly fell in love, and his parents, though initially horrified at the thought, were slowly impressed by the young woman’s talents. Thus, when his parents and sister left Korvosa in 4703, Aerel stayed, though he continued writing letters to his family.

Aerel and Khara moved in together, and within a few years of his family’s exit, the two were married. Their marriage was utterly delightful, and Aerel was content spending time with his wife and researching into magic. Khara, however, was possessed of a deep sense of justice, and often worked with the Guard to ferret out illegal activities.

Then, in 4710, Khara went missing, and Aerel began searching for her, with mounting desperation until he received a report of her death. The loss of his newlywed wife (from an elven perspective) destroyed Aeren almost entirely, and he began seeking her murderer with a cold, angry passion. Eventually, it came to light (for Aerel) that his wife had been killed by Gaedren Lamm, an infamous crime lord… but the proof was not enough, and he could not turn to the Guard for aid. Taking matters into his own hands, he pursued leads, but never could find the human bastard... Months went by, and the year turned, yet still he found nothing. But an elf is nothing if not patient - the only time limit is Gaedren's own incipient mortality.

Aerel is a relatively young elf at a century and a half, but he is still an elf, and this translates in many ways to his personality. He is slow, methodical, and patient by most standards, and is often willing to spend an extra day or two perfecting a spell or activity rather than risking a flawed product.

That said, he is a magus, and his passion for dance and magic are both things that define Aerel. When he performs a dance or casts a spell, the elf feels utterly alive and connected to the universe. Or, at least, he used to.

The death of his wife tore out much of Aerel's joy in life, especially as he is deeply aware that Gaedren Lamm remains alive and continues his life of destructiveness, continuing to kill and harm others' loved ones.

However, beneath the grief, some hint of Aerel's carefree childhood remains. While he has been slow to laugh since Khara's murder, his sense of humor survives, if in a somewhat more cynical form now.

Also, Aerel is surprisingly talented at cooking, something he does mostly in his spare time, though he still remembers how much he enjoyed cooking for people... He is somewhat lonely now, though he tries to avoid thinking about it.

Aerel's opinions on the other, shorter-lived races are somewhat confused, albeit rather less patronizing than most of his people. Having fallen in love with a half-elf, he is aware that there is great potential for beauty and talent in all people, though he still finds it somewhat sad to see them grow and change so swiftly.

Aerel does not love Korvosa, as itself. He loved Khara, with whom he spent two decades of his fifteen, and cares deeply for his neighbors and those few friends that he has made whilst in Korvosa, but the bureaucratic, legalistic, punishment-happy city is far from his favorite place. It is not that he objects to rules, per se, but he does not appreciate the laws of Korvosa, most of which seem only to exist to empower the powerful and crush the poor, rather than to keep all people safe and happy.

The Academae is something that Aerel disdains, as a rule - its students are childish and obscene, and they play with magics that defile the very nature of arcane magic, its majesty, and the reverence with which he feels it ought to be practiced.

All of these rely on the approval of the GM
Perishial Kalissreavil - The (nominal) Mierani ambassador to Korvosa, Perishial is an old friend of Aerel's father, and someone he respects deeply. Though Perishial was unable to help Aerel find Gaedren, and the younger elf has felt that since he married Khara that the ambassador did not quite approve, Aerel still is quite happy to visit the elven enclave on the South Shore for advice and tea - indeed, he and his family lived there for decades before he moved in with his wife.

Variel Thelon - Aerel's father and his mentor in the art of dance, Variel is a social butterfly who has dozens of friends throughout Varisia, even among the younger races. It was at his behest that the family moved around the Varisian coast so frequently since 4626, as he sought to determine whether his friends' children and grandchildren were safe in the chaotic Age of Lost Omens. At the game's beginning, he, his wife, and his daughter are all in the exotic city of Kaer Maga, though Aerel sends regular letters to them when he can.

Faulara Thelon - Aerel's mother, she is a wizard of middling talent, as well as Aerel's mentor when it came to arcane magic and how to approach life in general. While not exactly unpleasant, she is much more content than her husband to remain in her own home, researching and studying, though she will (grudgingly) admit that sometimes fieldwork is necessary.

Kyona Thelon - Aerel's younger sister and only sibling, she is already 120 years of age, and she has already demonstrated her father's talent for music, though Variel insists that she has far more talent than he. When they lived together, Kyona would often provide music for Aerel's dancing performances.

Zeldana Srvati - The leader of a Varisian caravan with whom his family traveled for a time, Zeldana is the one to whom Aerel entrusts his letters when she arrives in Korvosa.

Aerel possesses the typical elven beauty, with fine features and a slender build. He wears his silvery hair at shoulder-length, and though it is usually permitted to flow freely, he sometimes adorns it with ornaments to enhance a performance. His eyes are a deep shade of violet, though closer inspection reveals whorls and pools of shifting reds and blues, and his ears are relatively long for an elf at eight inches.

While capable of eating anything the other humanoid races can, elves prefer to eat a variety of grains, fruit, nuts, fish, and wild meat. Many elves dislike the taste of domesticated livestock and prefer hunting for food. Elven cooking accentuates the gamy taste of meat, and those of other races who partake of traditional elven meat dishes often complain that the food seems on the edge of spoiling. Fruits and vegetables are usually served raw but with exotic spices and sauces to enliven the taste, favoring tangy flavors. Elven bread is usually flat but nourishing.