Halaysius Vaholithiear
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Halaysius Vaholithiear was born 153 years ago to Lyderain and Raynada in the city of Eilhan, in the nation of Ganjulael. His father, Lyderain, died before Halaysius’s memory serves. His mother and he were forced to flee the city of Eilhan when he was 10, as the surrounding territory was becoming diseased. Eilhan and other cities like it were eventually consumed by what is now known as the Plaguelands, brought on by the death of The Scourge.
Raynada and Halaysius relocated to Uthalma, the capital of Ganjulael. Slowly though, the civilization and culture eroded, and Uthalma became a collapsing and broken shell of it’s former glory, and maintained only by a façade of powerful illusionary magic. The elves of this land were a sad and mourning folk, far more depressed than Halaysius could handle, and when he was but thirty years old, he departed his home and his mother, taking along his blade, Jantheron, which was his father’s final creation before he passed on. Eventually, he made his way to Palegael.
In Palegael, the young Halaysius found himself engaging in all matter of debauchery, drunkenness, and bizarre sex parties. The elves of this nation gave in to complete abandon and revelry, using humans as slaves, engaging in duels, and drinking to excess. Halaysius got his first lessons in wielding his sword from the many duels that he fought. The last one he was in, in which another forsaken elf perceived an imaginary slight, nearly cost him his life. Halaysius’s defeat was complete, and the other elf humiliated him. Ten yeas of revelry had passed, and the young elf finally departed Palegael in disgrace, if such a thing could even be imagined possible.
Halaysius had learned difficult lessons in humility though. And found that he wanted to better himself. He decided to travel to Ehitovael and join the Navy there. He served under captain Falithar onboard the Serpent's Nest, and nearly met his end numerous times in battle against Blood Sea monsters and Charduni raiders. Over the next 20 years, the elf found himself promoted to first mate. On the Serpent's Nest's final mission, the crew was to escort a group of forsaken elf merchants to the far off land of Ghelspad. The ships never made it though, as they were completely destroyed just off the coast of Calastia by a Blood Storm the likes of which are rarely seen. Halaysius found himself to be the only survivor as he washed up on the shores of Calastia.
The elf found himself in a strange country. Here, the humans ruled with an iron fist and other races were subservient to them. Halaysius learned another hard lesson in humility, when he started a brawl in a tavern in one of the coastal cities over a racist comment. For his role is the violence, and being an elf, he was sentenced to have his arms and legs removed. Right before his sentence was to be carried out however, a wealthy noble human woman, Glaythatra, used her influence to bail him out of trouble. The Forsaken elf was then made to become her personal “bodyguard”.
At first, Halaysius was merely relieved to have his self intact. It was soon obvious though that Glaythatra had further plans for him. Halaysius found himself on the receiving end of being a sex slave, and for the first time knew true regret for his behavior in Palegael. The human woman tormented and demeaned him for the next 15 years. One night however, she herself learned a hard lesson in how one should go about treating ones bodyguards when an assassin finally struck and Halaysius “accidentally dropped his sword”. Glaythatra's expression of disdain as the assassin’s blade was buried in her heart was forever etched in Halaysius’s mind as one of the only positive experiences in his long life. In the next second, the elf took the assassin’s head off, then promptly headed north.
The elf had heard of the war colleges during his enslavement in Calastia, and sought out the Legion of Steel in New Venir, which was technically under the rule of Calastia. Unlike Calastia, the Venirians were quite tolerant of non-humans, although the nation much more reminiscent of Palegael in it’s tendency towards revelry and debauchery. In the Legion of Steel war college, however, Halaysius found a bastion of discipline, expression, and refinement of ones art. It was here that the elf furthered his understanding of the Diamond Mind discipline, and was one of its most prolific students.
Halaysius remained at the college for the next 15 years as a student, with the occasional adventure on behalf of the college to pay off his tuition, the elf eventually graduated with honors as a Disciple of War. He then stayed on as “Professor Halaysius” for another 10 years and taught many a young human warrior the finer points of the Diamond Mind discipline. Eventually though, the elf grew weary of this, bade goodbye to his friends, and departed the Legion of Steel in good standing.
Halaysius then journeyed westward to the independent city of Hollowfaust in answer to a call for expertise in training the cities law enforcement personnel in quick take down techniques in case of a deadly encounter. For the next 20 years the elf did this, and in his off time, spent many hours studying the history and locations of Ghelspad and having intelligent conversations with the cities mages. Unfortunately, the elf was falsely accused of Sedition in order to cover the tracks of a local corrupt politician. Helaysius was sentenced to 10 lashes, 15 years imprisonment, then subsequently expelled from the city, and ordered not to return, on pain of death.
The elf then found himself working as a caravan guard, transporting strong alcohol from Darakeene, through the perilous route to Vesh, and taking textiles back again. Sadly the caravan was attacked one day by an overwhelming number of brigands. As the lone survivor of that battle, Halaysius found himself weary from years of hardship and gave into despair, wandering the dangerous countryside of the Blood Steppes for a depressing and indeterminate length of time.
When he finally looked up from his anguish, he stood on the brink of the Mourning Marshes. The elf had come full circle and found himself at the grave sight of the titan Churn. At once, Halaysius’s blade, Jantharon, flashed with light as an otyugh emerged from the swampy waters and attacked! The creature grasped the elf and attempted to pull him underwater, but the elf's expert training guided him to counter attack, unleashing his Diamond Minded fury on the beast!
The otyugh was nearly successful in drowning Halaysius, but the elf buried Jantharon deep within the creature’s body, and emerged from the swamp victorious. Then, using the Mind over Body techniques he had perfected at the Legion of Steel, purged his body of the foul disease brought on from the battle. Afterwards, Jantharon mysteriously began manifesting new properties.
Intrigued, and renewed with a sense of purpose, Halaysius set out exploring the vast regions of Ghelspad where titans and gods had clashed in battle a lifetime ago. His hope was to discern the nature of his blade, and to test his skills and sword against the hated titanspawn of these places.
Recently, the Phylacteric Vault, which had heard of the elf’s exploits, contracted him to protect an adventuring group on an excursion into the Perforated Plains. And only now has Halaysius’s true destiny begun to take form…
Halaysius Vaholithiear Race: Forsaken Elf Class: Warblade 7 Age: 153 yrs Ht 5’ 4” Wt 109 lbs
Str 13 Dex 19 Con 11 Int 17 Wis 14 Cha 12
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus: shortsword, Adaptive Style (ToB), Blindfighting, Least Legacy
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +9 (includes battle clarity bonus), Will +4 (uses maneuvers to assist fort and will saves)
AC: 21 (includes –2 for punishing stance)
HP: 49 (includes –4 for personal costs, Least Legacy)
Typical Maneuvers readied: Ruby Nightmare Blade, Insightful Strike, Mountain Hammer, Wall of Blades (though can change these as a full round action)
Items of note: Jantharon, The Shard Blade. Powers as of now: +2, mirror image 1/day (5th level), +5 concentration checks
Chainshirt +2 of Displacement (activate Displacement as a swift action, lasts 5 rounds, 1/day; Magic Item Compendium)
