Thylera Aendyr

Daughter of Prince Volospin Aendyr of Blackhill

"The Bane of Castle Silverston"

AC 1006

"I didn't do it…"

Appearance

Many poor and foolish denizens of Blackhill have been deceived by the appearance of Thylera Aendyr, the Bane of Castle Silverston. By looking at this six-year old girl with those sparkling sapphire blue eyes, framed by those curly jet-black locks against the healthy fair-skinned cheeks—(She is not pallid like other purebred Alphatians.)—who would suspect she could be full of such mischief and cruelty? Thylera is always adorable in her pretty dresses in the brightest of colors and all made of the finest and most expensive Alphatian spider-silk. And because she endlessly complains of developing rashes on her delicate skin, she only wears each dress once, after which she takes much glee in ripping them to shreds of minute rainbow-colored fabric using magical whirlwinds.

Background

From her birth in AC 994, Thylera caused so much trouble that her mother Lady Serena Aendyr almost died after three days of painful labor. (Some Lady Serena actually did die, but Prince Volospin Aendyr brought her back to life.) Since then, Thylera had always been a precious child to her father, while Lady Serena has treated her with detachment and aloofness.

At the age of four, Thylera was at the Great School of Magic. However the spoilt little princess was too unruly and undisciplined even for the special classes for children at the Great School. Since it was unheard of to expel the daughter of a Prince in her very first term, Thylera was given a leave of absence, to return when she was more mature. Since then, she was taught privately in Castle Silverston by a long list of tutors, most of who only stayed with the incorrigible brat for about a week. There was even a time when Prince Volospin enslaved a pair of genies to become Thylera's tutors; one was destroyed by Thylera's magical tricks, while the other escaped to the Plane of Air. The only tutor who lasted longer than a fortnight was actually ensorcelled by Thylera, who had somehow stolen his soul essence, and thus had to stay with Thylera and do her bidding for about a month; the hopeless tutor finally resigned his fate, left the cruel monster-child, and died.

Thylera herself has been harmed by her cruel wizardry. Using her spells, Thylera loves to capture and torture poor animals for fun. This included her very first familiar, a rare and beautiful winged cat that Prince Volospin ordered from Alphatia. Sadly (not that Thylera was sad about it), Thylera killed the fluttercat, but in doing so hurt herself gravely. Ever since learning this painful lesson, Thylera has limited her abuse of creatures to the familiars of other wizards.

In the short twelve-year span of her life, Thylera Aendyr had brought more turmoil and trouble to Castle Silverston than any political opponent, invading enemy, or magical wildstorm, so much so that she earned the title of the Bane of Castle Silverston. The only thing that ever caused greater destruction to Blackhill was the Great Meteor of AC 1006, which ironically, ended Thylera's life.

Personality & Quirks

People say, there was never a brat more spoiled than Thylera Aendyr, not in Blackhill, not in the Alphatian continent, not even in the world of Old Alphatia. Thylera is thoroughly incorrigible, with no sense of right or wrong, or any insight in the consequences of her actions. She was never disciplined nor taught any moral values by her parents or any authority figure in Silverston. As a child, Thylera is very possessive of objects, people, their attentions and their affections. What Thylera wants, she gets, first by asking for it directly (and often quite rudely) or playing sweet to her father; if those tactics don't work, she throws tantrums—not just with screaming and kicking—with magical curses and powerful massive spells of random destruction. Recently, Thylera found a new method of getting things she wants: simply by taking or stealing them, then warding off any claimants later.

The older surviving residents of Castle Silverston recall that Thylera is much like her brutish uncle, Sir Uthar Aendyr, save that she wields powerful magic which makes her all the more dangerous.

Web of Intrigue

As a child, the only important people to Thylera are her immediate family. Prince Volospin dotes on his little princess, although—as some critics note—no more than he does a favored familiar or imp. Lady Serena is cold and aloof to her own daughter, and Thylera views this mysterious Alphatian wizardess as an archetype of what she could become when she grows up, instead of as a real person. Thylera does not love her brother Lathan Aendyr in the true sense, but she does think his extreme and often wicked spells are lots of fun. (Her favorite was when Lathan almost died, when he lost a pint of blood to summon a gremlin!) Thylera hates her stupid mundaner uncle Uthar Aendyr, but is a bit afraid of him also. He had hurt her once (a matter never mentioned even in the dark evil halls of Silverston) but Thylera knows with her father's watchful eye and her own growing power, Uthar will never dare touch her again.

Most everyone in the Blackhill court, from the lowliest servants to the grandest of courtiers, despises "The Bane of Silverston." Even visiting Alphatian nobles, such as Lord Emeth Urbaal, Count of Wylon and Lady Arbana Jerbat, Viscountess of Redstone, despise the little wench as they too have fallen prey to Thylera's embarrassing magical pranks; the former was appeased by Prince Volospin and overlooked the slight, while the latter is plotting a sinister little caper of her own once the Prince is off his guard.

What is unknown to mortals is that Thylera was an wicked soul from the Glantri's dark past, reincarnated into a mortal identity of great power and influence (at least in the future), as part of the grand scheme of the evil Immortal Hel, Patroness of Death and Reincarnation. That soul once belonged to no other than Halzunthram, the villainous Alphatian general who once attempted conquest of the Glantrian Highlands and sparked the Forty Years War. But because of the unforeseen events of the Wrath of the Immortals, this plan was foiled, upon the death of young Thylera—leaving Hel free to use Halzunthram's black soul for some other Immortal scheme…

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 4th-level mage; Str 7, Int 17, Wis 10, Dex 13, Con 9, Cha 11; AL C (D&D), CN (AD&D).

Languages: Alphatian (Blackhill dialect), Thyatian (Glantrian dialect).

Weapon Proficiencies: none.

Skills: etiquette (which she only uses in her father's presence), reading/writing.

Items: Thylera's wand of life-stealing, one of The Lost Treasures of Blackhill 

Thylera Aendyr's magical skills are quite rudimentary. She learns what she wants to learn, usually spells of direct and immediate results useful for playing tricks and pranks. One her earliest spells was magic missile and Thylera was quite fond of killing small animals for fun. When she managed to exterminate the familiars of four visiting diplomats from the Alphatian Empire, thereby incapacitating these wizards for an extended stay at Castle Silverston, Prince Volospin had to take action and erase the spell from Thylera's memory and her spellbooks; Lady Serena took it another step further and geased her daughter never to learn the spell again!

More than spells, Thylera's magic comes from her magical items and devices, which she treats as toys. Almost all of these playthings are gifts from her father, who despite the wisest advice to the contrary cannot help from assenting to Thylera's requests and sweet pleas. Of course, Thylera is not above from asking or taking these magical treasures from whomever she sees them. Thylera has three wands of lightning, a wand of paralysis, a wand of frost, a wand of fire and a vorpal dagger. She has seventeen pairs of flying Alphatian dancing slippers, and a flying broomstick, as well as a flying carpet, both of which are enchanted to with a safety feature to providing a featherfall spell on the rider should she fall off. She even has a staff of wizardry, even if she cannot wield one properly yet. And she once asked for a censer of controlling air elementals, but her mother confiscated this when Thylera almost destroyed Lady Serena's tower in a violent magical windstorm. But her most treasured possession is her wand of life-stealing, a precious gift given and crafted by her father using the rare soul magic known only to the Aendyrs of Blackhill.

"She is destined for great things, terrible perhaps, but great!"

(A prophecy from an Alphatian diviner, who was shortly revealed to be an illegal cleric and burned at the stake in Blackhill)

References: History of House Silverston 

Author: Kit Navarro