Norelia Erewan
Aunt of Princess Carlotina Erewan of Erewan
Oracle of Clan Ellerovyn
Cryptomancer of the Fourth Circle
AC 1016
"Even from the simplest and most mundane, we can learn a bit of knowledge. And from this knowledge, we must glean insight and wisdom."
Appearance
Norelia Erewan is a serious-looking elven woman. Her face is pointed, with a sharp tapering nose, and green eyes slightly squinted as if in close examination, and she has a habit of sticking her neck forward like a bird, giving he an expression of stern scrutiny. Only recently has she learned to relax her face, making her features more delicate and less bird-like.
Norelia always wears formal conservative dresses with the traditional Erewan designs in gold and green. She never seems to dress casually, and always appears uppity and formal.
Background
Norelia Erewan was born the daughter of Aduerin and Qenila Erewan of Clan Ellerovyn in AC 711. She learned to speak, read and write at a very early age, and she cast her first spell not soon after. With this remarkable display of intelligence, Norelia was chosen to be the future Clan Oracle of the Erewan elves, and she immediately began rigorous training of the prestigious path.
Then in AC 812, her younger sister Bethys Erewan was born, and her life was changed.
Norelia was intensely engaged in her education, when Bethys began demonstrating her extraordinary talents of prophecy and prediction. It became agreed within the Clan that Bethys would probably make the better Oracle, and should have been the one chosen. Although no one ever told Norelia directly, she was already able to cast her own divinations to know just what everyone was thinking or saying behind her back.
To resolve this dilemma, the Clan Oracle at the time, Lady Ethena Erewan declared that Bethys too shall be trained, and the two sisters shall both serve as Clan Oracles. And though this wise decision spared all parties a lot of grief, it did little to diminish Norelia's insecurity for her younger sister.
Norelia devoted herself deeper into her studies, trying to amass vast amounts of knowledge and information possible. And when she realized that mortal omniscience was not possible even for an elven lifetime, she decided to master the skills of acquiring such knowledge by all means magical and mundane.
In the meantime, her younger sister Bethys was whiling away her time in activities that Norelia considered to be a wasteful and useless. Bethys spent some years studying at the newly established Great School of Magic (very unorthodox from the traditional Erewan point of view!), and then spent another few decades or so adventuring throughout the Highlands and beyond. In her heart, Norelia appreciated Bethys' absence as it gave her time to master her craft.
In AC 896, with the passing of Lady Ethena, Norelia was inducted as the sole Clan Oracle of Erewan. By the time Bethys returned to Erewan in AC 930 to join her sister in the position, Norelia had served wisely and efficiently as Clan Oracle for several decades.
The next years serving with Bethys had its difficulties because of the two sisters' divergent attitudes and approaches to their vocation. But eventually, Norelia and Bethys matured, appreciating each other's strengths and complementing for each other's shortcomings.
The fame of the two Clan Oracles of Erewan spread all over Glantri and beyond, and many beings from all over the Known World journeyed to Erewan to seek enlightenment from them. And as prescribed in elven tradition, Norelia demanded payment from these patrons, in the form of planting of ten trees where none have grown before, to enrich the forests that the Erewan elves love so much. These trees were planted and cultivated until they are twice the height of the planter. If someone does not take care of these trees—and Clan Oracles do have ways to find out!—Norelia does not hesitate to lay a curse on the negligent customer.
But for all the good Norelia and Bethys served as Clan Oracles, the Erewan elves could not evade the tragedies that awaited them. At the Wrath of Immortal War, when Alfheim fell to the shadow elves and the humanoids walked the lands of Glantri itself, Clan Ellerovyn faced its darkest times and the elves had to retreat to the seclusion of their forest homes. Norelia decided to stop providing oracles for anyone but the elves of Erewan, until the times improve (although she knows Bethys would still sometimes let some tidbits of information leak out to certain non-elves).
Personality & Quirks
Norelia has seriously devoted herself to being the Clan Oracle of Erewan, and her vocation has come to define her life. Norelia is strict in following the traditions, especially when it concerns the duties of the Clan Oracle. The fact that her gifted sister Bethys has been so capricious and haphazard—and yet ultimately superior to her—has caused her much frustration. But over the past decades, Norelia has mellowed and learned to appreciate her sister's ways.
Norelia's ultimate driving force in her life is the pursuit of knowledge and information. She has developed rigid and well-ordered methods of divination, research, and acquisition of every iota of data and trivia possible. If she does not know, she knows how to find out.
But for all her accumulated knowledge and vast intelligence, Norelia can still be—and often is—accused of lack of vision. She may know facts, but she does not know their veracity or their significance. She is also easily be blindsided by chaotic elements, such as lies, half-truths, fallacies—or sometimes, the truth itself!
Still with her flighty sister Bethys, Norelia has come to accept that sometimes knowledge is not real, facts are not true, and knowing is not everything.
Web of Intrigue
Norelia hardly leaves Ellerovyn nor does she involve herself in matters outside Erewan. Nevertheless, the intrigues within Clan Ellerovyn have been troublesome enough.
Since childhood, Norelia had an uneasy alliance with her sister Bethys. On one hand, Norelia was insecure of her sister's gifts. On the other, Norelia felt frustrated at Bethys' seemingly irresponsible ways and putting her gifts to waste. Recently, Norelia has come to respect Bethys and her uncanny serendipitous wisdom. The two now work cooperatively and successfully as the Clan Oracles—just in the time of Erewan's greatest needs.
Princess Carlotina Erewan, ruler of Clan Ellerovyn, has little faith in her aunt Norelia (and Bethys) as Clan Oracle and refuses to take their prophecies seriously. This is because Norelia never gave Carlotina any warning of the death of her husband, Prince Celedrin—a deep grievance which Carlotina has never forgiven. Norelia know that if ever there was dire need of an divination to be revealed and acted on, she should through her elder sister, the Clan Treekeeper, Lady Eleesea Erewan, who then advises Princess Carlotina accordingly.
One member of the clan who Norelia distrusts and dislikes is Esmeralda Erewan. Doña Esmeralda, who comes from the rival Clan Alhambra, has never fit in with the nature-loving Erewan elves—nor has she made an effort. In fact—and Norelia has proof of this!—Esmeralda often plays her incorrigible games and makes it difficult for them to get along. Norelia suspects that besides this, Esmeralda is spying on Clan Ellerovyn for Princess Carnelia de Belcadiz. This Norelia has not yet proven, but she may soon set a trap for Esmeralda and expose her malicious intentions.
Style of Magic & Combat
Statistics: 9th-level elf (D&D), 9th-level elven diviner (AD&D), Cryptomancer of the 4th Circle; Str 9, Dex 10, Con 9, Int 18, Wis 17, Cha 10; AL N (formerly LN, D&D, AD&D).
Languages: Elvish (Erewan, Alfheim, and Belcadizan dialects), Sylaire, Alphatian (Blackhill dialect), Flaemish, Thyatian (Glantrian dialect). Besides these 5 languages, which she can speak, read and write, Norelia also knows how to read in Traladaran (Boldavian dialect), Ethengarian (Krondaharan dialect), and Fenswick. Norelia is also quite familiar with the archaic forms of these languages.
Weapon Proficiencies: none.
Skills: ancient history (Glantrian, Erewan, +2), astrology, etiquette, meditation, reading/writing, spellcraft.
Norelia is an expert in the acquisition of all forms of knowledge, through all means magical and mundane. Her normal methods of information gathering—which includes a vast library in Ellerovyn and an elite cabal of scholar-researches loyal to the Clan Oracle—is remarkable enough. Coupled with the magical legacy of the Clan Oracle of Erewan, Norelia can learn just about anything possible to learn in this mortal existence, past or present.
The magic Norelia inherited from the previous Clan Oracle includes a priceless collection of powerful spells and magical devices for divination. Norelia knows every common divination spell known to the elves and the Glantrians, even those beyond her ability of casting. Besides these, Norelia has access to other spells that aid in the obtainment of knowledge and information, such as ESP, copy, tongues, sorcerous transcription, and swiftly devour the written word.
Norelia has risen to the highest circle of the Secret Craft of Cryptomancy, short of High Mastery, and her rank is well deserved. With her centuries of research and divinations, she has collected an unbelievably extensive collection of glyphs and runes, even more than the High Mistress of Cryptomancy herself! These are compiled in an extraordinary tome, Norelia's Cryptic Catalogue of Glyphs and Runes.
Norelia is not a combatant. In any case, she hardly leaves the security of Ellerovyn, so it is likely she will every be involved in battle. Her position as Clan Oracle ensures she is well guarded at all times.
"I would go to her, if I wanted to know how the secret voting at Parliament went, or how many wizards died in the last war, or even what color undergarments Alexander Glantri was wearing when he died two hundred years ago. But if I wanted to know the truth, I would go to her frivolous little sister."
(Doña Esmeralda Erewan)
References:
Author: Kit Navarro