Kerillian’s been a bit stranger than usual (these things being relative). Fortunately, Franz Lohner’s pieced together part of the puzzle. Might be he has more questions than answers, but we’ll see what happens.
Rebirth & Regret - Kerillian
So our elf’s not quite what we’ve come to expect from her, is she? In fact, I’m not entirely convinced she’s entirely an elf any longer. Fun times, eh? Just when you think you’ve got someone figured out they have some kind of transformative life experience. Selfish, is what it is.
… Don’t you dare repeat that to her, Kruber. I’ve got enough problems right now as it is …
So yeah, I thought we’d better have a little chat and straighten out what’s going on. Can’t guarantee accuracy, but between me, Olesya and Sienna, we’ve got most of the bases covered.
I’m not sure when all this began, not exactly, but Kerillian’s been in a strange mood for a while. First obvious sign was back during the Night of Masks - not that I’d expect any of you lot to remember, given what you was drinking until the small wee hours. Mirrored masks, crows and horrible spirits rattling the windows of the keep. Took some time for the mental cogs to start biting, but it did finally start to add up. Seems Kerillian’s faith in Lileath has taken the odd knock of late, and she’s been looking for guidance from elsewhere in the elven pantheon. Problem is, when you start looking for gods, they often start staring right back at you.
Then, of course, there’s the business of the Citadel of Eternity. You’ve all been a mite evasive about what you’ve seen and heard in there - and I’m not prying, believe me - but I’ve a suspicion that whatever it was Kerillian heard? Well, it kind of sealed the deal. Up and vanished shortly after that without a word, and by the time she came back? Well. You know as well as I do.
Near as I can tell, Lileath never answered our elf at the Citadel - or at least, if she did, she didn’t say anything Kerillian wanted to hear. Sent her packing back to Athel Loren looking for answers - Sienna’s vouched for part of that, even if she’s being tight-lipped about the details.
… I’m not blaming you for that, Sienna love. No one needs a bunch of homicidal asrai looking for them in connection with spilled secrets …
Looking for guidance, Kerillian rededicated herself to the Weave. Lots of wood elves do that over the course of their lives, or so I hear. Gives them a new perspective. A new purpose. Only Kerillian got more than she bargained for. She offered up her uncertainty and regret, and the forest gladly took it. However, it also scooped up a chunk of the rest of her for good measure, and gave something of itself back to fill the void.
As I said before, plenty of elves rededicate themselves to the Weave, and it ain’t unusual for them to come back more spirit than flesh as our Kerillian has done. Outsiders - what few there are who claim to know asrai secrets - say the men emerge as “Wild Riders of Kurnous”, the equerries of King Orion, and the women as “Sisters of the Thorn”, handmaidens to Queen Ariel. But there’s a whole parcel of assumptions bound up in those labels - mingling of status and vocation. Let’s face it, if Kerillian were truly a queen’s handmaid, she’d not be up here messing around with the likes of us, now would she?
There’s something more going on here, mark my words.
Maybe it wasn’t the forest who patched the holes in Kerillian’s troubled soul - or at least not the forest alone. Like I said, she’s been courting goddesses other than Lileath of late. Atharti, Lady of Desire. Morai-Heg, the crone of Fate. Isha, the Mother. Hekarti, the Mistress and Magic. And Ereth Khial the … Well, let’s just say you’ve got to be in a pretty bad way to want to draw Ereth Khial’s attention.
There’s a good mix of the generous (the Cadai) and the wicked (the Cytharai) in among that lot, but that’s nothing new for the asrai. Of all the elven nations, Olesya reckons they’re the closest branch - if you’ll forgive the pun - to what elves used to be, back in the day, balancing light and dark, and putting both to use as they see fit. Not that any of that should be news to you lot. You’ve hung about with Kerillian long enough to know that she’s a study in contrasts. Carefree and bitterly serious. Selfless and spiteful. Your best friend and your worst enemy. Well, I’ve a feeling those contrasts are about to get a lot sharper. At the very least, whatever handbook we had for dealing with our homicidal elf has just seen some hefty rewrites. At the worst, there might not be one any longer.
Now, I can’t tell you what to do, but I’ll be treading a lot more carefully around Kerillian until we know more. I suggest you do the same.
And let’s just keep this little chat between us, shall we? No sense antagonising her.