Aloria ap Ravar

[Lambert]

I have loved greatly, suffered greatly, persevered when others would have gone mad, and forgiven when I could have hated. Before slander, accusation, and judgement of my peers I stayed silent. Instead of demanding what should have been mine, I surrendered it to others who loved what I loved. As a result I wield both the light of Corellon in my heart and the power of the Shadows in my mind. With my body and will I use them for the good of my people and the detriment of their enemies. I am a daughter of the ap Ravar clan of wood elves. I was the first counselor of Doron Amar.

Aloria in the early days when she brought the elves of Baldur's gate together with Elrithmithrade Tir'Draluin

Full name: Aloria ap Ravar
Age: 145
Race: Wood elf
Sex: female
Date of birth: 145 years prior to current date
Place of birth: Forest of Lethyr
Alignment: Choatic good
Patron deity: Corellon
Profession: Scout, guardian, warrior, ranger, local leader of elves, guide, tracker, counselor, herbalist, friend of Corellon and Solonor, war band leader, hunter, tomb raider, burglar of treasures of hostile creatures, healer, master of shadows, heroic champion of Corellon, favored of Corellon, defender of the faith of the Seldarine, known elite veteran drow hunter and slayer, mage killer, rogue stalker, devil slayer, solitary nomad forest dweller and keeper of the forests, tender of the forest creatures, caretaker of the panther Orlpar, and master of the shadows.
Classes: Originally a ranger of Solonor and rogue, she is now a ranger fighter and champion of Corellon with the ability to hide in plain sight due to levels in shadow dancing.
Primary language: elven, with a wood elf dialect.

Secondary languages: undercommon, gnome, animal, and damaran.

Physical description: Back hair, golden eyes, fierce determined look, steady.

Psychological description: Originally an idealistic ranger of Solonor who believed love could conquor all, heal all, unite all, and that all elves were to be generally trusted to care for their own people, she extended love and support to all elves. This weakness allowed her to be seduced by a clever male drow who used her weaknesses against her and perhaps made her vulnerable to betrayal by many elves. After being a slave to a male drow wizard in the underdark living just outside of Sshamath, for a decade, where she was abused and tortured, she learned to understand the depths of depravity of the drow in a very personal way. While learning this she also contemplated the past betrayals of her own people over the years. While a servant she visited Sshamath on brief excursions but her master, kept her identity and face hidden most times, cloaked in magic and clothing as owning her gave him a particular joy. Aloria learned a great deal about drow society.

Rather then give into madness by the betrayals or abuse, she struggled on, and became more resolute and focused then before. However, now she doesn't have time for people who toy with evil or the near occasion of evil. She see's evil as not just selfish behavior and deciet, but laziness, envy, and murderous intent. Having seen in the underdark the evil of Lolth and Lolthian society she understands all too well the depths to which a soul can fall. Make no mistake. Aloria is a veteran of many battles, duels, wars, political intrigues, betrayals, back biters, and troubled individuals. She doesn't waist time with undisciplined or mentally malformed people. While she doesn't have the full blown PTSD you might see in some veteran warriors, she does have that no nonsense brevity that doesn't waist time with "sh** birds" that you will find in many US combat veteran servicemen. Also, as always, she believes strongly in the highest ideals of family, marriage, and the importance of raising good children. She see's the family as the cornerstone of a strong and healthy society and worth dying and killing for.

Aloria is at her heart a lover and nurturing person. But she has the discipline of a skilled and experienced warrior of many battles and wars. She led the elves of Doron Amar to victory in the first orc war. While loving her extended elven family was natural at first it became a duty when politics was thrust upon her as she become accepted as the central leader of Doron Amar in the early days. Some of the elves of Doron Amar had wanted to crown her a "coronal" but Aloria did not seek such honors, and felt it would detract from the familial nature of equality of council positions. She has known betrayal in many forms from those closest to her, some out of weakness and others out of dark purpose, but rather then let her become deflated or undone by it, it only strengthened her resolve to be the better person, more noble leader, while acknowledging her faults and mistakes, and carry on to serve others. She found she could have listened longer and helped those who courted darkness to see other avenues with more insistence. Aloria is also very good at sensing the good and evil in others, and has little tolerance for those who willfully are wanting in character. This is a sense born out of many years of experience with many different peoples and individuals as well as backgrounds. By many, I mean thousands upon thousands, most of whom were warriors of various rank, skill, and purpose.

Surprisingly after all she has been through there is still a look of understanding and kindness in her face. She is unassuming and humble in nature. She understands well her limitations and the limitations of others nature and hearts.

Bah'hal the drow bard seduces Aloria, but is in turn seduced by her sincerity and simplicity

Now the shadow of Bal'hal is a curse of having known Bal'hal, who was a powerful and real drow bard (played by DM wildelf). He was a drow who became enamored by Aloria. They spent a great deal of time together. It was somewhat clear that for Bal'hal Aloria was a challenge and a possible something of interest. An innocent creature unspoiled by the harshness of the underdark and naive enough to consider his ploys of interest as genuine affection. However, Bal'hal did assist Aloria, in contravention to his own pacts and interests, in slaying a vampire coven he was a part of. He chose her life over their's, with no obvious benefit to himself that Aloria was awaire of. He did become a vampire but in an attempt to reverse this recent transformation, Aloria destroyed the vampire coven that Bal'hal was a part of, and begged Solonor and the Seldarine to change Bal'hals heart and nature. Something happened later were the essence of Aloria, in an attempt to convert Bal'hal to good, was intermingled with his own. Whether this was an answer as well as a judgement of the Seldarine, perhaps a painful lesson or reminder, punishment, or a necessary action, is uknown to Aloria. This happened a decade ago. Aloria has wondered if this intermingling is a way for Bal'hal to return to the land of the living, which may have already happened as a re-incarnation into a wood elf male, or this is the remnants of evil she must contain and hold back from the realms, is unkown to her. Perhaps there is another reason. A soul tie. A wood elf claiming to be Bal'hahl did appear to her and neither that wood elf nor Bal'hal was ever seen of again. I am playing it that when Aloria gave her essence to the Seldarine to fuel the translation of the vampire Bal'hal back to a non-vampire, she sacrificed several points of her wisdom for it to be done. This is the same reason why she could no longer hear Solonor as her wisdom was too low to receive the ranger spells. (These are actual DM ingame events the DM wildelf and I roleplayed).

In his hay day Bal'hal commanded a powerful cohort in the underdark led by his halbred leader general Glaive. When Aloria was hungry for treasure she endeavored to search for the treasures of Bal'hal to use them for good, but this adventure was cut short, as Aloria was captured by slavers and brought to the underdark.

Psychologically, Aloria is in touch with her "shadow self", and she owns the evil she is capable of and has done in the past, wheather by ignorance or willful desire, but she controls it with stoicism, and uses it for good by using it to defend others. This evil takes the form of violence against those who harm or threaten her people. The shadow of Bal'hal is a representation of an echo of her past mistakes, as well as a possibly real entity or individual, but is not the real Bal'hal.

Aloria believes that the shadow of Bal'hal is a shadow being contained by Aloria, so the reincarnated Bal'hal, now a re-incarnated elf, may live in peace on the surface, untouched by the evil of it's former self. Bal'hal did many evil things, unkown to Aloria, and this great collection of evil deeds carries a price of justice upon him. A price Aloria may have taken on her own shoulders due to her filial and loving nature. Aloria realizes the peculiarities of opinions and judgements of others, how they judge quickly in order to satisfy their own selfishness and pride, and keeps these dark things a secret. She does this not out of fear of rejection, but out of a need to protect her people, yet again, from perhaps themselves. Few can take responsibility for their own evil, let alone the darkness of others. It is best not to throw difficult concepts to minds and hearts not capable of understanding lest they miss the opportunity of seeing things as they truly are. Perhaps she is now protecting Bal'hal from himself by keeping his shadow away from his re-incarnated elven form. What in fact she may be doing is keeping a bay a being seeking knowledge of Bal'hal's fate, to bring him back, or to learn something from him that will lead to his treasures or other glories or dark memories of hidden things long forgotten in the underdark.

If one weighs in the balance all the good Aloria has done vs the evil, one must only look upon Doron Amar, and see, what a mother sacrifices and gives birth to. Even against many odds, privations, tortures, mistakes, betrayals, disappointments, misunderstandings, and harsh judgements Aloria's goal of creating a united elven familial community has succeeded. Aloria believes that no one knows what truly happened to Bal'hal. Aloria believes she recalls that Bal'hal came to her in his new form, but she is uncertain if this was a dream, vision, or real. If it was real, was it truly what she saw, or was she shown an image of what she had hoped for? She could not confirm it because Bal'hal was never seen of or heard from since (Only DM wildelf knows).

All Aloria knows of herself is that she is one of those who stands at the gate. Who stands at the frontlines between her people and the darkness. She knows the darkness well in its many forms. She can even wield it and bend it to her own will for brief intervals in a supernatural way. It is a darkness rendered or permitted by the moonlight to exist in some places.

Religious views: originally a ranger of Solonor, she now follows Corellon singularly. While not a divine spell caster she epsouses the faith of Corellon by defending her people. The symbol of Corellon, the crescent moon, is espoused in Aloria by her feirce determination to fight within the darkness of the night, while not losing onself to it.

Ancestor: Comes from the wood elf Ravar clan in the Lethyr forests. No known ancestors of note.

Biography

Family: She has a brother who visited the Gate long ago.

History: Always a skilled fighter wielding two weapons, she renounced the way of Ranger partially, to take on the path of a champion of Corellon later in her martial career. Surviving in the underdark for a decade as a slave to the mage Vornerrin (character I RCR'd to make Aloria so this was just a convient plot line for Vornerrin's dissapearance and Aloria's re-apperance - but all other events in her history actually occured in game years ago), as well as a year in the underwilds, while being taunted by the Shadow of Bal'hal (Aloria's own shadow brought to life by a mixture of the essence of Aloria and Balh'hal - Soul tie), Aloria learned to dance within the shadows in the underdark and later became one with them. This allowed her to survive in the underdark. As a former ranger she already had some knowledge of this ability, but the caverns of the underdark and the shadow of Bal'hal that hunted her, taught her the rest. Aloria is a wood elf who lived in the gate over 11 years ago. She was the first elf in the server to call for unity and formed the first council of elves in the region, that later would become the council of Doron Amar. She created the Mathora and led them in the first orc war defending Doron Amar. She also named Doron Amar after her created name was voted by all the elves at the time as the best choice for a name of the village. CLosing the end of the days of the first council of Doron Amar, her friends were planning on making her the coronal of Doron Amar. Aloria's contributions included not just forming the first elven council and leading it as the first counselor, a task filled with political sparring (as you can see in her journal a little), as well as organizational activities over months to a years, but was also trying to make sure the council survived. The second council was a poor attempt at a replacement when the first council members departed west or betrayed Doron Amar, but with the help of Dajala Silverleaf, whom Aloria chose as her successor, she left Doron Amar in the hands of Dajala and the third council. Aloria suffered a great deal of malice, slander, a mixture of fear and hatred by the Flaiming Fist and by some elves, who blaimed her for some of the difficulties that confronted Doron Amar in the early days. Wythran Tall blaimed Aloria for the first Orc War, telling others that she was responsible for causing it by attacking the orcs. Some whispered to the ears of the Dukes of Baldur's Gate that Aloria was a threat, leading to Sir Dallenthal Wyndsoul threaten her with death if she harmed the Gate or the Flaiming Fist. Nothing was further from the truth. Aloria always simply took people for face value and treated them by their actions, not their powerful contacts, or their political strength. A common feature of wood elf triablistic society where personal honor is placed at a very high position. Eventually Aloria was close to death on the Cloud Peak Mountains, her swords were taken, and later her body revived and she was taken to the underdark and taken as a spell dominated servitor to a powerful mage of Sshamath for a decade. This male drow saw her as a toy and a source of amusement, and abused her to break her down, and demeaned her, taking out his resentments at being treated poorly by female drow and displacing his pain onto Aloria. Although abused, Aloria tried to serve him well and show kindness, but after ten years of service he still would not allow her to gain her freedom, so she killed him when his magic that dominated her grew weak. Fleeing into the underdark she hid and tried to survive there for a year, until finally emerging onto the surface, with the powers of a master of shadows, as well as a strong unshakable faith in Corellon, that lit her way to the surface. In the last few months Aloria has been getting to know the recent elves of Doron Amar and making new friends. Happiness has found it's way back into her life and she is prospering. Seeing Doron Amar not just survive all these years, but become more beautiful then ever, is a gift to her, one she is very greateful for, especially to Vanira and Feleron, who are the current leaders protecting and guiding the village.

Future: to serve her people at Doron Amar. Always the servant seeking to help in any way needed. She wants to enjoy companionship and bring the mystery and wonder of Corellon to the realms. As Corellon believed in changing the hearts of evil to good, so too she, attempted to convert Bal'hal, and would have tried to convert Galen had she been given the chance. As to why some seem lost and others not is not so obvious though. Aloria would also be willing to bring war to the drow, and would consider forming a small group of hunters for this purpose. But those are speculative thoughts of hers, and her main future is simply to enjoy friendship and her extended family at Doron Amar. Healing will take time, and is progressing well for her thus far, in particular thanks to the friendship and guidance of Alsiaris and Naer'eanque.

Heirloom item: neat rapier, a prized rapier blessed by Corellon. Rapier with assistance with hiding in shadows, spotting, and moving silently as well as bonus dam (divine) and a on hit effect (holy weapon activation maybe? don't know) with a good DC and of a good material, maybe admantium? Maybe it provides immunity to knockdown? A green leaf thistledown armor AC1 dex mod 10 with +4 AC and +4 hide, spot, survival, and move silently ability with bonus to universal saves or spell resistance, and either a mass heal spell like the warpriest ability or death ward spell once or twice a day. Something made for her, possibly for helping to unite the elves in the Gate and getting the elven rp started there. Thirdly, maybe an epic crown of mithril greenleaf and gold that gives +4 wisdom, +4 deflection, +4 spot, +4 hide, +4 move silently, and summons a protector being of Doron Amar once per day.

Plot hooks: if DM Wildelf comes back he could bring Bal'hal back again! The shadow of Bal'hal is likely not even Bal'hal, but one of his powerful minions seeking knowledge of his whereabouts, perhaps a demon, or his twin brother. Maybe Aloria had some half drow kiddos with the mage in the UD? Maybe the Charnag Maelthra suvivors want pay back (I used to kill the Charnag Maelthra all the time - they never got me heh). Plots with Shadow Druids, who have long memories, and who while likely cannot harm Doron Amar, might try to strike at one of its founding members. Aloria would be totally fine with hunting down any drow or drow activity. Hmmm.. Wonder why. Also, Aloria has a particularly bad name amongst the Orcs, having killed quite a few of them. In fact Wythran blaimed her for one of the orc invasions against Doron Amar. Might not have been a fair accusation as many elves were known to hunt orcs, but it is true that Aloria hunted more then her fair share. I think we could say that when Aloria sacrificed some of her essence to change Bal'hal, she lost several wisdom points, which is why Solonor stopped speaking to her, or she stopped being able to hear Solonor. It was Corellon, whose champions do not require as much wisdom, who reached her heart and was moved by her sacrifice to change Bal'hal to good. Perhaps Corellon wonders of Lolth could do the same, and repent of her treachery and adultery to him. A deeper relationship between Corellon and Aloria would be fun and intresting. I loved having appearances by the elven pantheon in other NWN2 servers to my toons such as in the NWN1 world Vives. Lastly, Aloria would be up for seeking the lost treasure of Bal'hal in the underdark and is actually attempting to gain access to Candlekeep to learn more about him and see where he may have left his treasure. Aloria would be interested in forming a drow hunting group, though secretive. Another plot hook is finding out who was the person that healed her or brought her back to life on the Cloudpeak mountains. That is unkown to Aloria (I made up the story). Another plot hook is the connection between the merchant Moonshadow in the Doron Amar tileset and Aloria. Aloria was attracted to the last name of Moonshadow because Aloria follows Corellon and moves with the shadows (Corellon's holy symbol is the Moon and Aloria can hips). While I made up the friendship, it can be developed by a DM possessing the merchant. Aloria and her formed a friendship after a few conversations by her campfire. Also, Aloria has kept the head of the vampire Lady Devossoss in her inventory, as a reminder of the foul coven (DM wilelf event). She also keeps a lock of the Sarah's hair, the ghost from the fields of the dead, from the event of another DM (the elven nobleman ) that awarded her magical mithril chain shirt over a decade ago. Not sure how either is important or a plot hook, but I kept the event souvenirs as they were created by those DMs. There are a large number of toons Aloria interacted with in the history of Doron Amar and any of those old characters or their siblings, could be potential plot hooks. Also, Aloria just heard the story of Selegil, a former member of Doron Amar's council, who later become a Lord of the Darkhold. Not sure what connection that would have with Aloria, but it is something that does leave a bad taiste in her mouth.

(SECRET PLOT HOOK UNKOWN TO ALORIA: The shadow of Bal'hal is actually his twin brother, who fasilitated the capture of Aloria to break down her mind and find out what happened to his brother. Not being successful he followed her for a year in the underdark trying to get the information through other means and dark magic, but Aloria was too skilled at hiding and her tormented mind was too chaotic for him to dream sift her memories while she slept. Lastly, he follows her to the surface to track her steps and see if she somehow leads him to Bal'hal. Why his brother wants this information is unknown and up to the DMs.) The Charnage Maelthra may be investigated Vornerring death and somehow discover that Aloria, a former criminal who killed many of its members (yeah I killed all the Charnag Maelthra guild members, Izz'orgoll a few times, and never lost once), is responsible. Aloria also is an enemy of the Shadow Druids, one that foiled their attempts at stopping Doron Amar from being built and with the help of Myhun Kren, exposued Mauglir aka The Dark One aka Faerynn Adarell. Also, Aloria had a falling out with Wyhtran Tal that she wants to repair if possible. They have unfinished business in this regard. Also, Aloria helped the Ghost of Sarah in the fields of the Dead (DM Broham solot event) and has a conncetion with this former ranger of good whose soul she set to rest. She also slaughter a vampire Coven at Berghost (DM Wildelf solo event) and has the head of Lady De'vosos still. Aloria had many interactions with DM wild elf in solo encounters between Aloria and Bah'hal. It is was a very moving story line of Aloria trying to convert Bah'hal to good and the Seldarine and free him from his vampirism. It ended with General Glaive capture and killing Aloria, Aloria getting rescued and brought back to life by the Mathora, and Bah'hal being re-incarnated into a wood elf and then disdsapearing (actual events DMd by DM wildelf). In a general way Aloria would be selflessly involved in investigating and taking action to protect any current citizen of Doron Amar, in particular council members, particularly Vanira (affection for and respect), Feleron (respect), Alsiaias (deep respect and affection), and Naer'eanque (deep affection and curiosity). Aloria see's herself as a kind of mother or grandmother of Doron Amar as well as the Mathora. She wants to help Lylan make the Mathora as strong as possible while not stepping on her toes. Aloria is a treasure hunting fiend, and even a casual observer will not she loves treasure and martial challenge.

Aloria returns after many years, betrayals, and enslavement. More seasoned and less naive.