And now things from the dear sister's point of view...
I think I changed all the pronouns where they needed to be changed... I might have missed some! But I think I got them all!
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The Gem of the North.
That is the title many give the city of Silverymoon. Despite the city strongly resembling the Elven City, Myth Drannor, the majority of Silverymoon’s population was human, followed by Elves, then Half-Elves, then Dwarves, and finally Halflings and Gnomes. This mixture of races in Silverymoon made it a place where people would gather for peace and discuss matters of the world.
Another aspect for which Silverymoon was known for was its tradition of embracing magic. It had been home to many notable wizards, sorcerers and other Mages, with a very long history of Mages being the leaders of the great city.
One of Silverymoon’s most unique and well known structures is the Moonbridge, which was an invisible bridge that connected the two sections of Silverymoon; the Northbank and Southbank, spanning above River Rauvin.
This was my home.
My name is Sylfel Aldaron and I am a Moon Elf who thrived on magic until one day, everything changed.
I come from a family of four siblings, with myself, and my brother, Carmyar, whom I am the closest with. Even at a young age, I knew my brother would always be there for me. He was always stepping in for me if someone had something ill to say towards me. He possessed no fear that I could see and acted very differently than my parents. My parents, like most Elves would sit and ponder choices and the consequences of each choice for hours on end; my brother was not like that. He acted and acted quickly, which my parents frowned upon saying his behavior was “too human like.” When we were young, my brother had witness the City Guard breaking up a riot and expressed interest in joining, which my parents were against. Though the City Guard had Elves in their numbers, our parents believed that the City Guard would lead to trouble. This naturally did not stop my brother.
I was nothing like my brother, and perhaps that is why we had connected. While my brother was brash and secure in who he was; I was timid, shy, and quiet. My brother enjoyed being outside and wrestling with friends, while I would much rather read about the local history of Silverymoon, which was quite extensive. One thing that had caught my attention reading about the long history of Silverymoon was the predominate mages who were leaders and how Silverymoon was known for its Mage Schools. This naturally got me interested in learning more about magic.
My mother was proud of me; she’d once trained in Silverymoon as well, before giving up the life of being a Wizard. I was surprised that my own mother had once practiced magic since she never made any signs of displaying it and she never spoke of it. As I looked into the history of my family’s bloodline there had been an odd gap in the history books, missing nearly hundred years on my mother’s side for her bloodline. When I asked her about it, she shrugged it off and said that the documents that detailed that part of her family’s bloodline had been lost in a great fire that burned down the Library that held those documents. I felt like she might be holding something from me but I am not sure why my mother would lie to me.
With her reputation as formerly being a wizard, she got me in a school held at the Darius Mage Tower, where she had once been a student a long, long, time ago.
The teacher a female elf by the name of Hawk Windblade immediately recognized me. “You look like your mother. It’s a shame that she discontinued her learning. She had a natural ability to wield magic.”
I discovered that understanding magic came very easily to me; as it had with my mother. I would study only once and grasp what I needed to learn and quickly excelled in the class. This unfortunately drew ire from some of my fellow classmates, one of them in particular, a human named Garithal Stonemight.
Thankfully, my brother had been returning from applying with the City Guard when he happened to be walking by. Garithal had cornered me against a wall and yelling at me about how I am making everyone else look bad; abhorring violence I said nothing to him.
My brother, Carmyar, however enjoyed a good fight. He stepped between us and calmly asked, “Is there a problem here?”
“This isn’t your fight, Elf,” was Garithal’s retort.
“On the contrary,” my brother smiled, “this is very much my fight. You see, this is my sister. And if you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me.”
I watched as Garithal pull back his arm, ready to punch and saw my brother smile. My brother easily side stepped Garithal’s swing and gave a hard punch to the back of his elbow; not enough to break it but enough to make it so he would not be able to bend his elbow for weeks, if not a month a two.
I let out a gasp, hearing the bone pop loudly.
Garithal, a student wizard who couldn’t make intricate movements with his arms, was someone who wasn’t going to pass the upcoming test. My brother leaned over and said loud enough for the others who were observing to hear, “I could have sundered your elbow into a thousand pieces with that punch, had I wanted to. This is the first and only lesson I am giving you,” He shot a cold, cruel, sneering look at the others who had been observing Garithal and not stepping up to stop him, “and all of you. If one of you so much as ever threatens my sister again, I will not be so forgiving. I will not ask for confirmation as I know all of you speak Common.”
He stood and grabbed my hand and we slowly left the scene, leaving them in stunned silence.
Not surprisingly, Garithal was not at the next few classroom sessions and wisely had not reported what happened to his arm to his parents. He had brushed it off as falling down the stairs at the Darius Mage Tower and banging it against the wall.
For the final test, we were asked to cast spells – each more intricate than the last, earning more points the more difficult the spell. The moment we did not pull off the spell correctly, that’s where our points ended.
Most of the students had played it safe, keeping to lower level spells, such as Magic Missile and a few others. I could feel the magic coursing in my body. I went from Magic Missile; to Disguise Self; to Invisibility (which no one had tried), then to Fireball.
I heard Nafar Bubbletoes behind me, “She’s going for a powerful spell… we haven’t even learned that one in the class yet… what is she doing?”
That’s when something went wrong.
As I began weaving the spell for Fireball, my entire body began to burn.
It became hard to breathe. Sweat began pouring down from my forehead.
The flames; they were in my eyes… my heart… my soul…
Then there was an intense white flash and heat.
A deafening explosion.
When it was done, I stood in the center of the Darius Mage Training Hall, covered in ash and rubble all around me. I glanced around and the explosion’s center was around me.
I looked and heard several of my fellow students coughing. I heard Hawk calling out for people.
What had I done?
How had this happened?
A surge of panic filled my soul as I immediately ran up the shattered remains of the stone stairs and forcibly crawled my way out of the rubble. The entire Darius Mage Tower had come crumbling down. Crowds were gathering, people were trying to put out the fire, people were moving the rubble, screaming for survivors; I could hear the City Guard’s alarm and the descending Mages all around me casting spells to try to control the fire and begin using magic to remove the rubble.
I panicked and began running with no real idea where I was going … Where I would go. Away. Far, far away.
Then a familiar voice called out. “Sylfel! Stop!”
My brother – Carmyar! I turned, my eyes brimming with tears.
He ran up to me and hugged me, thankful I was alive. He pulled back and wiped away the ash on my face. “What happened back there?”
“I was just practicing a simple fireball spell, when suddenly my whole body felt like it was on fire,” I cried, “and I lost control.” I wept madly. “I can feel it in me… there’s so much magic… but I can’t seem to grasp it… control it… It’s surging in me like an emotional storm.”
I looked at me, pleading. “They will come for me. They will arrest me.” I pointed at the City Guard crest I wore.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I have always been there to protect you. Tonight is no different. We must get out through the front gates now, before information about what happened makes it to the City Guard. We will leave tonight and make a new life for each other.”
“What of the family,” I had started to ask.
“Stop,” he placed his finger on my lips. “It’s always been you and I. It always will be. Now come.”
In the chaos of the night, we managed to avoid the City Guard patrols, because he knew their patterns, and escaped out a secret passage near the front gate, that the City Guard would use to leave the city and attack those who would rush the front gates from behind.
Tonight, our lives would be changed forever.
But one thing will never change. My brother will always be here for me.
Originally Posted by Tawmis
And now things from the dear sister's point of view...
Re: Need a character background written up?
Wow!! Sorry it has taken me so long to respond, life got really busy this week. I love the ambition written into Sylfel's personality. It's awesome! And the connection with her brother like his was dead on with their connection.
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