Yuan Altaya

Altaya was the name of the exarch of Avandra who guarded the Feywild. She was once the arch-sorceress Kithanya Maruk, one of the Blue Timeline's Sovereign Seven and progenitor of the Millennial Spell.

Altaya was a player character played by Kelsee Herrick.

Description

Altaya was a wood elf with a moderate build and sharp features. She had fair skin, bright green eyes, and brown hair. By the time of her appointment to Feywild exarch, she was only 19 years old, and would remain so in appearance for her entire existence.

Personality

Unlike her counterpart Kithanya Maruk, Altaya was known to wear a knowing smile and had a wry sense of humor. She particularly delighted in small riddles and turns of phrase. Like Kithanya Maruk, however, Altaya was thirsty for knowledge and enjoyed wielding her magic.

Possessions and Artifacts

When she was an adventurer, Altaya was known to wear an elven battle cloak common among the wizarding elite of Strongwater. Altaya's spellcasting focus was a crystal orb, and was sought out by many wizards and scholars in the Light Age. Among her most treasured possessions was an enchanted box of toy soldiers which, upon her command, would act independently to carry out her orders.

Relationships

Altaya was a member of an adventuring group during the Blue Timeline. That group consisted of Kyndle Sunhand, Li Drielle, Ridley Price, Chaka Unas, and Renaie Elensar-Brewer. Together, they defeated Zijil the Prime and effectively ended the Sovereign Seven's Blue Timeline.

She was also a member of the royal court of Strongwater, but being the youngest adopted member of a family of 15, she was never considered for a high rank or title in the elven nation.

History

Altaya's history was a complicated one. She first existed as Kithanya Maruk, born c. 400 BME, in the Median Timeline. Sometime around 322 BME, the wizard Maruk found the Gnomon Grimoire, a treatise on chronomancy written by Alastaire Breowan several centuries in her future. She began experimenting with the spellbook, and recruited several others to join her in an attempt to acquire all magic.

Maruk and her compatriots used the knowledge written in the Gnomon Grimoire to craft the Millennial Spell, and cast it in 305 BME. After a thousand years of hibernation, during which the Sovereign Seven siphoned the magical energies of the planet, Maruk and the others awoke. They declared themselves the all-powerful rulers of Echelon, obliterating entire kingdoms and forcing the world to bow to their will.

One of Maruk's first acts of extravagant vanity was to assume the form of a 22-year-old elven maiden, which proved to be part of her undoing. After the godlike Seven took control of Echelon, territories were carved out. Infighting amongst the Seven began almost immediately.

Kithanya Maruk, jealous of her compatriot Zijil co-opting her assembly of wizards, used the Gnomon Grimoire in an attempt to return to a time 20 years prior to the awakening of the Sovereign Seven. However, in doing so, she was chronologically retroactivated to a child of 2 years old. Maruk's memories were almost completely stripped away; thus, Altaya was "born".

In this new timeline, later called Altaya's Loop, the king of Strongwater Yuan Tan found the child and raised her as an adopted daughter. In doing so, with a new set of values and experiences, Altaya became a different person than her previous incarnation as Kithanya Maruk. Furthermore, her appearance in the world prior to the release of magic back into it caused a paradox; the Millennial Spell was still in effect, but one of the original casters of the Spell was then "awake" prior to the absorption of the arcane energies of the world. This event took power away from the Sovereign Seven when they awoke, and their access to the Weave was not unlimited as it was in the Blue Timeline. History was changed irrevocably, and eventually, the Sovereign Seven were defeated by Altaya and her group of friends.

Promotion to Exarch

After the destruction of Zijil the Prime and the ending of Altaya's Loop, the young wizard found herself on a color-imbued coast. The visage of a woman appeared, wearing blurred clothing and with features like hand-drawn ink. She revealed herself to be an avatar of the goddess Avandra. The goddess explained briefly that a "lost time strand" such as Altaya could not exist on the Material Plane.

However, the goddess of time had taken pity on Altaya and transported her to the protection of the Feywild. She told Altaya that there was much more to see, and began to walk away down the beach, with Altaya feeling compelled to follow.

"You're not supposed to be here, you know." -Exarch Altaya of the Feywild

After the Melding of the Timelines, Altaya became a powerful presence in the Feywild. She protected lost travelers, often with a wry but sad smile. In exchange for nothing, or sometimes a story from the Material Plane if time permitted, she would guide those who became trapped in the Feywild.

Metagame Trivia

• Altaya was Kelsee's first ever D&D character.
• Garth got the idea for Altaya's eventual fate from the end of a campaign run for him, in which his character ascended to the heavens, felt the presence of a god, and "felt compelled to follow".