Aelthian

Aelthian

(Person)

Titles

Archmage

Ancestry/Species

Elf

Class

Wizard

Gender

Male

Homeland

Arabrecht, Kyonin

Deity

Yuelral

Died

2988 AR

Source: A Memory of Darkness, pg(s). 49 (1E)
A Voice in the Blight, pg(s). 5–6, 26–27 (2E)

The Archmage Aelthian was one of the greatest elven wizards who ever existed. He vanished in 2988 AR while attempting to banish the nascent demon lord Treerazer and all of his minions from Kyonin.

History

During the Age of Legend, the Archmage Aelthian lived in Arabrecht, a handsome manor home located in the southern Fierani Forest of Kyonin. When the elven government of that land ordered the mass evacuation of all of Golarion's elves through the Sovyrian Stone in order to avoid the doom of Earthfall, Aelthian ignored their pleas, trusting in his own magical wards to protect him. His confidence seems to have been justified, as Aelthian survived the cataclysm and continued his magical research for thousands of years thereafter, eventually even unlocking the secret of immortality.

Fight against Treerazer

After the elves returned from their refuge in Sovyrian in 2632 AR, they found much of their country under Treerazer's sway. As with Earthfall, Arabrecht survived Treerazer's assault and Tanglebriar's spread with Aelthian slumbering within a personal demiplane, as he had through much of the Age of Darkness. Treerazer's presence prevented him from learning of the elves' return, and the wizard feared leaving his manor unprotected, so he remained sequestered within as the war raged beyond his knowledge.

After centuries of the elves' war against the fiend, the Calistrian witch Silisifex pleaded with Aelthian in 2988 AR for assistance. Silisifex brought news of the outside world that Aelthian lacked, and the Archmage—already annoyed at the fiend's audacity and having spent the decades studying him, Tanglebriar, and the Witchbole—agreed to help. He transformed Arabrecht's wards into weapons and crafted a spell of incredible power that would banish Treerazer and all of his minions at once.

Although many demons perished as the spell's energies were released, and Treerazer himself was deeply weakened, something went terribly wrong. Treerazer survived the attempt, and elves who attempted to contact Aelthian received no reply.

When they traveled to Arabrecht, all the elves found there was a grassy, concave clearing carved into the ground with no sign of the manor or the archmage. Floating above the center of the crater was a single anthracite ball that seemed to pull everything towards it. A low, whistling wind blew constantly inward toward the ball from all sides, as if the sphere were drawing in all matter towards it.

Legacy

The site of Arabrecht became known as Dimcrater, and as of 4709 AR, little new information had been discovered about Arabrecht or the missing archmage in the last 3,000 years. Anyone who attempted to approach the site was never heard from again.

However, Aelthian's attempt weakened Treerazer enough for the elves of Kyonin to turn the tide in their war against the demon lord. From 2989 AR to 3041 AR, they had reclaimed much of Tanglebriar and left Treerazer with a small, but stable, realm in the nation's southern reaches.

Fate

This page contains spoilers for the following products: major plot points of A Voice in the Blight.
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Unbeknownst to the Universe's inhabitants, Aelthian's backfiring spell had not only destroyed Arabrecht and killed the wizard, but it had also ripped a planar tear in reality to the Void, in the opposite metaphysical direction as the Outer Rifts to which Aelthian had intended to banish Treerazer.

Treerazer was able to capture Aelthian's soul and bind it to his weapon Blackaxe to torment him, but even in death Aelthian was powerful enough to instead incessantly mock Treerazer. Facing the elves' retaliation in the Universe, Treerazer removed the distraction of Aelthian's soul from Blackaxe and bound him to a prison in the Void known as the Amaranthine Oubliette, located on Fallen Duromak.