Ther'rah Alean'athem

Ther'rah Alean'athem is a Dragon Necromancer.

Biography
His origins are shrouded in mystery - his life begins with a long time ago, around roughly five centuries ago, a Wood Elven Druid finding a dragon egg while looking for a legendary relic the Horn of Le'wahn on some small islands south of Dragon's coasts. These tiny islands are uninhabited and quite far from the civilized world, so much so, that they aren't even on the map. Their secret location is only known to a few druids, and they are so dangerous, that even among the most powerful of druids, only a few dare to enter. The Horn of Le'Wahn is a legendary artifact, used by a Proto-Elven leader called "Le'Wahn" when invading Artograch. According to the legends, after Le'Wahn's death, they tried to burry him on his place of birth, but as the island disappeared, the burried him on the closest island, putting his horn into his grave, which later became a thing of legends - the horn is said to possess magical properties, and he who finds it shall personally get to meet his spirit.

Although the druid could not find the horn - or even the grave - he instead found a dragon egg, which he brought home to Dragoc. Of course, he also found many other ancient artifacts, but none of them were the Horn of Le'Wahn. He never found it. And no one else would find it, ever. Many have tried, but all have died.

One month later, the dragon hatched from its egg. The hatching green dragon was immediately given a name that roughly translates to "sky beast from noble line of dragons".



Ther'rah grew up among the druids, learning how to cast spells, shapeshift, so that he could fit in amongst the Elves and have no problems studying. Using a combination of magic and ancient technology, they gave him a permanent elven body, which - in sharp contrast to demonic shapeshifting - is not a mere illusion, but a true transformation of flesh and blood, so that he could truly be a member of Elven society.



Obviously, this also meant that his mother tongue would not be Draconic, but Wood Elven. From the druids, he also learn how to cast other kinds of magic, such as ice, fire and wind. From the age of 53, he was deemed mature enough to take part in druidic missions and get to know the forest. It was on these missions, that got to know a beautiful Elven girl named Ama'dre Von'rua, whose name roughly translates to "Charmingly beautiful girl from the family of ice-stars". Ther'rah immediately fell in love with her.



Despite the fact that Ther'rah was nominally accepted into Wood Elven society, Ama'dre's parents strictly forbade her from Ther'rah, saying that he was no true elf, and he could never be part of their society. Ther'rah believed, that this was just one intolerant family, and that other Wood Elves were tolerant - he had to be disappointed fast, as previously seemingly friendly families turned their backs on him, refusing to stand up for the defense of Ther'rah and the freedom of Ama'dre's heart. Not necessarily publicly, but in the bottom of their hearts, they supported the elders of the Von'rua family. Even the druids weren't saying too many useful things either, only that "Selenna and Goronnion work in mysterious ways".

Despite all this, the love affair between Ama'dre and Ther'rah continued in secret: when it was possible, they met in secret, meeting in their own secret hideout, where they could calmly continue their romantic relationship without any interruption from parents. This is how it went for six years, until one day, they noticed that Ama'dre's belly has grown, even though she barely ate. She must have been pregnant. They hired informants, who spied on the couple's secret activities. Two days later, her mother and father caught the couple red-handed. Ama'dre's father shot at the dragon with his bow, but the girl jumped in front of her lover, saving his life, while sacrificing her own. Ther'rah, seeing the corpse of his love, was angered to an unimaginable degree, and shifted into his draconic form, taking his dead lover's father into his mouth and biting him into multiple pieces - yet his corpse wasn't fit for his stomach, so he spit him out.



After this, Ther'rah took his lover's corpse with himself, and flew to the south, out of Dragoc's borders. He then waited for a day, secretly flew back to Dragoc, and with some of his most loyal friends, stole a book from a druid, which held the spell to conserve a corpse in perfect condition for even millenia. After completing the ritual, Ther'rah left for good, carrying Ama'dre's perfectly preserved corpse. He took on a disguise, and hid his dead lover in a piece of cloth, going to Etrand to start a new life. Not assuming a dragon form, but instead pretending to be a Wood Elf, he was looking for mercenary work, but could not find it. On the brink of starvation, he sometiems had to resort to eating even sentient beings, while defending his "special package" with his life. This is how it went for 13 long years, until the 72 year old Ther'rah met a necromancer, whose namw as Nozgoroth. They grew to trust each other, and Nozgoroth learned that Ther'rah's package was a perfectly preserved corpse, which he still carried in hopes of resurrecting her. They eventually learned more about each other's past, Ther'rah learning that Nozgoroth was no ordinary magician, but a necromancer - Nozgoroth learning that Ther'rah was no ordinary elf, but in fact a dragon and an ex-druid. The necromancer took on the dragon as his apprentice, who spent 30 years learning the craft from him, until one day, his master simply disappeared with no trace.

The 102 year old Ther'rah then began to transform. He first changed from his Elven form into his Dragon form without consent from his consciousness. Then he began to shed his scales - the green ones were shedded in favour of new red ones. He got the ability to breathe fire. This was a painful transformation - most dragons transform slowly and gradually throughout the years, while Ther'rah spent all his time in his elven form, so all these changes just piled up, until they were powerful enough to defeat his endurance and force themselves upon him, surfacing painfully. He had to flee. And so he fled, to the mountains of Northern Etrand, together with the special package. He found an empty cave, where he hid the corpse at a place where no one found it. The cave became his new home, where he mostly use his dragon form, mostly hunting.



He hunted unlucky travellers, treasure-seekers, miners and wild animals, even fighting other dragons. He spent two hundred years hunting, which cxaused problems for other dragons - once he noticed that he had to fight his fellow dragons more and more, he took the special package with himself, and fled again. For a few days, he terrozied villages in Etrancoast, then flew away, into the unknown, until he reached Keldorn. He borrowed some money, bought a room, then stored the corpse somewhere well-hidden, and found a job. He became a mercenary, and also practiced necromancy in his free time, mostly in the library of Atrum Libri. Even though 100-150 years have passed since his arrival, he could not find anything about resurrecting a corpse in its original state, with a soul.

Yet throughout these centuries, his alignment changed drastically. Ever since leaving Dragoc, he stopped being good and lawful, becoming evil and not caring about the law. He also "graduated" to the stage of Black Dragon. So he has a choice to make: either become a Dracolich, or go on the harder and more riskier route to immortality by aiming to become a Shadow Dragon, which is easier said than done. He began visiting the caves, but he mostly focuses on necromancy - after all, he never forgot why he came.

To guard the corpse of his dead lover became his obsession - yet, even if he were to succeed one day... what will be his life goal? And what if Ama'dre will be hostile to him after being resurrected, given how her former lover does not let her rest in peace? Or maybe Ama'dre is waiting for her lover, so that they can finally meet again? Only time will tell.

The original FRPG
Ther'rah Alean'athem appeared on the Hungarian version of the forum on the 4th of February, 2012. He took part in A Song for my Ears and Makesh's Curse.

The 2013 game


Just like many other legacy forum characters, Ther'rah Alean'athem was planned to appear in the 2013 game as a recruitable companion. Nothing came out of it.