HARP: The World of Tarn

The Deities of Tarn: Ealalinde

As night falls, and the suns disappear slowly beyond the horizon, the many-faced goddess of Chaos spreads her twilight wings to embrace the world. And where her dusky feathers touch, possibilities of unseen events bloom like roses.

History: Born a mortal elf, the being known as Ealalinde Laellwyn's life itself started from the most sordid and unexpected events. Her mother was a trinket seller in Al-Akrin, a beautiful but poor grey-elf with the fortune, or misfortune to have a love affair with a visiting dignitary from Sylvanore (though who her father is, few people know, and Ealalinde will not say). While her family line is unknown, there is a possibility that she is descended by blood from her mother's side from the shadow elves that came to the world from Metsis, a possibility made stronger by the fact that when she was born, so too did a being coelesce into existance in the dream world; a winged being known as Seraph, a chaotic presence that flew on the winds of dreams on pure white wings.

Ealalinde's existence on the mortal plane was one of hardship laced with the most improbable of events occurring. During childbirth, her mother passed on, leaving her in the care of the midwife, who christened her Ealalinde (elvish for "Charm") and passed her to an orphanage. Running away from the orphanage at a tender age, she became a street urchin, a beggar and a pickpocket. Soon enrolled in the rogue's guild, she was shuttled to Easlen after the spark of magic manifested in her.

It was in Easlen that the chaos within her began to churn. Flitting from romance to romance, she became involved with a human named Aktul Ram, who soon grew tired of her unpredictable ways and left her. This threw the young elf into a bitter depression that, coupled with a general downturn in her life, led her into despair. Because of the extreme nature of the emotions, the Seraph began to manifest itself in the material plane, as Ealalinde sought to withdraw into herself. Visions and strange happenings began to surround her, leading her into madness. It was not until Sammael Lightbane violently pulled her into the dreamworld that finally understood consciously what she was.

With the understanding came a certain sense of urgency as the chaos that filled her drove her deeper into the adventure that stained her soul took form in Taernyl's favor (it was often said of her that she must have been part kender!) and she soon explored almost every end of Tarn. The drive that led her along her twisting paths soon led her to meet her husband, Trevor Telrats, the Duck Knight of Descardia. A honeymoon relationship they were inseperable, even into the death she drove him to. Upon hearing of his lamentable demise, she succeeded in that which she failed once before and commited suicide; her soul escorted to the Realm of the Dead by the ascended avatar of War that made his watch there.

In death, she sought her husband, aided with the help of various immortals intrigued with her souls quest. It was there she dreamed her first dream, now disconnected from Seraph, it took the form of a night-black falcon which was plucked out by Taernyl and given to her as a guardian. It was with this bird's assistance she was able to locate the tattered soul of Trevor and restore him back to a semblance of himself, soon following him to Tarn when he escaped the arms of the Eternal.

It was said she changed yet again after her death, still impish, there was an edge to her, a strangeness explained away by her resurrection. Her moods became even more ephemereal, and chaos began to ripple further out from her. She withdrew from her old friends, until finally, the disappearance of Selena Scalebane, her best friend before her death, drove her to search again.

The search yielded the unexpected, for one night, the elf Ealalinde lay down to sleep and dreamed the Seraph spoke to her, telling her it was time to assume her true form. Upon awakening from the only second dream in her existence, she found that like the Seraph, she was now winged, and the very world sprawled before her with possibilities spread like pieces on a game board.

Spheres of Influence: The trifold path of Chaos allows a mortal to be close to this quicksilver goddess, as she is the Face of Chaos itself. No longer bearing even the semblance of mortality, her very form is fluid and it is known that she has appeared in the shape of drow, dragons and even kender. Her favored form is that of a beautiful demoness, with wings the color of the heavens at dusk.

In her ascension to the pantheon, she gave much of her mortality in exchange to be able to see into eternity, and her closeness to chaos bestowed her the ability to reweave the threads woven by fate. Probabilities to her became endless, and it can be a cause of frustration to deal with her, because she sees not only what has happened, but what -may- have happened as well. Ealalinde is believed to exist within the Plane of Sixty-four Inverse Spirals.

Types of Followers: Her followers come from all illuminations, from the blackest-hearted avernon to the kindest bard, but all of her believers share one thing in common: their hearts beat with the pulse of chaos and their souls follow no laws of mortals but their own whim. It is said she cares little for the shade of the soul, but rather the hue, and those who follow structured ways to control their lives will never find her favor.

Marks: Those who seek the Queen of Twilight's grace tattoo intricate portraits of falcons onto their hands. Her favored are given a mask, arcanely woven of pure chaos, that allows them to tap into certain random energies. The mask is permanently woven into the skin of the face, to reflect the many faces of chaos itself.