Ethelynda
| Status | Alive |
| Domains | Nobility, Honor, Protection, Serpents |
| Holy Names | The Shield, Shieldmaiden, The Stalwart, The Bastion, The Noble Serpent, The Protector, The Guardian |
| Holy Symbol | - |
| Religion | - |
| Location | Ivorian |
| Faction | Supports Mortals |
| Mark | Taithir |
| Notable Creations | Ithecal |
| Creator | Luesco |
| Siblings | Aeva, Daia, Karem and Ymiden |
| Children | Ethelm, Rhonwen, Terrwyn, Vericus |
| Allies | Ilaren, Ralaith, U'frek |
| Enemies | Raskalarn, Faldrun, Lisirra |
Contents
Personality
General Traits
Knightly Manner: As the Immortal of Honor and Nobility, it’s perhaps only natural that Ethelynda practically embodies a traditional knightly code in terms of her behavior. Consequently, Ethelynda is noted for her courageous, forthright, and upstanding nature.
Guardian: Ethelynda is extremely protective of those who place themselves under her care, often willing to risk her own life if needed. Consequently, she dislikes asking others to risk their own safety, though she does understand the necessity of it, as she cannot be everywhere at once.
Hands-Off: Ethelynda prefers to let Mortals make their own decisions and believes her role is that of a guide rather than a ruler. Consequently, despite being the one that nominally rules the Ivorian Empire, Ethelynda is rarely part of the day-to-day business of government.
Proud Warrior: While it is hard to call Ethelynda arrogant, she does take a great deal of pride in her abilities as a warrior and general.
Strengths
Defensive Master: Ethelynda is one of the greatest warriors in Idalos, specializing in a defensive fighting style that makes excellent use of a spear. Shield, and armor based fighting style. Even amongst the Immortals, there are few capable of matching Ethelynda in a fight.
Form-Shifter: While every Immortal can change shape, most of them prefer to stick to a single form, usually only changing for the purposes of disguising themselves. Ethelynda, meanwhile, spent a lot of time in her natural half-snake form, but as a human and an Ithecal as well, making her comfortable in all three forms and the advantages and disadvantages they offer.
Leader and General: Ethelynda is an excellent general and when she’s taking an active role, an excellent civil leader.
Weaknesses
Poor Offense: While Ethelynda is an excellent defensive fighter, her actual offense tends to be rather poor, as she relies on her enemy wearing themselves down while fighting her rather than dealing direct injury to end the fight quickly.
Reluctant Ruler: Ethelynda is reluctant to take a direct hand in ruling the Ivorian Empire, preferring to take a more hands off approach. This means that she’s often a bit late to step in where she should, which has resulted in her having more trouble fixing problems than she would have if she stepped in earlier.
Secrets and Mysteries: Ethelynda was a close confidant of her father Luesco, and thus was privy to many of his secrets, secrets that then became her own when he died. Ethelynda has kept many of these secrets, many of them pertaining to the Dragons and the World Spirit. Her secret keeping, especially after Ruin’s Dawn revealed her role in the return of the Dragons, has made it difficult for her allies to fully trust her.
Personality and Verbal Tics
Subconscious Defender: Ethelynda possesses very strong protective instincts, and she often subconsciously acts to keep people around her from being hurt, such as keeping children from burning themselves or keeping people from walking under precarious things.
Sisterly Instinct: Ethelynda wasn’t just the first of Luesco’s children, she was the first Immortal period. This gives her a general tendency to act like an elder sibling to many of her fellow Immortals, even outside of her own family. Within her own family, she can get downright motherly.
Aloof Ally: Ethelynda is historically known for not actually keeping that many close alliances. She was a very late joiner to the Immortal War, and even after the active portion of the war ended, she more often acted on her own than as part of the pro-Mortal alliance she was part of.
Conqueror’s Rival: There are no small number of rivalries and conflicts between the Immortals, but by far the most well known and enduring of these is the rivalry between Ethelynda and Raskalarn. While the two do respect each other, their natures and beliefs are so resolutely opposed that it’s difficult for the two to even be in the same room without a fight breaking out.
History
One of the elder Immortals, Ethelynda was alive to witness the Originals War against the Verses and the Dragons. Seeking to prevent the total destruction of the Dragons, Ethelynda made a secret pact with the Verses, secreting the souls of the fallen dragons away from Famula's purview. However, the Shay, who turned their backs on the Verses and the Dragons, found themselves shunned by the Immortal of Protection, who erected a shield around the Iulure Isles to prevent any Immortal or Original from setting foot on the last haven of the Dragons and the Induk of Idalos itself.
Then came the Great Shattering and the fall of the Originals. Unwilling to take up the role of deity that so many of her kin shamefully claimed as their birthright. Shedding the appearance of the Noble Serpent, the half-snake form that everyone identified her with, Ethelynda took on a human form and lived among the nomadic tribes, a wandering warrior and protector. Then the Immortal War began, and Ethelynda found the nomadic tribes she had lived with destroyed. Furious at her kin, who claimed dominion over the world, but would not care for it, Ethelynda returned to the battlefield.
Ethelynda had not been seen by many of the Immortals since the Great Shattering, but she had always been respected for her tactics and prowess on the battlefield. When she joined the battlefields of the Immortal War, she proved that she had grown even more skilled since the Shattering, switching freely between her humanoid form and the Noble Serpent form to make clever use of the advantages of both. And through the battles, she displayed nothing but scorn for those of her kin who thought themselves masters of the world, put on airs that they were more than what they were.
But the battles and the absence of the caretakers took its toll on Idalos, and the world began to die. Seeing the need for the worlds true caretakers to return, Ethelynda made a new pact with the Induk Idalos and it's kin. Taking the souls of the fallen dragons, and making no alterations to their nature, Ethelynda used her power to create new bodies for them to inhabit. The effort was outside her normal abilities and caused her to Fracture somewhat, a glowing Fracture Scar stretching from below her left eye to just below her ribs on her left side, but the result was well worth that price.
The Ithecal were born, a mixture of humanoid and draconic form, though lacking the wings and great powers of the latter. The one alteration she had made was to make sure no memory of their time as dragons remained, but their stubborn, protective nature was fully intact. At first, she had a struggle to get the Ithecal to follow her lead, to get them to become the protectors she had intended for them to be. In the end, her success was only partial.
One of the Ithecal leaders, a man named Ras, led several of the Ithecal to form their own nation, Dynaash. Dynaash's conquest was as fierce and expansive as it was well intentioned, and in the end, they came into conflict with Raskalarn's fortress city, Korlasir. Hoping to prevent a brutal conflict between Dynaash and Korlasir, Ethelynda brought Ziell, the Immortal of Prophecy, to attempt to dissuade them from their course.
"Ambition divides what promise created. Any warrior of Dynaash to storm the fortress of the Conqueror, will be no more."
With this warning ringing Dynaash's ears, Ethelynda took the Ithecal clans still loyal to her and left for a new homeland. An island in the Crescent Sea that had once been home to dragons. There, on unclaimed land, her people founded the fortress city of Yithiral, taking the first steps on what would, in time, become the Ivorian Empire.
Ethelynda is on the side of mortals in the war of the Immortals. She has made it her sole duty to defend the people of Idalos from those of her siblings who would see them destroyed, usually through her Ithecal. If she can be found in physical form in Idalos, it's going to be in a Ithecal-controlled area, where most will find her to be stern, but welcoming, kind, and fair. She enjoys teaching young members of other races who are willing to learn the ways the Ithecal live by, so that they may grow to defend themselves and others. If they are attacked while she is present, she will take up arms alongside her followers to defend them. However, she can be arrogant, and looks down on the Immortals that consider themselves the rightful masters of the world, believing that they should only claim dominion over territories that ask them too. This belief is the driving force of her rivalry with Raskalarn.
Appearance
Ethelynda is most associated with her "Noble Serpent" appearance, half woman and half snake, with pale skin, deep red eyes, and raven hair. Her tail is a deep chocolate brown, and she wields a heavy shield and spear in combat, prioritizing defense over offense while fighting. While the spear and shield remain her weapons in her other forms, Ethelynda has mastered the art of quickly switching between three forms, one of her other two forms being pure human to take advantage of the smaller size and greater agility, while her third form is an Ithecal form.
Memories of the Past
Ethelynda remembers Luesco fondly, more as her father and teacher than her creator. She speaks of him but rarely, but she has said in the past that she wished he was still alive when she was raising Ethelm so that she could have asked his advice.
Presently
She is currently in Ivorian.
Opinions on Mortals
Racial Opinions
- Yludih ~ Neutral
Useful Links
Useful links and information for the Immortal Ethelynda.
- The Mark of Ethelynda
- Mortalborn of Ethelynda PCs past and present who were sired by this Immortal
- Blessed PCs who have been blessed by Ethelynda
- Cursed PCs who have been cursed by Ethelynda
- Threads Stories which have particularly involved Ethelynda.