Ilise Bakaa-Nakti the Illumined Essayist, Avowed of Azorinne, Provincial Magistrate

Role

Chapter 9

I am sorry to say it, but how hard I combat the inclination to feel low after
being within your light, Lyeeth.

How slow and deliberate my tale unwinds, whilst you, an elf, seem to have
already lived dozens of my lifetimes. Where does your energy come from? And
why would a star as yourself have such interest in me, plain magistrate Ilise?

There is so much to do, so much I haven't done, and when with you, I feel
only further behind, on everything. And oh, how a most shameful resentment
tries to invade my heart, repelled only by active prayer and meditation such
as this.

I don't know why I try to impress you, try to be swift like you. I am no
entertainer. I am no elf. I just... I suppose I envy your spirit. How much
you accomplish, how much joy you bring to the world, how devout you are in
your faith... (curious as it is).

Yet next to you I feel weak. Naive. Needful. I am not some magically angelic
figure, full of natural wisdom and charity. So much of me is still that lonely
girl in Udgaard, wanting to be a fighter like her brother, wanting to please
others, wanting to be more like those she admires.

Do I still really concern myself with such?

You bring out a humanity within me that is real, Lyeeth. But when I pray
to my true faith, I am so warmly reminded of the path that will take me to
the person that I earnestly wish to become. That I am becoming, even.

Truly, I do not like rushing. No. Perhaps if one is to race through all
doorways, down all spurs and trails and back, one can indeed find the
discoveries she seeks. That will never be my way. I must remember that the
light I seek is eternal. I have the time to chart each course before I sail.

Role

Chapter 1

Ielylette Ellis was a plain girl of unremarkable bearing, and being of a
family of little wealth, her prospects for marriage were very limited.
Her mother recognized this in her daughter early on, and saw to it that
she would be groomed for a safe life as a cleric or aid in the Udgaard
temple. It was not such a bad arrangement for a woman - the priestesses
were well-protected and food and living arrangements were all provided.
And Ielylette certainly did not seem to mind. She had few of the social
gifts of her more affable brother, and thrived in an environment of
structure and duty.

Her gifts for the practice were so evident, in fact, that she was awarded
opportunities to aid in the temple for select ceremonies at an early age.
Surely the elder priest thought it a great honor to grant Ielylette the
initial cut of the latest ritual torture and execution, a oneheart child
caught wandering too close to the gates. She had, after all, finished the
previous execution with impressive grace - not even flinching at the
intestines wriggling out of the open body of a half-alive criminal, and
ending his life spirit with a simple insertion of a knife to his heart.

But Ielylette, heretofore a most dutiful, quiet servant of the temple,
shook her head, and returned the knife to the priest. Embarrassing
enough, but then - when the priest moved to open the victim's gut himself,
Ielylette, ever so foolishly, screamed and grabbed at the priest's wrist,
begging him to stop. "She is innocent! We can't! You mustn't!"

Ielylette was swiftly struck down with a tight fist, then held up and
made to view the sacrificial torture. As the priests chanted and
the devout watched, Ielylette tried to sing the prayer of order above their
chants. A hand covered her mouth, she bit it, and sang again. She was hit
so hard she fell unconscious. The ceremony was ruined.

Role

Chapter 2

Ielylette sobbed in her room, locked away. She knew what was coming. One
did not disobey in the temple without consequence. And there was no
leaving the temple whatsoever. But she wished death before such a false,
fearful life. She would be whipped, hooded, and broken. A nameless slave-
servant supporting the temple, one way or another. She prayed. Not to the
dark gods in the known prayers she'd been taught, but to the unknown, in
desperate, heartfelt pleas for the life of that oneheart girl to be
spared.

It wasn't long before she heard the latch outside her door unhook. But when
the door opened, it was not a priest, it was her brother, Vaen.

"Let's go," he said.
"Where?"
"To the plains."
"Is she alive?"
"Yes, we are getting her. You know where the cell keys are?"

And before Ielylette knew it, the three of them were were climbing out of
a tunnel beneath a river, and standing next to a group of tents under the
stars.

"Will you stay with us, then?" the girl said to Ielylette's brother.
"I have no where else to go, if you'll have me."
"I will too," said Ielylette.
"I'm sorry, but, you can't." responded the girl.
"Why?"
"You are cursed."
Ielylette was confused. "I'm not cursed, I'm not one of them, I promise-"
The girl interjected, and pointed to Ielylette's softly glowing skin. "They
would never allow an azure-touched here."

Role

Chapter 3

"There may still be time," spoke a gentle voice from the shadows.

An older man stepped forward into the starlight, wrapped in a brown hooded
cloak, and clutching a knobbed walking stick.

"Thank you both, for risking everything for Lani. We are incredibly grateful."
He then turned his gaze to Ielylette. "The energy is new, and we may be able
to turn it back, child."

Ielylette was still confused. "Energy? Cursed? What has happened to me?? What
have they done to me??"

"Unnatural spritual energy has found a host in you. Come, we must start at
once."

Ielylette soon found herself inside a large leather tent. She recognized a
wooden structure to be a form of an altar, but instead of a clean flat table
before it, she saw a small clay bowl, filled with incense.

A warm hand touched her forehead, and slid down over her eyes. A soothing
voice sang in low tones, and the rhythmic shaking of something like
sand in a bag filled the room.

Then, pain.

Piercing pinpoints of electricity erupted within her skull. She screamed
and shook, and tried to climb out of her cot, but was held down.

And then images played bright and vivid within her mind. Radiant beings
of pure light, glowing peaceful field, and then, Lani, dead and disemboweled
upon a table. Then... she saw fear... innocence... playfulness? Then, the
old seer... she saw kindness... wisdom... and... selfishness?

The pain wracked her head, it was as if now the pinpoints were pressed
upon the inside of her skull, trying pierce through. Her eyes were opened,
but all was a haze of smoke and cloaks and hands. Then, suddenly, visions
of courage... empathy... love?

"Enough! No! Let her go!"

Ielylette felt the warmth of her brother wrapped around her, and began
to cry. "I'm... I'm sorry," she said, instinctively.

"Why, Ielylette?"

"Today..." Ielylette clutched her head, then continued, weakly. "Today, our
paths must again diverge."

Role

Chapter 4

= Backstory Bullets =

* Ilise used to be a student cleric in Udgaard, but being asked to cut open
a captured enemy oneheart child was not cool with her.

* Her tantrum delayed the child's execution, and got her in big trouble.

* She prayed for the child, unknowingly got some azure in her, her brother
rescued her and the oneheart child, and they escaped to the plains.

* A Oneheart seer tried to get the azure out of her, but the ritual was
painful, felt wrong, and her brother interrupted it. She learned more of her
nature, though, and accepted her new path.

* What she didn't realize is that the ritual thinned her spriritual separation
from the azure plane, and her control over her tether to the Theran plane was
grimly impacted.


= Her Path Forward =

1) Pilgrim to Voralia, change her name, find direction.

2) Find faith. (Spoiler, it will be Azorinne).

3) Learn about the light, her gifts for judgment, her weird spirit energy issue,
what to fight for, all that jazz.


= Personality and Quirks =

* She grew up dutiful and quiet, shy and introspective. By the time she arrives
in Voralia, she has a accepted an unknown path of duty to the light, and, if
still quiet, is never shy to speak up or intervene in any injustice.

* She is kind, but harsh in her judgment. She is gifted with an ability to
see through people, and almost instinctively is compelled to illuminate them
when their motivations are insincere, or, just because.

* Her experience with the Onehearts, and her brother who joined them, burdens
her with a complexity that she actively tries to avoid untangling.

* She is lonely and sad, but not pitiful - she has accepted and embraced
her nature, and feels no shame for not yet understanding it.

* Due to the Onehearts trying to get the azure out of her, her control over
her tether to this world has been weakened, made chaotic, even. Her inability
to fully control her tether will be another regular source of burden for her.

Role

Chapter 5

My dearest Vaen, I sense you thinking about me. On clear nights as this,
when the stars are so bright as that fateful evening, it is hard to not
think of each other.

You sensed my stumbles, but did not worry for me. Your faith in me surprises
me, but I am thankful for it... even from afar, you have helped me. And,
no doubt, you have felt the rise in my spirit this day.

It is no small thing, finding the doorway to one's future, and, of course,
you know how unsettled I get when without any agenda or plan. And yet,
as momentous a day as this was for me ...meeting a mystical androsphinx,
receiving an endorsement of faith, find veritable assurance of my entire
being... I am distracted. Judged.

Since that night, I have been able to sense things about people. You,
Lani, and the old man, radiating goodness. The watchmen, sentries...
our father... plain wickedness. And yet, there are those in whom
I sense... nothing. Different from the gnomes we knew of, it is not
some belief in balance, it is a belief in something besides good or evil
or balance. Or perhaps, a general disregard for anything.

I feel your will for good growing, so promise me you will not trust those
absent of aura so easily as I have, Vaen.

Such was the bard I hunted sentries with, Rehiniir. He was not wicked. But
he was certainly careless. Carefree. Unconcerned. And he cast the life of
a virtuous traveler right alongside the sentry we fought, and the poor man
fell, right before my eyes! And how I felt the gods' dismay, Vaen. All that
effort for Lani, and then this... in an instant.

I have many tasks of faith ahead of me, the sort of thing I oft revel
in, but I cannot shake this loss, nor the nature of it. I couldn't even tell
you his name, and what did I do? I ran and prayed. I shall never again use
prayer as a substitute for action. Disregard is as wicked a choice as any
ill intent.

I wonder if it will surprise you then, that your solemn sister wishes to
make herself more than a simple scholar or cleric.

I am to be a warpriestess of judgment.

Role

Chapter 6

I have yet to meet you, but the charge of the androsphinx fills my thoughts.
A vow is requested, a vow is owed.

And yet I find myself at a crossroads - hesitant to commit to either direction
without full faith that its course will best align with my unique promise to
you, to the light. The Acolytes and Maran of the Fortress have been generous
to me, and I have been honored to fight back so many of the wicked so far, but
yet I do not pledge. For I also I see a fledgling organization of order,
struggling to preserve peace where it can, hindered by its conflicting policy
of tolerance - sacrificing light for peace and order.

But I confess, I am oft more sympathetic to those bound by the machinations of
darkness than those who walk aimlessly. The aimless and carefree have the easy
choice of the light, yet still reject it, while the controlled and blind face
rejection themselves: false judgment and consequence from the hands of the
powerful. The Empire. Udgaard Loke.

And what do I do with the sympathy and distaste that I feel compelled to
quell? You have blessed me with the Archons Choir, a host of prayers that tap
into the celestial energy within me and beyond, that I now embrace, even when
there are those who would have me "cured."

The dedicants of Thar-Eris, my brother now among them, have goals that are
noble, and yet their cult is held fast by malleable rules and beliefs,
bent so easly by extremists among them to be no less than genocide.

I do not wish to destroy, I wish to change. I wish for all to see what I've
seen: the pure and harsh grace of the light. I wish for those blinded by the
wicked and powerful to be allowed to see. I want to protect all from the
selfish designs of the irredeemable wicked, and to cure the plague of
carelessness that lets such designs fester.

But how... what is my vow to you? You have judged me. You know my heart. I
know not my vow yet, but I know you trust me to not take such a step randomly.

And now I see. I must walk where I am needed. As hard as it is to accept a
future as magistrate, that is where our light will most brightly shine, and
where I shall find my vow to you.

Role

Chapter 7

Aerithas... do you know what joy you have imparted in me? Such a guilty
sensation, all this smiling. She reminded me that is part of the light,
of course, but it is curious that of all things in my journey, idle
laughter should feel so false.

We should be free to be merry, of course. I suppose 'tis no small part of
Aerithas... do you know what joy you have imparted in me? Such a guilty
sensation, all this smiling. She reminded me that is part of the light,
of course, but it is curious that of all things in my journey, idle
laughter should feel so false.

We should be free to be merry, of course. I suppose 'tis no small part of
"I vow to spread the message of the light, and be a light for the lost.
By example or by voice, by blade or by quill."

Not as poetic as your suggestion, but it is mine, and surely you know
by now how I favor the literal. But it certainly has more than a touch of
Aerithas Eruil's poetry in it!

And now I am laughing again. I can allow myself that, yes? Yes. An azure-
touched's vow, touched by Aerithas. Hm!

Hmmm...

Aerithas Eruil, Shepherd of Principle, Avowed of Azorinne

Ilise Eruil, Liberator of Udgaard, Avowed of Azorinne.

Oh, what a silly fantasy. Such joy is surely shameful.

Role

Chapter 8

Arrukal... how odd that you now invade my thoughts when there are so many
other things I try to unpuzzle. Perhaps it is because I envy you so. You
have arguably done more for the light than me in our young careers, as
uncommitted to it as you would claim. You can hunt your quarry without
distraction, and the code of your cabal's crusade against magic is firm
and followed.

But I find myself with less clear direction - the Spire is like a tangled
nest of black widows' webbing.

A lying paladin, sowing chaos. A vindictive gnome, weaving death and pride,
and gifting me with treasures stained by the blood of the good. And a
provincial magistrate, scolding our ranks for no end other than to appear
authoritative.

And then me. Supposedly so good, and yet I only mete out measured
righteousness, because I must eye future gains. Trust and influence within
this mess are the only ways I can restore a guiding light of order to our
cities. I may be no more than a little garden spider out of her element,
but, I am still a spider.

Funny how I had worried if I would have the martial strength necessary of a
war priest. Spilled blood is the least of my worries - it is spilled secrets
that I need be most concerned with.

Immortal Comments

Role

Chapter 10

-- Corrected version of entry 7, "Joy" --

Aerithas... do you know what joy you have imparted in me? Such a guilty
sensation, all this smiling. She reminded me that is part of the light,
of course, but it is curious that of all things in my journey, idle
laughter should feel so false.

We should be free to be merry, of course. I suppose 'tis no small part of
what I wish to protect. Yes, I ought set aside more regular time for
merriment.

But thinking of my vow of faith... my thoughts only turn back to you. You
helped me form it, after all.

"I vow to spread the message of the light, and be a light for the lost.
By example or by voice, by blade or by quill."

Not as poetic as your suggestion, but it is mine, and surely you know
by now how I favor the literal. But it certainly has more than a touch of
Aerithas Ethuil's poetry in it!

And now I am laughing again. I can allow myself that, yes? Yes. An azure-
touched's vow, touched by Aerithas. Hm!

Hmmm...

Aerithas Ethuil, Shepherd of Principle, Avowed of Azorinne

Ilise Ethuil, Liberator of Udgaard, Avowed of Azorinne.

Oh, what a silly fantasy. Such joy is surely shameful.

Role

Chapter 11

Tiarumas... you are as featureless as a stone wall, impenetrable to my eyes.
What is it that truly motivates you? As much as I've fought beside you, why
is it I feel closer to the duplicitous Gnobflink than you? There is so much I
don't know still, but you are no mentor, you are a manager... I suppose it is
what the Spire needs, but I...

...I fail. You placed faith in me when you promoted me to Provincial, but it
did not take me long to stumble. How easily I was baited by the hateful pirate
Marbacal into striking him when he was, to my great surprise, no longer a
criminal. My humilation was palpable... his joy in such... I see most clearly
why the Outlanders are hated so.

But you and the Justiciar showed mercy in your judgment of me. Perhaps it was
earned. Perhaps it was just wise resource management. But if I am to bring
influence into the Tribunal, I must be more than a resource. I must be a
respected leader.

Now, how can I bring any light into the Spire's operations?

"Be available."

Yes, Azorrine. I must remember. And though I find myself ever alone,
surrounded by professional courters of demons, zombies, and the Empire - it
can change. I must be ready. And I must forgive myself when I stumble off
course. The destination remains the same. I cannot light the path for others
if I am too ashamed to find my way back.

Role

Chapter 12

Marsin... Could there have been anyone more lost than you? Have you yet
found your way? I can only hope my efforts gave you the faith to continue,
for I too am no stranger to wrong turns.

And how I needed you, Marsin... am I so weak that I cannot shrug off a simple
jest from a friend? But it was not the words...

"Slightly possessed yet fiery spirited priestess seeks bookish page turner
for long nights of moral debate and rule interpretation."

...published in a missive to the whole of Thera! It was the act. Lyeeth knew
I would not wish it, and that only amused him more. Alas, when one's
only friend is a buzzing bee, one is bound to be stung.

Marsin, helping you helped me. It was in such duty that my humiliation so
easily turned to joy.

And now, here, in this dark corner of the cold tower of law where I steal
away to pray, I gaze upon the design of a blazing eclipse burnished into the
soft inside of my right forearm. Today, before the melted altar, it became
clear. I can be more, yes. I have continued and corrected, I have stayed
aglow in the dark space that is this Spire.

But the hour of observation is over. I have watched self-interest, pride, and
suspicion continue to thicken in the Spire for too long. The time to shine
brighter is now. But how?

Perhaps... where I once employed diplomatic suggestion to my wicked
compatriots, now I might turn to righteous sermon? No? Direct
illumination of hypocrisy then. Yes, I will call them out when
they are false, and shame them into humility!

No... I must exemplify grace and support, I must portray the kind wisdom
that the light encompasses, and show them the peaceful order that follows
when we place others before ourselves.

I can do both. I can reveal, and I can guide. I shall gently expose the
corrupt, as the soft morning sun chases away the vermin and pests of the night.
And when the night is heaviest, I shall offer wise mercy and fair judgment,
as an evening fire beckons all with its warmth, impossible to condemn.

I am a marked holy priestess of Azorinne, Empyrian Radiance. The time to
blaze in this night as a beacon for good is here. It is why I gave myself
this surname, from the lost tongue of the eastern wastes, after all.
Bakaa-Nakti.

Role

Chapter 13

At 41 years old, Ilise Bakaa-Nakti is a Provincial Magistrate of the Blood
Tribunal and a marked war priestess of Azorrine. Ilyevette Ellis, the young
acolyte from Udgaard, is a distant memory.

PERSONALITY CHANGES

* Confident. Newly marked by Azorrine, Ilise has forgiven herself for her self-
perceived past failures, and moves forward with a strong confidence and
faith in herself.

* Outspoken. Previously unsure of her knowledge of the law and workings of the
Spire, Ilise is now less restrained in her judgment.

* Alone, but not Lonely. She has resolved to be alone, and is less inclined
to let her lack of friends distract her. She tries to find joy in her duty.

* Aware, and Unafraid. She is more at peace with her "dark" side. When
dealing the wicked and deceitful, Ilise feels no hypocrisy in using their
methods herself to an appropriate degree.

PHILOSOPHIES

** Character Before Aura **
Based on her experiences with false paladins, bloodthirsty gnomes, hateful
wood-elves, and redemeed thieves, Ilise places more faith in her continuous
judgment of character, rather than the auras she detects. But it it takes a
toll on her.

** Guards, Not Soldiers **
Ilise has come to believe that members of the Tribunal are guards, not
soldiers. Waging war is not trivial, and hunting personal enemies while
off-duty will invite retribution and warfare within the cities she protects.
There are some enemies, though, whom she knows will hunt her or threaten
peace no matter what, and she trusts her judgment on whom to strike.

** Imperial Infiltration **
She feels the Empire to be the Tribunal's greatest enemy, and is always
considering how to weaken them and sever the Tribunal's connections to them.
Sometimes this is combat, more often it is influence within the Spire, or
collusion with the Fortress.

** Working with Evil **
She has spent the bulk of her life in Tribunal surrounded by corruption
and self-interest, and she sees these traits to not be unique to the
tainted. And so, trusting her judgment of character, she will aid an evil
magistrate if she believes either his intentions regarding the law to be pure,
or that his situational collaboration may serve the greater peace.

** Shades of the Wicked **
Having grown up in Udgaard, she is sympathetic to the wicked who are made so
by systems of oppression. Conversely, she finds reprehensible those who
consciously reject the light, and moreso those who act selfishly or carelessly
despite being untainted by evil.

GOALS

** Protect at all Costs **
The peace of the protected cities is sacred, as is the integrity of the law.
Ilise will always defend it.

** A Vow to Guide with Light **
In the end, Ilise believes that everyone is capable of good actions, and
it is her mission to guide all to choices that promote fair peace -
especially those who are lost. By example or by voice, by blade or by quill.

Role

Chapter 14

Horrindyr, Karnix, Draulvar, Aserunyra... what a flock you have formed so
suddenly, and how poorly I tend to you. Four paladins together, off in your
fortress, attempting to apply the wisdom of The Vows to your crusades
before you have even experienced the mysteries of them. I ought be grateful
that you consult with me, that you take the time to listen as you do, but
after so many years alone in my faith... how easily I am overwhelmed!

I pray to you Azorinne for grace, for I know there is no greater service
to your faith that I can provide than to ably tend to your faithful.
And, it is good for them to see how others of the light beyond their
fortress can be.

Oh, how swiftly do knights of that guild tend to rise in the ranks. Yet
I know also, how swiftly so many of that guild fail, abandon. I must
ensure they persevere! But judge as I may, I have many thoughts I dare
not share so directly with them...

Horrindyr, merciful as you are, but what little mercy is there in a storm
giant name that sounds so much like "horror" in the common tongue! Is it
pursuit of freedom from this association that causes you to pen such
profound missives to me that beg for suitably thoughtful responses? My
desk as Provincial overflows, but I place your filings atop the others.
but you owned up to it. You have learned that failure is not in stumbling,
it is in fearing shame so much that you dare not stand again.

Draulvar, so much you asked of me, but so little did you reveal of
your own thoughts on Justice. I feel I was able to break up the black and
white lines of your assumptions into strokes of judgment and mercy,
but your personal notions of Justice, I do believe will require more
meditation. I surely must learn more of you, though I concede, I sense
great valor seeded within you.

Aserunyra, what a sad tale yours is, like so many I meet, but how blessed
you are by the words of your mother, freeing of you of the chains of
vengeance against her killer. Do I believe that the Justice you fight
for truly is not comprised of some measure of revenge? I do not know.
You choose the path of a squire - so I do hope you can make up for all the
wickedness I have let walk beyond and within our cities' borders.

I oft wonder if I... a war priestess who protects from wars, rather than
seeks them... am any war priestess at all...

Role

Chapter 15

Mistrirn... the stains painted by your machinations color me and others of
the light in such a false hue, and how powerless I feel to thwart you. For
now, you are slowed, but I know you withdraw by choice. You stirred dissent
and discredit within the Fortress, and how readily the Provost and Justiciar
played along, but before your acts grew too brazen, just like that, you
decide to "behave." But your work is done. And again your work for the dark
god Morius will return.

You would have us all believe you are so simple, but from afar, the
accumulated incidents reveal quite the obvious plan. Lies about Sylvus. Lies
about Gukao. Lies about Poce. Warrants that baited Karnix, Lorihya, Xaevyir,
Reynellan and so many others into wrath and more crime. I am grateful that
Tiaramus hesitates to promote you, perhaps my whispers about you won me that
solace, but he does not hear my greater warnings. Surely he think me biased,
not as impartial as I've ever been certain to be, but misperception is ever
more powerful than veiled reality. How cleverly you've painted me, Mistrirn.

And while I am grateful that my sermon, and Captain Coqui's and Prophet
Bazz's pleas, brought a cease to the Provost's talks of war, another burden
builds within me.

My headaches grow more frequent. I am cold, I am hot. I am tired... and
always thirsty. But if they know I am sick, if they see any sign of weak-
ness, how correspondingly weakened will my voice become within the Spire?

I must find a way to figure out what is happening to me... but I also must
figure out a way to see you removed from the Spire.

Role

Chapter 16

Ilise does not yet know it, but she was born with a mortal disease. The
headaches and lapses in her ability to control her connection to this plane
were not caused by a Oneheart attempt to "cure" her - they are actually
symptoms of a deadly disease seeded within her skull since birth, one that
would have killed her long ago if not for the azure touch that found her.

When the Oneheart Elder weakened her soul's barrier between the material and
celestial planes, it was temporary, and the pain she felt was her touched
body's way of alerting her to the disease, to what would happen if her azure
energy was lost. The symptoms Ilise grew to know over the course of her life
were natural, not introduced.

The energy of the archons within her has actually been fighting her disease
her whole life. But the disease, the cancer, will rapidly progress once
the lesion within her brain reaches a certain strength. That time is
close. At this stage, the most gifted healer would be unable to remove the
tumor without killing Ilise, and might even suspect that she has no more
than 6 elven days to live.

Title History

Edges

Flaws

Racial Edges

Class Edges

Edges

Mob Deaths

Timeline

Leveling History

PK Deaths

PK Wins

Arena Statistics

Skill List

PK Statistics

PK Gank-O-Meter

Immortal Comments

Immortal Comments