Aldarian is an accomplished con artist, a thief, and a loyal companion of Amalius Halkias. He came with Amalius when the psion returned to Eastern Cimmeria and served him during the Second Alliance War. Aldarian fought alongside Amalius, often sweeping for traps in the various dungeons the Alliance was raiding. This risky behavior led to Aldarian dying and being resurrected frequently. The constant resurrections granted Aldarian the power to return to life independently without the assistance of a priest. The sneaky elf continued to work for Amalius after the Second Alliance War concluded.

Aldarian was a thief and a lady’s elf moving through the cities of Cimmeria. He’d settle down in a city, steal a few baubles, carouse with a few ladies, and then move on when the law or the ladies’ relatives got too close. In a new city he’d repeat his usual ways of stealing to get ahead and going through that money as quickly as he could. As he hopped from city to city he even revisited a few of his older haunts as all the humans that lived there had forgotten his elven face. Aldarian made many enemies as he crossed the realm.

Eventually he ran afoul of a dragovinian noble in Xoria. This nobleman wasn’t willing to let Aldarian escape without retribution. He bribed enforcers to track Aldarian down and bring him in. After torturing the elf, the noble turned him over to the Xorian government. Rather than executing him, the Xorians chose to use him as a spy. They put him under a geas spell with the following orders:
Aldarian is to assist Amalius in spying on the Alliance and to do independent spying of his own.
He is to report his findings to the Xorians by accurately and fully writing down his reports and Amalius’ reports and sending them through the ring gate he has on his finger every day.
He is not to make any copies of these reports and he is not to reveal himself to the Alliance.
If given the opportunity he is to severely sabotage the Alliance endeavor to protect Phoenix.

Aldarian posed as a paladin upon initially joining the Alliance with Amalius, hoping that no one would suspect a paladin of nefarious intent. This ruse was abandoned when the Thieves Guild of Phoenix revolted. Amalius revealed Aldarian as a suitable trustworthy candidate to replace the treacherous guildmaster. Aldarian was made guildmaster of the Thieves Guild by the Alliance War Council. He fit in quite well, quickly winning the trust of the thieves.

Aldarian was contacted by an old, hooded gentleman prior to the Battle of Phoenix. The man in the hood gave Aldarian a magic key that whenever it was inserted into a lock instead of opening whatever was normally on the other side of a door, the door would open to a secret extradimensional closet. The man suggested that Aldarian use the key to steal all the wealth from the Wizards Guild of Phoenix when the battle broke out. The man also gave Aldarian a magical dagger, Korm. This man was Amalgami the Betrayer in disguise.

Aldarian performed the hit on the Wizards Guild during the Battle of Phoenix as the hooded man had suggested. He and his rogue friends walked away with thousands of wealth in magical items. This act also discharged his geas as he had “severely sabotaged the Alliance endeavor to protect Phoenix” by stealing nearly all the spellbooks from the Wizards Guild (nevermind that most of the wizards died in the battle as well).

With Aldarian free from the geas, Amalius was soon able to worm his way out of the Xorians’ clutches and free his supposed family. Amalius was also reunited with the weapon he feared from his youth, Korm.

In the latter months of the Second Alliance War, Aldarian served as the bodyguard of Amalius’s family. He spent his days at the family owned inn outside of Jipangu. He developed a relationship with their human servant girl, Sashita. The girl was quickly cast aside when Amalius hired a tutor for the family, the elvish druid Eamorataj. Aldarian truly fell in love with her. They began an exclusive relationship while maintaining their service to the Halkias family.

Aldarian has a reputation for dying a lot, but this seems to have created a mystic connection with the afterlife for him. Aldarian gained the ability to resurrect himself from death with a fiery pillar of destruction, similar to how a phoenix rises from the ashes. This power also manifests when Aldarian becomes injured, with a fiery aura protecting him from further harm. These powers came from the Titan Helios who also sent Aldarian dreams of retrieving the Bow of Apollo. Aldarian ignored the dreams and after the Second Alliance War, Helios abandoned him while vowing his revenge.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I interviewed Daniel, my cohost of the Tabletop Community Spotlight! Daniel created his own setting called Ithasen with an in-progress wuxia TTRPG system called Metanoia to go along with it. Ithasen has a spiritual force known as Ren that pervades the world. Ren is a magical manifestation of the user's, or Rennim's, will upon the universe. Rennim that cultivate their will grow stronger and capable of more amazing feats as the concentrate their power and force of personality.Within Ithasen there are seven lineages of people that decide what type of Ren they can use. Anamor use conversion Ren. Elkyr use flux Ren. Janim use elasticity Ren. Nyl use influence Ren. Okoi use recurrence Ren. Haqol use harmony Ren. Finally, Daruner use use coalescent ren. The two races lineages that drive unique politics in Ithasen are the Daruner and the Haqol.Daruner children absorb the Ren talents of both their parents, becoming a perfect blend of Daruner and another lineage parent. Through this mixing, a Daruner family could potentially include all other lineages within itself. This power has placed Daruner as the nobility of Ithasen.Haqol's power of harmony allows them to amplify the Ren powers of others. This puts Haqol in a vulnerable position as unscrupulous people will do anything to incorporate Haqol lineage into their bloodline. Haqol have experienced something akin to a genocide as their lineage has been consistently absorbed by other lineages and diluted over the centuries.There's a whole lot more than that so strap in!Daniel has a fully setup GitHub Wiki for information on Metanoia and Ithasen that you can explore.There's a Metanoid Discord server you can join to discuss the rules and setting with other fans.The occasional musing on TTRPGs can be found on Daniel's blog, Tabletop Discourse.GoCorral YouTube Channel for watching the Tabletop Community Spotlight.Vote in the CRIT Awards! Voting is open until August 23rd.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stage on Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 86 – Wuxia Adventures in RPGS (Daniel and Metanoia/Ithasen)
  2. 85 – Medical Doctor D&D (Justin and Oops! All Healers!)
  3. 84 – Horseback Riding D&D Camp (Michael and SaddleSnaps)
  4. 83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting)
  5. 82 – Tarot Ghosts (George and Fears & Fortunes)