Almirith's Backstory (for Chad's game)

Almirith's parents were from different worlds.  His father was Mindartis, an eladrin noble from the Willow Court in the Summer Kingdom.  Mindartis was young and adventurous, so he was often sent on missions abroad by his mother, the Willow Queen.

One of his missions was to determine the identity of a poacher who had killed one of the Willow Queen’s favored white harts.  Mindartis used his fey magic  to locate the poacher, but the poacher was not what he was expecting.  Rather than a foul goblin or tricky quickling, the poacher was a beautiful elf maiden.

Mindartis observed the young elf for many days.  It soon became obvious to him that she was not intentionally encroaching on the lands of the Willow Court, but had crossed over to the Feywild unintentionally and that she was merely trying to survive while seeking her way home. 

Normally, intent would not matter.  After all, she had broken fey law.  But Mindartis found himself captivated by her.  Her resourcefulness, sharp mind, and unsurpassed beauty charmed him.  Under the light of the hunter’s moon, Mindartis revealed himself to her.

She was named Valna, and she was a huntswoman for the elven village of Springhaven.  Rather, than bring her before the Willow Court, he pardoned her and showed her the path home.  Gratefully, she invited Mindartis to come visit her, and that he would be welcomed a guest in her home.

Mindartis did not intend to take her up on her offer, but found that he could not stop thinking of the captivating young elf.  He soon began to sneak away from court to visit her in the natural world.  The two soon became lovers.  Then, on Midsummer’s Eve, the two were wed.

This caused a bit of a scandal.  Mindartis was an eladrin noble.  Taking an elf mistress was one thing, marrying one was something entirely different.  Things got worse when Almirith was born.  The thought that an eladrin who was not of pure noble blood could sit on the Willow throne was distasteful to certain elements of the fey court.  Mindartis was eventually forced renounced any claims he had on the Willow throne.

Almirith proved to be a bit of a disappointment to Mindartis.  A headstrong youth, Almirith began circulating among the lower elements of fey society.  He was not as interested in honor and nobility, as he was in wine, women, and song, and was not above bragging about his noble heritage if it would help him get a flask or a comely lass.  

Things came to a head when a battle with the Oak Court left the Willow throne with no legitimate heirs.  Despite his father having renounced, there was some thought among the common fey that either he or Almirith could be a claimant.  Almirith's drunken bragging about his rights to sit on the Birch throne did not help allay these fears.

More radical elements among the fey decided to send quickling assassins rather than take the chance that an eladrin of non-pure blood sit on the Willow throne. One group was sent to kill Almirith, while another was sent to kill his mother.  The plot against Valna was foiled, but at the cost of Mindartis’ life.  Almirith himself had been carousing with a group of satyrs.  He was stabbed in a back alley behind a tavern and left to die.

Lying there dying he finally realized the truth behind a lot of the things his father had been trying to tell him. To this day Almirith insists his father's spirit came to him, to offer him one last chance to redeem himself. He told his son to devote his life to a higher cause than himself.  Almirith survived, and vowed to fulfill his father’s final wish.

The incident left him with a new perspective on life.  Almirith has self-exiled himself to the mortal world, hoping his absence will end the violence in the Willow court.  Always a skilled in a fight, he has found his newfound sense of purpose lends him a strength of arm and of spirit he would never have thought himself capable of.   He now travels the world not for his own pleasure, but to put things right.