Soelma Nilaenish

“The world disgusts me. People are treacherous, crude, and cruel, and the natural world is no better. When you’re as old as I am, there really is nothing left to feel but loathing.” —Soelma Nilaenish, loremaster

Soelma Nilaenish is an old elf wizard and loremaster. She is quiet and polite. Her colleagues would describe her as shy and lonely—some would call her boring. Though she is respected in the scholarly fi elds of history and magic, only true afi cionados of both subjects know of her. Several years ago, she founded a society for scholars, which became popular with historians from all over the world. She never traveled far from home, and she has become increasingly reclusive. Her colleagues say that Soelma has changed recently. They are not certain what sparked the change, but she has been more confi dent and more hopeful recently.

GOALS

Soelma Nilaenish has always been a remarkable woman, but few outside the scholarly community know her.

She was never beautiful or charming and never had good friends. The maiden aunt who raised her died when Soelma was 196 years old, and she has been alone in the world since then. Over the years, Soelma became depressive in her outlook on life and finally arrived at the point where she hates everything, herself most of all. Recently the shy, everunnoticed Soelma decided she would like the world to pay attention to her before she leaves it. To that end, she painstakingly researched the perfect way to end it all. She looks forward to the cessation of all life in the world with relief and hope, and devotes every moment toward achieving her dream. USING SOELMA NILAENISH

Soelma begins the campaign as an occasional employer of the PCs. She pays them well and on time, always gives

them accurate information, and offers useful advice. Though never friendly, she is also never rude. Soelma is wealthy and uses money instead of diplomacy when she can. The PCs should occasionally receive hints about the depths of Soelma’s depression, and this should become a more frequent occurrence as the campaign progresses. When she decides the time is right to voyage to the Hulks in person, her demeanor changes from passivity to one of taut excitement and hope. PCs might be led to believe that the prospect of saving the world from evil, which she states as her goal on the journey, has fi lled her with a newfound purpose in life. Since Soelma by this point is insane enough to genuinely believe that her actions will make the world a better place, her behavior involves little deception. Once Nilaenish has used the PCs to help her defeat Janwulf, her chief rival for control of the Hulks’ cultists, she betrays them in a manner that she has been preparing since she first met the characters, and then she leaves them to die. When the PCs meet her again, all traces of shyness and sanity are gone. She behaves like a religious fanatic, still genuinely believing that she is destroying the world for its Soelma Nilaenish own good. DESCRIPTION Mousy and plump for an elf, Soelma Nilaenish could best be described as plain. She is short for her race but not remarkably so, and her dishwater hair and small brown eyes hint of human blood at some point in her ancestry, despite her otherwise elfl ike features. Intelligent and bookish, Soelma never had much interest in anything outside her scholarly pursuits. She dresses in plain clothing without adornments and even designs her own magic items to be plain. She keeps her hair cut short for easy care. Soelma’s shyness makes her very diffi cult to read. She puts great effort into seeming emotionless and polite, but the hate inside her has been building for so long that nothing can heal her wounds. She seems sane and logical, but she is quite mad underneath.

Illus. by E. Widermann