Luin of Caledor
Luin is one of Dîmeril Laeghartha's oldest and most loyal companions, a Wood-Elven warrior originally from a deeply reclusive community in the Caledor Woods of Goerath. He was still young by Elven standards when he encountered Dîmeril and her companions there, already a capable warrior but inexperienced in both the wider world and matters of the heart. Dîmeril was a revelation to him, and Luin fell hopelessly in love with her. He subsequently left the secluded world of his childhood behind and followed her to Ardenfell and through the adventures that followed.
Time has considerably matured Luin, although it has never entirely cured him. He long ago accepted that Dîmeril would never become his lover and has built a full life of his own, including relationships with other women and three Half-Elven children: Seraphine Valecourt, Lethiel Aranel and Corin Rowan. Yet beneath that acceptance his feelings for Dîmeril have never completely disappeared. His loyalty no longer depends upon romantic hope; he remains because she is his oldest friend, Merilrond is his home and standing beside her has become part of who he is.
Luin is a powerful and experienced swordsman whose principal weapon is Calenmegil, the Green Blade, a vorpal longsword given to him by Dîmeril early in their relationship. He is also an excellent horseman and capable archer, although very definitely a fighter rather than a ranger. At Merilrond he serves as warrior and riding instructor and is particularly skilled at moving on horseback through difficult woodland. His dark facial tattoos are traditional markings of the secluded Wood-Elven people among whom he was raised, a heritage he has never rejected despite travelling far beyond it.
Quiet, perceptive and possessed of considerable common sense, Luin rarely wastes words explaining something everyone else will eventually notice for themselves. He is not a scholar or strategist of Dîmeril's calibre; his strength lies in recognising when something simply isn't right. After decades beside Dîmeril, that instinct has saved lives often enough that when Luin suddenly stops and looks towards the trees, experienced companions generally stop with him.
Luin has his own full character page covering his history, family, relationship with Dîmeril, found here.
Thargrim Valevoice
Thargrim Valevoice is a Dwarven bard, historian and one of the longstanding companions of Dîmeril Laeghartha. He arrived during the earliest years of Merilrond, when the Hall of the Roses was still largely a collection of repaired rooms amongst the ruins of an abandoned woodland keep. Already an experienced traveller and scholar, Thargrim initially intended only to investigate the history of the ruins and record some of the increasingly curious events occurring around their new inhabitants. He never quite left. Unlike several of Dîmeril's companions, Thargrim did not join her because he needed rescuing, wished to serve her or particularly wanted to become part of another adventuring company. What fascinated him was the story unfolding around her. Here was a former Border Lord who had settled almost accidentally in an ancient ruin and was steadily becoming the centre of a growing community of Elves, Half-Elves, Fey and woodland folk, while apparently remaining largely unaware that her neighbours had begun treating her as their protector and, increasingly, their Heryn. For a historian, it was irresistible.
Thargrim remained at Merilrond and became the principal chronicler of its history. He witnessed many of the events of its formative years, including Dîmeril's early protection of the surrounding communities, the gradual rebuilding of the Hall, the rise of her reputation amongst the woodland folk and the confrontation with Lord Vaeroth Amaranthine that became known as the Flight of the Violet Hart. His archives now contain decades of histories, correspondence, maps, genealogies and eyewitness accounts concerning Dîmeril, Merilrond and the Golden Woods.
Thargrim possesses an almost obsessive respect for historical accuracy, something that occasionally places him at odds with Seraphine Valecourt, whose approach to the same events is considerably more imaginative. He has known Seraphine since she was Poppy Fenwick growing up at Merilrond and is extremely fond of her, despite regarding several of her most popular ballads as outrageous distortions of perfectly respectable history. The two nevertheless perform remarkably well together, Thargrim's deep bass voice and Dwarven harp complementing Seraphine's voice and lute. Somewhere during his early years at Merilrond, Thargrim ceased merely to observe the people whose history he was recording and became one of them. He has never been Dîmeril's servant or retainer. He is her companion, chronicler and old friend, sufficiently familiar with the Heryn that her titles impress him considerably less than they do most visitors.
Decades later, Thargrim remains at Merilrond, still writing, still correcting other people's recollections and still objecting whenever Seraphine improves an inconveniently mundane event for the benefit of an audience. He came to Merilrond because he believed something historically interesting was happening there. He stayed because the people making that history became his family.
Thargrim has his own full character page covering his history, family, relationship with Dîmeril, found here.
Jonas Tench (Quarter-Elf Rogue)
Jonas Tench is a Quarter-Elf rogue, one of Dîmeril Laeghartha's longstanding companions, husband of Lusara Elmare and father of their children, including the young rogue Velisra Nightleaf. Jonas has travelled beside Dîmeril since before Merilrond became an established holding and belongs to the relatively small group who remember her simply as the wandering Half-Elven ranger she was before titles, Fey politics and troublesome neighbours began accumulating around her. He has never regarded himself as Dîmeril's servant or retainer. He is her friend.
Where Dîmeril is most comfortable in wilderness and woodland, Jonas is particularly useful wherever civilisation has provided obstacles. Locks, traps, hidden doors, suspicious merchants, guarded buildings and people who are lying all fall comfortably within his particular field of expertise.Jonas is not a romantic thief. He has little interest in stealing for the pleasure of it and regards elaborate displays of roguish daring as an excellent way to end up dead or imprisoned. A successful infiltration is one in which nobody knew he was there, and a successful adventure is one from which everybody comes home. Years of travelling beside Dîmeril have also made him remarkably resistant to her growing mystique. When the woodland communities began treating her as their protector and eventually their Heryn, Jonas recognised what was happening considerably earlier than Dîmeril did. Dîmeril repeatedly insisted that she had no intention of becoming anyone's lord.
Jonas believed her. He also recognised that this was becoming irrelevant. Jonas eventually married Lusara Elmare, and fatherhood changed his attitude towards adventuring considerably. He remains entirely capable of accompanying his old companions into danger, but now judges risks partly by whether they are worth potentially not coming home. His daughter Velisra Nightleaf inherited both his talents and his interest in the rogue's profession. Jonas was initially appalled by this development, principally because he knew exactly what the profession involved. Once it became clear that Velisra intended to pursue it regardless, he decided that she was at least going to be properly trained.
Now an older and vastly more experienced man, Jonas remains one of the familiar figures of Merilrond: practical, observant, dryly humorous and usually the first person to notice the second exit. To younger adventurers he is an experienced rogue and one of the old companions of the Heryn. To Lusara, he is her husband. To Dîmeril, he remains essentially what he always was: the dependable fellow quietly checking the back door while everyone else is looking at the monster.
Solara Elenhi (High-Elven Wizard of Ilyr Vael; Scholar and Companion of Dîmeril)
Solara Elenhi is one of the oldest and closest companions of Dîmeril Laeghartha, having travelled beside her for many years and, quite literally, across more than one world. A High Elf originally from the Perpetuity of Ilyr Vael in Erdian, Solara was already a wizard of considerable talent when she first encountered Dîmeril during the latter's service as a military adviser to the Argent Lances of Vael. Solara had been comfortably established within the ancient and highly ordered society of Ilyr Vael, but had also become increasingly bored by it. Dîmeril fascinated her. Here was a foreign Half-Elf who claimed not merely to have come from another kingdom, but from another world, who travelled in the company of the unicorn Aelheryn and who seemed to encounter adventures, dangers and extraordinary circumstances with remarkable regularity. Solara's curiosity eventually proved stronger than her attachment to home.
When Dîmeril left Ilyr Vael, Solara followed her. There was no oath of service and no dramatic declaration of loyalty. Solara certainly did not regard herself as Dîmeril's retainer. She simply concluded that travelling with Dîmeril and Aelheryn promised to be considerably more interesting than remaining at home. Both women initially assumed the arrangement would be temporary. Neither proved correct. Curiosity became companionship, and companionship eventually became one of the longest friendships of Dîmeril's life. Solara subsequently travelled with Dîmeril back to Goerath, where she became part of the small circle that eventually included Sabine Thornmere and Luin. She remained beside Dîmeril through her years as Border Lord of Ardenfell, the death of Aelheryn and the hunt for the red dragon Pyraxxion. When Dîmeril finally abandoned Ardenfell and returned to the wandering life, Solara went with her. She was also amongst those who followed Dîmeril through the Veil into the Golden Woods, seeking refuge from the troubles in Averneth. Solara was therefore present during the earliest days of what would eventually become Merilrond, when the Hall of Roses was still little more than an abandoned keep which Dîmeril intended to use as a temporary refuge.
Solara at Merilrond
Today Solara remains one of the senior figures within Dîmeril's extended household, although describing her as a retainer would be inaccurate. She is Dîmeril's friend and companion, and the distinction matters. Solara resides at Ithilora Vaelathir, her private house near the Hall of Roses. Its library, workrooms and magical workshop reflect the two great interests which have occupied much of her long life: magic and scholarship. Its broad tower has become one of the familiar landmarks of Merilrond. Although her knowledge and magical expertise are occasionally sought by others, Ithilora Vaelathir is not a public academy or common wizard's workshop. It is Solara's home. Visitors who forget the distinction generally do not do so twice. Solara remains recognisably a daughter of Ilyr Vael: educated, sophisticated and possessed of the confidence of someone raised within one of Erdian's oldest High-Elven societies. Yet the woman who once abandoned that comfortable existence because following an eccentric Half-Elven ranger seemed more interesting has never entirely disappeared. In that respect, Solara's original judgement has been thoroughly vindicated. Life with Dîmeril has never been boring