Tennan Gracevale

Tennan is a male sea elf originating from the plane of water. He is quite slender for a sea elf and likes to be well dressed. He has messy, mint-white colored hair, mustard yellow eyes and has small gills on his cheeks. Tennan wears a ring with a blue gem originating from the plane of water.

Birth & upbringing
Tennan Gracevale, born as Tennan Nadirith, was born in a town called Withersreef located in the Sea of light. Tennan grew up with his mother (Mariana Loralei) and his younger sister (Phoebe Nadirith) in a small home, they would all do chores and take care of each other. Tennan’s father (Narvhal Nadirith) worked as a miner of Treutite in the deep wells of the sea, he worked over hours and was treated badly by his leaders. Narvhal rarely came home and when he did he was either exhausted or drunk. Narvhal left a bad impression on Tennan and Phoebe, he would sometimes go as far as to yell at them or assault their mother.

After a long period of finding his way around Withersreef and exploring the town and its secrets, Tennan wanted to explore something bigger. Tennan was always excited to talk to the local bards that would stroll through Withersreef and through their stories he discovered the tales of Aquireth. Many bards told him about the college they went to and the endless gain of knowledge about the world, it’s magic and the history of it. By hearing all these stories and chatting with the bards, Tennan became fixated on going to Aquireth. Tennan’s mother and sister disapproved of his idea at first, but Tennan was diligent and would prove himself to be a worthy student and so promised he would return with gifts that would help his family. Tennan’s mother told him she would hope him to come back as something better than his father, and gave Tennan a crest which would bring him good luck.

Aquireth
So began Tennan’s journey towards the royal city, he followed along with a Bard he met in Withersreef called Yonehan. Yonehan introduced Tennan to the city's great achievements and how it is considered an important city across multiple planes, he even told old folk tales about the tritons, sahuagin, the titans and the founder of the bards college.

To enter the city Tennan changed his last name to ‘Gracevale’ and would dress up more dignified to hopefully be let in without being disgraced or being denied entry. Luckily Tennan’s adapting paid off. As Tennan and Yonehan would part ways, Tennan made his way over to the College of Aquireth to hopefully start his new future.

Even though Tennan was fairly inexperienced, with the help of a good act and flattering speech, he managed to be accepted into the college. Here Tennan would learn about the city and its history, playing instruments and most importantly; how to control the magic within the strings and notes.

Although Tennan was impressed by the size of this city it did make him think about the poor conditions of Whithersreef and the nearby villages, how the people from his town struggled to feed their families yet here there is an abundance of everything.

While in college Tennan met one of his peers called ‘Elnin Goldmussel’, who was training to become one of the royal bards in the Shardore Palace. Tennan fell in love with Elnin and would spend a lot of time together.

Elnin being part of a small group of chosen contestants for ‘royal bard’, gave Tennan more insight into the hierarchy of the city. Tennan was able to join Elnin into parts of the Shardore Palace. As Tennan and Elnin explored the palace as they stumbled upon the library, filled with tomes and books about aquireth and the history of it, some of it even being unknown to most of the common folk. However, as students were not simply allowed into the library, the two would sneak back to read about the history and to learn about magic and spells. Tennan found out more about the dominance and the rise of the Empire with secrets about exploited areas of the sea and its inhabitants, and also a particular story about the city and the college.

The untold story of Balis
The book told the story of Balis, the maestro of the weave. Balis was considered an elder by the Titans and had an unrivaled control of the weave through the use of music; he was the founder of the college of Aquireth. Balis strived for creative freedom, fellowship and happiness to come forward from his works and his students. However, the Neriphyra line didn’t think the same way; they wanted to state their dominance over the sea of light and Balis’ ideals got in their way, and was banished from the city. Tennan was intrigued by this story and it changed his view on the city and the college as a whole.

Tennan decided to steal one of the books, despite Elnin’s disapproval. As they made their way out of the library the two ended up getting caught by the old elven wizard watching over the library (Azolon Cal'telonis). Tennan had a catching excuse and was able to leave without severe punishment. However, Azolon would not allow Tennan or Elnin entrance back into the library.

Ways of the charlatan
Tennan managed to get the book he stole out of the palace and was able to sell it for a great deal. Tennan was amazed he could finally bring something back to his family to make them proud. As such he was able to again get away with stealing another few books from Shardore library, in trade for great prices. Elnin did not approve of Tennan’s behavior and thievery and decided to leave, parting ways with him.

As Tennan gained more knowledge about magic, the city and the sahuagin war. He grew disgusted by the way the empire had treated the college’s founder and the outer inhabitants of the sea. In Tennan’s eyes: the great wealthy and expensive lifestyles of the people living here was built off of nothing but exploitation, he began to see the rulers of the empire as restrictive and greedy monsters.

As Tennan’s college continued he got more selfish and became more and more interested in illusionary and enchantment magic. He realised that the way the college treated its students was restrictive and limited, nothing like a college of creation he imagined where freedom and expression is incentivised. Clearly he was losing his care about the college, the city and its successes. Yet Tennan wanted access to the palace again and so tricked the college’s conductor with the use of his charms to become a contestant for Aquireth’s royal bard status. Tennan became fully absorbed into his act, and it showed his narcissistic side. He succeeded in stealing more scrolls and tomes from the palace, and trading them on the black market just outside of the walls of the city.

Tennan decided to head back to his hometown Whithersreef. Upon arriving back in the town the situation of the people had become worse due to surprise attacks from the sahuagin, some houses were ruined and food became scearce. Tennan returned to his house to meet his mother and sister, they were happy to see him come back safe after all these years. His father was sick and had long lasting injuries due to working in the mines and had been in a coma for a long time. Tennan left part of the money he made to his family to rebuild and to keep themselves safe, the other part he gave to the mayors of Whithersreef in the hope to make a start in rebuilding the town.

After a week Tennan decided to return to Aquireth, hoping he could still finish his bard college. However, for reasons unknown to Tennan he was not allowed back into the college, but that didn’t stop him from attempting to take tomes, magic scrolls and a violin from the magical facility. Tennan was stopped by royal bard ‘Eniox Clampearl’ and wanted him to forfeit and give him the chance to confess for his crimes in front of the queen herself or be put in jail. Tennan refused and with his flattery and tricks was able to make it out unscaved.

Tennan made his way outside of the city walls and traded his tomes and scrolls but decided to keep his violin to himself. With it he set out on a journey towards Tohill wilds.

Ludville & The travel into the abyss
On the edge of the Tolhill wilds Tennan met a traveler called ‘Ludville’, a deepsea elf. Ludville was a charming lady and spoke lots with Tennan. She told Tennan tales about the Darkened depths, and her adventures. Tennan enjoyed her company and would roam the areas around aquireth while telling each other and the people they met their stories. Ludville told Tennan that the reason the war between Aquireth and the Sahuagin has been raging is because the resources from the deep sea are getting drained by the empire, their only way of surviving is to fight back but it's becoming worse for the Sahuagin. Tennan felt how she spoke about the situation, he felt bad for her seeing as she could not return to her home because of the war.

When Tennan thought of a way that maybe Balis could help soothe the tension, Ludville was surprised; she knew about the story of Balis.

‘’It’s not heard very often, almost like he has been forgotten.’’ Ludville said. Tennan became determined, he wanted Balis’ legacy to return. Ludville said that, from what she knew of the tale, Balis’ last whereabouts were last traced on the material plane. And so the two set out towards the abyss.

Making their way toward the deep parts, the darkness engulfed them. They kept wandering until they stumbled upon what seemed like an unnatural strong current and before they knew Tennan and Ludville were faced with the monstrosity Ka’rakith. Tennan used his cunning words and music to try and calm the monster down and make their escape, with him barely being able to get away. Being hurled through the water, Tennan eventually washed up on the shores of Oteon, with Ludville nowhere to be found. Tennan felt grief but stayed focussed on his goal to find a clue about Balis and so set out to explore the region of Oteon.

Stranded in Oteon
Now stranded on the material plane, Tennan also suffered from a curse bestowed on him by Ka’rakith. Even though Tennan felt disconnected from his home plane, he was captivated by the unknown of the material plane. He loved the variety of creatures and the beauty of civilization and nature.

Upon arriving in Breakwater Port, Tennan met a band of adventurers which he thought could possibly assist him on his journey. Goran Sylvadere; a dwarven barbarian from Roktorp, Sera Baphomia; a tiefling sorcerer, Naught; an elven rogue and Anton Dahlus; a human ranger from eastern Ibera. After traveling with the group for a good few months, helping the group in various endeavors, Tennan did not share the same goals as his group. The group became obsessed with power and greed. Tennan decided to choose his own way and set a path following the rivers into the continent of Ibera.

The tomb of Valus Nyte
In a lone tavern near the rivers in Ibera. There he heard and told his tales of his home and his travels. Tennan met the elderly elf named ‘Endriel Tillus’. Endriel seemed like a wise elf and so Tennan spoke to him about his curse. He told Tennan about the possible whereabouts of Thalassa; she was hiding in the tomb of Valus Nyte. Endriel thought there would be a possibilty for Valus to cure his curse, or possibly Thalassa. The next day Tennan made his way towards the City of Anarchy to hopefully rid his curse. Tennan knew this would be a journey that would ask most from his act, speeches and magic, as he set a path to cleanse the curse, find Ludville and seek out more information about Balis.