A Land Far Away

Within every form of civilization on Faerun there have risen from the ranks of the masses religious champions who not only care out the will of the gods through their quests and actions, but also act as examples and leaders to the flock of said deities. Helm’s Order of the Vigilant Eye ever watchful and steadfast in their defense, The Knights of Tempus ever fighting the battles that need fighting, The Paladin’s of Tyr and Torm ever in pursuit of vanquishing evil in the pursuit of preserving what is pure and good in the world, The Knights of Aster ever promoting a better life for those they encounter and fighting the worst of undead where ever they are found, this tale though is not of a member of any of those orders although if one’s mind is kept appropriately flexable through a less then strict diet of evermead and laughter you may find this champion of Erevan Ilesere is in many ways compareable to any of these other champions and in no way less noble. Then again, in all defense of those other respectable and time honored orders, with enough evermead and laughter almost anything can appear in a manner in which it is not.

Quite some time ago or not to long ago at all depending on your individual concept of the passage of time, the Great Forrest of Cormanthor was thriving center of elven life. Then came the Retreat which I will not bore you with, and if you find countless elves fleeing off to some distant island to frolic in peace exciting this is not written for you anyway. Despite the callings, summonings, and mass migrations to Evermeet, not all elves went and instead they stayed behind on the mainland of Faerun to carry on as they always have, which is to say they stayed behind to frolic in constant danger due to threat of Orc, Drow, Bug Bear, countless Goblinoids, warring human factions, Chromatic Dragons, Rabid Hins, and countless other myriad dangers that are a threat to the frolicking Elves. The seasonal town of Tangled Trees within Cormanthor is one such example of Elves that decided to stay behind and frolic in ever constant peril and the adventure such a life brings instead of running of and setting sail for undisturbed courtly frolicking in Evermeet. Now some may tell you that Tangled Trees is a Rogue’s Gallery of wayward eccentric elves and their estranged lovers who more or less spend the good weather months roaming and adventuring and only return to Tangled Trees to endure the harsh winters together in the comfort and chaos of drunken revelry. Whoever would dare say such likely has an intimate understanding of Tangled Trees and was just being honest about the place and the patterns of life that can be found there.

Sel-Via, or more commonly called Lucky by clumsy tongues and friends alike, is one such example of not only a Divine Champion but also a product of the community of Tangled Trees, and remember Divine does not always mean pious nor does Champion always mean Hero. Sel-Via being the Divine Champion of Erevan Ilsere that he is would be a splendid example of a Divine Champion who is neither pious or a hero, if not for the Divinity that is the Jack of Seelie Court it might be common practice for an elf like Sel-Via to be referred to with the terms Reckless Rogue, Two Faced Son of Fifty Fathers, Cheating Thief, Honorless Cur, Common Fool. Actually even though there is a Divinity such as the Ancient Trickster of the Seldarine and Sel-Via is a Divine Champion of him, it is still common place for many people to refer to Sel-Via in these often found to be less then flattering terms. These conflicts of titles and what not often spring from serious misunderstanding between Divine Champions of Erevan Ilesere and more or less just about every other person on the face of Toril. Most folks see the Champions and followers of Erevan Ilsere as untrust worthy liars who will steal anything not clamped down and then use what they have stolen to fund themselves with the tools needed to return and steal everything else after they do away with those bothersome clamps, locks, or what ever the would be security device of the day maybe. While most of the world is thinking this, the Champions of Erevan Ilesere look at the world and see so many sad people suffering from the burden of material wealth and the formidable blight of taking themselves far to seriously and it is the religious obligation of every follower of Erevan Ilesere to help remedy those afflictions of the soul in others through laughter and humor. To make matters worse as far as the common misunderstandings between Erevan Ilesere’s flock and everyone else, just as the Helmites stand their ground until dead or properly relieved while in the defense of something that have sworn to protect, most Champions of the Trickster will continue to perform pranks, tricks, and jokes upon whoever it is they are trying to get to laugh until either said party has decided to find the situation comical and stop taking themselves seriously, or until the Champion of Erevan is put to death by local authorities or some other variation of being made dead. There are rumors of champions of Erevan Ilesere who have escaped even death for the soul purpose of finishing a particularly divinely inspired prank….then again rumors also abound about divine champions of Erevan Ilesere completely walking out on and away from truly epic masterful tricks just because they had a craving for a particular wine or dessert treat and instead of performing their sacred duty instead went after their tummy and tongue’s current craving…..which in a way is still their sacred duty on account that if you take your own jokes to seriously, you are no better then the audience you are trying to perform for.

My sincerest apologizes for my digressions away from the telling of Sel-Via’s tale. Truthfully I am not at all sorry but I wanted to introduce you to the Erevan Ilesre practice of false apologizes, sometimes to live to another trick, you have to apologize in a seemingly sincere manner for traps laid and sprung that you are actually very happy to have gone as they have. All the same back to Sel-Via…..

Depending on your moral and social views Sel-Via either had a misspent youth, or an ideal childhood and worth while adolescence. Growing up in Tangled Trees as the son of two inn keepers Sel-Via’s early years, much comparable to his current years, were spent inside the common room of a frequented inn pouring wine and mead, telling tall tales or listening to new jokes and news carried from afar on the tongues of the well traveled. Drunken revelry, tall tale telling, assisting guests locked from their room, these were all child hood tasks that developed and grew along with Sel-Via to help make him into the elf he is today. The tasks of helping his parents with their inn were not his only childhood hobbies, there was archery and blade dance the same as any young elf, as well as frolicking with what lasses were passing through like the changing seasons throughout the years.

Eventually though it was time for the spring of his name choosing, having won a large sum of coin in a card game the evening before his name choosing, Sel-Via choose a name to describe how he was feeling at the time of his choosing. Later that day “Lucky passed out beneath a great and ancient tree due to far to large an intake of fey wine and missed his opportunity to leave out with an elven ranger patrol heading for the edge of Cormanthor. With his new name being “Lucky” and having missed his chance to get out into the world and explore due to over imbibing he was of coursed laughed at some and asked things like, feeling lucky now? Oddly enough a ten day later a lone Elven Ranger returned from that patrol a bloodied mess, as it goes the patrol was ambushed by a great Orcin Horde and Lucky was lucky not to have been with them. Regardless of his first failed attempt to get out and see the world, within time Sel-Via did manage to make his way to the world outside Cormanthor.

Within the short time, short by Sel-Via’s standard, he has been out and about traveling the lands of Faerun he has seen and done quite a bit, but far from enough. In Daggerford he has ventured into the Ardeep to assist Uthgar Tribes with a treasure hunt and still carries a Ancient Vyshann Coin with him from that adventure which he refers to as his Lucky Coin, assisted the Marshall of Triboar against undead and helpped some of thefolks of Daggerford against thier current Dragon promblems.

The actual highlights of his wandering career though consist of his Lover Elise with whom he planned countless pranks for the region of Triboar which have gone unpreformed due to her untimely death. Almost haveing been arrested for an attempted tickling...Elise and Sel-Via thought holding down and tickling an Ilimaterian cleric until she laughed would be a good idea. His new Lover Laurelin and his Pink Dye Trap which was actually loaded with Orange Dye and stepped on by a Lathanderite....very dissapointing when you plan to paint someone Orange and the only one to step on the trap is a man who is already wear a clolor of his faith that is comparable to Orange. Theese things and hands full of countless other off color deeds have been what Sel-Via has been busy running bout doing and will continue doing untill caged, killed, or...or.....no actually cageing and or killing him will likely be the only things to slow him down, and even then... such may not actually stop him.

Faerun just became a lot more dangerous