- the Eberron novels.
Aeven is a livewood dryad druid that became the figurehead and protector of Karia Naille, one of the airships of Ashrem d'Cannith.[2][1][3]
Description[]
Aeven is a thin and petite woman, with a rounded and young-looking face of elven features, long pointed ears, olive skin, and eyes of a pure and depth-less emerald green. Her hair is long and golden, and her short pale dress seems to be made of woven thin leaves. She has a soft and musical voice.[2][1]
Her figurehead is made of rich, dark wood, polished but unpainted, and represents her with her arms folded across her breasts.[2]
Personality[]
Aeven, although somewhat shy, has a gentle and kind disposition, and is slow to anger; however, when it does happen, her temper is terrible to behold, manifesting as mercilessly cold fury. She finds the stereotypes of dryads as trickster spirits offensive,[2] and doesn't like to lie.[1]
History[]
Early Life[]
Aeven was born in Aerenal as a native fey, a dryad bound to a livewood tree. She could feel "the soul of Eberron" resonating within her, and she became a druid, but eventually she started to long for more freedom to explore the world. At one point she met a human sailor who offered her an opportunity: he would cut and shape her tree in her image and put it in her vessel, so that she could protect it while sailing with him and his crew. Aeven agreed, but she regretted it after learning that her new traveling companions were wicked and had "savage appetites".[2]
She was rescued by Ashrem d'Cannith, and agreed to take the role of protector of his vessel, Karia Naille (the Mourning Dawn). During her time in the airship, she befriended the members of the crew and spent a lot of time with Pherris Gerriman, the captain. She also grew close to the elemental bound to the vessel, being the only one able to communicate with "her", and helping the extraplanar entity understand a little bit better their purpose in the flying ship.[2]
Heirs of Ash[]
In 998 YK, Aeven and the rest of Karia Naille's crew were working for Dalan d'Cannith, Ashrem's nephew, as they tried to unravel the mysteries around part of his inheritance, Ashrem's "Legacy", after the latter's death in the Day of Mourning. They traveled across Khorvaire racing against Kenshi Zhann (the Seventh Moon) and Captain Marth, a former associate of Ashrem, which led them to an accidental crash in the Talenta Plains. Aeven's powers and communication skills with the elemental bound to the vessel were essential in ensuring the airship's repair.[2]
As they continued their adventure, they learned that the Legacy had powerful abjurative properties, being able to "kill" any form of magic, living or not, and when Marth activated it for the first time, both Aeven and Omax (the warforged of the group) were affected by it and almost died. When they learned that their enemy intended to use the Legacy to re-ignite the war and return it to its previous state, Aeven, as a fey being, admitted she could understand that perspective, since to the eyes of many mortals a century-long conflict could feel like the natural state of the world, if that was all that they knew. During their visit to the Mournland, the dryad lost some of her powers because of the cursed nature of the region, and despite her aversion, she reluctantly helped the crew locate the remains of Albena Tors (the Dying Sun), another of Ashrem's airships.[1]
After an encounter with Marth in the ruins of Metrol, Aeven helped Tristam confirm that the power of the Legacy had been connected to the elementals of each of the airships Ashrem once owned. She also helped save Omax's life by telling Karia Naille to share her elemental energy with him as they looked for a way to repair his body. During that journey, they learned that Pherris's lost son, Haimel, had died in the Day of Mourning, and when they finally told the old gnome, the dryad appeared to comfort her friend, telling him to remember his son. Aeven summoned storms when their airship arrived at the Harrowcrowns forest to rescue Eraina d'Deneith and Zed Arthen, two members of their crew who had tried to infiltrate their enemy's fort and ended up facing Zamiel: a copper dragon pretending to be a mortal prophet. Despite her efforts, as soon as Marth activated the Legacy, the tempest faded, and it took Aeven some time to recover.[3]
Through the dryad and her communication with the elementals, they learned that their enemy had combined pieces of two airships to complete the Legacy and was planning to use it against Sharn, where it would cause a lot of death; hence, they started chasing Captain Marth again. On their way there, they gained an unexpected ally: the elven assassin Shaimin d'Thuranni. He admitted he had never tried to board their ship because of some unknown force protecting it, and was genuinely surprised to meet Aeven as the person behind that power (her friends, however, immediately expressed suspicion and warned Shaimin that nothing good would come if he tried to bother the dryad). On their way to Sharn, Tristam gave Aeven a black glass sphere: a creation of his that would protect her from the Legacy; she accepted it gratefully. In Sharn, while a team tried to sabotage Marth's airship before it destroyed the Skyway, Karia Naille faced Zamiel, and although Aeven summoned a storm, the dragon was flying too high for her to hit him with lightning. Although they managed to defeat Captain Marth and his Kenshi Zhann, Zamiel was still willing to claim the power of the Legacy, that perdured as long as Karia Naille stayed active. Instead of destroying their ship, Aeven and their crew decided to continue to stop the dragon directly. On their way back to the Talenta Plains, a second aerial battle ensued, but Zamiel was attacking them too fiercely and too fast for Aeven to summon a storm. The crew gained some time only after Gerith Snowshale and Blizzard (his glidewing) sacrificed themselves; even then, they ended up crashing. Although Aeven used vines and roots to hold and help her friends to a degree, she and her own figurehead received some damage, and had to be rescued by Dalan and Zed. On top of that, Ashrem's nephew freed the elemental bound to Karia Naille by persuading her to defend the dryad, saving them from Zamiel. While Tristam, Seren, Omax, and Zed followed the dragon, Aeven stayed behind and asked to be left next to Pherris, in order to help Eraina heal the old gnome.[3]
A year later, Pherris, Tristam, Seren, Omax, and Ijaac remained as the crew of a new airship paid by Dalan, the Reckless; Aeven chose to stay as their guide and protector.[3]
Abilities[]
As a dryad, Aeven is bound to her tree and is able to appear and disappear through it, manifesting a physical form outside the wood when she so desires; since she is a livewood dryad, the life-preserving properties of the wood have allowed her to stay alive after her tree was turned into a statue (considering the place were the figurehead is as her new forest). However, her nature as an inherently magical fey being also limits her, since she can't be too far of her wooden figurehead, and should it be permanently destroyed, she would die; in a similar way, supernatural effects that suppress magic also harmed her, until Tristam Xain found a way to protect her and the people on her airship from such effects. As a druid, she can cast powerful nature magic that includes healing spells and those that influence the weather. She can also magically sense where her friends are. Since she is the only one able to communicate with Karia Naille directly, she can share the elemental's opinions with others, and convince her to do favors for her and her friends, such as staying with them instead of returning to her plane when there was a chance to flee.[2][1]
Relationships[]
Although Aeven was hurt by mortals in the past, her time in Karia Naille made her value the crew of that airship, considering them friends and being as such in return. Although she was wary of new people at first (not wanting to appear in front of Seren Morisse for some time after she joined the crew), she grew comfortable after some time. Moreover, she was the closest thing the elemental of the airship had to a friend, and talked to her often, asking her favors without pressuring it more than was strictly necessary for as long as they were together.[2][3]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Rich Wulf (February 2007). Flight of the Dying Sun. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 22, 148, 149, 211, 256, 257, 264. ISBN 978-0-7869-4316-6.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Rich Wulf (June 2006). Voyage of the Mourning Dawn. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 88, 163, 177, 208, 213–216, 219, 259, 264–266, 271.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Rich Wulf (November 2007). Rise of the Seventh Moon. (Wizards of the Coast), p. ?. ISBN 978-0-7869-4342-5.