Alasdair McAllister
by Ohad ShahamCount of Glenargyll (AC 1000)
Marquis of Dunvegan (AC 1014)
Duke of Taterhill (AC 1017)
Member of the Secret Brotherhood of the Radiance
AC 1014
"You have taken me from my laboratory for this useless display of human mundanities? I should blast you into oblivion, but you wouldn't be worth the magic."
Appearance
Alasdair is 50 years old and appears such. He has never used potions of longevity or similar magic and does not plan to do so. Alasdair is a fairly tall man of thin built. His eyes are greyish blue. His hair is totally white despite of his relatively young age. The most prominent physical feature about him is the awful looking scars he bears on his face, right arm and torso, a result of years of overuse of the Radiance. Luckily, Alasdair is left-handed.
Alasdair always wears wizardry robes of grey or crimson, sometimes with the plaid pattern of his ancestors. But Alasdair never wears traditional Kaelic garbs, not even when the situation demands it. Alasdair often wears a large hat that partially hides some of the scars on his face. This hat is said to provide some magical protection.
Personality & Behaviour
Alasdair could easily be considered a sociopath. He has long forgotten the joys of life and has sunk himself into the philosophy of magic. The people that Alasdair likes are few, and even those he sees with a sense of superiority.
Alasdair treats any bodily pleasure or need to be barbaric and redundant. He has ordered his cooks and servants to use a special alchemical concoctions that dries food into a powder he drinks with water to keep alive. Alasdair has not fulfilled his marital functions ever since Lady Barbara was impregnated with his son Sean. Although he does not say so, Alasdair feels nothing for his wife. She is a mundaner and therefore an inferior. He ignores her bravery in treating his illness.
Alasdair treats Sean as a back-up plan. He hopes to become an Immortal using the Radiance. This makes great sense to him, as magic makes you a superior man on Mystara, the Radiance can make you a superior being in the cosmos.
Background
The McAllisters arrived to Mystara along with the McGregors and other Kaelic families from Laterre. In general, the McAllisters were awful rulers. Apart from the famous Ossian McAllister, who ruled Uigmuir for more than 40 prosperous years, most of the McAllister nobles were a poor choice as rulers. It has been a family tradition to ignore the needs of the dominion, and to concentrate on magical research. Consequentially, the McAllister were also known as powerful mages. The most famous of these was Alasdair's great-grandfather Edward McAllister, creator of the dreaded mindpiercer spell.
Alasdair was born in AC 964, the only son and heir to Sir William McAllister, Viscount of Bergen. Alasdair was sent to the Great School of Magic at the age of 9. He had suffered greatly in his childhood, as he lacked even the social skills to deal with his young peers. But in those years Alasdair became fascinated with magic and the philosophy and mathematics behind it. Alasdair became in love with all that had to do with magical theory. He adored the concept of the magocracy, wizards ruling over their lesser kin. His experiments with basic magic (not spells) had given him great pleasure, and that was what eventually led him to discovering the Radiance.
In AC 988, William married Alasdair to Barbara McGregor, the younger daughter of Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre. Alasdair protested vehemently as he wanted nothing to do with women. But his mother had convinced him of the importance of an heir for the McAllisters. Lady Barbara never really loved Alasdair either, though she respected him greatly, and through the years had come to be committed to him and his welfare. Barbara knows he is not the ideal husband, but as he keeps her away from Crownguard and her brother, she is grateful to him.
By some miracle, Alasdair's son Sean was born in AC 994. It was in that year, that Alasdair finally discovered the first spell of the Radiance, and has not stopped researching in that field ever since.
Web of Intrigue
The mansion and towers of Dunvegan have never been as empty as they are now. Alasdair finds the noise people make disturbing to his work. At his order, most of the staff has been dismissed. Lady Barbara is in charge of only 10 servants, and is the commander of the McAllister's personal guard of 30 men, who are not allowed within the inner tower. Alasdair protects his tower with various magical wards.
The Marquis' 75-year-old mother is still alive and resides in her own chambers at the southern wing of the mansion. Dorothy McAllister (0-level, N) is most often the one who issues important political decisions in the name of her son. Otherwise, the Spokesman of the McAllister is instructed to support whatever House Crownguard is supporting.
The mysterious Xenos (F31, LN) is the only man who is allowed to be armed within the mansion's walls. He is Dorothy's personal guard and escort. He is always in black, and wears a short sword +3 and a small crossbow. Xenos is totally loyal to Dorothy, and will not hesitate to kill anyone she orders him to. The Followers of the Claymore once sent an agent trying to recruit Xenos; the following morning the agent's severed head was sent back to Duncan McGregor as a reply.
Sean McAllister has chosen to stay at the capital after graduating from the Great School of Magic. He finds no love for his immediate family, and due to years of torture from his cousin, Angus McGregor, he hates the McGregors too. Sean lives off a pension that his mother secretly sends him, and from various semi-legal operations of the McAllisters in the city.
Alasdair does not know his father-in-law, Prince Brannart McGregor, personally, but he admires the Prince for his excellence in all fields of magic. He knows Brannart is a necromancer, and suspects he knows about the Radiance too, but is wise enough not to confront him with that information.
Alasdair is also aware about the underground movement that is called the Followers of the Claymore. The philosophies of this movement stand in opposite to everything Alasdair believes in. Fortunately, he is too self-centred to go out after this criminals, but if he ever finds their members in his jurisdiction, the results will be horrendous.
In relations to other political factions, Alasdair supports House Crownguard. If not for his strong-willed mother, the Marquis would have lost all independent power to the Prince.
Statistics & Style of Magic
16th-level magic-user (D&D), 13th-level mage (AD&D), Brother of the Radiance.
Str 13 Int 16 Wis 12 Dex 11 Con 14 Cha 6, AL C (D&D), CN (AD&D).
Languages: Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Kaelic, Flaemish.
Skills: history (Glantri), spellcraft, quick casting, detect deception (+1), alternate magic, mathematics.
Weapon Proficiencies: none.
Although descended from a long line of gifted mages, Alasdair is not a true archmage due is his lack of practical experience. Most of what he knows about magic is only theory and cannot be brought to use with actual spells. Alasdair acquired knowledge of the Radiance, the purest and truest form of magic and has become obsessed with it. In his many years of researching the Radiance, Alasdair has made a couple of breakthroughs in using the Radiance in practical ways. He has invented a couple of relatively low-level spells that are powered by the Radiance. Alasdair is certain that with enough Radiance spells, the purest form of magic, he will be able to become an Immortal.
Alasdair knows the following standard spells of the Radiance: call upon Radiance, summon Radiance, retain power and control destiny. Alasdair had created a few spells which are lower in level that these spells.
Alasdair has not any experience or skill with weapons. If forced to fight he will use his spells and magical items, and if those fail he will probably surrender.
Alasdair wears a hat looks like a traditional cone-shaped magician's hat. The hat is of a light grey colour and its tip is always bent in some direction. It has the following enchantments: fire resistance (as the spell), acid resistance (-1 per die of damage and +2 to saves against acid), and gives a base AC of 4. Besides this hat, Alasdair has several potent non-unique magical items.
"My husband is no saimpt. I have no illusions of that. He just wants to be left alone with his work. There is nothing wrong with that. Not in Glantri."
(Barbara McAllister)