Tereis Haaskinz
by Ohad ShahamSister of Prince Harald Haaskinz of Sablestone
Air Elementalist of the Fourth Circle
AC 1014
"You see, Matera travels thusly through space... and that causes the course to look like this... and this is why I'm almost positively sure... well, there must be... another one... A MOON, you ignorant fool! Oh, never mind! You wouldn't understand anyway."
(Lady Tereis trying to explain a complex astronomical theory in the Great School of Magic)
Appearance
Tereis Haaskinz is a tall woman with a slim built. She has fair skin colour and light brown hair, and she has greyish big blue eyes. Tereis usually wears long wizard robes of white and sky blue. She sometimes wears a silver tiara, and usually binds her hair. Tereis looks about forty years old, she is actually in her mid seventies.
Tereis always stands very erect, and her eyes seem to look at a point slightly higher than the person she is talking too. Some people presume that this is typical noble snobbism, and some say she is dreamy and doesn't really listen to what is being said.
Personality & Quirks
Tereis was once the adventurous type. She used to love the great outdoors, and to seek out the wonders of the Known World and beyond. These days Tereis rarely leaves the urban realms, spending her time either researching, or in teaching at the Great School of Magic, or at Sablestone, researching some more. Tereis is now a very important professor of the Great School. As most of the Glantrian Alphatians are gone, she has become the topmost authority on air magic and travel spells.
Unfortunately, Tereis is not a good teacher. She has no patience to her students, except for the most gifted geniuses. She often finds herself lecturing to the thin air of the classroom, as all the students have either lost interest or fell asleep. The students don't even dare thinking about asking to remove her from her teaching position, as they know she is the Headmaster's sister. Tereis has no love for teaching and only stays in the Great School for use of its laboratories, its library, and other facilities. She has an observatory both at the Great School and at Castle Sablestone, where she observes the stars and the night sky, using magical means or regular vision.
In general, Tereis is not keen on socialising. If she has to mingle at a party or gathering, she often tells about her journeys to Sind, Thyatis and other exotic locations and about her theories on magic and astronomy.
In spite all this, Tereis does enjoy the good life. She likes to get dressed and feel feminine, and sometimes even go for a walk in the Nobles' Quarter of Glantri City. Tereis is not interested in men or marriage, despite what gossips may say.
Every now and than Tereis tries to keep in touch with her old adventuring party. She has devised a spell to help her contact them called courier dove. She most often contacts her friend Shensa (C10 of Diulanna, LN), a Darokinian living in Akorros. Shensa is a priest of Diulanna, and since befriending her, Tereis has a very positive attitude toward clerics. She is very satisfied with the changing attitudes in Glantri about the priesthood, and yearns for the day when her friend will be able visit her in Sablestone, or maybe even spend her last years in Glantri. Tereis also has an open mind to other societies and races, even dwarves, as she met a few on her journeys.
However, Tereis does harbour great hatred for the savage races of orcs, goblins and other humanoids. She includes Ethengar in this category of savage races, and would willingly support an assault on the denizens of the Great Crater or even the Ethengar Steppes.
Background
The Haaskinz name comes from ancient Hattian dominion in Thyatis, but the Haaskinz family itself is already a mix of several ethnic groups, including pure Alphatian, Darokinian, Thyatian and even some Sylaire bloodlines. The Haaskinz family earned the Barony of Egorn after the formation of the Republic, and has since then risen steadily through the ranks of nobility.
Tereis of Haaskinz was born in AC 946 to Danora and Konstantin of Haaskinz, then the son of the Marquis of Berrym. Even as an infant, young Tereis displayed a strong curiosity of the world and its workings. She also had obvious magical talent, like her brother Harald before her.
While still a young girl, her family moved to Fenswick and Tereis was sent to the Great School of Magic. Harald has graduated from the school a year earlier with honours, and Tereis was treated very well by her professors and peers. She used to ask questions that baffled even the most experience mages and always had strange and unorthodox ideas ("Ooh! Ooh! Why don't we all create a gate and see the Nightmare Dimension for ourselves?").
When she turned 20, she graduated from the Great School and had a clear view of what she wanted to do. She went straight up to her father, the Duke of Fenswick at the time, and told him she was going to see the world. Duke Konstantin had to agree and could only take comfort in the fact that Harald, the obvious heir to the title, has none his sister's silly adventuring urges.
Tereis started her journeys around the Known World, through the Broken Lands and beyond, with a changing company of adventurers. She visited exotic locals in Sind and sailed the Sea of Dread. She even once travelled to Ylaruam, disguised as a Darokinian mage for hire. In her travels she learned to respect other forms of society and cultures she had never known before.
Tereis spent nine years travelling in the lands south of Glantri, after which she went back home to attend her father's funeral and her brother's crowning as the Archduke of Westheath. She found life in Glantri to be dull and unchallenging. Even her brother Harald had absolutely no time for her, as he made preparations to marry a mundaner woman named Asadel, a woman she did not like at all.
Tereis decided to go back adventuring, this time heading north. Tereis hooked up with a Wendarian adventuring party that planned to go north into Denagoth. One night, as they all were asleep in the wilderness, their camp was attacked by a gang of orc and human bandits. The guard which kept awake was silently slaughtered and the entire party was killed except for Tereis. Tereis was violently raped when asleep and helpless to defend herself. She was too confused even to see the rapist's face. She was then left lying at the camp side, where all her friend lay dead or dying. By the time she got to her senses, it was to late to save anyone. She only had little magic left in her, but that was enough to avenge her friends with some destructive spells.
Tereis travelled back to Wendar to recover from her terrible ordeal, only than to discover she was pregnant as a result of the rape. Tereis was devastated. She did not even know if the baby's father was a human or an orc, and she was terrified of the latter possibility.
When she had her strength back in a couple of months, Tereis went back to Glantri and hid in a small inn at the city under a false identity. She stayed there for a few more months, at the end of which, she gave birth to a baby girl, which she named Nina. She was torn inside, for she didn't know if the girl is human or only looks human as a baby. After some tribulations she left the baby at the door of an orphanage in the middle class section.
But Tereis could not abandon the child completely. She used magic to keep track of the girls life and well-being. A few years later, an examiner from the Great School arrived at the orphanage on his annual visit checking for children with exceptionally high magical potential. He was amazed to find that Nina had that potential and offered a scholarship worth half of the tuition fee at the school if someone agreed to sponsor the girl for the other half. The orphanage headmistress laughed at the prospect, but was surprised when Tereis of Haaskinz, a noblewoman and professor at the Great School appeared from nowhere and offered to sponsor the child.
Nina (vampire, 7HD) would have had a pretty good life at the Great School of Magic, if not for some unfortunate night when she met a charming noble who invited her for tea at his manor. Since then, Tereis has had no idea of where her daughter is and is searching hopelessly for her. Tereis has told Harald nothing about her ordeal In the wilderness, and conducts her searches in secret. Now, several years after Nina's disappearance, Tereis has almost lost all hope.
Tereis now spends her time researching magic. She found that deep in research she can sometimes forget all of her misfortunes. She aspires to become the new High Mistress of Air Elementalism, and her family's rise to Princedom could give her the edge she needs.
Friends & Foes
Most of the friends of Tereis are outside of Glantri. In the Principalities, she has only her brother as ally, who always backs her up in the Great School and social events. She sometimes shares with him her researches and discoveries, and he sometimes shares his (except for the Radiance). Tereis adores Harald's son Dominick, and encourages him not to listen to his mother Asadel but to go on in his own magical researches. Though Tereis dislikes her sister-in-law, they can hardly be counted as enemies.
When Tereis was young, she had bad competition with the "Fiery Duo" of the Great School of Magic, Lady Wilhelmine Vlaardoen and Lady Sinaria Verlien. She herself forgot about those foolish years, but the spiteful Flaemish nobles still dislike her a lot.
Among the member of the Secret Craft of Air Elementalism, Tereis held the Aendyrs in the highest regard. She especially adored Prince Volospin Aendyr for his efficient and powerful magic. But after the Great War, with the Aendyrs dead, Tereis found herself alone in the higher Circles of the Secret Craft, with the weaker non-noble member jealous and spiteful of her. Still, Tereis struggles to find the Fifth Circle and achieve High Mastery of the Craft.
Recently, Tereis has heard of a mysterious Alphatian mage who opened a magic school in Karameikos. She knows his name is Master Terari and that he is well-versed in all sorts of magic, especially air magic. She has sent one of her courier doves to him, but has since not gotten a response.
Most other Glantrian nobles treat Tereis as they would treat her brother, Prince Harald, who for better or for worse, prefers to be ignored.
Statistics & Style of Magic
19th-level magic-user (D&D), 15th-level mage (AD&D), Air Elementalist of the 4th Circle.
Str 8 Int18 Wis11 Dex 9 Con10 Cha14, AL N (D&D and AD&D).
Languages: Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Elvish (Erewan dialect), Wendar, Darokinian.
Skills: alternate magic, history (Glantri) , geography (Known World), survival (forest), astronomy (+1).
Tereis is a very accomplished wizardess and a devoted researcher. She has invented more than two dozen new spells throughout her career, most of which focus on travel and communication, as well demonstrate her obvious fascination with elemental air. She also knows quite a bit of combat spells that she found useful in her adventuring career.
"You haven't heard this from me, but that mage has been... 'around.' If you know what I mean..."
(Noussoir du Marais, embellishing on the truth)