The Planar Orphan

Playing God

Eladrin of the Feywild are an enigmatic people. With a natural detachment from events that occur on the material plane, these creatures can seem heartless and uncaring. However those that have the privilege to call an Eladrin friend know the true extent of their love and compassion. Five hundred years ago, the Eladrin now known as Loch was sentenced to death for unspeakable crimes. Fleeing to the material plane, Loch has continued his lifelong experiments in hiding. After hundreds of years of experimenting with planar magic, the Eladrin wizard finally nears his goal – a creature merged with the essence of both the Feywild and the Shadowfell. Driven by his insane thirst for knowledge and complete indifference to the fate of the planes, Loch’s wild experiments threaten to destroy the world, the Feywild and the Shadowfell. Only a group of the greatest heroes could hope to thwart this epic threat.

Troubles of the Mislaid Forest

Dark noises echo along the wind, and nightmarish shadows race through the trees just out of sight. While ghostly lights float through branches and crystalline pools appear out of nowhere, surrounded by lush grass and exotic flowers. Within the Mislaid Forest the veil between worlds is thin, people wandering through these woods can unknowingly enter the Shadowfell, Feywild and return to the material plane within a matter of minutes. Those gifted with luck will return home with nothing but tales of wondrous visions or frightening encounters. Mostly those foolish enough to venture into the labyrinthine woods of the Mislaid Forest return diseased by the Shadowfell or bewildered and permanently confused by the Feywild, with many people never returning at all. With its fabled history and constant looming presence, the Halfling farmers and Humans that live nearest to these haunted woods never venture close enough to fall prey to the cursed area. History states that these woods were not always such a treacherous place, records of the area tell of a grand Eladrin city that appeared during the summer months. Families and people of the nearer towns were welcomed by the Eladrin to enter their amazing city and explore the many wonders and unbelievable gardens that lay within. Trade was abundant with the farmers of the Halfling village of Coote, trading their crops for exotic fruits of the Feywild and the Humans of Fawnhaven trading their wares for Eladrin crafted items. Nearly two hundred years ago the Eladrin city simply did not appear on the summer solstice and has not been seen since. Over that time the forest has become increasingly dangerous and disorientating. In recent years the curse of the Mislaid Forest has been seeping past the borders of its trees and affecting the people of Coote and Fawnhaven. People awaken without a single memory of their life before that morning, animals and crops suddenly take ill with incurable diseases and die within days, people disappear from there homes without a trace and inexplicable creatures harry travelers that pass too close to the ghostly forest. The people of the area are beginning to call for brave and powerful adventurers to help them restore the peace that once existed.

Loch, the Corrupter

Dark violet orbs stare inquisitively from within a serene and unemotional face, long willowy stark white hair flows freely down the back of the Eladrin wizard called Loch. Gaunt arms end in curved and bony fingers that hold the precision of a long life of spell casting. Dressed in the finest of Eladrin cloth that is marked with the stains and tares of someone who cares little of their appearance, Loch is tall and bony even for one of his race.

Born with an innate and unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the how of things, Loch was a quizzical child who often questioned the answers that were given to him. Taking to magic as more of an experiment than a desire, the ancient wizard found himself far more adept at the arcane arts than the rest of his magically imbued race. For years the ever-curious Eladrin conducted tests with forbidden spells and magic, to simply discover the reasons of their banishment for himself. Upon one fateful day the wizard cast a spell that unleashed a plague upon his people, killing hundreds. For this crime he was sentenced to death, a ruling Loch would not accept for the simple fact he believed his whimsical work was yet to be complete. Without concern for his own life or anybody else’s, Loch fled from the Feywild and found sanctuary within the material plane. This initial use of planar magic intrigued Loch, and thus his experiments within the Mislaid Forest began. As the wizard felt his life coming to an end, he used the dark magic of the Shadowfell to prolong it inevitably, this spell was the one that tore a hole between the Shadowfell and the world. As a mortal Loch had spent his life unconnected to the events and people around him, completely void of emotions, but with his new found immortality, Loch grew more and more removed from reality and the consequences of his magical experiments.

Over the past two hundred years, Loch’s spells and abilities have exponentially grown. Using a perverted mix of shadow and fey magic, the wizard lairs within the thin veiled void between the three realms. Intruders, wanderers and monsters from any of the three planes are confronted by a large amount of magical traps that are created to confuse and sicken the target; these unfortunate souls are then captured and experimented on until their bodies fail. Loch’s long life and constant magic use has made him a dire threat to any but the most epic of adventurers. However the threat presented by his favoured experiment is far greater.

The Orphan

Once an orphaned Halfling child, the now nameless boy has no recollection of a life or existence outside of the planar void within which he now lives. The longest surviving creature of Loch’s twisted tests and experiments, the child’s body is almost entirely covered in scars and markings. A featureless face is void of mouth nose or ears. Yet eyes of pure swirling colour stare out, horrifyingly void of emotion or intentions. A small amount of tattered cloth that covers the young boy is all that is left of the clothes he wore when he first entered Loch’s realm.

Through a unique resistance to magic, the child’s body has managed to survive and adapt to the magical torture that he has undergone, however the conscious mind of the boy deteriorated long ago. What is left is a vessel that carries immense amounts of raw magic from the Shadowfell, Feywild and the material plane. As the Eladrin wizard continues his maniacal experiments on the Orphan, the countless spells and planar magic have merged together to form a sentient entity within the boy; born of the essence of all three planes. As the Orphan continues to grow in sentience and power it will eventually no longer need Loch to empower it, from there the Orphan will develop it’s own agenda as it harvests mana and power to sustain itself. Nearing demigod status through shear power alone, the Orphan will begin merging the material plane with both the Shadowfell and Feywild in image of itself and the only home it knows. The result of such a cataclysmic event would destroy many kingdoms and countless lives, leaving behind a twisted world of unnatural creatures and covered in volatile landscapes.