Major Thandwë Paurgiliath
(Thandwë: S., lit. 'Shield Person')
Son of Thalion Paurgiliath Arch Duke of Eltán
Commander of the Ducal Guard of Duchy Eltán, which is the First Cohort of 'Eltán's Own' First Legion of the Paurgiliath Peacekeepers.
Owner of two pieces of the Arm of Valor, the first won in battle, the second a gift from his half-sister Laurin Paurgiliath.
Studies security theory and practice under Ser Barristan the Bold, commiserates about the difficulties of protecting uncooperative principals.
P L7 CG Harnic High Elf
Character History
Natural son of Thalion Paurgiliath and a merry widow lady of the Harnic Elven nobility long before Thalion inherited the Duchy, he recieved good parenting on both sides. Accustomed to court from an early age, he trained vigorously, and shared Thalion's tremendously sincere, but happy-go-lucky devoutness towards Eru and the Valar.
His patron is Orome, and he always loved to ride out hunting, with hawk or hounds. His maternal grandfather passed when he was 82, leaving the young paladin a griffin (now long passed) and his Sword of Sharpness. Unsurprisingly, Thandwë began to roam further afield on errantry.
In a nearby village, he found that a group of ogres had somehow been breaking into defended towers and homesteads, with tragic results. He hunted them for some time, eventually confronting them outside their waterfall lair. His sword removed the leader's arm at the shoulder, and he and his griffin dispatched the rest of the group in a fierce battle.
The ogre leader's body had fallen into the waterfall, but the severed arm sank in less than a foot of water, laying on the stones of the streambed, as if the water were air. When he fished it out, he was surprised to discover that in addition to the poorly cured leather and fur armor, the ogre had been wearing a beautiful Couter (elbow) of Elven Plate, but not like anything made by Harnic Elves. It seemed to have been sized to the ogre, but when removed it shrank to his size.
Doing research through the Church of Eru, he eventually learned that it was a part of a whole arm; a defensive near artifact from another world.
Before his 200th birthday he had risen to command a cohort of Peacekeeper Cavalry, and Thalion picked him as the commander of the Ducal Guard (1st Legion, 1st cohort, Peacekeepers) when he inherited the title. The Ducal Guard traditionally functions as a warband of heavy cavalry, if Thalion rides personally into combat.
Thandwë has been studying under Ser Barristan more recently, and has added an auxilliary century of Protective Specialists of different sorts to the cohort. He requires all members to be double trained in mounted archery along with lance and sword.
Passing through Peacekeeper HQ one day his Couter began glowing bright blue, as did the matching vambrace, which was being worn by a scarred tiny half-elven teenager. She turned out to be his half sister, Laurin Paurgiliath, a young diviner with the Support Legion. The ensuing conversation resulted in friendship and mutual respect.
He helped her career along as he could, making introductions, and finding her a Pearl of Power that let her cast clairivoyance more often and get a side job for the new Signal Company, remotely inspecting towers when signal broke down to determine appropriate response. She did more research on the arm through the Order Magica. One year for his birthday she gave him the Vambrace to match his Couter, and they began tentative plans to seek out the rest of the arm.
Arm Of Valor
–Adamantine Couter:(a winged, hinged elbow-covering)
- Dimension Door once/turn
- Airy Water (creates airy water automatically around wearer, whenever being is submerged)
- Wearer can see dweomers within 30' and distinguish between spell areas of effect, enchanted beings, and permanent magical auras.
If worn with any other part of 'The Arm of Valor', they additionally give:
- Immunity from all polymorph attacks
- All system shock rolls automatically successful
- Immunity from magical fear
- A bonus of +1 on all saving throws.
lf Gauntlet, Vambrace, and Couter Worn Together:
- Dispel magic (90' range, 90-degree-arc ray, once per turn)
- Magic missile (5 missiles, ld4+1 points of damage each, one missile from each digit of gauntlet, one unleashment per turn, of all five missiles in the same round)
- Immunity from petrification
–Adamantine Vambrace:(tubular covering for the forearm)
- Feather fall at will
- Jump once per turn (ranges as spell, but safe landing guaranteed)
- All weapons wielded solely by the arm wearing the vambrace strike at +1 damage
- Immunity to ESP spells, spell-like powers, and psionics
- Wearer can see invisible beings and objects (30' range)
- The rerebrace and vambrace each contain small (4“ x 6” x 2“ deep) storage compartments that latch shut, and are shielded against magical scrying.
If worn with any other part of 'The Arm of Valor', they additionally give:
- Immunity from all polymorph attacks
- All system shock rolls automatically successful
- Immunity from magical fear
- A bonus of +1 on all saving throws.
lf Gauntlet, Vambrace, and Couter Worn Together:
- Dispel magic (90' range, 90-degree-arc ray, once per turn)
- Magic missile (5 missiles, ld4+1 points of damage each, one missile from each digit of gauntlet, one unleashment per turn, of all five missiles in the same round)
- Immunity from petrification
Sword of Sharpness
This weapon is treated as +3 or better for purposes of who or what can be hit by it, even though it gets only a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. Its power is great, however, for on a very high attack roll, it will sever an extremity—arm, leg, neck, tail, tentacle, whatever (but not head) determined by random dice roll:
Modified score
Opponent is / to sever
- normal/armored: 19-21
- larger than mansized: 20-21
- Solid metal or stone: 21
(Considering only the sword's bonus of +1.)
A sword of sharpness will respond to its wielder's desire with respect to the light it sheds—none, a 5-foot circle of dim illumination, a 15-foot light, or a 30-foot radius glow equal to a light spell.
Copyright 1999 TSR Inc.
