Girls of Primal Power, IV

Here's Shallahai on the left, and Chaedi on the right. Shallahai is a Wilden Life Warden, Chaedi a Wood Elf Protecting Seeker. Both these characters were inspired by Dragon Age Origins - Shallahai is based on the Lady of the Forest, while Chaedi reflects the look of the Dalish elves...

(I enjoyed all the Origins, but the Dalish one was the best. It's melancholy but poignant. Only one guy dies, and when you have to leave your people, it's with their gifts and well-wishes. It's by far the least emo of all the Origins, and as a result my Dalish Warden was an emotionally healthy and well-adjusted lass. She even fell in love with a human!)


"A wall strong in numbers
Burns the midnight candle
The brave arm in arm
Stands before them now
Up against the wind...
Old ways up against the wind...

The game is in our hands
Calling out the colors
Togetherness, our courage
Recognize the power
Make a stand before them
Old ways follow the beaten track
Against the wind...

Defying their leaders
Holding out for free will
The strong dare to echo:
'Nothing can stop us now!'
Up against the wind
Old ways up against the wind..."

Maire Brennan; 'Against the Wind'

Most dryads are not very aggressive or martial, even those who leave their trees for some service to the Primal spirits. Those who do become adventurers tend to be druids or (more often) World Spirit Shamans.

But Shallahai is remarkably intense for her kind. The killoren are recent seedlings of the Primal self, birthed in these last days to serve as nature's wrath. A dryad who is reborn as one of these faey may assume different aspects of the seasons - fresh saplings in Spring, vibrant greens in Summer, autumnal browns in Fall, and icy thorns in Winter. They shift between these forms to best suit the environment, and the situation they find themselves in. Most dryads keep to sylvan places, but the killoren may roam the world to fight the rising menace of the Far Realm.

Shallahai was a peaceful tree-daughter, until the coming of the hordes under Drazen's banners. Panic spread through the ancient woods, knowing the maurauders carried torches to set the forest ablaze. With no other way to save the treemaids, the old oaks forcibly rejected them from their hosts. At least they could outrun the blaze that would soon engulf the ancient copses and glades.

But the Rite of Parting is immeasurably painful, and Shallahai was soul-wounded when seperated from her tree. So hurt was she that she did not take the Rite of Joining with her sisters in a new forest. She accepted the Rite of Rebirth, becoming a killoren (called 'wilden' by the human tribes), better to carry the fight to her enemies.

No longer a sweet and peaceful forest spirit, Shallahai is now vengeful and filled with anger at the despoiling of the world. Taking up an old bronze khopesh sword she found amidst the ruins of her glen, she now bears arms against the enemies of nature.

As a Life Warden, she protects, restores, defends and heals, a 'paladin of nature'. She has already lost her home to the depredations of evil, and will not allow that to happen again. She has become strangely merciless, nourishing the ground with the blood of her enemies, be they horde minions like orcs, or aberrations, or evil men. Somewhere deep within, she hopes she will some day find peace and return to the woods. But in her heart, she fears she has come to enjoy the bloodshed, and the killing will never end...

More plant than mortal woman, Shallahai is a typical dryad, with her forest-green skin and leafy hair. Her body grows bark and tough skin when needed to serve as armour or protection from the elements, but she mostly walks sky-clad. As a warden, she is a grim defender of natural sites and tribal peoples. She takes on 'stances' of various trees, such as the Rowan Sentinel or Autumn Reaper, to batter down her foes.


"As I journey through this blessed land...
The signs and wonders are clear to me...
Streams of silver, streams of gold
How much longer will they flow?

Watch the seasons change with every year...
With disappearing skies, the earth will fade...
Trees so tall and proud, forests so grand...
How much longer will they stand?

Raindrops falling, everything breathes...
Hear the voices of the land..."

Maire Brennan, 'Voices of the Land'

Chaedi is a Seeker, a mystical archer who commands the spirits. Her profession is quite common for wood elves, as the sylvan folk excel at both archery and nature magic. As a Protecting Seeker, she employs both physical strength and force of will. Tall with a lissom, muscular grace, she is a classic example of a wood elf beauty.

While the eladrin high elves stayed in their ancient towers in the Feywild, the wood elves and dark elves ventured to the mortal lands in centuries past. While the drow built temples in the deep jungles of warm lands, and their decadent culture was ultimately driven into the Underdark, the sylvan elves stayed in the temperate forests of cooler lands.

They seldom ever visit the cities of men, but they trade frequently with their high elf cousins, shifters or tribal humans. Wood elf settlements often guard the entry portals to the faey realm and eladrin cities.

Shunning the elaborate fashions of the high folk, the wood elves enjoy their closeness to nature. They practise henna tattooing, body piercing and ritual scarification, and prefer to wear few clothes. Among their own kind, they like to wear nothing at all, or just warpaint. A sylvan elf can express her artistic side and her mood with the dyes and paint she uses at any time. This decoration is known as the 'vallaslin' or 'blood-writing'.

As a Seeker, Chaedi is somewhere between shaman and huntress, invoking the spirits with her weapon attacks. She employs the classic elven archery skills, as well as melee or thrown attacks with light, deft weapons like javelins. She enjoys the hunt, be it animals or foes. Woodland creatures she merely 'counts coup' with a tap of her finger; orcs and their kin get an arrow in the head or a spear in the gut, of course.

Aside from this, she is a cheerful soul, who counters the serious demeanour of her dryad companion. She tries to convinces Shalla that the world can still be beautiful, and reminds her what they are fighting for.

Chaedi is a natural choice to join Keira's crusade, as she is very comfortable around humans, and not only tribal ones. A few decades ago, she ventured into a human city and fell in love with a human woman. She learned much about the ways of settled folk, though she ultimately chose to return to the woods following the death of her lover.


Shallahai, Wilden Life Warden
Alignment: Neutral
Str 18, Int 11, Wis 19, Dex 16, Con 14, Chr 16
Paragon Path: Verdant Lord
Skills: Nature, Athletics, Heal, Perception
Items: Bronze Khopesh, Darkleaf Shield, Barkskin Armour

Chaedi, Wood Elf Protecting Seeker
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Str 16, Int 14, Wis 20, Dex 16, Con 16, Chr 14
Paragon Path: Swift Strider
Epic Destiny: Master of the Eternal Hunt
Skills: Nature, Perception, Heal, Insight
Items: Wood Elf Longbow, throwing spears/javelins, chamois leather thong