Feldran Exeltis

Feldran Exeltis was the scion of the Exeltis noble family of Baldur's Gate that made their fortune making a fanciful Exeltis Ice Wine. Feldran's stint as the head of the family ended in 1372 DR.

"Feldran is a smooth-talking weasel!"

- One of Sir Griswald's knights

Description
Feldran appeared to be a well-groomed youth with perfectly cut and styled hair. He wore the finest silk garb, the height of Waterdhavian fashion. Even his long fingernails were perfectly manicured and polished. Ne never lest home without applying rosewater perfume.

Personality
Feldran had a narcissistic and abrasive personality while being charismatic and persuasive. He considered his foe, Sir Griswald, to be a blustering barbarian. In himself and his actions, Feldran saw no wrongdoings, thinking himself to be a true noble and an honorable knight.

Possessions
Feldran was usually armed with several enchanted items. He carried a potion of speed, the family heirloom – Exeltis Blade, and a powerful +2 magic rapier. He was also known to wear a nymph cloak and a pair of gloves of discipline that he kept in his room of the caste.

He carried a scented white lace handkerchief to protect his delicate senses from the foul-smelling rabble.

History
A couple of decades before 1372 DR, Lord Exeltis, Feldran's father, was the head of the House Exeltis. He was maintaining the family's wine-making business in the family estate – Castle Exeltis on the Blade Cliffs southwest of Daggerford. When Lord's health became frail due to disease or old age, he passed the cherished family heirloom – Exeltis Blade, to Feldran, a mere child at the time. The Lord demanded a promise from his son to defend his mother, Lady Exeltis, with his life.

With years passing, Feldran Exeltis grew up to be a wild and cruel man. One night, the young Lord accompanied his aging mother, Lady Exeltis, on her late-night stroll along the beautiful Blade Cliffs. Feldran, evidently, forgot the promise he gave his dying father and used the Exeltis Blade to cut his mother's life short. And her body was tossed to the bottom of the cliff. The Lordling claimed it was an accident, and he rose to the position of the head of the family with no contest.

The only person who openly blamed the Lordling for Lady Exeltis' death was her loyal chambermaid of thirty-seven years – Olree. The old woman knew the accident was a lie. However, no one cared for her lowly opinion, and Feldran threw her out of the castle – the only home Olree ever knew. The woman spent her golden years fishing at the bottom of the Blade Cliffs and taking care of Lady Exeltis' memorial built where her body fell.

By the, Castle Exeltis was in disrepair, and the family fortune was squandered away on lavish purchases and senseless gambling by Feldran. His managing of the family resources led to an almost complete halt of Exeltis Ice Wine production, making the bottles that were still out there a precious rarity. The financial situation became so dreary that Feldran took several sizable loans from dubious moneylenders from Waterdeep. In the winter of 1371 DR, Feldran met a young enigmatic young woman who had recently arrived in the city of Baldur's Gate. She claimed to be Princess Soliana from the distant land of Fanloc. Feldran decided to seduce the naive woman while his old enemy Sir Griswald fell wildly in love with Soliana.

In reality, Soliana was a naive and romantic young woman, not a princess but the adopted daughter of the Green Hag of Lizard Marsh. Searching for a grand fairytale romance, Soliana created a story for herself and of her distant wealth and nobility. Several nobles quickly found themselves fascinated with the "princess" competing for her hand in marriage. Feldran tricked Griswald into venturing away from the Gate and quickly swept in and convinced the gullible young woman that Sir Griswald abandoned her for the Moonshae Isles. After convincing his unwitting paramour to join him in the Exeltis' family estate, Feldran hired The Agency of Cartographic Investigations', Waterdeep branch to look into the so-called Kingdom of Fanloc from whence Soliana claimed to have arrived from. The Agency was to determine the wealth of the kingdom, and the organization spent several months scouring the Realms in search of the mysterious unknown land.

It was clear that the Lordling wanted nothing but wealth from his new paramour. He thought her to be his possession, a crown jewel in his vault. Nothing more than a pretty face to make fellow nobles of Baldur's Gate jealous of his prize.

Soliana became unknowingly imprisoned in Castle Exeltis. When Sir Griswald discovered his beloved gone, he assembled his family's mercenaries and laid siege on the castle. However, his forces could not cross the cliffside moat. Young Exeltis informed Griswald that Soliana loved him no more and did not wish to see him. The honorable knight refused to believe the outrageous lie and demanded "princess" to tell it to his face. Desperate for help and growing overwhelmed with despair, Griswald sent his page to fetch a hero who was recently gifted holdings in the nearby town of Liam's Hold.

Soliana fell in love with Griswald in the spring of Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, but with his perceived abandonment, she gave into young Exeltis' affections. Soliana did not realize she was in captivity as she trusted Feldran because of his wealth, education, and promise to teach her to be truly noble, like in the fairytales her hag mother told her. When Sir Griswald started the siege, Feldran Exeltis announced that a monstrous barbarian horde was outside the castle moat and locked the "princess" in her tower "for her own safety."

Sir Griswald implored the Hero of Daggerford to sneak into the impregnable castle and lower the drawbridge, allowing the Griswald Knights to storm the stronghold. Even though it was unknown if the Hero was successful, some stories claimed that he managed to sneak inside the castle through old sewer cavers underneath the cliffside castle with the help of old Olree. If that were true, Sir Griswald was sure to have had confronted the Exeltis lordling putting an end to his life, and reuniting with his beloved.

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford