Abdel Adrian

Abdel Adrian was an adventurer who traveled extensively across west Faerûn, thrice saving it from ruin during the mid–14 century, before becoming beloved politician and general in the city of Baldur's Gate. Due to his divine heritage as one of the mortal progenies of the dead god Bhaal, he lived for over a hundred years well into the late 15 century DR.

Names and Titles
Due to his many years and storied life, Abdel was known by many other names and held several noteworthy titles; among his nicknames was Gorion's Ward, the Hero of Baldur's Gate, and the Bhaalspawn. His titles included Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate and Marshal of the Flaming Fist.

Description
At almost 7 feet (2.13 m) in height, Abdel was an imposing figure. He had black hair and a severe look to his eyes.

His divine heritage lent to a more youthful look and physique than was had by most 130-year-old humans.

Personality
In his later years as a politician, Abdel often chose to listen rather than speak. His opinions carried significant weight and often suggested a course of moderation. While the Grand Duke was always one to spend time with Baldurian citizens whenever possible, he was prone to infrequent bouts of severe introspection. Despite this, he still managed to maintain his sense of humor.

Like other Bhaalspawn he felt the need for conflict to some degree.

Abilities
As a result of being one of the Bhaalspawn, Abdel gained a number of innate spell-like abilities during his early adventuring years. These were lost to him after some time, on the occasion when his divine soul was wrenched from his body.

Possessions
He preferred to wear rather plain clothing with little decoration or trinkets. He would oblige wearing the uniform of his office when parades were held in the city streets.

Early Life
Abdel was born in either the, or the , to a priestess of Bhaal named Alianna. She and the other Bhaalists sought to fulfill the god's intricate plan; he would circumvent his otherwise unavoidable death a decade later by using the souls of his slain children. Fortunately for them, this plan was thwarted by a group of Harpers, among whom served the mage Gorion. Alianna herself was slain by Gorion, and her baby was entrusted to his care.

Among the other Bhaalspawn were two individuals that would play significant roles in Abdel's life: the babe Imoen and the young child Sarevok. While Imoen was taken in by affable man Winthrop, Sarevok had to be left behind and grew up as an orphan.

From then on, Abdel lived a sheltered life as the foster child of Gorion within the library fortress of Candlekeep. He grew up alongside the lighthearted Imoen, whom he knew as a dear friend rather than a half-sibling.

In Mirtul of the, Gorion got word that the life of his foster son was in mortal danger. The sage sent word to his old contacts among the Harpers, including the wizened Elminster and his two trusted friends, Khalid and Jaheira. Soon after, Gorion and Abdel left hurriedly from Candlekeep in the dead of night but were waylaid by an armored figure and his allies. Seeing no way out, Gorion sacrificed himself to the attackers, to allow time for Abdel to flee.

Adventures on the Sword Coast
The next morning, Abdel was greeted by Imoen. She had earlier snuck into Gorion's chambers and read a private note that made her suspect trouble was on its way. Imoen snuck out of Candlekeep in an effort to come to their aid. As Gorion's last words instructed him to find Khalid and Jaheira, he went a ways north to find them at the Friendly Arm Inn.

Abdel sought answers about Gorion's death. He eventually came to learn about the reports of and bandit attacks that plagued the Sword Coast. Abdel traveled south to the Amnian town of Nashkel to investigate. He discovered that the iron mines were being tainted by kobolds led by a Cyricist cleric named Mulahey. Mulahey's correspondence led Abdel to an agent by the name of Tranzig in Beregost, who was himself a subordinate of the bandit leader Tazok. While following the trail, Abdel received some guidance from his father's acquaintance Elminster that pointed him northeast to the Wood of Sharp Teeth.

One of Sarevok's highest ranking agents, the half-ogre Tazok, was leading the bandits in stealing the small amounts of good iron. The iron was being brought in from the Sword Coast's mines and fueling the aggregations between Amn and Baldur's Gate. The companions arrived and routed the camp but Tazok was not found. However, a new lead sent them to the Cloakwood forest. There they found a secret mine where Sarevok was creating the small amount of good iron to be found on the Sword Coast. He was selling the iron to Baldur's Gate through his position as leader of the Iron Throne merchants and gaining renown within the city. The ward and their companions flooded out the secret mine, ending Sarevok's operation there.

Vengeance
In 1368 DR, Abdel gained work in Baldur's Gate on a caravan bound for Candlekeep, his childhood home, and was reunited with his adopted father, who asked Abdel to accompany him to the Friendly Arms Inn to gather some information. On the journey along the Coast Way, Gorion and Adbel were ambushed by a group of mercenaries that included Eagus and Kamon. During the battle, Abdel killed the mercenaries, but Gorion was hit in the eye by a crossbow bolt and died. Eventually he was joined by Gorion's married friends, Khalid and Jaheira, and over time falling for Jaheira. Eventually, Abdel and Jaheira engaged in a romance and Abdel killed Sarevok, thus completing his vengeance. Soon after, he returned to Candlekeep, only to be captured by Jon Irenicus.

On the Run
Although Adrian eventually escaped the grasp of Irenicus, he ended up being aided by Bodhi. Slowly, he began to fall in love with Bodhi, who had already fallen for him, with the two ending up on an adventure to stop Irenicus. Travelling with Bodhi, Abdel eventually acted on his feelings for her and the two had sex. However, before they were going to again consummate, Abdel transformed into the Bhaalspawn Slayer and murdered his love. After defeating Irenicus, Abdel resumed his romance with Jaheira and became embroiled in a conflict with the other Bhaalspawn. Travelling to Tethyr, Abdel defeated his half-siblings and proceeded to reject the Throne of Bhaal, choosing to keep Bhaal's essence trapped inside his body.

Later Life
After a relatively brief, peaceful stay at Candlekeep, Abdel returned to Baldur's Gate where he joined and rose meteorically through the ranks of the Flaming Fist, earning the position of Marshal after Grand Duke Valarken's coup resulted in the death of the Marshal at the time. For his actions during the coup, Abdel was also elected Grand Duke for life of Baldur's Gate. Beloved in the Lower and Outer Cities he serves both positions for decades due to his extended life as a Bhaalspawn. Around 1482 DR, on Returning Day, his half-brother Viekang engaged Adrian in a fight in the Wide of Baldur's Gate's Upper City. The fight's winner was the last surviving Bhaalspawn and transformed into The Slayer, heralding the resurrection of Bhaal, god of Murder.

Despite protests from those in the Lower and Outer City, Abdel had a somber funeral in the Upper City and his body was placed under High Hall, where those who claimed to love him most could not freely visit.

Traits and Abilities
Adrian was physically very strong. He had long dark hair and generally evoked awe in anyone who saw him; fear in opponents and desire in women. In spite of his very human weaknesses, it was often obvious to those seeing him that he was far greater than a normal mortal. He was an experienced mercenary and a fairly skilled if brutal fighter. His Bhaalspawn blood also gave him certain special abilities that allowed him to prevail even when he was otherwise outmatched in combat. After he found out about his true heritage, these seemed to grow in power. When he had been imprisoned by Jon Irenicus and tortured, he noticed his injuries healing at a rapid rate. This regeneration soon became veritably troll-like, so that even when he broke his spine it healed within moments. He also became able to draw on his divine blood in combat to defeat powerful creatures his mercenary's skill in battle was no match against. Eventually, he gained invulnerability to normal weapons. He was no tactician; he was quite impulsive and would usually just charge whatever he faced without thought. This obviously sometimes brought less than desirable results.

Adrian's personality was characterized by a struggle between the demands to be a hero and the temptation to give in to his inherent bloodlust and to other base urges. Even his love for those close to him was hard-pressed to fight against his darker side. He tried to follow Gorion's peaceful teachings, and after falling in love with Jaheira tried to turn a new leaf in his life and leave behind the amoral life of a killer for hire, but he never ceased to enjoy violence, and he was also forced to kill for money he sorely needed. He had a concept of honor, but he found it difficult to adhere to, and he wasn't interested in being a hero. On several occasions, events would drag him along with them, making him save the day completely without his consent. Sometimes his dark side would manifest itself completely without thought on his part, as befit his impulsiveness; at others, he would fight it with varying degrees of success. For example, he would often resort to violence without thinking about the implications, but when cheating on Jaheira with another woman, he was clearly aware that what he was doing was wrong and just could not resist the temptation.

Behind the scenes
Abdel Adrian corresponds to the protagonist in the Baldur's Gate Series of games, who was named by the player and could be of either gender and of almost any conventional race and class. The most notable difference between Adrian and this character is that Adrian was already an experienced mercenary when he got into a conflict with Sarevok, whereas the game protagonist was a 1st-level character still living in Candlekeep.

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast comes with a save file ("Mission-Pack-Save") that starts right out in the new area of Ulgoth's Beard with a ready-made party. The party's leader has been made to be a human fighter called Abdel with very high scores for all physical attributes and Charisma but very low Intelligence and Wisdom. Perhaps less appropriately, he also has gray skin, blue hair and Neutral Good alignment (despite working with NPCs such as Edwin Odesseiron and Viconia DeVir).

Appearances

 * Baldur's Gate
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal