Galaeron Nihmedu

Galaeron Nihmedu was an elf shadow adept and a minor noble of Evereska.

Description
Galaeron was tall and solidly built for a moon elf and had the pale skin and regal features common to his race. Two decades of serving as a Tomb Guard along the Desert Border South have left his face mildly rugged and weather-beaten.

Abilities
He was skilled in both hand-to-hand combat and sorcery, having attended both academies of the College of Magic and Arms.

Early Life
Galaeron was the son of the moon elf Aubric Nihmedu, the Blademajor of the Swords of Evereska and Lord of Treetop in Starmeadow Tower. His mother, a wood elf named Morgwais Nightmeadow, was the ruler of the Or-tel-quessir (wood elves) of the High Forest. Galaeron had a little sister named Keya, turquoise-haired and born in 1364 DR. A third sibling died in childbirth however, causing his mother to return to the High Forest in grief.

Shortly after this, Galaeron began to manifest magical abilities, including minor levitation, telekinesis and pyrotechnics. After seeking the advice of a wizard, Galaeron's father enrolled him in the Academy of Magic.

As he was a sorcerer, Galaeron was often reprimanded in the academies for doing things in an unusual (that is, not wizardly) way. After refusing to keep a spellbook, he was finally expelled from the Academy.

Aubric managed to arrange a transfer for Galaeron to the Academy of Arms, where his skill with the blade quickly developed to rival that of his magical prowess. Although he excelled at the Academy of Arms and even earned a top rank, Galaeron's discontent with authority learned in the Academy of Magic held him back.

Ultimately, through Lord Imesfor's intervention, Galaeron was granted a place in the Tomb Guard, a militia of Evereska that guarded the elven crypts in the area against (almost always human) thieves. Here his independent spirit was fostered and Galaeron was assigned to the Desert Border South (the land by Anauroch) as a patrol leader in the Tomb Guard.

There he served for twenty years. His life was made harder by Kiinyon Colbathin, Tomb Master and Master of the Defenses of Evereska, who for some reason felt scornful of him.

The Sharn Wall
On Nightal 20, the, Galaeron led his patrol into an ancient crypt housing seven Aryvandaaran nobles, high lords of the aggressive Vyshaan clan who had started the First Crown War, plunging the entire elven race into three thousand years of violent carnage. The patrol tracked down a band of Vaasan humans and followed them through a dwarven tunnel to where they were using a beholder to carve a path to the Sharn Wall, a shimmering, silver-colored magical barrier that imprisoned the phaerimm. The Vaasans were trying to locate Melegaunt Tanthul, an archwizard from the ancient Netherese city of Shade. The elves had a small skirmish with the crypt-breakers, and then Melegaunt himself appeared. Galaeron's and Melegaunt's magical bolts collided, creating an explosion that punctured a hole in the Sharn Wall. This freed the phaerimm, an ancient, malevolent, and powerful race that were imprisoned beneath Anauroch by a mysterious race known as the sharn after the collapse of Netheril.

Learning the Shadow Weave
The leader of the Vaasan band, Vala Thorsdotter, was loyal to Melegaunt through a debt made by her great grandfather, Bodvar. As more phaerimm escaped through the breach, they began gathering armies of bugbears, illithids, and beholders that they had enthralled through their mind magic. Melegaunt, Vala, and Galaeron went on a journey to stop the phaerimm, with Melegaunt leading the way but not telling them where they were going. On their journey, they were eventually accompanied by a little man named Malik el Sami yn Nasser and Aris, a stone giant priest whom Galaeron rescued from beholders serving the phaerimm. Along the way, Melegaunt took advantage of Galaeron's sorcery skills to teach him how to use the Shadow Weave, a mostly unknown source of magic controlled by Shar that was split from the Weave in ancient times when Karsus temporarily usurped Mystryl's power. It was also greatly effective against the otherwise-magic-resistant phaerimm.

A side effect to Galaeron's use of Shadow Weave magic was that he overindulged in it and came into conflict with his shadow self. This shadow was not an opposite, but an absence, and in Galaeron's case, it was the absence of kindness and loyalty. He slowly lost some of his emotional self-control and compassion and lost the ability to go into reverie, the elven method of deep meditation and subconscious connection with other elves, and instead had to sleep and have dreams like a human. For the first time in his life, Galaeron also felt jealousy (such as when he found his mother sitting in Elminster's lap while he clutched her behind). He also lost his ability to tap into the Weave and had to solely rely on the Shadow Weave for magic. While drawing energy from the Weave had felt somewhat like warmth coming into his body all at once, drawing upon the Shadow Weave to him felt as if a burst of coldness came up from the ground through his feet and into the body. Galaeron eventually became used to the coldness, however. Melegaunt continuously warned Galaeron to not use the magic so often, lest Galaeron be consumed by his shadow.

Melegaunt led his small entourage to the ruins of Karse in the High Forest. Keeping his true intent hidden, he only told his companions that in Karse there was something to defeat the phaerimm. In the temple of Karsus, Melegaunt was killed by the lich Wulgreth. As he died, he imparted all of his knowledge of the phaerimm into Galaeron's subconscious. He had also told him of his past: he was the Twelfth Prince of Shade, and his people were able to defeat the phaerimm.

Return of the Archwizards
On Hammer 1, the, Galaeron used the Karsestone (what was once Karsus's heart), the only source of "whole" magic left before it was split by Karsus, to create a gate that transported the ancient floating city of Shade from the Plane of Shadows back to Faerûn. "Hear me now, people of Shade. Follow me now, for the Return is at hand!"

With Melegaunt's knowledge stored in his mind, Galaeron became a valuable asset to the ruler of Shade, Telamont Tanthul. Ultimately, however, Galaeron had a falling out with the Most High, and with the help of Khelben Arunsun, Laeral Silverhand, Alustriel Silverhand, Dove Falconhand, Storm Silverhand, and Aris, Galaeron managed to rescue Vala from Prince Escanor and deal a major blow to Shade Enclave. Also, during his imprisonment by Telamont, Galaeron joined with his shadow, filling in the gaps of his character and making him more whole while still being able to keep his will as his own.

On Mirtul 21, Galaeron Nihmedu arrived in Cormyr, bringing evidence that the Shadovar were melting the High Ice and crippling the Heartlands.

When Galaeron arrived back in Evereska, he helped the high mages repair the mythal, which had been unraveled by a phaerimm SpellGather. This inadvertently added something new to the mythal: after the golden meteors descended to blast apart the phaerimm, streaks of shadow were left in their wake.

Due to his father's death while fighting the phaerimm, Galaeron inherited his lordship. For his great exploits, Galaeron was offered the position of Master of the Defenses by Lord Erlan Duirsar but he turned it down, choosing instead to travel with Vala to her home, the Granite Tower, in Vaasa, along with his spirit-deep mate, the wood elf Takari Moonsnow.

Appearances

 * Return of the Archwizards trilogy:
 * The Summoning (2001)
 * The Siege (2001)
 * The Sorcerer (2002)