Q'arlynd Melarn

Q'arlynd Melarn is a drow wizard. Originally from Ched Nasad, he is a capable battle mage and the only surviving member of House Melarn. Q'arlynd is introduced during the War of the Spider Queen series while helping his sister Halisstra Melarn and her companions, a group from Menzoberranzan, to escape the burning city of Ched Nasad as it collapsed from stonefire bombs used by the Duergar when they held the city under siege during the Silence of Lolth. He nearly died himself in the clutches of a iron golem that kept him from escaping through a portal to freedom with the others.

Appearance
Q'arlynd sports a slightly crooked nose due to a childhood lizard riding accident, which left it broken. In spite of this fact, he is still handsome enough to hold the attention of most females. His shoulder-length white hair is worn in a contingency clip which rests at the back of his neck. As a highly skilled battle mage and master of the College of Ancient Arcana Q'arlynd's style of dress is fitting for a Drow of his stature. This is made clear by several of his personal effects one for instance is his Piwafwi which is made from the blue-black fur of a Displacer beast. Another being the clear quartz crystal that hangs from his neck attached to a silver chain, which grants him the ability to see anything that has been disguised or rendered invisible by magical means. The only true affect from his past that he wears other than his crystal is a worn leather bracer on his wrist with an Adamantine disk in its center that has the insignia of House Melarn on it. Of all of his personal items Q'arlynd's most important is with him at all times. More often than not rendered magically invisible as a safety precaution Q'arlynd wears a Selu'Kiira on his forehead filled with the sentience of all of his ancestors that have worn the stone before him since before dark elves were branded Dhaerow and forced into the underdark. As a member of Eilistraee's faithful Q'arlynd bears a crescent shaped scar on his right palm from when he took his Sword Oath.

Personality
Q'arlynd, despite his education in Ched Nasad, could never be truly evil; he is unsure of the Surfacers when he first makes his way out of the Underdark, but begins to accept the goodness of Eilistraee. He is well aware of his good looks and charms and will use it when the occasion requires it, but his first and foremost love is for the arcane.

Magical Items
Q'arlynd possesses a unique form of spell book: his belt. The leather is inscribed with tiny runes, Q'arlynd's spells, which only become visible when viewed through his seeing crystal. Q'arlynd also possesses a set of master and slave rings. Anyone wearing the master ring will be able to both read the mind of and physically control anyone wearing the slave ring. Q'arlynd utilized his rings on his personal servant, Flinderspeld.

History
As the elder brother to Tellik Melarn, he grew up with Halisstra Melarn in House Melarn until he was sent to the Arcane Conservatory. There, he trained to become a battle mage. It is known that during his youth, he betrayed his brother to his mother, Matron Mother Drisinil Melarn, who sacrificed him to Lolth for being a secret worshipper of Vhaeraun.

He later aided the party from Menzoberranzan, which then included his sister and the battle-captive, Danifae Yauntyrr, escape Ched Nasad when it was destroyed by the Duergar rebellion during Silence of Lolth. He nearly died then in the clutches of a golem, but survived, to watch his home city fall into ruins.

Bereft of hope for House Melarn to rise again, he served House Teh'Kinrellz, a minor noble house for a while, working as a scavenger. Chance led him to the surface, where he eventually swore an oath to Eilistraee, although it was not entirely sincere. He later made his way to Sshamath, where he joined the College of Divination and sought patronage to start his own school, The College of Ancient Arcana. It was during this time that he learned the true purpose of faerzress and its origin, as well as his heritage; he was, in fact, not of the Ilythiiri, the elves who were active in the Crown Wars, but rather one of the Miyeritari, those who were wrongly forced to partake in The Descent. This meant that he did not have Wendonai's Taint within him, allowing him to use the Selu'kiira of his ancestors.

This discovery and Selu'kiira allowed him to achieve his two greatest accomplishments; he effectively destroyed Kiaransalee by erasing her name from all memories, even Kiaransalee herself's. With no worshippers, Kiaransalee could no longer maintain existence. He also transformed the Miyeritari back into who they once were, brown-skinned with black hair, true dark elves, and forever severing their ties to the faerzress and the Underdark. He now resides in Rhymanthiin, the City of Hope, along with his fellow transformed mages.

Accomplishments
Q’arlynd is notable for discovering the true purpose of the magical radiation faerzress: that it is a form of High Magic created by the victorious elves of the Crown Wars to bind the drow to the Underdark.

Q’arlynd has also discovered a way for drow to cast High Magic themselves. One High Magic ritual he devised erased the name Kiaransalee from every being's memories, banishing the goddess from Realmspace. Another was when he engineered (with the aid of Eilistraee) a ritual that transformed all drow not tainted by Wendonai's blood into brown-skinned dark elves.