Caalenfaire

Caalenfaire was a powerful elven diviner of ancient Myth Drannor obsessed with knowledge of the secrets of past and the future who unwillingly became undead bound to one of the vaults inside the Speculum. He guided the heroes from Phlan, the Veiled Ones, on their quest to stop the nefarious plans of the Cult of the Dragon in 1369 DR.

"Now watch, the omens change, watch them, Volun, they pirouette."

- Caalenfaire

Personality
In his undead state, Caalenfaire was compulsively divining the past and future with the knowledge being his only goal and interest. He often allowed his familiar and assistant Volun to communicate with extremely rare visitors of the undead elf. When Caalenfaire was attempting to speak to others directly, his speech was disjointed as if his perception was splintered between his visions, possibilities, past, and the future.

Abilities
Caalenfaire was a powerful arcane spellcaster but focused every single bit of his magic on divination. His enchanted divination bowl was his trusted mirror into the unknown. Like other riches of the ruined City of Song, Caalenfaire possessed the ability called the baelnorn teleprojection which he used to appear sitting on his throne up the stairs of the main Speculum hall along with the loyal floating skull familiar.

Possessions
It was unknown how much of his mortal possessions he still owned in undeath. Most notably he still owned his throne, his divination bowl, and his familiar, a floating skull Volun, who was his rival in life.

History
Caalenfaire was a mortal a long time before the advent of the Weeping War in Myth Drannor. Caalenfaire's relentless drive for arcane secrets of time was bordering on obsession, something that both, earned him respect and admiration, as well as fear. He spent centuries honing his arcane abilities and his skills as a diviner. This lust for power eventually drove him to his baelnorn transformation. He remained bound to his vault chambers deep within Myth Drannor's Speculum, obsessively trying to pierce the veil for centuries that followed. With passing years, Caalenfaire's reasons for searching the hidden knowledge faded away leaving behind only the compulsion.

By 1369 DR, Caalenfaire still resided within the Speculum which was closed off from the rest of the ruins due to the destruction of the Weeping War. He continued peering into the future, no longer knowing why he was doing it. The undead elf came across a song with one of his divinations, a lengthy prophecy in a ballad form, the Song of Faerûn performed by the person only known as the Bard of Kara-Tur that told of the story of Faerun's past, present, and future. The song revealed itself to Caalenfaire in verses that changed and were added as the events of the world transpired. One verse foretold the upheaval in Myth Drannor caused by the occupying forces of the Cult of the Dragon, led by a dead alliance between a Cult's Sorceress Kya Mordrayn and a red dragon turned dracolich, Pelendralaar. Together they led the Cult to the ruins of Myth Drannor, imprisoned the ancient keeper of the mythal, baelnorn Miroden Silverblade. They damaged and corrupted the mythal making it slowly transform the Cultists into draconic shape, the "scarred ones". The song informed Caalenfaire that the cult's endgame was immersing Pelendralaar into the city's pool of radiance, corrupting the weave itself in the process and conquering the cities of the Moonsea region that once before almost fell to the corrupted pools.

Caalenfaire foresaw the coming of the heroes from Plan that were to stoop the evil of the cult. But something interfered with his view of the events to be, they changed, the heroes diverted from the Path, becoming the Veiled Ones, untraceable by divination, shrouded by uncertainty. The heroes of Phlan fought their way through the Dwarven Dungeons and restored the ancient dwarven elevator device, the Rhonglyn which took them to the Speculum. Trying to put the timeline into order, Caalenfaire and Volun told the Veiled Ones to search for allies that would help them restore the mythal and stop the cult. The allies were Odelinde the Golden Serpent, Dwarf Lord Harldain Ironbar, and the Sisters of Silver Fire.

The guidance of Caalenfaire's teleprojection gave the undead some certainty that the Path was to be restored, even though the heroes' present and future were veiled from his sight. Eventually, his help aided the Veiled Ones in defeating the Cult, sending Kya Mordrayn to the Abyss, destroying the dracolich (unbeknownst to the Veiled Ones, another group of adventurers aided them in this by destroying Pelendralaar's phylactery), and restoring the mythal by creating the new gem of the weave and giving it the new guardian, Anorrweyn Evensong.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (novel)
 * Video Games
 * Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor