History:

          Orphaned as a child, Teclis grew up in a temple dedicated to Athenea, the elven goddess of knowledge and magic. This upbringing instilled in him a passion for the magical arts. This passion grew when he moved to the Bael Selemar's Arcanus College of Magical Arts. He threw himself into his studies with what other scholars referred to as an obsession. Reading books and memorizing spells at an alarming rate, Teclis found a branch of magic that the College forsook: that of the Dark Arts.

          While he studied the Dark Arts in secret to avoid expulsion from the College, Teclis' attention was drawn to a young adept studying at the school.  At 150, he was recently awarded the status of teacher and was startled to discover a student who shared so much of his own passions. Her name was Alanya Kersal, almost fifty years younger than Teclis himself, but he found her a delightful woman and, for someone who did not socialize, he found himself opening up to her. They began to spend more and more time with each other, and before long, Teclis began the elven courtship of young Alanya.

          Part of the courtship ritual involved the sharing of secrets. To be completely honest with his wife-to-be, Teclis confided in her his pursuit of the Dark Arts as a purely scholarly pursuit. While wary of his decision to study this form of magic, Alanya accepted him and kept her secret. She even went so far as to assist him in some of his less-dangerous experiments.

          Before the courtship ritual was completed, however, one of Teclis' experiments went awry and destroyed almost an entire wing of the College in addition to releasing dark spirits upon Bael Selemar. In the chaos, Alanya was killed and Teclis lost his arm. Driven to near madness by his explosive failure and the loss of his wife, Teclis resurrected Alanya as a Jiang-Si, an animated corpse, using his own blood to write the talisman necessary to bring her to 'life'. He then turned his attention to aid the mages of Arcanus to destroy the demons he had unleashed.

          Once the beasts were rounded up and destroyed, the High Elves turned to Teclis for retribution but he slipped away from the city before the authorities caught him. Taking what books and tools he could, as well as Alanya, he fled into the countryside. Once he was sure of his safety, Teclis re-grew his lost arm from a combination of spells he knew, unaware of a parasitic demon that had attached itself to him during the fighting in Bael Selemar. The demon corrupted the arm but was too engrained in Teclis' essence that he could do nothing to expel it.

          From then forward Teclis became a wandering mage, his health declining in response to the tainted curse of the demon within him and the guilt of what he had done. Teclis was no fool, however, and did not allow pity for himself. He resumed his studies in pursuit of a way to purge himself and bring Alanya fully back to life. His last attempt to resurrect her called her spirit back from the Afterlife, but her soul, the embodiment of her memories and personality, remained elusive. The talisman animating her body was replaced with a symbol etched into her chest, binding spirit to body. Teclis now had a companion with the innocence and naiveté of a child trapped within the body of a corpse. As they traveled, Teclis educated her but was painfully aware that she was not and would never be his Alanya again unless his mission was completed.

          Teclis remains a traveling mage, embittered by his experiences, but devoted to his pursuit of knowledge and the methods by which to repair his mistakes.

          In the contemporary world, Teclis is a strange college professor hailing from Bael Selemar whose past, as well as that of his odd assistant, is a mystery. Furthermore, no records of his employment are kept by the college offices. Why he is teaching a class on developing magic amongst those with talent is for him alone to know.

Commentary:

          Teclis was born around the same time Eldamri was and was based on a High Elf mage in the Warhammer miniatures game. At the time, he had no true past, and I was forced to recreate his character as I wrote this page.

          Teclis appealed to me as a fallen hero type of character. He is essentially good, but his past is questionable. His intentions are selfish and he is normally a bitter, imposing man, but that's his appeal. In the wake of his search for answers, he's done as much good as he has evil, and so even I can't be sure if, ultimately, Teclis is a hero or a villain.