Chronicler Adelyn

There is a secret society pervading every strata of Teleria. It self-identifies by varying names under varying contexts: the Vault Keepers, Keys of the Arbiter, the Fellowship of the Golden Prism, and others. Though they operate with different name schemes, labyrinthine practices, and intricate codes, their purpose is absolute: protect the Shards, the ultimate weapons of the Arbiter. Adelyn was scouted as a possible Vault Keeper as a child prodigy in the knowledge of history, magic, and the sciences. She was so notable for her intelligence that she was invited to the great archives of the King of Kaerok to study, and given nigh-unrestricted access. Her voracious curiosity led her into the archives’ most secure areas. Unknown to her, Vault Keepers, in the guise of the King’s official archivists, guarded more than the King himself was aware of: a cache of precious Shards, shielded by security nested inside security within one of the most protected places on Teleria. Adelyn heard the disguised Vault Keepers making extremely obtuse references to a secret of some kind using a verbal cipher, and became fascinated. She did not recognize the gravity of what she was toying with. Adelyn could not resist slipping in a bit of Keeper-cant in front of them, to let them know she was on to their ways. The Vault Keepers were stunned that someone appeared to have deciphered part of their code, and realized Adelyn was either a grave threat, or potentially a valuable ally. To determine which, the Vault Keepers scheduled a meeting late at night long after the archive was officially shut, knowing Adelyn would attempt to spy on their gathering. When she did, half a dozen robed emissaries emerged from the shadows and surrounded her, and explained in grave terms that she was trespassing on a powerful mystic secret. Adelyn would not be dissuaded from the answers she wanted. The Vault Keepers offered judgment before their leader to her, so Adelyn accepted a blindfold and followed them. She could never have expected to see the golden radiance of the Arbiter when the cover over her eyes was removed. The Arbiter declared Adelyn needed time and discipline to mature, but showed admirable initiative. She promised that Adelyn could satisfy her every last curiosity as a Vault Keeper in the role of a Chronicler: one whose sacred mission was to constantly scour the world for lost Shards, as well as those worthy of being housed in one. The Shards, the Arbiter admitted, were Teleria’s best hope to survive. Adelyn had heard of the Shards in her tremendous erudition but, suddenly, their tangible reality and true importance struck home. She cried aloud that she had been born to be a Chronicler — she could feel it in her soul. Though yet young, she eagerly and proudly made a firm, lifelong choice. Adelyn flourished under the Vault Keepers’ guidance. When ready, she began the duties of a Chronicler following leads on lost Shards or untapped Shard caches. Her clues were supplied at first by other Keepers but soon by Adelyn’s own discoveries. It was Adelyn’s flash of insight that discerned amid the Lizardmen cycle of funerary chants, the Thousand Fallen Scales’ Lament, a coded message as to the burial cache of a number of Shards containing heroic Lizardman souls. Clues to further stashes led her through the Lost Isles by ship, where she investigated overgrown crypts and sea-lashed grottoes. Amid the ruins she discovered depictions of a Shard sealed within a statue, but the statue was missing. Adelyn tracked it to Velyzar where it adorned the mansion of a wealthy prize-fighter. Adelyn, through guile and manipulation, arranged for the statue to be stolen and replaced with a replica, so that the Shard within the real statue could be secured. Chronicler Adelyn became the talk of the Vault Keepers. Her ability to put the most wild beings to sleep made it easy for her to slink past guards, escape enemy patrols, or incapacitate those destined for a future within a Shard. Should a mission require it, Adelyn is also reported to be unquestionably lethal. To assist her investigations she was given — or found and kept for herself – many magical trinkets relevant to her pursuits. Her quill and tome are enchanted to move on their own and transcribe to text the observations Adelyn makes. If a blank page is exposed to a scene or an object, the tome can be commanded to create a perfect sketch of it. The eyepiece adorning her face is no mere fashion statement but a magical lens of analysis, capable of discerning minute details and visualizing information before Adelyn’s gaze. The great Chronicler can determine the strengths and weaknesses of anything with only a glance, information she gladly passes on to those loyal to the Arbiter.