Alantarin the Wise

Type: Character / NPC
Era: Age of Wonders
Race: Human
Class: Monk
Known Title: The Wise
Role: Monastic Master; Gift Bearer
Gift: Yellow Gift — Protection
Status: Deceased? / Historical Figure

Overview

Alantarin the Wise was a human monastic master and one of the five original Gift Bearers, chosen by Demmazon during the Korvak War to wield one of the five Gifts.

Alantarin was the bearer of the Yellow Gift, whose defining specialization was absolute Protection.

He was one of the surviving Gift Bearers after the defeat of the Korvaks. Following the war, Alantarin and Thorn Runehammer recognized that the Gifts represented an extraordinary amount of power and responsibility and should not remain freely available to mortals. Rather than destroy or permanently surrender the remaining Gifts, Alantarin chose to become their guardian.

He withdrew to a secluded temple in the mountains, where he guarded the Yellow Gift and Kjeldin's Red Gift.

His decision ultimately placed him at the center of the events that led to the Fall of the Age of Wonders.

The Five Gift Bearers

Alantarin was one of five champions selected by Demmazon to wield the Gifts against the Korvaks:

• Vestal Stone — White Gift
• Thorn Runehammer — Green Gift
• Kjeldin — Red Gift
• Salendaius Moonstrike — Blue Gift
• Alantarin the Wise — Yellow Gift

The White Gift was uniquely powerful, while the other four Gifts were deliberately specialized. Alantarin's Red Gift was specialized toward Protection.

The Korvak War

The Korvak invasion pushed the native races of the world toward extinction. After Demmazon revealed himself as the world's true creator and taught mortals to properly wield magic, he created the five Gifts to provide the immediate power necessary to fight the invasion.

Alantarin was selected as one of the champions entrusted with one of these artifacts.

The Gift Bearers helped turn the tide of the war. Although the surviving campaign history does not currently provide a detailed account of Alantarin's individual battles against the Korvaks, his status as one of the five Gift Bearers establishes him as one of the principal champions of the war.

After the Korvak War

After the Korvaks were defeated, the surviving Gift Bearers recognized that the Gifts were too powerful to remain in ordinary mortal hands.

Alantarin and Thorn specifically discussed the danger of retaining the artifacts and the enormous responsibility associated with their power.

Thorn ultimately chose to hide the Green Gift. Alantarin took a different approach.

He believed the Gifts should remain available in case they were ever needed again. He therefore withdrew from the world and established himself at a reclusive temple in the mountains, where he could guard the remaining Gifts.

The use of the Gifts had also granted their bearers unnaturally long lives. Alantarin had already been fairly old when he became a Gift Bearer, but continued proximity to the Gift potentially allowed him to survive for centuries or even thousands of years.

Guardian of the Gifts

Alantarin became the guardian of two of the five Gifts:

• Red Gift — Evocation
• Yellow Gift — Protection

The Red Gift had originally been wielded by Kjeldin, who had become known as Kjeldin the Destroyer during the Korvak War.

Kjeldin was reluctant to surrender his Gift because of his attachment to its tremendous destructive power. Alantarin eventually persuaded him to allow the Gift to be placed under his protection.

When Alantarin withdrew to his mountain temple, even Kjeldin was not told its location.

This decision would have profound consequences.

Relationship with Kjeldin

Alantarin's relationship with Kjeldin is particularly important to the later history of the world.

Kjeldin became increasingly obsessed with the power of the Red Gift after being separated from it. Although Alantarin had successfully persuaded him to surrender the artifact, Kjeldin eventually became unable to accept its loss.

Kjeldin learned only that Alantarin was somewhere in a mountain range. He set out to find him and recover the Gift.

He never found Alantarin's sanctuary and eventually died in the mountains.

Kjeldin's obsession did not die with him. His son, Correries, inherited the obsession with the Gifts and would eventually become the central antagonist of the Fall of the Age of Wonders.

The Hidden Sanctuary

Alantarin's mountain sanctuary remained hidden for generations.

During the later Age of Wonders, Correries eventually discovered the location of Alantarin's secret sanctuary. By this point, Alantarin's long-term guardianship had preserved the remaining Gifts from the outside world for centuries.

Correries managed to obtain the Red Gift from the sanctuary, acquiring an artifact that would allow him to begin his campaign of conquest and ultimately trigger the chain of events leading to the Fall.

The exact circumstances of how Correries discovered the sanctuary and what ultimately happened to Alantarin at that time are not currently established in the available material.

The Red Gift and the Fall

The loss of Alantarin's sanctuary marked the end of his successful protection of the Gifts.

The Red and Yellow Gifts subsequently became central to the conflict between Correries and the forces attempting to stop him.

The Heroes of Aegea were sent by Magerris and his allies into the mountains to find Alantarin and obtain the assistance of the remaining Gift Bearer and the Gifts he had guarded.

Zaraleth followed the Heroes and succeeded in taking the Red Gift. The forces of Magerris nevertheless retained access to the Yellow Gift.

The Gifts subsequently became the weapons around which the final conflict of the Age of Wonders revolved.

The conflict ultimately resulted in Correries discovering how to absorb the power of a Gift directly into himself, followed by Magerris doing the same with the White Gift. The resulting rise of the new gods and their battle caused the destruction that ended the Age of Wonders.

Historical Significance

Alantarin's importance extends well beyond his role as one of the original Gift Bearers.

His decision to preserve rather than destroy the Gifts allowed them to remain available during a later existential crisis.

At the same time, his decision to hide the Gifts created the conditions under which they could eventually be rediscovered.

His sanctuary therefore became one of the critical links between the original Korvak War and the eventual Fall of the Age of Wonders.

The chain can be summarized as:

Korvak War
→ Demmazon creates the Gifts
→ Alantarin becomes Yellow Gift Bearer
→ Korvaks defeated
→ Alantarin takes responsibility for safeguarding the remaining Gifts
→ Alantarin hides the Gifts in a mountain sanctuary
→ Kjeldin searches for the sanctuary and dies without finding it
→ Correries inherits Kjeldin's obsession
→ Correries eventually discovers Alantarin's sanctuary
→ Gifts return to the world
→ Fall of the Age of Wonders

Character and Philosophy

The available material portrays Alantarin as cautious, responsible, and deeply conscious of the danger represented by the Gifts.

His decision to withdraw from civilization rather than continue wielding his Gift openly suggests that he regarded stewardship of such power as a responsibility rather than a privilege.

He also appears to have been willing to make significant personal sacrifices to prevent the Gifts from being abused. His willingness to separate Kjeldin from the Red Gift, despite Kjeldin's attachment to it, demonstrates that he placed the safety of the world above the wishes of another Gift Bearer.

His defining historical choice was therefore not a spectacular battlefield action, but taking responsibility for power that he believed mortals should not casually possess.

Known Relationships

Demmazon

Demmazon selected Alantarin as one of the five mortal champions entrusted with the Gifts during the Korvak War.

Thorn Runehammer

Thorn was another surviving Gift Bearer. After the Korvak War, the two discussed the danger and responsibility of allowing the Gifts to remain among mortals.

Thorn and Alantarin subsequently made different choices regarding the disposition of their Gifts.

Kjeldin

Kjeldin was another original Gift Bearer and the wielder of the Red Gift.

Alantarin persuaded Kjeldin to surrender the Gift for safekeeping and subsequently concealed its location from him. Kjeldin's resulting obsession eventually led him to search the mountains for Alantarin's sanctuary.

Correries

Correries inherited his father Kjeldin's obsession with the Gifts.

Eventually, Correries discovered Alantarin's hidden sanctuary and acquired the Gifts that Alantarin had spent centuries protecting.

Heroes of Aegea

The Heroes of Aegea were sent into the mountains by Magerris and his allies to seek Alantarin and obtain the use of the Gifts he guarded.

Their expedition brought the hidden Gifts back into the wider conflict.

Open Questions

The following details remain unknown or insufficiently documented:

• Alantarin's exact age when he became a Gift Bearer.
• His personal history before the Korvak War.
• The specific monastic tradition or organization to which he belonged.
• His individual accomplishments during the Korvak War beyond his role as a Gift Bearer.
• The exact location of his mountain sanctuary.
• The precise circumstances under which Correries discovered the sanctuary.
• What happened to Alantarin when Correries discovered the sanctuary.
• Whether Alantarin was alive when Correries acquired the Gifts.
• The precise sequence by which the Red Gift passed from Alantarin's possession into the hands of Magerris's forces.
• His ultimate fate.

These should remain unresolved until material from the Age of Wonders campaign or other primary campaign sources establishes them.

Source Notes

The current reconstruction combines the surviving Under the Bus historical material with the campaign's established Gift chronology.

Older source material sometimes refers to the Gifts by numerical order and sometimes assigns different color/specialization combinations. Those descriptions are historical source terminology and should not override current campaign canon. In the current reconstruction, Alantarin is the bearer of the Yellow Gift of Protection, while Kjeldin is the bearer of the Red Gift of Evocation.

Further details may emerge when the Age of Wonders campaign material is reconstructed.