Eritrea

Overview

Eritrea was one of the nine original Founders of the Chosen and became one of the organization's senior leaders. She was known as Master Eritrea and led the Chosen's recruitment division. She was also the captain of the Sunchaser, the Chosen's flying warship.

Eritrea was among the last surviving Founders during the Under the Bus campaign. She participated directly in major Chosen operations, including the war against the orcs at Trondhammen and the expedition to the submerged ruins of Aegea.

She was killed aboard the Sunchaser during the werewolf attack that devastated the Chosen leadership. Her death left Quentin as the last surviving Founder and resulted in Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest becoming the new captain of the Sunchaser.

Source note: Several later campaign documents spell her name Aritrea. The earlier and more numerous references establish Eritrea as her name. The later references describe the same Founder, Sunchaser captain, and Chosen leader. Aritrea is therefore treated as a spelling variant/typo for Eritrea, not as a separate character.

Role in the Chosen

Eritrea was one of the nine original Founders of the Chosen, alongside Jessenth (Uncle Jesse), Angar, Stegner, Serianne, Samos, The Traveler, Effron, and Quentin.

By the time the party learned of the Chosen's history, four of the original Founders were dead and two had departed the organization. Eritrea, Effron, and Quentin remained as the principal surviving leadership.

Eritrea held the title Master Eritrea and was responsible for the Chosen's recruitment division. Her division was closely associated with the organization's exploratory activities, seeking out people who possessed Chosen abilities and bringing them into the organization.

Her position made her one of the most senior members of the Chosen, even though the organization was not structured simply as a conventional military hierarchy.

Sunchaser

Eritrea was the captain of the Sunchaser, a flying warship operated by the Chosen.

When the party first encountered her, the Sunchaser had recently returned from the Chosen's campaign against the orcs at Trondhammen. The ship had suffered damage during the operation and required repairs.

Eritrea subsequently commanded the Sunchaser during several important missions involving the party.

She was not merely a nominal commander. She personally participated in expeditions and made resources from her own stores available to assist the party when necessary.

Toreon Rescue

During the party's escape from Toreon, the Sunchaser arrived to extract Marcus and the other Chosen involved in the rescue. Eritrea was aboard as captain.

The ship had recently returned from the Trondhammen campaign and was in need of repairs, but it was nevertheless used to support the operation.

Aegea Expedition

Eritrea commanded the Sunchaser during the expedition to the submerged ruins of Aegea.

The journey to the area took just under ten days. The Sunchaser was subsequently used as a base and search platform while the party investigated the ocean floor for evidence of the lost the Quest for the Cure.

The expedition eventually located a largely intact, coral-covered white-stone building beneath the sea, which proved to be a submerged temple of Demmazon.

Eritrea and Marcus provided equipment from their personal stores to assist with the underwater search, including:

• Plate Armor of the Deep
• Cloak of the Manta Ray
• Bottle of Air

The expedition lasted many days and involved repeated searches of the ocean floor.

Later Missions

Eritrea was also involved in transporting the party and other Chosen personnel during later operations, including travel to Darktree.

Marcus indicated that Eritrea was not particularly enthusiastic about using the Sunchaser for ordinary cross-country transportation, but made an exception for the party because of the circumstances surrounding their return from Toreon.

Trondhammen

Before the party first met Eritrea, the Chosen had been involved in a major campaign against the orcs at Trondhammen.

The Chosen forces succeeded in breaking the orc threat, although Trondhammen itself was destroyed and the surviving orcs fled into the mountains.

Eritrea was returning from this campaign when the party first encountered her aboard the Sunchaser.

This establishes her involvement in Chosen military operations in addition to her formal responsibility for recruitment.

Death

Eritrea was killed aboard the Sunchaser during the attack that accompanied the werewolf plague crisis.

The later sources spell her name Aritrea, but the circumstances establish that this was Eritrea.

During the attack, Orinder went to Eritrea's cabin after hearing fighting and attempted to warn her. Powerful Chosen were present inside the room, and magical force initially prevented him from entering.

When the party eventually gained access to the cabin, they discovered Eritrea's headless corpse lying in a pool of blood.

Read Dead

Demetrius subsequently used his Chosen ability Read Dead to reconstruct Eritrea's final moments.

The vision showed Eritrea sitting behind her desk when a male attacker appeared. She recognized him, indicating that she knew him personally and had apparently known him for some time.

Their conversation indicates that Eritrea regarded his pursuit of greater power as dangerous and believed the Chosen should have intervened against him earlier.

The attacker referred to Quentin and the Chosen under his command. Eritrea attempted to resist him and ultimately warned that the other Chosen would stop him.

She was eventually overwhelmed. After she collapsed, a pair of enormous hairy claws entered the room and tore her head from her body.

The identity and ultimate nature of the attacker are not established here.

Consequences of Her Death

Eritrea's death was a major blow to the Chosen.

The attack killed Eritrea and the Sunchaser's crew. Her death left Quentin as the last surviving Founder.

Quentin subsequently promoted Tim and Marcus to Senior Chosen, explaining that although they had not founded the organization, their status was effectively equivalent to that of the remaining Founders.

Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest was appointed as the Sunchaser's new captain.

Eritrea's death therefore marked the end of the original Founder leadership aboard the Sunchaser and one of the major transitions in the Chosen during the Under the Bus campaign.

Known Relationships

• Quentin — fellow Founder and, after Eritrea's death, the last surviving Founder.
• Effron — fellow Founder and senior Chosen leader.
• Marcus — Senior Chosen associated with Eritrea during several operations; accompanied her on the Aegea expedition.
• Orinder — attempted to warn Eritrea during the attack in which she was killed.
• Demetrius — used Read Dead to reconstruct Eritrea's final moments.
• Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest — succeeded Eritrea as captain of the Sunchaser after her death.

Known Information

• Founder of the Chosen
• One of the organization's senior surviving leaders
• Known as Master Eritrea
• Leader of the recruitment division
• Captain of the Sunchaser
• Participated in the Trondhammen campaign
• Commanded the Aegea expedition
• Provided personal equipment for the Aegea underwater search
• Killed aboard the Sunchaser during the werewolf attack

Unknown

The surviving sources do not establish:

• Race
• Class
• Alignment
• Age
• Physical description
• Exact Chosen powers
• Exact mechanical statistics
• Her history before joining the Chosen
• How long she had served as Sunchaser captain
• Whether she personally owned the Sunchaser
• The identity of her killer
• The full nature or motivation of her killer
• What Eritrea was working on at her desk immediately before her death

Name Variant

Later source material repeatedly uses Aritrea where earlier material uses Eritrea.

The evidence indicates that these are the same person:

1. Eritrea is explicitly identified as one of the original Founders.
2. Eritrea is identified as a surviving Founder and captain of the Sunchaser.
3. The later Aritrea is the Sunchaser captain killed aboard the ship.
4. Her death is explicitly said to leave Quentin as the last Founder.
5. Tashiro becomes the new captain of the Sunchaser after her death.

Therefore, Aritrea is treated as a source spelling error/variant of Eritrea, not as a separate character.