Kelestaria

Campaign: Under the Bus
Folder: Characters / NPCs
Status: Established / Reconstructed
Source Base: Under the Bus campaign correspondence and later campaign reconstruction

Overview

Kelestaria was a unicorn who lived in isolation with Thorn Runehammer in the new volcanic lands created when Demmazon separated his realm from the world. To the party, she initially appeared to be a young elven woman and was presented by Thorn as his daughter.

This identity was deliberately fabricated. Thorn and Kelestaria created the story together in order to conceal what she really was. Kelestaria was not Thorn's daughter, nor did Thorn literally raise her as a child.

Kelestaria was the unicorn the Heroes encountered during the creation of The Aegisstaff in the Age of Wonders. She later lived in Demmazon's realm and escaped with Thorn and the other survivors when Demmazon's realm separated from the world. Her magical abilities helped the survivors cultivate and establish life in the newly risen volcanic land.

She remained disguised as an elf while interacting with outsiders, including the party. Her initially quiet, shy, and standoffish manner was largely a consequence of her having spent so much of her life in isolation and having little experience dealing with people outside Thorn. She gradually became more comfortable with the party, particularly after falling in love with Orinder.

Origin and Survival

The Unicorn of the Aegisstaff

During the creation of The Aegisstaff, the Heroes were required to obtain both blood and a portion of a unicorn's horn as components of the artifact. The unicorn would not willingly provide these components without first being convinced of the Heroes' worthiness and helping them remove a threat to its forest.

Kelestaria was that unicorn.

Her survival allowed her to remain an important figure long after the creation of the Aegisstaff.

Demmazon's Realm

Kelestaria subsequently lived in Demmazon's realm. The precise circumstances of how she came to live there are not fully documented, but the campaign reconstruction establishes that she was among those present there before its separation from the world.

When Demmazon separated his realm from the world at the end of the Age of Wonders, Thorn and a small number of survivors barely escaped. Fewer than a dozen made it out, with Thorn being the last to cross before the gateway closed.

The survivors eventually reached an entirely new land that had risen from the ocean where Demmazon's realm had previously touched the world. The land was initially barren and volcanic. A surviving druid helped establish a forest and cultivate plants and animals there.

Kelestaria's own magical abilities were useful in this process and helped the survivors establish a viable home in the new land.

The Disguise

Thorn knew that Kelestaria was a unicorn and understood the significance of her connection to the creation of the Aegisstaff. He therefore had reason to protect her identity.

Thorn and Kelestaria jointly created a cover story in which she was presented as the daughter of one of the original survivors. Thorn told the party that her mother had been one of the survivors, had died several years earlier, and that he had taken responsibility for raising Kelestaria.

The story was false. Thorn and Kelestaria were both adults, and their supposed father-and-daughter relationship was a protective facade.

Kelestaria actively maintained the disguise herself. When the party first encountered her, she appeared to be a beautiful young elven woman. Later, Dew Gooder used True Seeing and discovered that her actual form was a unicorn. Dew kept the discovery secret at the time.

Personality

When the party first met her, Kelestaria was quiet, shy, and somewhat standoffish. This was not simply her personality in isolation; she had spent most of her life in a secluded environment and had little experience interacting with people beyond Thorn.

She gradually became more comfortable around the party.

Her closest relationship among the adventurers was with Orinder. Their relationship developed into a romantic one, and the two eventually fell deeply in love. During one period when the main party was away, Orinder spent considerable time with Kelestaria, and their relationship was openly recognized as developing into a serious romance.

The relationship was primarily between Kelestaria and Orinder rather than between Kelestaria and the party as a whole.

Sacrifice for the Green Gift

Kelestaria played a decisive role in the recovery of the Green Gift.

The Gift had been hidden beneath the ruins of Aegea, where Demmazon had first revealed himself to the world. Its protections could not be overcome without Kelestaria's assistance, and she ultimately had to sacrifice herself so that the party could reach the Gift.

The effect that killed her was a death effect. As a result, Orinder's special ability to raise the dead could not restore her. Her death therefore remained permanent.

Orinder was devastated by her death and subsequently entered a near-catatonic state.

Orin-Kel

Kelestaria's story did not end with her death.

Near the end of the campaign, the Chosen and their allies discovered that the spiritual barrier created when Demmazon's realm separated from the world was preventing souls from properly reaching the afterlife or returning to their bodies. Destroying the barrier required the power of a Gift and Orinder's unique ability to raise the dead.

When Thorn began the process of dividing the Green Gift's power, Orinder recognized another possibility. He used the opportunity to direct part of that power toward Kelestaria's spirit.

Instead of simply returning Kelestaria to life, the process fused Orinder and Kelestaria into a single divine entity: Orin-Kel.

Orin-Kel subsequently ascended beyond the barrier alongside Thorn Runehammer (God), becoming one of the gods of the restored pantheon. The original campaign outline likewise identifies the final divine transformation as “Orinder & Kelestaria combine to form Orin-Kel.”

Historical Significance

Kelestaria is significant to the campaign for several interconnected reasons:

She was the unicorn involved in the creation of The Aegisstaff.
She survived from that ancient era into the Under the Bus campaign.
She was one of the survivors associated with the land beyond the former boundary of the world.
Her concealed identity explains why Thorn went to considerable lengths to protect her.
Her magical abilities helped the survivors establish life in the new land.
Her relationship with Orinder became one of the campaign's central personal relationships.
Her sacrifice enabled the recovery of the Green Gift.
Her death became the catalyst for Orinder's eventual transformation.
Her spirit ultimately became part of Orin-Kel, one of the new gods.

Known Unknowns

The following details are not currently established:

The exact circumstances of Kelestaria's life in Demmazon's realm.
How long she lived there before the realm separated.
The precise chronology of her existence relative to the creation of The Aegisstaff, although she is established as the same unicorn involved in its creation.
Her full abilities as a unicorn.
The complete nature of her magic and how it aided the survivors' cultivation of their new home.
Whether she had any significant relationships with the other survivors beyond Thorn.
Her specific role, if any, in events between the survivors' arrival and the party's discovery of Thorn's settlement.

These details can remain open unless additional campaign material establishes them.