Larellion

Larellion, alternatively known as Archmage Larellion, Lorelion, the High Mage, or Larrelion, is an ancient Elven spellcaster, seer, and the Keeper of the Astrolabe from the Age of Arcanum. Renowned within the history of the Sword Coast, he served as the steward of The Hand of Sehanine (alternatively spelled Sehahine or Sehehine), a magnificent, five-spired elven tower devoted to magic, prophecy, and the Seldarine. Following a tragic sequence of betrayal, grief, and divine judgment, he was transformed into a Baelnorn—a mad, undying elven lich bound eternally to his fading sanctuary.

The Pact of Phandelver

Approximately a thousand years ago during the Age of Arcanum, Larellion played a pivotal role in the historic Pact of Phandelver. This tripartite alliance, brokered initially by the ambitious human King Phandelver II, united three ancient powers of the region and tied together their respective seats of authority:

Together with the Gnomes of the Vale, who lent their magical ingenuity, the allies of the Pact collaborated to construct the legendary Forge of Spells deep beneath the earth where the leylines braided themselves. In ancient astrological projections, the three seats of the Pact were symbolized by constellations: a delicate hand, a great castle, and a jewel-bedecked hammer. During this golden era, the legendary dwarf blacksmith Gond served as the premier craftsman of the Forge of Spells.

The Central Finger and the Astrolabe of Sehanine

The Central Finger stood as the crown of the Hand of Sehanine. Housed within the crystal-and-adamant lattice of this majestic observatory is the Astrolabe of Sehanine, a magnificent divinatory wonder of elven craftsmanship.

Rather than merely charting the contemporary night sky, the Astrolabe was designed to show “not only the stars above, but the secret truths buried in time.” It possesses the extraordinary capability to reflect the stars of ancient eras, including the pristine sky of the Age of Arcanum as it appeared 1,000 years ago, prior to the creation of the Divine Gate. When the curse of the tower is lifted, the Astrolabe functions as a permanent, powerful divination engine, offering spells such as Scrying, Sending, Augury, Divination, and Commune.

The Line of Larellion and the Family Tragedy

According to historical scrolls preserved in Candlekeep and the songs of Evereska, Larellion was the father of two daughters, both of whom inherited distinct aspects of his character:

This overt favoritism cast a long shadow. Vyldara, feeling neglected as merely “the shadow” her sister cast, grew increasingly desperate to prove her worth to her father. While Larellion saw only her flaws and compared her passionate nature to destructive wildfire, Vyldara’s ambition curdled into spite. When the Pact of Phandelver was established, she sought to prove her superiority over the elder races.

Serving as an emissary from the Hand to Axeholm, Vyldara was initially treated with kindness by Queen Kima, but she repaid this kindness by poisoning the Queen with a slow, agonizing venom. Upon her subsequent discovery, she attempted a desperate escape to avoid her father’s disappointment, slaying six dwarven guards before she was cut down. Deeply ashamed or unforgiving, Larellion refused to even send emissaries to retrieve Vyldara’s body. Abandoned and consumed by wrath, Vyldara’s spirit rose as a banshee, cursing the halls of Axeholm and driving the dwarves to abandon the stronghold. Shortly thereafter, Agatha vanished, and the Hand of Sehanine fell permanently silent, with Agatha eventually lingering near Conyberry as a sorrowful banshee.

The Descent into Madness and the Divine Curse

Following Vyldara’s death, Larellion fell into deep despair, plagued by the false impression that his daughter had been kidnapped and murdered by the dwarves of Axeholm. Under this delusion of betrayal, his grief and anger festered, severing his trust in the Pact.

As devastating hordes of orcs, rogue mages, and other monsters descended upon the Hand of Sehanine, Larellion chose to abandon his dwarven and human allies. In a desperate, selfish measure to save only his people, he cast the Mythil of Moonshadow (also called the Mythal of Moonbow), aiming to permanently shift the tower into the Ethereal Plane.

This betrayal angered Sehanine Moonbow (the Moonweaver) and Corellon (the Arch Heart). Rejecting his abandonment of the Pact, the deities intervened and twisted the mythal into a divine curse. The Hand was bound to cycle endlessly, unable to return permanently to the Material Plane until it could aid the valley’s people, while its inhabitants were frozen in time as cursed, sorrowful spirits repeating their final moments.

Larellion was punished with the most exquisite torture: he was transformed into a Baelnorn, a mad, suffering, and undying elven lich whose soul was bound to the tower as his phylactery. The Observatory in the Central Finger served as his ultimate, eternal prison where he remained driven mad by grief, sorrow, and anger, surrounded by slowly spinning metal rings and starlight. Trapped in his sorrow and rage, he remained in the crystal-and-adamant lattice of his Observatory for a millennium, seeing any who entered his domain as hostile intruders.

Redemption of the Line

For a millennium, the souls of Larellion’s family remained sundered. Agatha lingered as a banshee near the ruins of Conyberry, singing the Lament of the Sehahine, a sorrowful dirge mourning the fallen “Children of the Moon.”

In modern times, a group of adventurers known as the Magnificent Five put the banshee of Axeholm to rest. Before her spirit departed to the embrace of the Matron of Ravens, Vyldara renounced her ancient jealousy and offered a final plea for reconciliation, asking the adventurers to convey her deepest apologies and forgiveness to her father. During this confrontation, Vyldara recognized the half-elf adventurer Erevyn Sehahine as “blood of my blood,” revealing that Larellion’s lineage survived into the modern era.

Guided by Selûne, the adventurers phased the Hand of Sehanine back into the Material Plane. By performing selfless acts of compassion to break the loops of the trapped spirits—such as returning a stuffed toy fawn to a child spirit, watering Valestis’s gardens with Moonwell water, and assisting the librarian Gelarith in completing “The Unwritten Chapters”—they systematically weakened Larellion’s madness.

Reaching the Observatory of the Central Finger, they engaged the mad Baelnorn in a multi-phase battle of steel, magic, and words. During the clash, gravity reversed and returned, and Farwald was temporarily slain by Larellion’s sickly green arrow spell before being resurrected. By presenting proof that Vyldara and Agatha had been laid to rest and were finally at peace, Erevyn successfully coaxed the remaining sanity of his ancestor. Repentant, Larellion dissolved his rage, broke the cycle of misery, and lifted the millennium-old curse. The spirits of the Hand faded into true rest, and Larellion finally found peace, leaving behind his legacy and the fully restored Astrolabe of Sehanine.

Relics and Legacy