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The Good Magician Palfrey (as he is known in the Known World),
Maribus the Magi in the Northern Lands, and Entulessλ (return)
Feadiel to the elves, was born a human.
He started his career in Magic due to his extreme intelligence
and aptitude for the arcane. He
was schooled in the arts at The Great School of Magic in Glantri.
His personal field of interest in graduate studies was Planar
Physics and Time Travel, and Chronomancy became his chosen specialty.
Legends and Arcane Lore was also a secondary specialty and he
is considered one of the great sages in this field of knowledge.
Unfortunately, rather late in Palfreys career, due his
exorbitant spending of money on research and experiments, he ran out
of money. So he scryed his
old adventuring companions, and found them in the midst of an intense
battle with a powerful demi-lich.
Hoping for a piece of treasure in return for his services, he
teleported into the fury of battle.
In the end, the forces of good triumphed over the forces of
evil, and Palfreys friends were victorious.
Things did not go so well for Palfrey.
Essentially his soul had been ripped into the eye gem of the
demi-lich and his body destroyed.
Fearing his soul, the friends looked for a body to transfer the
body into, as the light in the gem was quickly beginning to fade.
The only body available was that of a long dead elf named
Quillian Elmgrower. The
dead elf was contacted through a speak with dead spell, and he agreed
to the inhabitation of his form by that of the elderly mage.
But he had one demand, to be allowed to complete an unfinished
mission for his people. Having
little choice, the party agreed, and the soul transference was
completed.
Palfrey was thus in a new body, albeit an elven one.
He had the physical characteristics of the new body and only
his conscious attributes remained.
The elven mind however, did take control of Palfrey and geased
him to complete the adventure the elf had failed to complete.
Much of the memories of the old elf were transposed into
Palfrey over this period, and it was difficult to know who was who.
When the mission was completed, the elf left with his blessing.
However, by a cruel twist of fate, the memories did not.
It was as if being in the body of an elf causes one to think
like an elf. One can see
then how difficult this could be on the mind of Palfrey.
It was for this reason that many found the old mage so
peculiar; there was most definitely an alter-ego in his mind.
Palfrey thus had a tendency to fade between both personalities,
sometimes enjoying the life of an elf, other times polymorphing his
shape to his former human self when he thought of humanity.
It was thus very important to remember that Palfrey could exist
in two forms, and have more than one personality, personalities that
would often vacillate between the two rather rapidly at times.
Many were the times adventurers were cursed by a young elf for
not appreciating all the elderly mage had done for them, for often the
personality known as Palfrey had forgotten what form he was in
But the old chronomancer had time on his side.
All the time in the world in fact.
He cast several critical spells and made minor changes to the
past. Obtained a piece of
flesh from an earlier self. Made
a clone of that body. Casting
variant forms of Magic Jar and Wish ensured his transforming would
occur without difficulty. And
indeed it worked as planned. His
fractured mind was no longer. He
retained the memories relayed by the elf, but they did not exert much
influence on his Palfrey personality.
They were merely memories of another life that could be drawn
on at will. It did leave
him with an appreciation for the elven way of life, and he visits the
elven people often in his innumerable travels.
After completing this re-transformation,
Palfrey began his lifes work. He
constructed an artifact. The
Chronomancers Pocket Watch. Encased
in Adamantite by the Dwarves of the Granite Mountain, and decorated in
Mithril enscribed by the Feadeil elves, the timepiece is actually a
self maintained spatial bubble with all manner of intricate inner
gears pulleys and springs fit into a 50 ft square room.
Its center gemstone is a perfect ruby one foot across worth 1
million gold pieces taken from the Gemstone of the Sky (Dungeon
adventure ?) and replaced with a preserved dragons heart to
maintain the Gemstones levitation stability.
All clockwork pieces inside the watch are made of pure
Adamantite to ensure maximum stability over time.
The watch fob is a perfect stone and enchanted to be a
spellpoint storing mechanism to ensure magic ability if the watch is
transported to a nonmagic plane of existence.
The watch has eight dials, which allow for selection of
innumerable planes of travel. And
the watch faceplace can allow for selection of time within a given
plane. It can be set to
travel forward, backwards without much difficulty and has many preset
memory values for quick shifting around in time.
Palfreys first travel was to the moment before time existed.
Time -1. There he
met the Temporal Hag weaving the loom of all existence.
He severed his own temporal cord with her permission (she loves
apple pie) so that he could be independent of temporal anomalies.
Any temporal raiders attempting to murder off an earlier form
of the wizard, would not effect the current Wizard Palfreys
existence, he they would end in failure.
It also had the effect of severing the aging effects of time on
the elderly wizard, making it impossible for him to age further.
He is thus immortal for all practical purposes, but not immune
to the affects of sickness and random accidents.
He also knows, this life will be his last, as no resurrection
will be possible if he should die.
He is content in this knowledge, knowing that indeed he can
have an end to his immortal existence if such was the way of fate.
The servant death has agreed to this as well, knowing all too
well the tiring aspect of powerful adventurers returning from death
seemingly willy nilly through the use of magic.
Also in Time -1 he gained a familiar.
A temporal Raven. A
large albino Raven approx two feet in height.
The creature is sentient and highly intelligent, fluent in many
languages, and can sense planar gates and temporal anomalies at will.
It is not clear their purpose, but the Temporal Ravens travel
from plane to plane, throughout time, and often are the witnesses to
significant events throughout history.
It is for this reason they are seen as ill omens or good
tidings in many cultures, depending on the outcome of the significant
event.
Palfrey now travels the planes throughout time and is currently
studying physics under Professor Einstein at Princeston University
1932--Earth time. In 1955,
he gave him the opportunity to continue his studies in another plane
of existence; the body was replaced with a clone that appeared to die
soon after. But Einstein
was healed of his ills by a powerful cleric friend and continues his
studies and debates regularly with Newton and Data the Android in the
Temporal Research Institute of the Planes (T.R.I.P.).
And they all lived happily forever before.
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