Yllmadaya Aalsyur

Female, she/her

Lady of the Poisoned Chalice, The Terror from Wenidlys, The Sunken Enchantress

Protagonist

213 years old but only appears to be in her late thirties

Very angular and lean frame, tall

5'9"

Lasaian

Pale peach

Light blonde

Usually leaves it down except for a ponytail pulling the front of her hair to the back. Her hair is sleek and straight, and reaches down to her waist.

None

Usually dresses in blacks, golds, deep blues, and sea greens. Has a fondness for silk, gold, or anything else extravagant. Often dresses to appear flashy and mysterious. Likes dresses with long trains, bottle necklaces to hold potions in, and wearing lots of jewelry.

Sharply angled nose, narrowed blue eyes, angled brows

After being exposed to eliki, magical essence, for over 200 years, some parts of Yllmadaya don't appear exactly human. Her eyes are thinner than the usual human pupil, the end of her limbs are a dark blue, and her fingers end in claws. She tends to stick out in a crowd

Yllmadaya has a slightly deeper intonation compared to most. She carefully enunciates her speech and drawls out her words when making a point. She speaks in a soft tone most of the time, but will raise her voice when she is upset.

Yllmadaya is extremely self confident and boastful, knowing well she is a talented mage after her centuries of practice and wanting everyone to know. She is also intelligent and calculating, having amassed a lot of knowledge throughout her life. She is very ambitious, constantly pushing herself to go further. When in a tight spot, she's quick on her feet and a clever thinker. She loves a challenge, unless she loses it. She won't pick a battle unless she believes that she'll find a way to win it and is often very wary and judgemental of others. She has a prickly and cold attitude, and is often very reserved about her emotions and past. She is very independent and likes to spend most of her time alone, usually working better on her own. Still, she has a soft spot for only her closest family and friends, willing to go to great lengths to be there for them. Because she is so old, she has some trouble remembering details of her past. She's slightly out of touch with the rest of society and has forgotten the rate at which mortals age.

One of Yllmadaya's greatest flaws is her selfishness, usually only working for her own self preservation. She even is willing to do immoral acts to save her own skin, and has done so in the past. Her only exception is Kydrei, who she is willing to put herself in danger for and can be sometimes overprotective of. She is very rude, often belittling and having trouble understanding others. Her prickly, and terrifying to some, demeanor makes it difficult to make friends, and the age difference she has compared to almost everyone else does not help. She is vain, loving to praise her own talent and appearance. She is also arrogant and hates criticism against her. She doesn't like to admit to her mistakes, doing whatever she can to avoid her past. She often shifts the blame for her own errors on others.

Yllmadaya has a debilitating fear of death and losing loved ones after the death of her family, and will do anything to keep herself and her lover, Kydrei, alive. She also is motivated to reunite with Kydrei after being apart, and hopes to run away with Kydrei and get as far away from the Coven of Life as they can.

Yllmadaya only cares about two people, herself and Kydrei, and will go to extremes to keep them safe. Although she does feel remorse, it is often not something she lingers on as she has hurt people before and justifies to herself. She has no qualms about scaring people, belittling others, and selling harmful potions, which has caused a small chemical warfare between some of the competing village farmers. She even finds some amusement in making fun of others who she thinks are lesser than her.

Yllmadaya has a general disdain towards all other people except for those that she knows well, being very judgmental and usually thinking herself as superior. She looks down on mortals, thinking that she is above them because of her immortality. She thinks children are annoying and foolish and that the elderly are condescending, having had several encounters where an elder mistook her for being younger than them. She mistrusts most other mages, often viewing them as power hungry competition trying to steal her power. She especially dislikes coven mages after her experiences with the Coven of Life.

Yllmadaya frequently gets bored, having lived for over two hundred years, and has had to find new ways to deal with that. She has grown extremely patient, able to occupy herself by getting lost in her head for hours on end. Otherwise, she spends most of her time potion making, trying to experiment to create new and more potent elixirs. She has learned to garden and has herbs and other potion ingredients growing in her back yard. But she especially loves terrorizing her customers and the neighboring villages of Varloe and Caelia, something she has not yet gotten tired of. She amuses herself by unsettling the people who come by her shop, as well as making half-threats she doesn't fully mean, and gets a kick out of people's horrified reactions. She spends quite a bit of time wandering through the Varlain Forest, sometimes to collect herbs but also so she can wander upon a person and scare them. She also likes to get involved in petty drama in the villages, often fueling both sides of a disagreement with potions so the situation can escalate.

Yllmadaya is an extremely talented mage, especially in the area of potion making, having practiced since her youth. She is also generally a strong mage and has grown skilled at combat. She is also a very quick learner and her intelligence gives her an extended knowledge about history and magical theory.

Yllmadaya loves to seem mysterious and threatening. Her eyes are often narrowed and she likes to loom over people. She often clearly expresses when she's irritated, prone to scoffing, sneering, and rolling eyes. When she's bored she taps her claws or examines her nails. She frequently smirks and it's rare to get a genuine smile out of her. She has a loud laugh that is veering into cackling territory. Whenever she feels threatened she instinctively grabs her periapt, the necklace that is the source of her immortality, as if trying to keep it safe.

Yllmadaya is immortal as long as her periapt is undamaged. She does not age or get sick. She can still be injured but her health will always return to that of when she first became immortal. For example, any wound, even one that is fatal or results in the loss of a limb, even decapitation, will eventually heal over as to what it used to be. However, injuries and scars sustained before one becomes immortal still remain and can not be removed. Yllmadaya shares her immortality with her lover, Kydrei.

Your local shady enchantress who lives in the darkest part of the forest. Runs a potion shop in the Varlain Woods called "The Enchantress' Den"

Yllmadaya used to be a member of the Coven of Life, which was dedicated to extending and improving human life by curing disease and aiding the sick and elderly. Her research caused the Coven of Life to begin searching for immortality, now having completely forgotten its original mission.

Yllmadaya has little respect for the gods, and doesn't believe in them. Even if she did find evidence of their existence, she thinks of herself as on the same level as them, being immortal as well. She has a particular hatred for the god of death, Bryelan, disgusted by the idea that people would worship him.

Yllmadaya thinks she is above politics and that they are something for mortals. Still, she does not like the current king, Albyr, because he gives funding to the Coven of Life and is desperate to find immortality. She is against the covens gaining more power, being distrusting of them.

The periapt, a necklace with a diamond shaped pendant that grants Yllmadaya and Kydrei their immortality. She often keeps it close, as if it breaks the aging that Yllmadaya avoided for years would return to her and likely instantly kill her.

Yllmadaya is viewed with both horror and curiosity in the neighboring villages. She has lived in the Varlain Woods for over a century, and many are bewildered over how she has not aged a single day. She has such a presence in the village that parents started to use her as a Boogeyman figure, telling their children that if they're bad they'll sell them to Yllmadaya and she'll cook them in one of her potions. Yllmadaya knows about this myth and has only played it up, threatening to boil children when she comes across them.

Nikellai Aflarec

Reid is Yllmadaya's travelling companion. She mostly finds him irritating and immature, annoyed by his constant chattering. She thinks he is an incompetent mage, and refuses to take him on as an apprentice.

Nikellai was Yllmadaya's former student. She shaped much of his determined and sometimes ruthless personality to help him make a name for himself in the coven. She was proud of him as he became a powerful mage and an important figure in the Coven of Life, but started to distance herself from him when he started to feel like a threat. In the end, he betrayed her trying to find true immortality. Yllmadaya feels guilt over lying to him but mostly hates him for his betrayal and believes him to be long dead. After Nikellai, Yllmadaya has refused to take on another apprentice, afraid they will stab her in the back like Nikellai did.

Lesbian

Her potions

Yllmadaya lives in a house deep in the Varlain Woods, which also acts as her shop, "The Enchantress' Den".

Born in the year 1031

Yllmadaya went to an academy in her youth and excelled at her studies. She eventually continued that education, doing some researching on her own before she joined the Coven of Life. There was was apprenticed by a mage by Ulwyd who taught her more about potion making.

Yllmadaya was the daughter of two magical scholars, Jalyen and Feirsel Aalsyur. She was the youngest of three, having two older sisters named Eldmyai and Safira. From an early age, Yllmadaya took after her parents with an interest in magic. They lived in the country of Lasaia in a home which Yllmadaya loved dearly. After the threat of war, the Aalsyur family decided to move to Bythse. Yllmadaya was upset to leave home, but was excited to live in Bythse, which was known for having huge eliki sources and beginning to foster many hubs of magical research and covens. They settled in the growing city of Erdun. She grew up very privileged, her family quite well off and able to find a good education for her. A few years after moving in, Eldmyai died of health complications at the age of sixteen. Yllmadaya was the first to stumble across her sister's body, being only eleven at the time. The event scarred Yllmadaya with a deep fear of death.

About eight years later, Safira caught a disease and it seemed unlikely she would survive. Desperate to not lose another sister, Yllmadaya joined the Coven of Life, a coven that worked to extend human life, especially of the sick and elderly. She was already a skilled potion maker at the time, so a Coven member named Ulwyd took her on as a student and occasionally helped her in her studies. At the Coven, Yllmadaya met a girl her age by the name of Kydrei Nol. They clashed a bit at first, Kydrei's friendly attitude rubbing Yllmadaya the wrong way, but they eventually realized that they had similar goals. Kydrei's parents were healers, and she wanted to help their business by finding magical cures. The two started to work together and made a strong team, becoming close friends and eventually lovers after several years. They found several significant cures, which helped them advance in ranks through the Coven of Life, but they weren't able to find a cure for Safira's disease. Yllmadaya began to feel desperate as Safira's sickness worsened and she lost another person she loved, her father, in an accident. It didn't help that as she gained power in the Coven of Life she began to see flaws in the organization. Many of the coven mages were willing to hurt others for their own gain and her idealistic view of the coven was shattered. She slowly started to harden to deal with the competition in the coven.

One day, Yllmadaya stumbled across some old texts about immortality. It was a thing many mages had sought after in the past, and although many had been able to extend their life for a few decades, she couldn't find any that were entirely successful. Most attempts at immortality had ended in terrible disasters, so the idea was shunned by most magical researchers. Yllmadaya had been unable to cure Safira for years and was desperate, feeling like this was her last hope. When she presented it to the Coven of Life, they openly denounced the idea and mocked Yllmadaya. However, Kydrei supported Yllmadaya, and they began researching into immortality. They spent many years looking over and decoding old texts and eventually came up with a theory on how to create immortality. They realized that one's immortality must be linked with another person's for it to work, and that it then had to be tied to a physical object. They spent a long time searching for the main ingredient, only to find that there was only enough left to create one source of immortality. It took several more years to finally create the object, which they named the periapt. Immediately after finishing its creation, Yllmadaya went to Safira. She begged her sister to become immortal so Safira wouldn't have to die from the disease. Safira was horrified by the idea, not wanting to outlive her friends and rejecting Yllmadaya's pleas. Only a few days later, Safira's sickness killed her, and Feirsel Aalsyur, Yllmadaya's mother, died not too long later.

Yllmadaya was torn after the loss of her entire family, and scared of losing the last person she loved in her life, Kydrei, asking her to become immortal. Kydrei hated to see Yllmadaya in so much pain, so she agreed. They bonded the periapt to themselves and at the age of thirty-eight, Yllmadaya became immortal. They then realized that they couldn't tell the Coven of Life about their immortality. They'd had experiences with other coven mages who had been ruthless and were scared what would happen if those mages learned that they had created the last available periapt. However, Kydrei still thought they could do good by staying at the Coven and decided to remain there for a few years. A bit over twenty years passed and Kydrei and Yllmadaya were in their sixties but hadn't aged a single day since they were in their late thirties. Suspicion was cast on the two and they were about to leave when confronted by the Coven of Life. They knew they couldn't keep up the act any longer and admitted they found immortality. They stalled revealing how to become immortal by claiming that they didn't know if there were any side effects and wanted to wait at least a few decades before letting others become immortal. After that they were kept under close watch and knew they couldn't escape with the position they were in at the time.

Over the years, Kydrei had been teaching students at the Coven of Life. She loved being a mentor and suggested that Yllmadaya try it and take on her own apprentice. Yllmadaya was reluctant, but took an interest in a boy named Nikellai who reminded her of herself when she was young. She began teaching him, finding him ambitious and a quick learner. After about ten years, Nikellai had finished his training. Yllmadaya began planning with Kydrei to leave the coven before they started asking about immortality again. Before they could leave, the leader of the Coven of Life and Yllmadaya's old teacher, Ulwyd, died. The Coven was left in chaos for a while until a new leader was appointed. Many turned on Yllmadaya and Kydrei because Ulwyd wouldn't have died if they had given up the immortality. Even Nikellai eventually turned on them, telling Yllmadaya she was being selfish and should reveal the truth. Kydrei came up with the idea that they give them a false recipe for immortality. Then, Yllmadaya and Kydrei would be able to wrap up any ties they had left at the Coven of Life and then escape before the Coven realized they had been lied to. They revealed the false instructions to Nikellai, who spread it throughout the Coven. Many Coven members were fooled, taking the false immortality. Nikellai was believed to have finally gotten the truth from Yllmadaya and Kydrei and was praised, quickly gaining power.

Six years passed, and one of the mages who had taken the false immortality, Mwylin, suffered a fatal wound. Yllmadaya and Kydrei were worried Mwylin would actually die because she didn't have the true immortality, so they began getting ready to leave. However, she continued to live, although with a pain that should have killed her. Yllmadaya still wanted to leave, but Kydrei started to become concerned about Mwylin and convinced Yllmadaya to stay. The Coven expected Mwylin to heal, but she didn't. Suspicion was cast on Yllmadaya and Kydrei who had suffered equally lethal wounds but healed quicker. Soon, they were confronted and attacked by Nikellai, but they both barely escaped. Yllmadaya, selfish and scared, wanted to run as far away as they could from the Coven. Kydrei was worried her students would be hurt by the Coven because of her and wanted to stay, even if it meant being reckless and needlessly endangering the periapt. They got into one of their biggest arguments and then headed separate ways, Yllmadaya keeping the periapt.

Yllmadaya spent a few years evading the Coven who were trying to hunt her down and went as far north to Bythse as she could. She tried to contact Kydrei but got no word back. Yllmadaya was worried, but knew that Kydrei couldn't be harmed because Yllmadaya had the periapt with her. She eventually came to the conclusion that Kydrei didn't want to see her and decided to give up trying to reach out to her. Yllmadaya still decided to stay in Bythse, a bit of lingering hope that Kydrei would want to reconnect. She found a couple small villages far north in the Varlain Woods, mostly cut off from the rest of civilization and where she hoped the Coven wouldn't find her. She found an abandoned home in the middle of the forest and settled there. Eventually she remade it to be her shop, The Enchantress' Den.

A hundred and seven years passed. Yllmadaya had made a name for herself among the nearby villages and had a flourishing business. She learned to become self serving and distrustful of others, having no strong connection with anyone else in the Varlain Woods. Yllmadaya was satisfied with her life, although she still missed Kydrei and was holding hope they would reunite soon. One day, a boy named Reid entered her shop. He explained he had a letter from Kydrei and was traveling with her to face against the Coven of Life to save his sibling. Although she feared the Coven, Yllmadaya was so desperate to see Kydrei again that she decided to travel with Reid to Kydrei's location.

Jalyen and Feirsel were Yllmadaya's mother and father. They were both mages and extremely supportive of Yllmadaya. Being the youngest daughter, Yllmadaya was often overly praised and coddled by her parents, feeding into her ego and probably the greatest source of her vanity.

Eldmyai was Yllmadaya's oldest sister by five years. Yllmadaya thought Eldmyai was bossy and strict, and the two often got into fights. However, the two still loved each other, and when Eldmyai died young Yllmadaya was deeply hurt.

Safira was older than Yllmadaya by two years. After the loss of their sister, Safira and Yllmadaya became much closer. Safira was the much more laid back of the three sisters, always being the negotiator when Yllmadaya and Eldmyai when they got in disagreements. When Safira got sick, Yllmadaya was determined not to lose another sister, but in the end failed.

Kydrei is the love of Yllmadaya's life, and is the only person that Yllmadaya loves who is still alive. Many people are confused how Yllmadaya and Kydrei could stand each other, Kydrei warm and friendly where Yllmadaya is cold and standoffish. They also have very clashing ideologies, which often gets them into disagreements. Yllmadaya believes in self preservation first and to protect herself and those she loves, even if it means hurting others, while Kydrei believes in helping others no matter what, even if it means being reckless and endangering herself. Still, they deeply love each other, both being intelligent and ambitious people driven towards similar goals. Kydrei often gets frustrated with Yllmadaya for her selfishness, which she thinks has become only gotten stronger once Yllmadaya became immortal, but also sees great compassion she only showed her family and hopes to draw that out and help Yllmadaya show that compassion to others. Yllmadaya loves Kydrei's intellect and kindness, often feeling like she has to protect her, as Kydrei often acts recklessly. Kydrei is one of the only people who can bring out softness in Yllmadaya. They have an extremely deep bond, having spent more time with each other than many other lovers have had the chance to. They each know the other well, memorizing all of each other's quirks and able to tell when the other is lying. Even when they get into fights, they never want to hurt the other and quickly forgive each other.

Yllmadaya was originally an old roleplay character named Medea. She shared many of the same characteristics in appearance and personality, but she was much more of a villain than a morally gray protagonist. She had enslaved a dragon and was much more willing to kill, as well as being much younger, only in her sixties. Medea was not fully immortal, just lived longer and appeared youthful because of her potions. Medea had an ocean theme (which you can still see a bit in her design since she wears a lot of blue-greens), but I have another sea witch in another of my books so that was toned down. She had a very different and simpler backstory, where her parents disapproved of her magic, so she ran away. However, her sister dying and sparking her fear of death is an element that stayed the same. Kydrei, Reid, the Coven of Life, and all other characters and worldbuilding elements in my current draft of the book did not exist yet. Years later, I wanted to write a story with an antihero and Medea was still a character I cared about. I decided to write the story about her from a more sympathetic light with some more redeeming qualities. I changed her name to Yllmadaya because I felt like naming her directly after an evil mythological witch was a bit too on the nose. She also got very gay when I rewrote her.