Wvelkim (wə-VÉL-kím)

Full Name: Wvelkim
Species: Immortal (Aaedra)
Allegiance: Unknown
Religion: Agnostic
Social Status: Unknown

Age: Unknown
Eyes: Variable
Hair: Wvelkim's hair and beard are a deep blue-gray. His beard and hair are wild and unkempt
Height: Variable

Physical Notes: Somewhat similar in appearance to Samekkh, Wvelkim's hair and beard are a deep blue-gray, and he tends to favor wearing midnight blue. His beard and hair are wild and unkempt, where Samekkh's are well-groomed.

Behavioral Notes: Wvelkim is a fierce, wild individual as unpredictable and powerful as the sea itself. He is passionate, capricious, and at least a little cranky much of the time.

Wvelkim is highly protective of ocean life, and especially of his mortal descendants, the Maeril (known to humans as merfolk). He does not begrudge the humans the use of the oceans or their bounty, provided that they show the proper respect to him and his domain — but if a human should be found to abuse that privilege through overfishing, pollution, or harming the Maeril, his wrath is terrible to behold. Wvelkim can hold a grudge for a very long time, and there's no sure-fire way to appease him once he has been angered.

Supernatural Abilities: Immortal traits; aedric traits; magical prowess equivalent to high master wizard, with a specialization in Water. He gives off a rolling white mist, usually hanging low to the ground, accompanied by a scent of sea-spray when he uses his powers, unless he deliberately chooses to mask it.


Titles

  • King of Maeriliala
  • God of the Sea

Background

Wvelkim was considered the god of the sea before the Great Fall.

He carried a golden trident, which stirred the waves and tides to his bidding. Sea creatures, such as dolphins and sharks, flock to his command like the wild forest animals that follow Artela — and similar to Artela, he draws his power from the creatures and forces of the seas. A wide variety of ceremonies for Wvelkim were acted out in the numerous port cities of the Midlands, but the Lightbringer Order did not closely examined which of these practices were the most effective in placating the sea lord.

A God Falls in Love (the origins of the Maeril)

Wvelkim's most famous story in the annals of the bards is of the time he fell in love with a human girl, Neria. The story is illustrative of Wvelkim's personality and temperament, though all the sages and bards alike agree that *this( event was one of a kind.

The story takes place thousands of years ago, after the war against the Great Darkness but before the rise of the Suielman Empire or the Lightbringer Order. Neria was a shepherd girl who lived in Western Sathmore and tended her flocks on the grassy hills and cliffs overlooking the Western Sea. She was both beautiful and kind of spirit, and she had the loveliest voice that the realm of men had ever heard. Wvelkim had come up from his depths and was walking along the shoreline one day when he heard the girl singing. Entranced, and curious as to what creature had been given such a voice, he climbed to the top of the cliffs and found her there. Now, Wvelkim has always been a rather startling figure to look upon, with his fierce dark eyes, his unkempt hair and beard, and his clothes that were always drenched with water and covered with seaweed. But Neria showed no fear at the appearance of this fearsome stranger, and instead offered him food and wine from her own meager meal. Thinking him some castaway who had washed ashore, she offered to take him home to her father. She assured Wvelkim that her father would give him some food and new clothing and assist him in returning to his home, wherever that might be.

Wvelkim was struck by both the girl's beauty and her kindness, and while he refused to let her take him home to her father, he returned each day to eat with her and listen to her sing. Eventually he revealed his identity to her and brought her gifts of food and pearls from beneath the sea, professing his love for her, "the human maiden who warmed this cold and watery heart" (or so the bards would have it). Neria, realizing that she could not bring a god home to her father, also realized that a god did not need her father's consent to take her to wife; and so she lay with him, for she was in love with her strange suitor and wanted very much to bear his child.

It wasn't long before she was pregnant, and unfortunately she soon learned how little regard her people gave to the word of a shepherd girl. They dismissed her talk of Wvelkim as a pure flight of fantasy: she was a fornicator, and had given herself to some wild man from the hills. All her beauty and her marvelous voice were nothing now, for no man would pay a bride-price for a girl who carried another man's child. What was worse, she had committed blasphemy, for she had dared to claim that it was a god who had fathered the bastard growing inside her.

The town shamans — freelance priests, not Lightbringers, for the Lothanasi had not yet been formed — decided that for fornication and blasphemy the girl must be offered to Wvelkim as a human sacrifice, in the hope that her offenses would not be counted against the entire community. Neria was bound hand and foot and taken to the highest cliff above the town. There, with all the people gathered, and with much chanting and ceremony, the priests had her thrown off the cliff and into the sea.

As Neria fell, however, a spout of water rose up to meet her, catching her gently and bearing her aloft again. As the astonished crowd watched, Wvelkim appeared from amidst the waters, and Neria herself was changed, becoming part woman, part dolphin and part fish — the first mermaid. As they rode atop the column of water, Wvelkim rebuked the townsfolk for their evil hearts, for they had called his bride a liar and mistreated the kindest, purest soul among them. In truth, they had always resented her, and had sent her into the fields because they could not bear their own envy of the face and voice the gods had given her. Now, at the last, they had sought to destroy her — she, who alone among all mortals had taught him love.

Neria might have been too good-hearted to wish for the townsfolk's destruction, but Wvelkim was a god and judgment was his to dispose as he saw fit. He cursed the townsfolk for their jealousy, their hardheartedness and their spitefulness, and at that moment a great earthquake struck the town and the surrounding hills. The cliffside gave way and the townsfolk fell to their doom, while a great wave rose out of the sea and wiped out every trace of the town itself. Only one pious man, a fisherman who alone had refused to condone the girl's execution, was left alive to witness the disaster, and he took his boat to the next town and spread the tale far and wide. Meanwhile, Wvelkim took Neria to his palace under the sea and made her a minor goddess in her own right. They live there still, leading and judging the mortal descendants of their eternal union. And that, say the bards, is how the Maeril race was born.

Holy Symbol

Two jagged lines, one above the other (representing waves).

Symbolic Creatures

Dolphin

Holy Day

Wvelki'kema September 29th

Current Activities

Wvelkim is the king of Maeriliala (MARE-ee-lee-AH-la), or "Aquaria" in the Common tongue — the Maeril (merfolk) nation whose communities are scattered throughout the world. Most Aquarian citizens live a simple lifestyle that has changed little over the centuries, but every Maeril may travel to the capital city (Neriisiliala) and petition their king for a redress of grievances. Some Maeril communities are beginning to modernize, making use of technomagic to construct beautiful, elaborate cities beneath the ocean surface — but this new way of life has yet to reach the majority of the population. Wvelkim uses his position to ensure that the oceans are protected from exploitation by the surface dwellers; any commercial fishing, oil drilling, or other invasive activity must be approved by the Sea King, and he reserves the right to revoke this permission if it is abused. Many surface-dweller nations and megacorps resent the Maeril's strict regulation the marine habitat, but Wvelkim has Kyia's backing — any attack on the Maeril is considered an act of war against the Empire itself. In the last 150 years or so, no one has been brave (or foolish) enough to challenge this.

Known Allies

  • none stated to date

Known Enemies

  • none stated to date

Story Appearances

none in the MK2K universe to date

Sources

pantheon, MK Wiki Entry- Wvelkin, MK Wiki Entry- Lothanasi

Author Notes

d20 Notes

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Divine Portfolio: the Sea
Domains: Ocean, Water, Watery Death
Weapon of the Deity: Returning Trident

Voice Actor

none set

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