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Character Profile: Alexia Antonis
🕑 Added 2021-03-18 15:43:29 +0000 UTCSpoilers for Alexia’s backstory, but no spoilers for the major points of her character arc. If you want to go into her character arc completely blind, I suggest skipping this post.
This is an edited and re-vamped version of her character profile originally posted to Wayfarer’s World Anvil page. I’ve taken down the original post to make edits on it, so for now this is a Patreon exclusive.
Alexia is the daughter of two renegade mages, Caius and Arva Antonis. Born in Erenvor during the Marcian Conspiracy, the infant Alexia accompanied her parents to rallies and secret meetings. Despite their ties to the Arathian branch of the Guild of Mages, Caius and Arva were staunch supporters of Marcius ard Nesarian’s claim to the throne. Fearing backlash from the emperor, they fled the Imperial court and took refuge in the capital’s slums.
Caius and Arva were present during the 1232 Coup and fought in the revolt that reached the Imperial palace. When the rebels were massacred on the steps of the Imperial palace, Caius and Arva managed to escape. They lived on the run for a few years, moving from location to location, but never managing to make it outside the capital.
When Alexia was six, they tried one final attempt to flee the city, but they were captured. The trauma of witnessing her parents’ arrest awakening Alexia’s magic, far earlier than normal. She displayed a devastating Attunement to the Spheres of Conjuration and Preservation. The rarity of her powers was immediately noticed by the Guild of Mages. Such a valuable asset could not be wasted on the daughter of Imperial traitors.
Separated from her parents, Alexia’s memories were altered, wiping away any recollections of her parents. For two years she lived in the Imperial palace, watched over by Imperial court mages. Raised with great care and no knowledge of her parents’ deeds or the infamy of her last name, Alexia was a quiet and sombre child. She rarely spoke and seldom engaged with the other children at court. At age eight she was deemed old enough to begin honing her abilities. The Guild, much to the Imperial’s court frustration, sent her to Ameidan Tower in the neighbouring Kingdom of Vestra for training.
Life at Ameidan Tower
Alexia’s life at Ameidan Tower was relatively normal. Though she was younger than many of the other novitiates, she blossomed in her new surroundings. Quiet and attentive, she showed great promise and talent. Watched carefully by the Guild, her instructors groomed her for a future in court magic. Focusing primarily on her Conjuration skills, she became particularly adept at creating and controlling fire. Alexia adapted well to her new life, excited for her future prospects and dreamed of becoming a famous court mage.
Return to Erenvor
As she grew older, the bindings on Alexia’s altered memories weakened. Plagued by dreams and nightmares of her parents, Alexia began searching for answers. When her instructors refused to answer her questions, she knew she had to look elsewhere. Using her new status as a Guild Acolyte, she manipulated her instructors into sending her to Erenvor alongside six other acolytes under the guise of serving a trial term at the Imperial court.
While in Erenvor, Alexia walked a delicate line between serving as a Guild mage and finding answers. The more she pushed, the more memories she recalled from her fragmented childhood. She began to doubt the Guild and her position at court. When she shared these doubts with a friend, the Guild was alerted that their ploy was close to being discovered.
The Council of Mages was concerned about what would happen should their most promising pupil discover the truth of her origins. Not wanting to lose control over one of the few dual attuned Acolytes of this generation, Grand Archsage Sabien Quirinus took matters into his own hands. He orchestrated Alexia’s removal from the Imperial court and relocated her to Diradan Tower in Velantis, the headquarters of the Guild of Mages. Only fifteen at the time and desperate not to lose the people she called family, Alexia resisted. Subdued with enchantments and a renewed memory alteration, she was sent away in a dreamlike haze and didn’t fully understand what happened until she awoke in her new home across the Lotharic sea.
Diradan Tower
Alexia did not take well to Velantis. While she had been an excellent student at Ameidan, her time at Diradan was marred by stubborn resistance and explosive outbreaks. She struggled to make friends, pushing many of her peers away. She refused to attend classes, regularly disregarded her assignments, and frequently argued with her instructors. When she did attend class, her work suffered and she quickly became one of the most inept students of her year.
Recognizing something of herself in Alexia’s struggles, Archsage Umbria Bellaris took her under her wing. Like Alexia, Umbria was also dual attuned—to the spheres of Transformation and Preservation. Umbria was relatively young and untested in her position, and her eccentricities and interest in magical research and experimentation made them an unorthodox pair. The Council of Mages frowned heavily upon Umbria’s tutorship, but under Quirinus’ watchful eye, they allowed it.
Alexia flourished under Umbria’s teaching. The two formed a close bond, similar to that of mother and daughter, though Umbria was only ten years older than Alexia. Recognizing that Alexia’s talents in Preservation had gone completely untapped, Umbria pushed her in a new direction. At age twenty, Alexia was graduated from Acolyte to Savant, one of the youngest mages to do so.
It was customary upon graduation for Guild mages to be inducted into a royal court or sent to one of the many Guild chapters located in smaller cities around the world. Quirinus, however, refused to let Alexia leave Diradan. Frustrated at the control the Council exerted over her, she disappeared into research and study. She continued working with Umbria, this time as a colleague. Their experiments in Preservation magic slowly unravelled the bindings on Alexia’s altered memories. Pushing against the enchantment, Alexia eventually shattered it completely—and all her memories, and the Guild’s manipulation, came flooded back.
Angered at what had been done to her, Alexia planned to flee the Empire entirely. She was stopped by Umbria, who persuaded her to stay. The Guild was breaking. With its internal politics coming to a head, new factions and sects were emerging. Umbria invited her to join the Order of Lethalis, an order of Imperial mages pursuing the end of corruption in the Guild. Alexia agreed and was inducted into the Order.
Not long after, a massive explosion of magical energy ripped apart the western wing of Diradan Tower, causing intense damage to the infrastructure of the tower and the surrounding area. Multiple witnesses spotted Alexia fleeing the scene. She was proclaimed guilty and a fugitive of the law. Hunted by the city guard, Alexia found her way through Velantis and eventually disappeared into the Undercity.
