Archmage Cassida Previn was one of the wizards of the city of Aeor, and a member of the Society of Primes. As an NPC, Cassida is played by Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Description[]
When first seen in Trist's vision of the person who had recently prayed to The Everlight in the abandoned temple within Aeor, Cassida was wearing the high-collared dark cloak of an archmage of the city.[1]
Biography[]
Background[]
Cassida grew up in the Opus Ward, a working class neighborhood where she witnessed a lot of deaths due to unsafe working conditions, and worked her way into becoming one of the elite wizards of the city. Her upbringing gave her a firm belief in the gods, and she also believed she could help to end the Calamity by saving the Prime Deities. She devoted her life to this project, becoming a wizard of intense focus and dedication.[2]
She was one of three archmages who held enough knowledge of the Factorum Malleus project to be able to recreate it.[3]
"Downfall: Part Two" (3x100)[]

Fan art of Trist viewing Cassida's prayers, by Elaine Tipping.[art 1]
Cassida was first seen by Trist in a vision in an abandoned temple as someone who had recently offered the goddess fervent prayers for the health of her desperately ill son Hallis. Later, when the mortal avatars of the gods found Hallis within the Exceleter Hospital, the doctor in charge magically sent for Cassida and she appeared almost immediately. She was fairly quickly convinced of the group's true identity when Trist healed Hallis of his Graygill's Wasting disease, and shared with them the fact that she was one of the few supporters of the gods within the hierarchy of the city, and a member of the Society of Primes. When the mortal avatars sensed through their telepathic bond that a battle had begun at the Obtenebrator in the Genesis Ward, Cassida Teleported the gods there.
"Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)[]
Returning to the pocket dimension inside the Ars Elysia, Trist attempts to calm Cassida, who now realizes that she is surrounded by a mixture of both Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods. She attempts to Teleport but is Counterspelled by S.I.L.A.H.A.. When Trist asks for the day's password to the Genesis Ward, however, she allows her to read her mind for it: "Aurora Rex", and asks how she can help her further, because she is very confused that the gods she believed were engaged in an existential battle of good against evil are now together and cooperating, while Exandria has been destroyed by their war. Zaharzht confirms this is a truce, and in attempting to reassure Cassida, Ayden inadvertently reveals to the Betrayers that the God Hammer has been altered to only kill them. The Betrayers present are scathing at this discovery.
Crushed by what she has learned, Cassida tells them that in level B-9 there are banks of scroll batteries holding the only remaining knowledge of the weapon. Cassida pleads that if she destroys them, the gods need not destroy the city and apologizes repeatedly for her role in the weapon's creation. She also confirms beyond that only she, Adamar Cadrow, and Selena Erenves hold the knowledge to recreate the Factorum Malleus. Arcadia is hesitant to see knowledge destroyed and tells Trist to stay with Cassida. Cassida explains that to destroy the Factorum Malleus, the others must first destroy the seven wards of the Latimus Princeps. However, at that moment, the device will trigger, destroying all gods in the city unless it is somehow dispelled, and the energy burst that would then result would be massive. She asks them to take her son Hallis to his family in the Opus Ward if he survives. Cassida leads her group (consisting of Trist, Arcadia, Emhira's illusion duplicate, and Umleta) to the scroll room where they begin to collect the information they need while the others head to the Factorum Malleus. During the battle at the Factorum Malleus, Emhira's illusion fails and Arcadia convinces Trist to work a miracle for her family leading Trist to join the battle directly. This leaves Cassida alone with Arcadia and Umleta.
After the battle, the Prime Deities realize that Arcadia was imprisoned by the Aeorians so the Arcadia left with Cassida was a fake; the Matron of Ravens then realizes she can no longer sense Cassida's life thread. Returning to the scroll banks, they find Cassida dead and her body desecrated. Asmodeus, who had been wearing Arcadia's form for some time, taunts the Everlight that before Cassida died, she renounced her. The Everlight destroys the final Factorum Malleus scroll that Asmodeus was attempting to steal and both Asmodeus and Lolth are temporarily banished from Aeor. The Everlight restores Cassida's body but not her life; The Matron casts a dome over the body to protect it as Aeor crashes. The Everlight realizes that it doesn't matter if Cassida renounced her before she died. Before the city is destroyed, The Matron teleports Cassida's son Hallis to safety in an unknown location on Exandria.
Relationships[]
Society of Primes[]
The Society of Primes were a group of mages that, like Cassida, believed in the Prime Deities and their cause. Together, they had been manipulating the Factorum Malleus behind the backs of the more radical wizards involved in its construction, and they wanted to use it to destroy only the Betrayer Gods, helping the Primes as allies and putting an end to the Calamity.[4] However, the archmagi in charge of the project were aware of the Society and their goals thanks to their spies, and had secretly countered their efforts, being prepared to kill all the religious engineers involved as soon as they finished their part of the job.[5]
Character information[]
Notable items[]
- A symbol of the Everlight
- A very old book with songs and legends written with a hopeful and grateful tone, just after the Schism ended[6]
Abilities[]
Aside from apparently having the standard traits and abilities of an archmage,[7] Cassida could cast a version of Detect Thoughts that targeted someone other than herself.[8]
Appearances and mentions[]
- Campaign Three: Bells Hells
- "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) (first appearance)
- "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
- "Reconciliation" (3x102), mentioned only
Quotations[]
- (praying to the Everlight to heal Hallis) "Please, please, please. If anything is possible, let this be possible."[9]
- The Emissary: Not good or bad. Family and balance. Understand?
Previn: Before, in that chamber, I was told there are things I could never understand. I am going to do as you have asked. But I will ask a favor in return. Make up your mind if I am given to understand this world or not.
The Emissary: Not my wish to grant.
Previn: Then why don't we just stop teaching me lessons?[10]
Trivia[]
- In the Cooldown aftershow for "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101), Brennan Lee Mulligan highlighted two contrasting scenes on Cassida's interactions with the infiltrating gods where "the Arch Heart was like, 'There are things you cannot possibly understand.' And then, in the next scene, the Emissary was like, 'Try to understand.' And she was like, 'Hey. You motherfuckers got to pick.' And that idea, too, of– If you have the gifts, not to get all Inherit the Wind about it– You have the gifts that the gods gave to mortals. You expect me not to try to understand?".[11]
- The Downfall cast discussed the tragedy of Cassida's death where the last hour of her life "was so painful" and that she realized she was going to die; they also discussed the gods decision to not bring her back to life following her off-screen murder, with Nick Marini specifically mentioning that bringing her back would be the cruelest thing they could have done for her.[11]
- During 4-Sided Dive: Oh My Gods, Brennan Lee Mulligan explained that Cassida renounced the Everlight not in her final moments but before that.[12]
References[]
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 0:33:13.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 0:30:21.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 0:59:58.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 2:27:36.
- ↑ See "4-Sided Dive: Oh My Gods" (4SDx26) at 0:57:50.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 0:35:25.
- ↑ See D&D: Monster Manual, 5th ed., p. 342.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 0:34:04.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Two" (3x100) at 2:08:14.
- ↑ See "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101) at 1:15:13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 See CR Cooldown C3 E101 (subscription required).
- ↑ See "4-Sided Dive: Oh My Gods" (4SDx26) at 2:06:22.
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Trist viewing Cassida's prayers, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
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