This unnamed individual, informally known as the Nonagon mage, was a spellcaster who explored the ruins of Aeor and was first contacted by the Somnovem.
Description[]
Appearance[]
The Nonagon mage had nine marks of red eyes in his skin that remained long after he died; during his expedition in Aeor his hair started to shed in clumps.[2] His last attire was a robe and a pointed red cap.[3] He used a wooden staff.[4]
Personality[]
The mage was a passionate man who was obsessed with his work. He was proud, and wanted to make great discoveries, diminishing the work of others (specially if they disagreed with him) but appreciating and complimenting any skill that was useful for his own cause.
After contacting the Somnovem he became dreamy and even more obsessive, being careless about the well-being of his own allies.
Biography[]
This man was born at some point in or soon after the Calamity[5] in a humble family. His father was a pig farmer,[6] but the mage-to-be would eventually rise in power and influence, coming into contact with the Dev-Yat Mahiyi Colleges in an unnamed Exandrian region and learning magic, becoming Grand Archivist.[7]
At some point in his career scavengers brought to him relics recovered from Foren, in Eiselcross, and even though some colleagues, like Enchantress Lornië, were sceptical, the mage was convinced that those treasures came from Aeor, and started a journal to document his research. He examined tablets that talked about an Aeorian mage called Fastidan getting financing (which included slave labor) for his projects. The Grand Archivist was fascinated by this discovery, even going so far as to argue with Lornië because she had criticized Fastidan's morality.[8] At some point after that event Fastidan himself (and with him the other philosophers of Cognouza) contacted the mage who had examined the tablets.[9]
Thanks to the discoveries of the Grand Archivist, High Archivist Enchanter Morillo approved his request for an expedition to the ruins of Aeor with his own team. By then, Fastidan had been encouraging the mage to explore the far north and search for threshold crests, and the Grand Archivist seemed to be enthusiastic about going there, although intrigued by the markings appearing in his own body.[10] During the exploration, as they were getting closer to the ruins, the mage started getting more excited, and even though a member of his team, Goldeth, lost a hand in a magical accident, he didn't stop their mission, even accusing three of his allies of cowardice for showing reasonable caution.[11]
The Grand Archivist continued the expedition, finding documents about Aeorian inhabitants, and staying in contact with Enchantress Lornië thanks to magical ravens she had given him. By then his injured companion had left to attend to his wounds, and other, Felinor, had disappeared after leaving to investigate (they would find his mutilated head later). Furthermore, the mage now had nine red eye marks on his body that were giving him new powers; he had also learned that Fastidan and the Somnovem were in the Astral Plane with their ward.[12]
Enchantress Lornië eventually answered the mage's letters, manifesting her anger and indignation and declaring she intended to talk with Morillo and the Council seeking an official denunciation, which would condemn the memory of both the Grand Archivist and his research. While initially devastated about those news, the mage decided to continue his mission with his only remaining student, with the intention of reaching Cognouza and gaining power to change reality, save his reputation and punish Lornië. However, at some point he found a stasis bubble with an Aeorian citizen inside, which made the Somnovem very excited; the mage ordered Menzias, the last of his subordinates, to look for a way to dispel the bubble, but he instead managed to lead the Grand Archivist to a trap, locking him inside a room with only his staff, his journal and an enchanted rock that emitted light.[13]
Locked in the room the mage, who was calling himself the Nonagon, started working on a way out of there, but his mental health was rapidly deteriorating. Eventually, he felt the call of the Somnovem, and in his final moments he designed a spell with which to reach the Astral Plane and recorded it in his journal. After his death, Enchantress Lornië fulfilled her threat, and presumably with Menzias' help, made sure to delete records of the Nonagon mage and his research connected to Aeor and the Somnovem. Part of the process included magic that erased the former Grand Archivist's name and certain details of his life from his own journal, despite being in an isolated room in Eiselcross.[14]
The mage's journal stayed in the ruins of Aeor and became a powerful anchor for the Somnovem's influence in Exandria. In 831 PD an expedition led by Archmage Vess DeRogna found the room where the former Grand Archivist had died. Through the old journal, the Somnovem started to speak to Lucien Tavelle (one of DeRogna's hired mercenaries, the leader of the Tombtakers) in his mind; when the hall began to collapse the group began to withdraw but Lucien, prompted by the voices of the journal, wanted to retrieve the object, which led to his friend and lover, Brevyn Oakbender, to die in the collapse giving Lucien the journal.[15] Vess DeRogna tried to claim the item as part of the artifacts recovered from the expedition, but to the outrage of the Tombtakers and the high price Lucien had paid for the journal, the archmage gave up.[16]
Lucien read obsessively the notes in the Nonagon mage's journal, making his own connection with the Somnovem and becoming the new Nonagon.[17]
Relationships[]
Enchantress Lornië[]
While they were colleagues, Lornië and the mage had a complicated relationship. He often patronized her and had a mildly sexist demeanor, while manifesting a certain level of attraction to her as well. The enchantress, for her part, gave him her opinion openly, sometimes helping him, but also criticizing aspects of his investigations mercilessly; although she did not personally join his expedition to the north, she sent magical ravens with him to maintain fluid communication, a detail that indicated a certain level of cordiality despite their tensions, something that the Grand Archivist himself appreciated.
After the Nonagon mage lost his mind, Enchantress Lornië was the one who initiated the process of condemning him, since she had followed his work through her messenger ravens.
His students[]
When his expedition was approved the Grand Archivist was very excited about the idea of leading a cadre of students to the north. However, as the Somnovem's influence grew stronger in his mind, he started showing more egoism and less empathy, which ended up hurting his students.
Their names and last known destinations are as follows:
- Goldeth, a serious man, judicious researcher and an adept caster. He lost his hand to the strange magic surrounding Aeor, while trying to light a fire with a simple spell. He continued his mission, but his wound got infected, so he abandoned the ruins, returning to the surface. The Nonagon mage assumed that he was going to die, but he still told Enchantress Lornië to watch for Goldeth's return.[18]
- Felinor, another member of the expedition. He disappeared one night (before Goldeth left), when, after hearing a mournful howl in the darkness, he offered to investigate. His severed head ended up appearing in the camp, with his scalp and eyes removed.[19]
- Menzias, the student that stayed with the Nonagon mage until the very end. He was very good at his work deciphering runes and schematics. He received some red eye marks, just like his leader, suggesting some level of contact with the Somnovem, but he still doubted about the purpose of their mission in Aeor. In the ruins he wasn't eating well, and he wept when they found Felinor's head; the Grand Archivist considered him weak although he respected his good work; however, when the Nonagon mage lost his mind Menzias managed to lock him in a room, marking the door with a symbol representing the Somnovem before leaving. Lucien Tavelle believed that Menzias had returned safely to Enchantress Lornië and had helped condemning his former leader's memory.[20]
Somnovem[]
The Nonagon mage was immediately fascinated by the figure of Fastidan, and the Aeorian man used that feeling to communicate with him directly during his investigation and the expedition that followed it; throughout the latter the other Somnovem contacted the Grand Archivist, marking him as well.
In his last moments, the Nonagon mage mentioned the nine philosophers in his journal notes instead of limiting himself to the one who had until recently been his favorite.
Character Information[]
Abilities[]
From the Eyes of Nine[]
Having been under the influence of the philosophers of Cognouza, this mage had viewed the pattern that imparted the nine eyes. Each eye grants an ability.
- First eye: Mild telepathy with others bearing eyes (120 feet)
- Second eye: Darkvision
- Third eye: Ability to see through illusions
- Fourth eye: Ability to see into the ethereal plane
- Fifth eye: Ability to scry into the "eye" of another
- Sixth eye: Ability to sense all beings with minds (300 feet)
- Seventh eye: Rend Mind: Recharging melee attack that deals 10d10 psychic damage
- Eighth eye: Ability to control the minds of others with "eyes"
- Ninth eye: 30-foot antimagic cone that dispels rather than suppresses magic
Appearances and mentions[]
Trivia[]
- The condemnation and selective erasure to which the memory of the Nonagon mage was subjected is reminiscent of the Damnatio Memoriae, a Roman practice according to which any document, monument or item that could preserve the memory of an individual had to be destroyed or altered to guarantee that said person was forgotten.
- The magical process itself must have been particularly powerful, since not even in the journal, marked with the magical influence of the Eyes of Nine, was the name of the Nonagon mage preserved.
- It is not clear if the Nonagon mage simply died in his confinement or if he somehow used his spell to have his soul reach Cognouza.
- During his reading of the journal Lucien refers to the previous Nonagon as a mage, and the Grand Archivist did indeed devise a spell before he died and had his own staff, but curiously no explicit reference is made to the Nonagon mage casting spells.
- While he could have used magic to free himself from the room that became his tomb, it is possible that, after seeing Goldeth mutilating himself with a simple spell, he was afraid to risk himself in the same way.
- It is also possible that Menzias placed some sort of magic in the door that prevented the Nonagon mage from leaving the room.
- While he could have used magic to free himself from the room that became his tomb, it is possible that, after seeing Goldeth mutilating himself with a simple spell, he was afraid to risk himself in the same way.
- It is possible that at some point in his exploration he lost his hair due to a temporary effect of wild magic, since at one point in his journal he describes how his hair had started to shed in clumps,[21] but later there were notes of his in which he devised an invention involving his own hair, suggesting that he was not bald.[22]
- In his journal the mage makes reference to Goldeth casting a spell called Fireblast.[23] This is not a spell known to exist in any edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
References[]
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 130.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 105.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 119. The mage defines the fall of Aeor as "the greatest loss of our age", suggesting that when he lived the event was relatively recent, although it was long enough for him to see the Aeorians as ancient, thinking of their hypothetical remains as mummies.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 123.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 119.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 119 and 120.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 123.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 123.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 126 and 127.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 129, 130 and 132.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 138 and 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 107, 108 and 109.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 114, 115 and 116.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 141.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 126, 127 and 130.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 130 and 132.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 104, 130, 132, 138 and 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 130.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 139.
- ↑ Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien, p. 126.
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Lucien's journal, by Clara (source). Used with permission.