Gwaihir Ingalon

Sheol

• Marriage, and Time Abroad

  The Ancient Temple

  
  
  Determined to give his bride-to-be a ceremony worthy of her heritage, Gwaihir, now determined to leave Silverion behind and pursue life with the incredible companion sent him by the most wonderful of lucky breaks, made his way, in secret, far towards the Northlands, in pursuit of an old secret. Hidden deep in the hinterlands, the rumor stated, an abandoned temple of Lolth, Goddess of the Underdark and Queen, it is said, of the Drow, still stood. It was a monument of incredible beauty and precious architecture, carved entirely, rumor had it, of a single geode, brought from the deeps by no other than the Spider Queen Herself.
  
  Whether the rumor was true or not, the fact remained that the temple was a place worthy of awe. The floors were a deep marble, ebon as the Underdark itself, with veins of amethysts and mithril running between the grooves in the flawless stone. Above, the same veins of amethysts coalesced to form long, smoothed arches, to support the vaulted ceiling, and a natural spring of steaming hot water bubbled up in one of the temple's wings- once upon a time, no doubt, the privilege of the High Priestess, given the Drow's propensity towards indulging in Earthly pleasures.
  
  It was in this beautiful place that Gwaihir and May'fein were, at last, bonded, heart and hand and soul. From the fields of Elysium, he called his blood brother, to meet one final time in the world of the living, Gwaihir at the height of his joy, Ilireth now only the merest of ghosts. But in that moment, Ilireth put forth all his considerable skill and wisdom and created for May'fein and Gwaihir both a living reminder of their love, using lore so old it might be no longer remembered for what it is. For it is certainly true that May'fein and Gwaihir may be the only ones alive who still wear soulsteel on their living flesh, binding their spirits as one before the eyes of the Gods that will mete their justice at the time of their combined deaths. For not only were Gwaihir and May'fein wed in life, but so, too, in the eternity after, promised that they should meet their end, ultimately, with each other, and take the plunge into the great Darkness following with their hands holding each other's, never again to be alone.

• Sheol

  Settling Down

  
  
  Following their wedding and the the incredibly carefree Honeymoon that followed- seven months of wandering and lovemaking-, they were called upon to fulfill a promise to one of only a handful of May'fein's friends- the magician Ex'andar Eristis. They had promised to come to a town named Sheol, nestled high between mountains, carved into the side of the tallest one, to help the magician 'turn things around'.
  
  So it was that May'fein and Gwaihir arrived at Sheol, a town under the control of a mysterious but apparently benevolent woman named Rishana. At once, they took a liking to the town, if not, immediately, to the vast majority of its inhabitants. But they were able to carve for themselves a niche in the town, and that was more than enough for the former Infiltrator. Weariness of people turned to an amiable nonchalance regarding them and their fate, and for the first time in his life, Gwaihir was able to live for his own pleasure. Night after night, the couple spent hours and hours sequestered with each other in their place of safety, nestled in the side of the mountain so that it might feel like one of the Underdark's cosier caves, drinking in the ever-growing and never-relenting joy they found in one another, each learning things about themselves that they never knew, bringing them closer and stronger together, until they seemed, truly, inseparable.

• A Devil from the Past

  Joining the Guard

  
  
  A few weeks into their new life in Sheol, Gwaihir was approached, once more, by the magician Ex'andar, for assistance. In order to combat the ferocious corruption that held Sheol in a deathly grip, Gwaihir was told, there would need to be a change in leadership in the Guard, a rejuvenation, as it were, of the principles that dominated the concept of Law enforcement in the town. To this end, Gwaihir joined the outfit, instituted at the rank of Captain, and he oversaw a general clean-up of the Guard's lower ranks, taking particular note of those loyal to the corrupt faction represented, ultimately, by Lord Cromwell's favorites. The time would come when Cromwell would have to suffer the justice dispensed by Sheol's Law, but that would have to wait, for, in the quiet and in the dark, a creature more dangerous and malicious than any Devil rose out of Gwaihir's past, like a ghost seeking revenge, to torment him.

  
  
  

  Tanith

  
  
  Tanith Dalassa, perhaps the best-kept secret in Arcadian history, along with Gwaihir, himself, was the only other candidate to have come close to completing the program in the Infiltrators. Like Gwaihir, she was raised and trained to be the greatest terror Arcadia's enemies had ever known, utterly remorseless, undetectable, and unstoppable. However, she represented an entirely different kind of threat than Gwaihir.
  
  In her wisdom, the creator of the Infiltrator program decided to test two 'branches' of development for the Infiltrators, in that first prototype run. The first, of course, was dominance by information, what Gwaihir represented. Gwaihir was the ultimate tool for the collection and interpretation of knowledge, particularly knowledge Arcadia's enemies didn't want its military to know. Thus, Gwaihir was trained to be a shadow, a ghost, his targets completely unaware of his passing, until confronted with the knowledge Arcadia ought never to have. Tanith was the exact opposite, in a sense. Tanith's training and skills reflected dominance by terror, a method of exerting pressure and fear, a tangible twist of the arm, as it were. Whereas Gwaihir did not exist, Tanith was meant to be felt, and her passing known, but only when it was too late for the enemy to do anything about it. Hers was an agenda of assassination, of sabotage, and terrorism, of mayhem, and pandemonium, within the enemy's ranks.
  
  And so it was that the two Infiltrators, unaware of their differences and purpose, made their way through the tests that took the lives, sanity, or health of so many others, and came, at last, to the final test, the moment before coronation, as it were, for them.

  
  
  

  The Illithid Colony

  
  
  The final test for the pair was to infiltrate an Illithid colony, in the Underdark, and to slay an Ultharid, a Mindflayer of extraordinary talent an ability. Posing as Master and Thrall, the pair were to attend a slave auction, and when the Infiltrator Tanith was being escorted to the gladiatorial pits, Gwaihir would strike, to bring down the creature. It was a simple enough plan, and merited caution, though not fear- the two had gone through much worse, during their time in the Infiltrators. However, there was an extra assignment, that each received through extremely secretive means- an assignment that would ultimately drive Gwaihir from the program, for fear of becoming the instrument of something he would not ever want others to have to suffer under.
  
  In the dead of night, in the deepest shadows of the Underdark, Gwaihir received a letter, borne by a Drowess he had known long before, and whom he had turned to the service of Arcadia by... less than conventional means. The letter stated that, as his final assignment, he was to betray Tanith, and sell her properly to the Illithids, letting them destroy her mind, and then abscond, with the Ultharid's head, and return to Arcadia. And so, with his heart steeled against betraying the only creature that had shown him any kind of companionship (though never romantic attachment), he sold Tanith's secret to the Illithids. In the ensuing commotion, the assassin Gwaihir took the Ultharid's head and fled, hiding in the Underdark for nearly a year, before he felt it safe enough to return to the surface. And all the while, he was plagued by the guilt of what he'd done, by the pain he'd inflicted upon his once-partner. For no amount of rationalization, or Drow wine, could kill the knowledge that he had caused her death, when she had done, really, nothing to deserve it. And what a death.

  
  
  

  Tanith's return

  
  
  It was now, living a life of utter contentment with his wife, that Tanith chose to return. In brief summary, after trapping Gwaihir and his wife both, in their home with her signature trap- an array of silver wires, thin enough to cut, and strung in ways to avoid her prey from moving-, Tanith explained how she had escaped the Mindflayer colony, and gained her chance for revenge. Deep in her heart, now, a Devil resided, having given up her soul in exchange for the opportunity to break the dark feline. And with the Devil's magic at her disposal, she stole his voice, putting over him an enchantment that would slay his wife if he communicated with her at all, be it through hand gestures or his voice. Now diminished, Gwaihir held his wife in the depths of the night, aching to tell her what had happened, why it was he could not speak for her. But broken as he was, there was no way he could ever be the husband he had intended to be for May'fein. So, in the dead of night, Gwaihir tore a strip of his skin, with his fur on it, and left for her a rose that he had grown only for their love, and disappeared, to break the terrible enchantment laying so heavily on him.

  
  
  

  Hunting for the Devil

  
  
  Voiceless and ragged, Gwaihir returned to Cania, a place he had not been since the death of the Crown Prince of Arcadia, and his companions, in search for the Devil that held Tanith's soul. Using all his guile and cunning, the feline hunted for the Devil for what must have been nearly four weeks for his wife, but over six months for him, time being stretched and distorted in the Nine Hells. Futile was his search, at first- for none would betray the Devil to some wanderer. But in the end, growing ever more savage and brutal in his desperation, he began to make headway.
  
  Exhausted, starving, drenched in the blood of countless denizens of Cania, Gwaihir came, at last, before the throne of the Devil. In single, hand-to-hand combat, the feline was able to wrest a recanting of the pact, having driven the Devil, and himself, within an inch of death. Tired and weary in his very spirit, Gwaihir returned to the material plane, to confront his tormentor once more, armed with the knowledge that she could be slain, now, and his wife and him freed of her taint.

  
  
  

  Sealing Away the Past

  
  
  Gwaihir returned to Sheol, and confronted Tanith in the place where the black-and-purple roses, which grew only for his wife, one bloomed. In his weakness, she overcame him, and was in the process of torturing him, when May'fein appeared, with the magician Ex'andar. The first sight of him that his wife had, after his mysterious disappearance, was of Tanith kissing him forcefully, having overpowered him. But, the feline's will was not done away with, yet. Taking a piece of Tanith's lip with his teeth, he was flung aside and set aflame, to feel the burning of Tanith's revenge, in the flesh. At this time, the magician and his wife both sprang into action, working together to bring Gwaihir's tormentor down, and they had weakened her significantly when Gwaihir rose, fueled by his ferocious love for his wife, and an almost pitying fury. Still smoking from the flames, his skin burnt and ruined, he took Tanith by the neck, and with his wife's hand in his, they ran a knife into her spine, forever ending the threat of her return- his deal with the Devil would very much ensure that. And so, he was rid of Tanith forever, his guilt and ache buried with her corpse. And though his skin healed phenomenally well, and fast, he bears, still, a momento of that encounter- the silver medallion given him by his wife, was burnt into the skin of his chest, carved forever into his flesh, a permanent reminder, in addition to her soulsteel mark, that there was no higher right in this world than her happiness... a reminder he likely would never need, for he who walks through Hell and back for love could never be turned aside from the path of faithfulness.

• Cromwell and the Guard

  Wanted

  
  
  Not long after his run-in with the brutal reminder of his past, Gwaihir was forced, once more, to rise to the challenge presented by the world. In his absence, the Guard had grown more and more corrupt and bold in its corruption, as well, working nearly overtly for the agents that were behind the illicit drug trade in Sheol. So it was that, when he returned, the feline was asked to look into matters and set things straight once more.
  
  However, his investigations were short-lived, as he was called to meet with the then-Lord of the Guard, a man of supreme vice and weak will, who gave the Infiltrator one chance to repent and join his side. Nonchalant as always, Gwaihir turned aside the offer, and the Lord of the Guard ordered him killed. He made his escape by disappearing into Sairon Academy and the tunnels beneath it, which formed a passageway between the Academy's basement and the brothel. It was here that he met, properly, a vampiress named Anna Hunter, who would become a trusted friend and student, in the end, when all was said and done. With her help, he escaped into the forest, where he was joined by his wife, even as the town's Guard put up posters offering a reward for his head.

  
  
  

  A Pawn upon the Chessboard

  
  
  It was at that time, and in that place, that Gwaihir was, once more, levered into a fruitless plan by forces beyond his control. Despite his resentment of magicians and their cockamamie ideas, Gwaihir was persuaded, by his wife, to let the wizard Ex'andar put a spell on him to lock him away inside the Academy, leaving his wife to fend for herself. In his captivity, Gwaihir was visited by Ex'andar and the Lady Rishana both, and in a heated exchange of words, the three parted ways, each seeing the other two as fools. Gwaihir, for his part, had come to hate, in his own way, Ex'andar, and what he represented- it was a sickness of the soul, an apathy of purpose, brought on by an over-reliance on magic, that infinitely inflated arrogance of wizards everywhere, that was usually the culprit behind magic's greatest crimes. As for the Lady Rishana, he saw her as willfully blind, or simply arrogant in her control, viewing her as directly responsible for how out of hand things had gotten. After all, a dictator ought never let things spiral into such a dangerous tailspin, no?
  
  However, Ex'andar released his hold on him, in the end, and Gwaihir prepared an assault upon the Guardhouse, which his people retook with heavy casualties. Using Anna's ability to turn men into thralls after death, he questioned Lassan Dars, one of the Captains loyal to Cromwell, about his whereabouts and the defences of his tower. Armed with that information, in turn, the group led an assault upon Cromwell and his lackeys.
  
  But before they had reached Cromwell's room, May'fein burst out from the landing, bare-breasted and holding the corrupt Guardsman's head in her hand. This she threw and called for a cease-fire, having seduced and slain the so-called Noble in his lust and greed for her, the moment he had turned his back away. Bearing injury and hurt, however, she had come through to victory only at great risk, and at great harm. And so, Gwaihir took her in his arms, and they disappeared into their cave, not emerging until many weeks later, having nursed wounded hearts and broken bone alike in the comfort and solace of their home.

• The Happiest News

  Guard Commander

  
  
  With Cromwell slain, there was need in Sheol for a Head Guardsman, and Lady Rishana decided to appoint Gwaihir to the position. Having been offered a carte blanche for restructuring the Guard and its operations, he proceeded to reduce the amount of Guards on staff, and made them adhere to a strict non-lethal policy, training them personally in hand-to-hand combat and the use of truncheons and rope and other such accessories, so that the Guard would become an extension of Law enforcement, not a private military outfit, as it had previously been. Under his regime, the Guard gained respect, slowly but steadily, becoming a thing of authority and trust for the citizenry, as opposed to the mechanism of fear and oppression that it had previously constituted.

  
  
  

  The Twins

  
  
  It was in this quiet respite that the happiest news to grace Gwaihir in Sheol, to date, came. When things had become quiet and life had taken on, once more, that happy note of idyll, May'fein announced the existence of their firstborns, a pair of girls. Given Drow females' ability to know both the moment of conception, and the gender of the child instinctively (honed by brutal tradition, as females were prized infinitely more than males, in the Underdark), Gwaihir had nothing to do but celebrate, as everything became suddenly more joyous, colors brighter, sounds sweeter, tastes sharper, all spurred by the ferocious joy welling in his heart at the idea of being not only married, but part of a family, at very long last.