Elistina's Story:

You wanted the best, you got the best!! :) Just kidding! I have posted my D&D character's back story in 3 posts going back in time. So if you start with this one and read them down the page you will get the full story. IF you want to ready them the way they were written... read them in reverse order. But this way makes the most sense for a presentation. Enjoy!

Elistina, or Elle or Ellie is from the House of Simeon. A noble line with an outstanding reputation for many things, the most unique of which is their habit of only having one child. This mandate was to protect the family fortune.

Elsitina’s Story:

                Disgusted by my father and unable to stay in the place that held so many memories of my mother and sister I decided to set out on my own. I was 15 but I had been trained since I was young and I felt confidant that I could take care of myself and find odd jobs to accomplish to make money. Since the inheritance was mine for the taking I took enough to get myself started and left my father to wallow in our manor alone.

                I would return to him one day but for now his lies had caused me so much loss that I could not bear to look at him. I wished him well the day that I left, turned and walked out the door. I left the manor, the lands and the kingdom behind.

                Once I was outside the safety of my kingdom I was immediately jumped by a group of bandits who thought I was blind and an easy target. Once I dispatched with them I had acquired a cart, a horse, some gold and the confidence I needed to keep pressing forth through this strange land.

                It has been 5 years on the road. I have taken odd assignments from anywhere from local government to common farmers. I had made a tidy sum of money along the way and now my travel has me heading into the Dalelands.

The Fletchers & Elistina and Melba Growing up:

The Fletchers:

                Precise records were kept on the House of Simeon. All documents including marriage certificates and birth certificates were kept in the temple on the, now, even greater estate.  The Fletchers were a Descendant of Angelica Argurious. The only family remaining in The House of Simeon. Rachael Fletcher was the only child of Agatha and Benvolio Fletcher and when she married Laurence the Wheeler, he was made to take her name to keep the family line going.

                Rachel and Laurence Fletcher were the last descendants of The House of Simeon and were, therefore very wealthy. They tried for a few years to conceive a child and after a few complications Rachel became pregnant.

                Rachel gave birth to identical twin girls. Elistina the oldest and Melba the younger and frailer of the two. Rachael and Laurence were horrified to discover that they had conceived twins. They knew they had to kill one but which one should they choose?

                The obvious chose was to keep Elistina and abort Melba. Melba was frail and was born with milky eyes indicating that she was blind. However Rachel could not bear to ruin one of her children. She begged Lawrence to let her keep them. Knowing the legend, Lawrence declined. He could not bear to lose a child to some unnatural cause either. Rachel begged until finally they decided that they would keep the children until they were 5 years old. Melba looked as if she wouldn’t last long anyway, and since they were the last of the line of Simeon it was safer to keep both children in case one died of natural causes.

Elistina and Melba Growing up:

                Rachel had to give special care and attention to Melba for the first year of her life, but she became stronger. Even though it was clear that she would never see there was no difference between the two girls except the color of their eyes. Melbas were, of course white while Elstina’s were dark brown to match her hair and her father’s own eyes.

The first year of their lives set the tone for the next four. Rachel spent most of her time fussing over Melba and so Elistina’s father picked up the slack with her. By the time the girls were in their second year the couple had clear favorites. Once they could walk and talk they began all of the training and schooling afforded to a noble family.

However, since the fact that the Fletchers had two daughters had to be kept a secret only one private tutor was hired and they were placed under a powerful magical oath by Rachel so that their secret would be kept safe. The tutor trained them in every weapon type and thought them several languages.

                They were both a quick study which came in handy because they would speed through their studies to get to their sparring lessons. As their fifth year approached Rachel and Lawrence began to worry that they wouldn’t be able to choose. They both loved their daughters and there was no way for them to decide. They feared that the curse would decide for them but they were horrified at the thought of having to take one of their lives with their own hand. So they let another year pass.

                It was easy keeping the fact that they had two daughters a secret. They only needed to pretend that they were the same person. Elistina began training to manage with a blindfold on so that she and Melba were on equal ground for sparring matches. It was an easy translation to using one while she walked around town with her parents or attended celebrations.

                Rachel and Lawrence let another year pass. Rachel had the blindfold enchanted with blind sight and both the girls were taught to train with that. It turned out that neither of the girls needed the limited vision much as they honed their other senses and were very competent fighters. The blindfold came in handy more for social occasions.

                The Fletchers let the time pass as easily as if they were allowed to have two daughters. As they grew up the favoritism deepened. Melba was quick to study magic alongside her mother and became quite gifted. Elistina’s gifts were not so apparent. She took after her father’s line and was able to manipulate the earth around her. She was also very clever at channeling that energy into healing magic.

                As their fifteenth birthday approached Rachael and Lawrence became desperate. Rachael spent every waking moment in the monastery trying to find ways to break the spell that had been cast on their family line. One of these days she decided to take Melba with her and explain everything. They were instantly both determined expel the magic that would kill one of them in only a few months. Melba was worried for the life of her sister and Rachael for her beloved Melba.

                Only a few short weeks from the anniversary of Elstina and Melba’s birth Melba and Rachael were again at the temple searching frantically for a way to keep both of the girls alive past their fifteenth year. During one of their attempts to destroy the spell there was an enormous explosion in the temple. Priests fled their lives; some went to the river to bring back buckets of water to try to put out the fires that had started due to the explosion. Nothing could be done to stop the blaze. There was nothing left of the ancient building save some foundation stones and of course, amongst the rubble the still shining Scepter of Simeon.

                Elistina and Lawrence were enjoying a day at the lake when they heard the explosion. It took them over an hour to run to the temple, when they it was a smoldering pile of ash. Rachael and Melba were never found and were presumed to have perished in the explosion along with 12 other priests and devotees.

                Elistina and Lawrence were devastated. Lawrence fell into a deep despair.  He rarely came out of his room except to eat and he could no longer take joy in the presence of his beloved daughter. She reminded him only of what they had lost.

                Elistina’s 15^th birthday came and passed and Lawrence’s despair grew. One evening, only a few days after her Birthday Elsitnia dined with her father. She greeted him and took her place at the table and as she sat he began to weep.

                He told her the whole story about her ancestry and about the curse. He told her that Rachael and Melba were working on a way to end the curse and that was what had caused the explosion that ended their lives. Elsitina was devastated. She screamed at her father that he should have told her sooner that he should chosen to kill her rather than let this happen. If he had told her she would have taken her own life rather than feel the pain of the loss of her sister and mother.

                What Elistina thought was an unfortunate accident had now become a huge hole through her heart. 

The Story of the House of Simeon:

 Simeon Argurious had made his fortune by adventuring and later by commissioning adventurers to treasure hunt for him. He and his wife Leighton had 11 children. Simeon’s fortune was so great that he divided it equally between his 5 sons and 4 daughters and they each had enough to live off of the rest of their days. When they were each married, their gift from their father was their portion of the fortune and a house in their father’s lands to call their own.

                In Simeon and Leighton’s mind this was extremely fair and a good use of their fortune. The kept only enough for themselves to live comfortably until the end of their lives. However, as in all families, even the most meticulously laid plans have their flaws. After the last of their children had taken a spouse and left their house for their own plot of land the squabbles began amongst their children.  Braden, the eldest thought that he should be entitled to more than his younger siblings since he was what was known in that time as the “rightful heir.” Angelica, a middle child didn’t think it was fair that she should have to live so far away from the main house. She made her distaste known by rarely making the trip to visit her parents. There was also the matter of who would receive the main house and the remainder of the fortune once their parents had passed? Tradition dictated that the split it equally, but how do you split a house?

                Simeon became enraged by his children’s behavior and inability to be thankful for the gifts that he gave them all. Since they were not happy to be equals, and could not think of any way to get along with one another, he raised a decree. He gathered all of his children and their children together in his house. He placed the rest of his fortune on the main dining table and had every child and grandchild take a place around the table. Leighton sat at one end and Simeon at the other. When everyone was present he started.

“You are all my beloved children.” He stated plainly, “I have found more joy in raising each one of you than in all of my years of adventuring or running a successful business. Your mother and I loved each of you equally and saw fit to divide up all that we had worked for amongst you equally.”

He turned to Angelica. “My Angel, you were always so in love with the waterfall and the lake. I am so sorry that it did not please you to receive the fief of land that held those things. I hoped that you would take your children there, as I took you, so that you could share with them the wonders of that place.”

“Braden, my oldest child and my eldest son. I awarded you the richest farmland in my entire kingdom. Your knowledge of the growing seasons is vast. I had hoped that you would take pride in cultivating and making your own fortune off of the piece of land that I selected for you.”

Simeon paused. “Instead you squabble amongst yourselves as you did when you were younglings under the dining room table. It saddens me.  I have therefore made a decision. I will not wait until I am gone so that you may decide for yourselves who gets my remaining pennies or my manor. I will decide everything for you right now.”

He picked up a large golden scepter from the table of artifacts. “This is the rod of Calistrade, I won it in a hand of cards…. No matter. Its power is still great. From this day forward it shall be known as the Scepter of Simeon for I am going to seal this decree with the magic in this rod so that none of you may ever disappoint me again.”

“It is my decree that from this day forward no child of mine shall have any more than one child in their household. This way it will be clear who receives the fortune when you all die. There shall be one heir, whether it is male or female, and no more. Should any woman in this family have more children after their first, its head should be severed from its body at birth.”

Braden spoke up, “Father! This is barbaric! My wife has already given me three children,” he said gesturing to his son and two daughters. “What of them?”

“It is my decree that you should choose which of them to keep and you should sever the heads of the other two clean from their necks. You will do it here, on this table before you leave or forever be disowned. Your house and fortune will be divided up between your remaining siblings and you shall be exiled from this land.”

“Let me tell you know that I am set in my decision. All of you who have children will choose one to keep and the others will be slain. Those of you without children will be held to the standards I have just set forth. Once you choose your children and slay the remaining you may divide up the artifacts that I have laid out here and return to your homes. Your mother and I will live out the rest of our days here, then after our death I would like this house converted into a temple of Torag. The rooms can serve as a monastery and this hall as a temple hall.”

There was silence in the room as the children took it all in. Simeon sat down in his chair with his scepter still in his right hand and waited. He cast a long look down the table to his wife who was stoic. When he had told her his plan she was devastated. She loved all of her children and grandchildren and did not want his decree to be carried out. So great was Simeon’s faith in the kindness of his children’s hearts that he assured her that they would never go for it. They would each be disowned rather than give up any of their living children or any of their future children. So assured was he that he made it through his speech without batting an eyelash. The rod that he had in his had did have real power, but he hoped he could use it at a later time for some real good.

It was Winsted, Simeon’s middle most child that stood first. He had one baby and one two year old son. “I do not know this girl-child that I hold as well as I know my son. His first words were ‘happy’ and ‘mom’. I choose my son, though I love my daughter. I will do this awful thing if it pleases you, father.” With that he lay his daughter on the table, drew his knife and cut the baby’s head from her body.

Instantly Braden stood, not to be outshined by his younger brother, and stated “I love all three of my children, and though my daughter’s are older, I choose my son so that I can teach him how to cultivate the land.”

Simeon and Leighton were horrified. The tears began to flow down Leighton’s cheeks and Simeon was frozen in agony. How could his children choose a life of luxury over the love of their children? He would have murdered his own father before doing such a thing.

Slowly, staidly each child who had more than one child, and there were four, stood and took the lives of one or more of their offspring. Eight children, all under the age of 10 died in horror before their grandmother and grandfather and aunt’s and uncle’s eyes. The four children who remained clutched their mothers and did not speak.

Simeon stood up from his seat his jaw slack. “I do not believe what I just witnessed. You all chose to keep your comfortable life rather than fight for your children’s lives. You all chose comfort over love. You are all made of stone. My heart is breaking; I cannot bear to look at you. What I have just said stands. You must never break your bond, or the lives of your children and your children’s children will be forever cursed. Should you choose to keep a child against my decree, their lives will be snuffed out at the age of 15. You may take your share of what is left. When my scepter comes down it will take mine and your mother’s lives and hold you to all of the promises that you have made to me on this table that is no covered in our grandchildren’s blood. I hope that your fortune and welfare are worth this pact.”

With that he slammed the bottom of the scepter on the table. Immediately Leighton’s soul was taken from her body and was trapped in the rod. “My faith in you was misplaced.” Simeon’s soul went into the rod and his body went limp. The Scepter of Simeon rattled on the table for a moment and then fell silent. 

               

                The members of The House of Simeon were made to memorize that story and tell it to their children and their children’s children to remind them why they are to only have one child. Who could bear to lose a child that you have given birth to? How much worse would it be if you allowed them to reach the age of 15 and then the suddenly died.

                The Scepter of Simeon was kept in the Temple of Torag which was once the house of Simeon Argurious. The priests were charged to protect it since the descendants of Simeon believed that the souls of Simeon and Leighton were still inside.

                The House of Simeon never disobeyed his decree. There were a few slip ups. An unfaithful member would have a child with someone other than their wife and they had no idea why their own child passed away at the age of 15. Another family kills their son only to have another child’s heart fail them. Some members were barren, some refused to marry. Slowly the family dwindled and the fortune was combined and redistributed to the remaining members until finally there was only one family left.