Latest revision as of 18:32, 16 September 2018

Name: Mellicent Cole
Gender: Female
Race: Human, Obelisk Touched
Location: High Reaches, originally Atalan
Age: Deceased

Once a prominent fixture within the halls of the Arcane University, Mellicent Cole is now rarely seen, at least in person. Still possessing what many consider an alluring beauty to pair with her tall, statuesque frame, it is not surprising that so many have had dreams of her over the years. So often she was referred to as "Lady/Woman of my dreams", that the moniker eventually stuck, and she became known as "The Lady of Dreams". Sometime as she got older, this gradually changed, and she became known as the "Mistress of Dreams". None can really say why for certain, though the name seems to fit. Somewhat to her chagrin, this has more than once caused Mellicent to be the physical and alluring standard by which others have been judged.

During the Blackspear War, Mellicent rarely left the University, instead she devoted herself to teaching the mages engaged in the campaign the art of magical teleportation and also of divination so that people, messages, and intelligence could be sent and gathered with expediency. It was during this time that she garnered the reputation of being almost impossibly hard on pupils in a critical manner, always insisting on absolute perfection and never finding it. During the siege of High Reaches in 2865, when the people of the settlement rallied to defend against, and eventually repel the Blackspear, Mellicent turned her focus to securing the University rather than expanding her influence to help the larger community. This brought no small amount of ire from many within the trained militia who wished for more support from the mages.

This ire was tamed somewhat when the "University" revealed a small, but significant number of hidden Blackspear infiltrators and supporters setting up throughout High Reaches. The leader of the band was a prominent merchant who denied all-wrong-doing. Between a lack of physical evidence and his prominent standing in the community, he was released. Later that night, the city watch was called to his home as screams of terror could be heard piercing the night from within. When the watch finally bust down his door, they found the merchant in a gibbering heap at the foot of his bed near a carefully concealed bolt hole in the floor. When approached, the man stuffed shoved the incriminating papers into the hands of the watchmen before screaming out once more, and collapsing dead. While many found the events unsettling, no further inquiries were made and the man was quickly burned.

At the close of the war, Mellicent continued to teach and to perform examinations of advanced students. Her expectancy of perfection did not abate however. This caused more than one heated debate between her and the other senior members of the University, especially Gralin and Myl'ethelin. Thus, it was no surprise to her when Gralin, before departing for Atalan, handed over the position of Head Master to Myl'eathelin, and his records over to Aulus Marius. Obelisk-touched herself, Mellicent tried to dissuade Gralin from approaching the Obelisk head-on, counseling a more mundane solution to the problems at hand.

It was from this time forward that Mellicent became less involved in the normal education of students of the university. While the university was undergoing an expansion of its charter and services, Mellicent became more reclusive, sequestering herself in a research vault above the expanding library. Shortly after the first expansion of the University in the Spring of 2871, Mellicent selected a few gifted pupils and invited them to aid her in an on-going research project. For the next 13 years, Mellicent was rarely seen outside of the floors above the library; some of that space having been converted into a combination research facility and dormitory for the researchers.

Mellicent was not, however; entirely absent from University life. Over the next 13 years, the University enjoyed robust growth, embracing its new official motto "No secrets - only hidden truths". The University became a place of higher learning for all disciplines, not just the arcane. It was in the teaching of the arcane that Mellicent's presence was still felt though. All students wishing to partake of advanced arcane studies were required to pass a battery of subject knowledge and character fitness tests. These exams were always overseen by one or more members of the senior faculty. Mellicent was one such member. From time to time, and without any discernible pattern, Mellicent would emerge from the research wing to announce she would facilitate an exam. Though some precious few managed to survive her subject studies exams, none ever managed to pass her character fitness ones, leading some to believe that she already knew those candidates would fail before she insisted on conducting the interview. So difficult did it become to get passing marks from Mellicent that some students, learning she was to examine them, revoked their petition to exam content to continue lesser studies for a longer duration before petitioning again. The majority of those that did pass Mellicent's exams quietly disappeared from normal University life, eventually turning up as a library researchers assigned to Mellicent.

In the Spring of 2884, Mellicent was visited by an old friend and some-time mentor, Mayrie. Injured nearly beyond recognition, Mayrie was taken to the temple and then before the High Council. The Council, still not entirely comfortable with Torica, and also somewhat hoping to make a not-so-subtle point, left Mayrie losing hope that aid would come for her people. Historians still debate whether or not the Council reached the decision on their own, or if Mellicent forced their hand, but the result was that Mellicent appeared from the University with the small handful of mages that had come up from Torica for one reason or another to receive arcane training rather than stay on the island. Perhaps it is was coincidental, perhaps not, but the majority were members from "her" researchers. Accompanied by GLAD Adventurers, Mellicent took her talents to Torica and helped Mayrie turn the tides of a losing battle. Once the peace council was assembled, Mellicent met privately with Mayrie before returning to the University, taking only a few of the mages with her that had returned to defend their homeland.

Over the next 20 years, the University continued to expand while Mellicent returned to appearing on rare occasions to conduct exams. It became a running joke that there was no faster way to wipe the smug smile from an especially gifted but haughty student's face than to remind them that they might just get examined by Mellicent - an eventuality nearly everyone feared. Only three times did a student ever request Mellicent examine them. On two occasions she politely declined, though it was noted by those paying attention that those students did exceptionally well on their examinations, leading some to speculate they were never in any danger of being sent back for further study. The third such occasion was the one of the most talked about events of the season. In the winter of 2896, Mellicent agreed to examine one of the brightest arcane students at the University. Students from all areas of study, not just the arcane, flocked to watch the event. Even some instructors were intrigued, as the best of the brightest was going to get the challenge he asked for. While the student scored admirably well on many arcane subject exams, when it came to more mundane learning, language studies, and then eventually even in defending his research project, the poor student was torn to pieces by her examination and left lonely, dejected, and humiliated in the center of the examination hall. The very best and brightest students in every discipline redoubled their efforts from that point, all realizing that there was always room for improvement and that there was no place for hubris in the University.

In 2899 Mellicent was once more in the spotlight, as five students were personally expelled from the University by Mellicent. Though the students had the right to appeal, Myl'eathelin refused their petitions. The exact reasons are were never clear to most, but as is always the case in such situations, rumours circulated. The most persistent rumours, and those that never seemed to be countered by any faculty overhearing them, was that the students had secretly been researching and practicing arcane studies of questionable morality without regard to the safety of High Reaches. Regardless of the reason, the students, expelled from the University, were left with no lodgings and no affiliation to support their continued resident citizenship of High Reaches. This became a stark reminder for all paying attention that High Reaches and the University both expected the citizenry to be both socially responsible and socially productive. No quarter would be given to those that could not provide for and respect the safety of the community.

In 2900, when the Chief Librarian, Ashley Norstrom came to her end under mysterious circumstances, Mellicent took charge of the Library in total, and her chosen became known as Field Researchers. She did nothing to disrupt the work Ashley had done for the library. In fact, if anything, Mellicent and her people being constantly present made the library more accessible than ever. However, access to the upper floors where Mellicent both lived and did her own research were sealed tight, with only a select few possessing the means to bypass the wards.

In Fall 2901, Mellicent was seen returning via teleport with a battered group of large warrior-types, none of them bearing the markings of GLAD Adventurers. Included in the company was an orc in dire need of healing. They had with them a large, ornate steel chest. Researchers took the chest upstairs while Mellicent thanked her companions. She then went upstairs herself, and has not been seen publicly since. This absence has included Mellicent not examining a student in nearly five years. Now considered more an idle threat than anything, bright students are still warned, "Be careful or the old lady might come down from her tower and examine you." Despite Myl'eathelin having numerous years on the human Mellicent, every student knows precisely who the old lady is, and none are in any way anxious for the day when she returns to examine a student.