Elder Evils

SOELMA NILAENISH
“The world disgusts me. People are treacherous, crude, and cruel,
and the natural world is no better. When you’re as old as I am, there
really is nothing left to feel but loathing.”
—Soelma Nilaenish, loremaster
Soelma Nilaenish is an old elf wizard and loremaster. She
is quiet and polite. Her colleagues would describe her as
shy and lonely—some
would call her boring.
Though she is respected
in the scholarly fields of
history and magic, only
true aficionados of both
subjects know of her.
Several years ago, she
founded a society for
scholars, which became
popular with historians
from all over the world.
She never traveled far
from home, and she
has become increasingly
reclusive.
Her colleagues say
that Soelma has changed
recently. They are not certain
what sparked the
change, but she has been
more confident and more
hopeful recently.
GOALS
Soelma Nilaenish has
always been a remarkable
woman, but few
outside the scholarly
community know her.
She was never beautiful
or charming and never
had good friends. The
maiden aunt who raised
her died when Soelma
was 196 years old, and she has been alone in the world
since then.
Over the years, Soelma became depressive in her outlook
on life and finally arrived at the point where she hates
everything, herself most of all. Recently the shy, everunnoticed
Soelma decided she would like the world to
pay attention to her before she leaves it. To that end, she
painstakingly researched the perfect way to end it all. She
looks forward to the cessation of all life in the world with
relief and hope, and devotes every moment toward achieving
her dream.
USING SOELMA NILAENISH
Soelma begins the campaign as an occasional employer
of the PCs. She pays them well and on time, always gives
Soelma Nilaenish
them accurate information, and offers useful advice.
Though never friendly, she is also never rude. Soelma
is wealthy and uses money instead of diplomacy when
she can.
The PCs should occasionally receive hints about the
depths of Soelma’s depression, and this should become
a more frequent occurrence as the campaign progresses.
When she decides the time is right to voyage to the Hulks
in person, her demeanor
changes from passivity
to one of taut excitement
and hope. PCs might be
led to believe that the prospect
of saving the world
from evil, which she states
as her goal on the journey,
has filled her with
a newfound purpose in
life. Since Soelma by this
point is insane enough to
genuinely believe that
her actions will make the
world a better place, her
behavior involves little
deception.
Once Nilaenish has used
the PCs to help her defeat
Janwulf, her chief rival for
control of the Hulks’ cultists,
she betrays them in a
manner that she has been
preparing since she first
met the characters, and
then she leaves them to
die. When the PCs meet
her again, all traces of shyness
and sanity are gone.
She behaves like a religious
fanatic, still genuinely
believing that she is destroying
the world for its
own good.
DESCRIPTION
Mousy and plump for an elf, Soelma Nilaenish could best be
described as plain. She is short for her race but not remarkably
so, and her dishwater hair and small brown eyes hint
of human blood at some point in her ancestry, despite her
otherwise elflike features. Intelligent and bookish, Soelma
never had much interest in anything outside her scholarly
pursuits. She dresses in plain clothing without adornments
and even designs her own magic items to be plain. She keeps
her hair cut short for easy care.
Soelma’s shyness makes her very difficult to read. She puts
great effort into seeming emotionless and polite, but the
hate inside her has been building for so long that nothing
can heal her wounds. She seems sane and logical, but she is
quite mad underneath.
Illus. by E. Widermann
CHAPTER 4
THE HULKS OF
ZORETHA
53