> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # Ayana Syndrosa > [![[Codex/Assets/Characters/Ayana_Syndrosa_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](Codex/Assets/Characters/Ayana_Syndrosa.webp) > ###### Basic Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Character | > ###### Character Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Creature Type | Humanoid | > Species | Elf | > Gender | Female > Pronouns | She/Her | > Age | ~700 | > Languages | Common<br>Elvish<br>Sylvan | > Place | [[Sumara, The Shining City\|Sumara]] | > Connections | [[Circle of the Weave\|The Weave]]<br>[[Illythia Voss]]<br>[[King Marius Noren\|Marius Noren]]<br>[[The Bloody Nails]] | > Profession | Archmage<br>Meridian of the Weave (former) | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Alive | **Ayana Syndrosa** is an elven archmage and the former Meridian of the [[Circle of the Weave]] in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]]. For centuries she was one of the most respected figures in the city, guiding the Circle through an era of isolation — until she gave it all up. Forty years ago, she departed through the [[The Emerald Ceremony]], leaving behind her position, her home, and the woman she loved, to investigate a growing darkness on the Material Plane. For decades she lived in secret among humans, adopting the name **Ayana Wynne** and posing as a young advisor to [[King Marius Noren|Marius Noren]] in [[Val Noren]]. It was through Marius that she first crossed paths with [[The Bloody Nails]], and she has travelled alongside them since — eventually returning to Sumara for the first time since her departure. ## Description #### Appearance Ayana is tall and lean, with sharp elven features that soften only rarely — usually when she's amused or caught off guard. Her silver-white hair falls loosely past her shoulders, and a pair of half-moon glasses give her the look of someone perpetually mid-assessment. Her deep violet eyes are the thing most people remember — bright with intelligence and unsettlingly perceptive. In Sumara she favours layered robes in deep blues and muted silvers, with faint arcane sigils stitched into the hems. As **Ayana Wynne**, she was a different figure entirely — severe black clothing, hair pulled tight, every line designed to read as a sharp young human advisor. Most who met her saw exactly what she intended them to see. #### Personality Ayana is measured, deliberate, and deeply principled — though not without a dry sense of humour that surfaces at unexpected moments. She listens more than she speaks, and when she does speak, people tend to stop and pay attention. She has a way of cutting to the heart of things that makes argument feel redundant. Beneath the composure is someone who feels things intensely. Her decision to leave Sumara cost her everything familiar, and she made it anyway because she believed it was necessary. That willingness to sacrifice — paired with a refusal to ask anyone else to do the same — defines her. It's also her greatest blind spot. She left [[Illythia Voss]] without a proper farewell because she thought a clean break would be kinder. Forty years later, the slap she received upon her return suggested otherwise. ## Biography #### Background Ayana was born in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]] roughly seven centuries ago, into a family of the [[Circle of Blades]]. Her grandfather had fought in [[The Chaos Wars]], and she grew up on his stories of a world that nearly tore itself apart. Those stories shaped her — not toward martial glory, as her family might have hoped, but toward understanding. She wanted to know *why* the world had broken, and whether it could be prevented from breaking again. Her aptitude for magic was obvious early. By the standards of the Weave, she was a prodigy — the kind that appears perhaps once in a generation. Her transfer from the Blades to [[Circle of the Weave|the Weave]] raised eyebrows in her family but surprised no one who had seen her work. She rose through the Circle's ranks with a combination of raw talent and a relentless, almost obsessive dedication to her craft. In time, she was named Meridian — the youngest in living memory. Under her leadership the Circle flourished, but Ayana's attention was never confined to Sumara alone. She travelled frequently to [[Ithilmara]], the Material Plane, and over centuries she developed a genuine affection for its people. When [[The Valtorran Empire]] rose a century ago and began spreading across the continent, the elves withdrew — retreating to Sumara before the Empire could reach their cities. Most were content to close the door and wait it out. Ayana was not. She recognised the patterns from her grandfather's stories. Something was building behind the Empire's rise. Something old. When the [[The Emerald Ceremony]] was called — a rite that would send one hundred elves through to the Material Plane to integrate into Valtorran society, to wait, watch, and help — Ayana volunteered without hesitation. The crossing was potentially one-way, the boundaries between planes too fragile to guarantee a return. She handed leadership of the Weave to her second-in-command and lover, [[Illythia Voss]], and walked through without looking back. She severed contact entirely, believing it would be easier for Illythia to move on than to spend decades waiting for someone who might never come home. ![[Ayana_Wynne.webp|right|333]] On the Material Plane, she assumed the identity of **Ayana Wynne** — a young, sharp-minded human woman. She found her way to [[Val Noren]], where she first served as a quiet advisor to Marius's father, the old lord of the Noren bloodline. She recognised the family's potential early — but the father wasn't the one. So she waited. She watched [[King Marius Noren|Marius]] grow from a boy into a man, and when she saw in him the conviction she'd been looking for, she stepped forward — positioning herself as his advisor and, over years, nudging him toward open rebellion against the Empire. When the city was finally retaken and Marius reclaimed the title of King, Ayana was at his side. Few understood just how long she had been working toward that moment — or that she had been watching before Marius could walk. It was through Marius that she met [[The Bloody Nails]], and something about the group convinced her that the fight ahead would need more than political manoeuvring. ### [[The Bloody Nails|Campaign: The Bloody Nails]] #### [[Session 41 - Reclaim the Reclaimer]] Following the party's assassination of [[Dread General Blackmarsh]] and their escape from [[The Stoneheart]], Ayana participated in the war council at [[Val Noren]] alongside [[King Marius Noren|Marius]] and [[Barak Stormrider]]. Still operating under her disguise as **Ayana Wynne**, she helped assess the military stalemate and devise the two-pronged strategy — a public demand for parley backed by a flanking manoeuvre using a pontoon bridge — to break the Imperial siege. #### [[Session 43 - The Shield of the North]] With [[Val Noren]] liberated, Ayana pulled [[Ryo]] aside under the pretence of collecting rewards. In private, she dropped her disguise, revealing her pointed ears and forcibly exposing Ryo's — confirming they were both Elves. She interrogated him about the [[The Emerald Ceremony]] and his origins, but when she realised he genuinely knew nothing of his heritage, she cast *Modify Memory* to wipe the entire encounter from his mind, unwilling to risk her secret on someone she did not yet trust. She also taught [[Dondar]] the *Teleportation Circle* spell before the party departed, providing sigils for [[Val Noren]] and [[Glimmerforge]]. #### [[Session 44 - The Elven Archmage]] Ayana intercepted [[The Bloody Nails]] before they could depart with [[The Mawbreakers]], recognising the tattoo sketch taken from a [[The Red Priests|Red Priestess]]. She led the party to a hidden magical sanctum where [[Kai]] cast *Speak with Dead* on the priestess's severed head, revealing that the Red Priests operate out of [[Valfyria]] and serve [[Empress Morganna Eventide]], who in turn serves an ancient entity called [[Kharazoth the Crimson Shadow]]. The name shook Ayana to her core — Kharazoth was a lieutenant from [[The Chaos Wars]], thought long dead. Shattered by the revelation, Ayana dropped her disguise entirely, revealing herself as an Elf to the whole party. When she then recognised the ring [[Ryo]] had always worn, she lost control — accusing him of being a spy, telekinetically pinning him to a wall, and teleporting the rest of the party thousands of feet into the air above [[Val Noren]]. Only after Ryo convinced her of his honesty did she cast *Feather Fall* to catch the others moments before impact. Desperate to confirm a theory, Ayana teleported the group across the continent to [[Ithilmara]], the long-abandoned elven city. There, she guided Ryo to a central dais where his ring activated a dormant gateway, proving him a descendant of the Elven Royal bloodline. The party stepped through the portal, leaving the Material Plane and entering the [[Faewild]]. #### [[Session 45 - Pieces on a Board]] In the [[Gossamer Woods]], Ayana served as the party's guide toward [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]]. When [[Kai]] befriended a local pixie, Ayana panicked and tackled him to shield him from the creature. In the scuffle, the fleeing pixie struck her with [[Gossamer Dust]], rapidly de-aging her into an eight-year-old child. She retained her magical ability — accidentally blasting Kai with *Thunderwave* more than once — but lost her adult mental faculties, leaving the party to navigate the Faewild's trials without their only guide. #### [[Session 46 - The Shining City]] Ayana was restored to her true form by [[Elder Pip Glimmermoss]] upon the party's arrival in [[Sumara, The Shining City|Sumara]]. Her identity as the former Meridian of the [[Circle of the Weave]] left [[Warden Caeryn]], her former student, ashen-faced and apologetic after having arrested the party on sight. She immediately placed [[The Bloody Nails]] under her protection and called a [[The Confluence of the Seven|Confluence of the Seven]], during which she revealed [[Ryo]]'s heritage as the last heir to the [[Silmara Family|Silmara]] royal bloodline. In a further revelation, she connected [[Eryndor]]'s mother, [[Eirieneth]], as the sister of Ryo's mother — confirming the two as first cousins and both members of the royal family. ## Trivia - Ayana was not originally an elf! She was initially just a very clever young adviser who had indeed been steering [[King Marius Noren|Marius]] in the right direction (without him even really noticing) and there was even a possible love interest there — but she was not a mastermind elf. That came later when Riv saw that this was a good opportunity to introduce the "[[The Emerald Ceremony]]" elves into the story.