Overview
Eliona is a guardian from the Malverand era, a temporal mage, an illusion mage, and Raphael's hidden second-in-command. She was chosen as a promising mage, placed over the Maraveth Ascendant Consulate, and made ruler of Shaoying. After she wiped out an opposing faction, Barachiel ordered her punishment and Isandriel executed her. Her Malverand heart survived, allowing Raphael to revive her in secrecy.
After her restoration, Eliona revives Raphael from his own heart and operates from Rahmavir with him against Isandriel, Thalena, the Order, and Garrik's army around Cyndarel. She studies Varnhallow for centuries, survives an almost two-century displacement while testing it, and fights beside Azarion in Raphael's offensive against the returned Order, Garrik's coalition, and the source-closing group at Zarephon.
Eliona survives the Battle for Cyndarel and the hurricane that follows. With Raphael and Zorath gone, Gabriel expects Eliona and Ravira to lead the surviving faction onward.
Appearance and Manner
Eliona has silver hair and blue eyes. She wears pristine white robes, and while serving Raphael's Rahmavir-backed faction against the returned Order and Garrik's coalition she conceals lightweight silver anti-magic armor beneath them. After Zarephon is destroyed, most of her hair burns away and later regrows to a short length around her ears.
Eliona is analytical, cautious, and pragmatic. She is capable of brutality when she judges an enemy deserving of death, but she also reassesses her position when new information challenges Raphael's version of events. Her closest personal bond is with Azarion, who repeatedly follows her lead and remains loyal to her.
Magic and Equipment
Eliona's strongest magic is temporal. She blinks across distance, forms temporal shields, and spends centuries trying to understand Varnhallow's spellwork. Raphael relies on her for Varnhallow research and battlefield movement.
Eliona is also a skilled illusion mage. She suppresses essence signatures, hides terrain, conceals herself and allies, and masks Azarion's combat approach. Raphael relies on her at Cyndarel because she can suppress the faction's essence well enough to threaten Garrik's army from hiding.
Her Malverand heart gives her extreme regeneration after dismemberment, burns, battlefield explosions, and the destruction of Zarephon. Her original god was unmade by Isandriel, and she later carries an empty second-generation god core.
Eliona carries a spellblaster that fires red, nonstandard projectiles during Raphael's offensive against the returned Order and Garrik's coalition. One shot disrupts Thalena's abyss-like origin spell during the Battle of Valalav, while Lythariel's darkness blocks another shot during Virel and Nahm's fight against Eliona and Azarion.
History
Eliona rises quickly in ancient Malverand, and the empire tries to make her a new guardian. In 1052 BX, she rules Shaoying and oversees its westward expansion, but a skirmish ends with her destroying the opposing faction outright. Barachiel rejects her as a guardian, Raphael restrains her, and Isandriel unmakes her before the gathered guardians.
Isandriel fails to destroy Eliona's Malverand heart. Eremion secretly takes it and later gives it to Raphael, who uses Arcanis's teachings to restore Eliona. After the Fall of Malverand, Eliona searches ruined Maraveth and the lands that become Shroudvale for Raphael's and Eremion's hearts. She eventually locates Raphael's heart, revives him in Morindel, and follows him to Rahmavir.
Raphael's long strategy depends on Eliona's Varnhallow research. She attempts to move through the anomaly and is displaced for almost two centuries. When the anomaly breaks, Raphael's faction uses the opening to strike at Thalena's allies and the returned Order.
During Raphael's offensive against the returned Order and Garrik's coalition, Eliona fights beside Azarion and strategizes for Raphael. She hides Azarion during the Battle of Valalav, uses her spellblaster against Thalena, and later joins the Attack on Kaldaryn and the Battle west of Tharendur. After speaking with Eira, she accepts a temporary truce to close the source and turn against Raphael.
The truce breaks apart at Zarephon when Alice secretly uses strange objects from beyond the source breach to destroy the mountain. While Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion descend toward the source, Eliona waits outside with Azarion and Nero. She shields Azarion from the detonation, rescues him while both of them regenerate, and searches the ruins after the blast. Gabriel then names Eliona and Azarion as the heroes who removed Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion from the fight.
At Cyndarel, Eliona is trapped with Raphael's forces inside Aldar's darkness veil. She analyzes the trap, opposes lowering the shields, uses illusions during the breakout, and is badly injured by Aelius, Kren, and Vianna. Azarion later reaches her and Ravira, and the survivors flee toward Therendros as Azarion loses control of the hurricane shard.
Relationships
- Raphael: Raphael revives Eliona and makes her his hidden second-in-command. Eliona later revives him from his own heart.
- Azarion: Azarion is Eliona's closest companion and steady combat partner. They protect each other, plan possible escapes together, and remain bonded after Raphael's faction collapses.
- Gabriel: Gabriel uses Eliona's work and reputation for Raphael's faction, credits Eliona and Azarion with removing Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion at Zarephon, and names Eliona and Ravira to lead the surviving faction onward.
- Eira, Kaelion, and Xarion: Eliona attacks them, then negotiates with them over closing the source and ending Raphael's offensive.
- Barachiel, Isandriel, and Eremion: Barachiel orders Eliona's execution, Isandriel carries it out, and Eremion preserves the Malverand heart that later allows her return.