Enlai "Vaer" Nhimei

Biographical information

Birthplace Born Died Age old enough to know better (730) Home Underhill Sexuality Pronouns

Physical description

Race fae, black shuck Sub-Race Gender male Height 7'1" Mass athletic Hair color black Eye color gold Skin color dark gray

Political information

Affiliation(s) Occupation High Lord of the Third Order
Penance of the Wild Hunt Clan(s) Caste Domain Masters Apprentices Alias(es)

Out-of-character information

Writer Peony Created on March 12, 2021 Avatar Victoria Melya & Pepe

A great deal of mystery and gossip surrounds this very private High Lord, and few know him beyond their professional relationships. What is known about him, however, is that he is renown as both a High Lord of the Winter Court and a Hound of the Wild Hunt. Vaer is a fae to be reckoned with both in and out of political circles.

Vaer is the paragon of his species. Tall, broad, and strong, he stands above even some duanann and is built sturdier than most fae. Softened in the shade of Underhill’s cavern, his complexion is devoid of most color. His thick, dark hair is worn relatively short, against most of the current fashions of Court, and Vaer favors a very kept, groomed countenance. While his dark coloring is standard, his pale gold eyes are rare for his species.

Vaer is a creature of the moons. His power is strongest in the darkness of a new moon during the winter seasons.

Vaer has power over both water and fire, and (as a black shuck) can also manipulate light. Specifically, he has the ability to nullify light, not create it. He is more gifted with fire than water, but has an innate talent for healing.

All black shucks can shift into their canine bodies at will. Black as night, he has long, wavy fur and a surprisingly sleek, long frame meant for running. His delicate appearance is not to be underestimated, however. With a mouth full of formidable teeth and as big as a horse, Vaer's not a lapdog, but a hunter.

Shadow Form
Like all other black shucks, Vaer has the ability to meld his body with shadows. When walking out of shadows in this form he is an uncanny blend of humanoid and canine. When moving into shadows, he loses all corporeal form but retains his senses.

Terrifying Howl
Persons with lesser strength of will can be struck with terror at the sound of his bark -- including most fae.

Iron and Silver Weakness
A little more monster than most fae, Vaer is prone to silver as well as iron. Both can do powerful harm against him.

In the pursuit of friendship, one might have an easier time speaking to Mab or Midir than Vaer. Consistently distant and cool, Vaer is always collected and professional. He keeps few friends, but delights in the Hunt and socializes with his peers when appropriate.

Vaer has always carried a scandal with him wherever he has gone. From the rumors surrounding his paternal heritage to his elevation to High Lord, he has always been the subject of much gossip.

Enlai was born the second child and only son of Elaias Senn and Ruan Nhimei, a duanann and black shuck respectively. He was born after an older sister, Anella, and before a younger sister, Hallori.

The circumstances of Elaias and Ruan's union was one rife with drama in the Winter Court. Ruan Nhimei originally hailed from the Summer Court, but served in the Autumn Court as a Hound, earning her title as the Penance of the Wild Hunt. She met Elaias Senn at Court functions, and their love affair sparked gossip that quickly traveled back to Elaias' family. As the eldest son of House Senn and its Heir, he was expected to perpetuate his family name -- something he could not do if he took a black shuck partner.

Under threats of excommunication, Elaias chose Ruan over his family. He renounced his claim as Heir, took his wife's name in marriage, and soon after fathered their first child, Anella.

At that time, Ruan also withdrew from the Sluagh to raise her family. Though plagued with frequent spells of illness himself, Elaias pursued his life's passion and affinity for medicine, opening an apothecary in Underhill.

A hundred years later, Enlai was born amidst a new scandal. It was widely known in Underhill through various channels of gossip that Ruan, prior to conceiving her boy, had had a long and ardent affair with her Elaias' mortal warlock, a human man named Khellan. This affair was never publicly confirmed nor denied, but it was enough for Elaias to sever her deal with Khellan. The warlock disappeared and so did most of the gossip surrounding their family.

When Enlai was a century old, his elder sister died in a fatal accident on a Hunt seeking her mother's title as Penance of the Wild Hunt. Soon after, his younger sister Hallori was born. A pale, ashen gray that was almost white and feeble, Enlai took the role of protecting and caring for his sister very seriously from her very first days, and then even more so after Elaias' death from a sudden and severe illness.

Ruan would never fully recover from the loss of her husband, and Enlai took up the responsibility of caring for his mother and sister. He worked his way toward a virtue title as a Hound while also taking odd jobs at apothecaries, print shops, and banks. His experience in each of these, paired with his diligent saving and his late father's humble estate, Enlai was able to purchase his first sericulture farm and enter the silk business at the age of 300.

This business would grow steadily over the next three centuries. Today, the Ivory Moon Silk Company and its counterpart, the Fleetgrey Trading Company, are the foundation of Enlai's empire and his claim as a High Lord of the Third Order.

At only 100 years of age, Enlai joined the Sluagh after the sudden and tragic death of his older sister, Anella. He spent a century and a half hunting the Lists and working his way up the Hunt hierarchy before finally accepting the bounty that would earn his virtue and cement his place as a rising star in the Wild Hunt.

Enlai earned his virtue in the pursuit of a common bounty with three other members of the Sluagh, including a Hound. It was supposed to be a routine Hunt: a string of murders suspected to be the work of a leshy near the faewilds that was causing a few too many humans to turn their ire towards their good neighbors.

Halfway into the fight with the leshy, however, the group was ambushed by a much older black shuck. Mad from shadowplay and stuck in a shuck's most lethal form, it forced them to fight a battle on both sides. One member of their party escaped to fetch help and, in spite of his own injuries, Enlai managed to take down the black shuck before also killing the leshy. Afterward, his healing intervention saved the lives of two critically injured companions.

For this he was granted status as a Hound by the Erlking. He took the virtue title that had once been his mother's and had almost been his sister's: the Penance of the Wild Hunt. From that day forward, he was more colloquially known as "Vaer", or Penance.

Enlai first entered the Game when he was young. At 300, after first entering the silk industry and now known as Vaer, he gathered his first vassal. Yet he would not stake a claim as a Minor Lord for another fifty years, at which time he had 3 professional vassals and a humble holding of 5 businesses.

Over time, as his company grew, Vaer took baby steps in the growth of his Lordship placement. He moved up by singular ranks every 50 years. 200 years and four ranks later, he jumped from a Minor Lord of the First Order to a Mesial Lord of the Fourth Order. This was not an overly ambitious leap, and it caused no waves. It was, rather, very expected.

After centuries of patiently building his empire in silk, Vaer declared himself a High Lord of the Third Order at the tender age of 600. The elevation in status was an ambitious one, but not one that came without substance. His once modest collection of holdings and vassals had grown to encompass more than 30 businesses and their extensive properties, 4 Minor Lords, and 2 Mesial Lords. Many, however, speculated that hisnsudden rise to power was not altogether honest, but such suggestions remained unfounded.

Regardless of how it happened, the stoic Penance of the Wild Hunt has remained an established High Lord for a century since.

A number of topics revolving around Vaer's personal and professional lives periodically circulate through the Winter and Autumn Courts. All of them continue to resurface with new life every decade or so, mostly because he maintains such a frustratingly private life.

The circumstances of Vaer's social climb has always been a hot topic of debate -- as it always is when one is elevated to the rank of High Lord. Questions of how he managed to make it to the top as a young black shuck still in his prime never cease to follow him, no matter how tired the suggestions may be. Perhaps his volatile Sluagh reputation carried him, or maybe the upper echelons were intrigued by his bold move into their presence. Some speculated he had paid off his rivals in silk and gold, or that he had finally disregarded his stoic appearances in favor of more intimate bribery.

Secondary (and perhaps the more hurtful of the rumors about Vaer) is the scandal that first plagued his parents: speculation surrounding his parentage. While being half-fae is a moot point in Winter society, it remains a curiosity that one of the crown jewels of his species may have been sired by a mere human. Wielded as both an accolade and as an insult to demean him, Vaer does not publicly respond to these accusations.

Vaer values his privacy, and his love life has always been a mystery. Vaer has had no confirmed partners and he has been rumored to court a few ladies, but has never been openly attached to anyone at any point of his public life.

Vaer is a devotee of the Klehastic temple and its night gods of life and reincarnation, Lansin’Tel and An’Ruen. He is incredibly devout, practicing his faith both in the privacy of his own home and in the public temples. Vaer never misses his temple's religious holidays and he has garnered a great deal of respect from the Klehastic temple for his devotion, generosity, and philanthropy.

Vaer's ideals best align with those of the unseelie. He serves both Mab and Midir as a member of both the Winter and Autumn Courts.