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This page contains spoilers. Readers are discouraged from continuing if they want to discover features by themselves. |
This page contains spoilers. Readers are discouraged from continuing if they want to discover features by themselves.
 Mael at his adoptive father Marius' funeral. | |
| Character Info | |
|---|---|
| Location | Twain Graveyard |
| Quest Involved | A Grave Mistake |
| Personal Info | |
| Relatives | Marius (adoptive father), Theorick (adoptive brother), Dwendle (adoptive brother), Rickeo (adoptive brother) |
| Status | Dead (can speak with the living in his spirit form)[1] |
| Lifespan | Hundreds of years[2] |
| Information | The most reclusive and outcasted member of the Twain family, due to his special gift of being able to communicate with the dead and harness dark magic. He helped the spirits of those who had unfinished business pass on.[3] After Marius' death, he was the only one to remain in the House of Twain.[4] Near the end of his life, he trained Bob in the art of the bow.[2] |
| “ | Once, there was a man, who helped the spirits pass on. However, he was still mortal. | „ |
| ~ A Grave Mistake |
Mael Twain was a member of the Twain family, a house of orphaned gifted individuals adopted by Marius Twain around 530 AP to help in Wynn's Corruption War. He and his adoptive relatives lived in the House of Twain, a manor owned by Marius far from the dangerous Nether Portal.[3]
Mael was different from his brothers: unlike them, who had gifts in elemental magic such as ice and air,[4] he could communicate with the dead and create black wisps to damage his opponents. Due to his abilities of spirit communion, he was often outcasted and became the most reclusive member of the family, something which Marius comforted him about, saying that "people are afraid of the dead".[3] Nonetheless, his role was of vital importance: he calmed the angered spirits in the Twain Graveyard who had unfinished business and helped them pass on.[1]
Not counting Theorick's cryostasis,[5] Mael was the longest-living member of the Twain family, dying sometime after 876 AP, after having trained Bob.[2] Even then, he can communicate with the living as a spirit himself to this day, if one goes to visit his tomb in the now-abandoned Twain Graveyard.[1]
Biography[]
Around 530 AP, Wynn was on its last legs during the Corruption War due to the countless undead raids led by Bak'al. Thus, to help the war effort, Marius Twain began travelling across the land to gather gifted children who had been orphaned by the war. He adopted them, and they all took on his surname of Twain. Marius took them to the House of Twain, his mansion, where they would be safe from the prying eyes of the Nether Portal.[3]
Marius trained the children and taught them how to harness and control their powers, using it for both offense and defense. Eventually, four of his children mastered their gifts and became Marius' ultimate protégés: Theorick, master of ice, Dwendle, master of air, Rickeo, master of fire, and Mael himself, master of spirit magic. With their power, these masters dealed with the biggest threats to the province's integrity, essentially saving it.[3]
Mael, however, was treated differently from his brothers. He was a recluse, spending most of his time in the mansion's library or communing with the spirits in the graveyard behind the manor. For this, both the common people and his own brothers began accusing him of using "dark magic" and avoided him, and he became even more of an outcast. Marius consoled him by telling him that "people fear the dead" and that "he is a reminder that we are all mortal, despite our gifts".[3]
Although Mael wondered if Marius was truly mortal, he was: in 570 AP, Marius succumbed to old age and the Twains reunited at his funeral. However, a fight quickly broke out between Dwendle and Rickeo, and Theorick. As Dwendle and Rickeo were about to kill him, Mael stopped all three of them and told them to leave, as infighting was not what being a Twain was about. It was the last time Mael ever saw his brothers.[4]
Mael speaking to Marius' spirit.
Mael then communicated with Marius' spirit, who told him to stay in the mansion as there would one day be someone who would need his help.[4] Thus, for the next centuries, he remained in the manor alone: while his brothers were killed by Bak'al and the Corruption, not carrying out Marius' wish to seek other gifted children, he tended to the graveyard and pacified the spirits within it, never truly vanquishing them. Eventually, as he became older and more frail, he stayed in the mansion's library, learning the arts of Wynn and waiting for someone that he could pass them on before dying.[3]
Finally, someone came: Bob, a soldier fresh from his training with the master Chak, arrived in the Twain Mansion in 871 AP, looking for a master who would teach him the art of the bow. That master was Mael, who for the next 5 years trained Bob in archery and even told him about his gift of spirit communion. Bob secretly hoped that Mael was able to commune with his dead mother Momo, but never told him about his wishes. Then, when Bob's training was done, Mael transformed the soldier's weapon into a wand and sent him to the Nivla Woods to find his next master, Ethe, who would teach him the art of the wand.[2]
Shortly before his death, Mael left a will to the last honorary Twain; but what this will entails or who this "honorary Twain" is, is not known. When he died, he was buried in the Twain Graveyard. Now that there was nobody who could pacify the angry spirits of those who fell to Corruption, they started inhabiting the mansion itself, being extremely aggressive to anyone who would enter it.[3] To stop any more angered spirits from leaving, the Graveyard was sealed off and is today guarded by a man named Alem. Ironically, even Mael's spirit remained in the physical world, and is able to communicate to anyone who can find his tomb at the end of the Graveyard.[1]
Trivia[]
- Some believe that Alem himself is a body possessed by the spirit of Mael, who would still live on through him.
- It should also be noted that "Alem" is an anagram of "Mael".
- In a similar manner, some also believe that the "last honorary Twain" that Mael's will talks about is Bob.