Naja Bellandi was the first
High Observer of
Elturel and a national hero of
Elturgard for her role in stopping the
Reign of Vampires. Unbeknownst to nearly all until decades later was Naja Bellandi's role in the
Damnation of Elturel in 1497, which was the result of a
pact she made with
Zariel the
Archduke of Avernus.
History
Naja Bellandi was born in
Elturel in 1420 to a family of merchants. When she came of age, she joined the church of
Helm and served dutifully, rising to the rank of
High Watcher by 1447.
In Flamerule of 1447, Bellandi discovered that
High Rider Klav Ikaia was secretly a
vampire. Bellandi managed to escape from the
High Hall before she was turned into a vampire herself, fled through the moonlit shadows of the
Gardens, and escaped from the vampires hunting her by jumping from the
Maiden's Leap into the canal below. Knowing his secret was revealed,
Ikaia launched the
Night of the Red Coup, killing or converting the majority of
Elturel's government and beginning the
Reign of Vampires.
Bellandi dragged herself from the canal and returned to
Helm's Shieldhall only to find it an abattoir. She gathered any survivors she could find and sent word to the patrols still operating outside the city. A siege was raised, but the
Hellriders were ill-equipped for such an action and their one-time allies had been alienated by
High Rider Ikaia's imperial actions (even before he became a vampire). Desperate, Bellandi returned inside the city walls and ran one of several guerilla resistance groups, but for twenty days a reign of vampiric terror gripped the city.
During this time, Bellandi pleaded with every good-aligned deity she knew of to come and save
Elturel. Finding no answer, Bellandi was covertly approached by members of the
Cult of Zariel, who offered a pact in exchange for saving the city. Bellandi refused, but following the
High Harvest Slaughter, when vampires butchered the entire congregation of Chauntea, Bellandi signed a deal with Zariel in desperation, giving Elturel over to the archduke in fifty years time. In return, Zariel sent
the Companion, which appeared in the sky over
Elturel, turning any vampire caught in its divine light into ash.
Following the
Reign of Vampires, Bellandi was made
Elturel's new ruler and given the new title of
High Observer. Bellandi made moves to begin rebuilding and strengthening the city, such as allowing the creation of the
Order of the Companion to serve as a new military force to defend
Elturel.
Bellandi also began covertly trying to find ways to save Elturel from the pact she had made. Before she could, Bellandi was assassinated in 1449, only two years after becoming
High Observer, though her death was reported as a tragic illness.
Following her death, Bellandi's tortured soul was kept in the personal
Flying Fortress of Zariel, where her guilt and pain manifested as a grotesque ball made up of her own despairing faces. She was discovered by the
Lost Star Detectives in 1498 during thier infiltration of the airship, but was left in her cell. Bellandi's soul is currently unaccounted for, following Zariel's redemption during the
Battle of Elturel.
Legacy
In the years following the Reign of Vampires, Naja Bellandi was remembered as the savior of
Elturel. Her actions in rallying the forces of the city to fight back against
High Rider Klav Ikaia and bringing forth
the Companion turned Bellandi into a modern day legend. Statues of her adorn the city, the most notable of which is located on
Maiden's Leap, the site where she escaped Ikaia's vampires during the
Night of the Red Coup.
Following the discoveries of the Lost Star Detectives, Bellandi has become a posthumous pariah and nearly all of her statues and honorary namings have been removed. This rejection of the first High Observer has also embedded itself in local parlance. When before taking a "maiden's leap" was an Elturian phrase for performing an action of great courage and bravery, it now has become associated with foolhardiness and recklessness.
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