Hadebrand

Hadebrand was an elf, born shortly before The Great Upheaval. He was abandoned on the streets of a long forgotten city. He wasn't the strongest, nor the most charismatic, but he was one of the smartest children on the street. He would frequently challenge adults to solve riddles and if they got it wrong they would own him silver.

It was one of these riddles that first caught the attention of the Great Wyrm Heofon, the wisest of all the Great Wyrms. Heofon was walking the streets in a human guise and witnessed the cunning of this small child. He made it his mission to investigate this child. Weeks passed as he watched the boy outwit his elders, maneuver the streets and avoid the gangs. Heofon was impressed and approached Hadebrand, offering him a home and a mentor.

Decades passed and the child elf grew into a young adult, all the while being taught the arcane arts by Heofon himself. Hadebrand did not grow up knowing the origin of the man who adapted him but he appreciated the care he took in raising him and the knowledge that he imparted upon him. The Great Wyrm had set aside his personal agenda and his life as a Great Wyrm to be a father and teacher. This was the first and only time that he took it upon himself to personally teach one of the mortal races.

Everything was going smoothly until one day, the earth shook, mountains crumbled and city where they were living fell into the sea. The Great Upheaval feel upon them. If it was not for the quick thinking of Heofon and exposing his true identity, Hadebrand might have perished with the rest of the inhabitants of the city.

Hadebrand, like the world, was forever changed. He now knew the true identity of the man he thought of as his father. They spent the next two decades traveling the Shattered Kingdoms. With Heofon's identity no longer a secret he introduced him to many of the Great Wyrms. He also began teaching him deep magic known only to the gods. Sadly as with all good things, it came to an end.

As the tensions between the Great Wyrms grew Heofon decided to distance himself from Hadebrand. He knew that there was a looming conflict and didn't want Hadebrand to become embroiled in dragon politics. As The Wyrm Wars began, Heofon disappeared, leaving Hadebrand to fend for himself for the first time since he was a childm however he was well prepared.

Hadebrand was approached by both sides of the conflict, asking for his help, but he deftly maneuvered his way through the conflict without committing to either side. After the conflict was over he decided he needed to make his own mark on the mortal world and made plans to start his own university. He approached the Emperor of the Manconian Empire and asked if he could have land within the future capital of their Empire, Manconia. The Emperor, asked his lord Mancos if it would be appropriate to allow a student of Heofon to build with in the city and Mancos agreed to allow it.

Hadebrand began building the University as the city of Manconia was building built. He managed to negotiate a vast track of land. He had a vision for the university, one that no one else understood but himself. It took years but the University was finally finished in 68 AGU, 13 years after it began. This was the founding of the Hadebrandian University. Heofon, who no one had seen in decades, made an appearance at the celebration and personally blessed it.

For the next few centuries Hadebrand oversaw the development of the University while continuing his own studies. He set up a council of archmages which oversaw various aspects of the University while he oversaw them. In 485 AGU Hadebrand left the university in their hands and sought out deeper knowledge, knowledge he could no longer gain from centralizing knowledge at the University.

It is now known he moved beyond the Shattered Kingdoms and delved into the planar knowledge. Something which had been lost after The Great Upheaval. While he is known as one of the great teachers he never taught any of the deep knowledge that Heofon imparted upon him.

He has returned to the University several times over the millennia, a few times he stayed long enough to take active control of the University again. The knowledge of the plans is vast, but it is considered higher learning and very few people are allowed to view the books he wrote on the topic. It's rumored there are untold dangers and that if the knowledge escaped it could cause havoc around the realm.

The last time he returned to the University was 2361 AGU, making him over 2400 years old. The oldest mortal elf to have ever known to have lived by over a thousand years. It's lead many people to believe he is no longer mortal but those are just speculation and rumors.