Tunwéya is a Wood Elf Druid, played by JTA.
Backstory
Tunwéya was raised in a hidden elven enclave in the forest of Cormanthor in the far west, and from an early age was fascinated by the tales told by those druids that passed among his people, particularly those bringing news of the outside world. Listening to these travellers and to the elders around him, Tunweya was drawn more and more to the Druids and their lessons of maintaining a natural balance, worshipping Silvanus the Oak-Father. Finding the required balance, however, was not always easy: as a young initiate, Tunwéya saved the life of a badly injured traveller who had been thrown from his horse on the road. The old man, who gratefully thanked Tunwéya and showered him in gold as he resumed his journey, later proved to be the cruel wizard Wak Rathar, the purpose of his journey being to hack down a centuries-old Elm standing in the ruins of the abandoned elven court in order to provide himself with a new Rod of Blasting. Torn by guilt over his actions, Tunwéya drew two conclusions: first, that even a well-intentioned intervention can damage the natural balance unless one takes an extremely long view to understand all the possible impact of their choices on the natural balance, and second that while the natural balance was a thing to be treasured and preserved, it’s very existence implied an underlying order.
Reasoning that the best person to understand this order would have to be, first and foremost, a Druid who appreciated the intricacies of the balance, and second, drawn from the longer-lived races, Tunwéya began travelling the world, taking notes and sharing knowledge of his discoveries wherever he could, storing journals and records in libraries, addressing learned communities, and – not infrequently – frustrating welcoming nobles by his insistence on grubbing among the weeds and shrubs in their gardens in preference to attending to their questions in the solar. After several years of dedicated wandering, interspersed with profitable correspondence with sages, wizards, researchers and priests, and offering help to others where he could, Tunwéya discovered he had made his way to the Sword Coast, and took advantage of the fact to apply to work in the library of Blackstaff Tower in Waterdeep. While at the Hydras Den in Waterdeep, waiting for his admission to the Tower, Tunwéya began to hear rumours of an incredible, reclusive spirit apparently possessed of phenomenal powers of divination. Supposedly, this spirit was so vain it would use its powers to answer a single question if the asker offered it a suitably appealing and flattering gift and – as far as Tunwéya could judge from the somewhat incoherent dwarf telling the intriguing tale – the spirit’s answers would almost certainly offer a dramatic insight into Tunwéya’s study of the natural balance. Having forgotten his appointment at the Tower in his curiosity, he therefore headed north, tracking down the rumours until he narrowed down their source to the northwestern region of the Sword Mountains.
It was while on this journey North that Tunwéya, entering into a clearing in pursuit of an unusual butterfly on the sourthern edge of the Neverwinter Wood, suddenly discovered a half-orc coming in the opposite direction, also wearing what – at least at first glance – appeared to be an acorn-and-oak pendant, the symbol of the god Silvanus. Surprised and intrigued, Tunwéya struck up a conversation, and fell to travelling with Ogodrok, following him towards Neverwinter in order to learn more about the young Paladin and the history and nature of his faith. On arrival in Neverwinter, Tunwéya and Ogodrok were approached with the opportunity to turn round and return the way they’d come, back towards the Sword Mountains and Phandalin. Reminded of his search for the rumoured spirit, Tunwéya agreed to the chance to be paid for the journey, particularly as he recognised the wizard Xanthe among those being considered for the journey as someone with whom he had once enjoyed a profitable correspondence regarding the healing properties of mosses found in the ruins of Myth Drannor.
The Levellers 