Profiles in History: Nalicana

Nalicana was among Asheron's pupils before the Sundering, and escaped on the last sky-ship with him to Dereth. Later, during the Golden Age, he brought her alone out of the Sundered Lands and made her his deputy and the leader of the Order of Dereth, a post she held at the time of the Fifth Sending. She sat in for Asheron at the Queen's Council.

Asheron said to her, "You were the brightest star: the only one who came to my school seeking goodness, rather than power or glory. The fate of these peoples lies in your hands, Nalicana. Teach them justice. They must learn to build the world again."

After the loss of Asheron at the hands of Geraine and the attack of the nemesis races, Nalicana created the Soulbound weapons which enabled the Fetterguard to protect the portals into the Shelters until our ancestors had made their way safely inside. She left the Shelters shortly after the Archon War and took up her place in the Order Sanctuary in Ikeras, though she also has a residence in Cragstone. From time to time she is troubled by prophetic dreams in which Asheron gives her mysterious advice.

When Aun Tanua was rescued from the Prison of Despair, he was made Nalicana's lieutenant in the Order of Dereth, and she might have been happy to turn over the leadership to him, if Tanua had not gone mad, violated all the Principles of the Order, and fled to a fortress in southern Omishan with his fanatics and his wicked lieutenant Kogun. Nalicana left the Sanctuary to stand outside its portal and urge adventurers of all Kingdoms to seek out Tanua and convince him of the error of his way. When this had been done, Tanua ran away to seek the Kemeroi, his redemption, and his death, and Nalicana returned to the Sanctuary.

When Thromer Olvidan rose to the throne as Imperator of the Dominion, and was reported to have lost touch with reality, Nalicana sent him a gift in the form of an obsidian flensing knife, to remind him of the dangerous tendencies of his Virindi colleagues. This seems to have restored sanity to the young Imperator, who now speaks rationally.

Nalicana possessed the key to the portal in Asheron's tower that led to the Sundered Lands. Going to the tower to unlock the portal, she instead became convinced that the world would be better if the Yalaini never returned to it, and began an incantation to destroy the key. But Isin Dule came to her, overpowered her, wrested the key from her and turned it in the lock. "We cannot escape our destinies," he said. "Your people must be reborn; you must help them." We can see, after the fact, that Nalicana was mistaken in this matter, and that Dule was right; for the return of the Yalaini to Auberean has strengthened and enriched us all.

Nalicana, at the age of several hundred, is of course not as wise as Asheron at the age of a few thousand. Doubting her own abilities, wishing she could seek Asheron's advice, she still perseveres, leading the Order to the best of her ability. As Asheron said, it is not power or glory that counts, but goodness and justice.