Naerel Twice-Born

Some 50 or so years ago, the elven swordsman Naerel, a traveler from Kyonin, came to the River Kingdoms to explore the ruins of Sevenarches in secret. He chanced to engage the services of a guide who was a worshiper of Hanspur. One night, the guide chose to drown Naerel as an offering to the Water Rat, and as the elf flailed and fought for breath and life, he heard a watery voice speak to him and saw visions of a lakeside community serving Hanspur. Cajoled and invigorated by these things, Naerel surged from the waters of the Sellen and drowned his would-be murderer.

Now calling himself Twice-Born (“once of woman, again of water”), Naerel began preaching Hanspur’s word, and eventually gathered a small group of followers around him who established a camp on the shore near their god’s floating temple in Kallas Lake. Refugees from the surrounding lands sometimes found shelter at the camp, and a small community of zealots grew up around it.

Many visitors assume Naerel Twice-Born is a cunning con artist, living a life of luxury as the leader of a cult—at least until they see the spartan conditions of the village and the appearance of the River Preacher himself: long hair tangled and spiky with mud, which almost constantly spatters his face and clothes save when he has been freshly immersed in the waters. His pale blue eyes glitter feverishly, and his voice is a rich and penetrating tenor, able to cut through other sounds. It is clear from both the shrine’s chosen female attendants and the number of half-elves in Riverton that Naerel frequently bestows “the love of the River God” upon his followers.