Glimmer
Glimmer (real name Allana) is a key supporting character in The Metalwood Saga, featuring prominently in the adventure The Drowned Below. She is the High Priestess of the Wavelight Church, a religion situated in the "Below"—the flooded, subterranean depths of New San Francisco's infrastructure.
A secret fallfoiler and an elf in hiding, Glimmer is a fiercely dedicated leader who strives to give the doomed people of the Below a sense of hope. She becomes the wife of the Planner-turned-underkid Alluin and the mother of their son, Glisten.
Appearance and Personality
Because she possesses a highly rare mistweaver artifact known as an Earring of Mist, Glimmer is capable of projecting a permanent, physical illusion over herself. In her "High Priestess" persona, she is breathtakingly beautiful, possessing fair skin, striking blue eyes, and long black hair that spills over her shoulders in rippling waves. In this form, she wears flowing robes the color of a stormy sea, or blue dresses studded with crystals. She carries a distinctive, intoxicating scent of roses.
When she removes the Earring, her true form is revealed. She is a full foot shorter than Alluin, with a tanned and weathered face, thinner lips, and a lined brow that shows her age and stress. Her hair is shoulder-length, and she frequently wears practical tunics and jeans or tight jumpsuits. Though she is of Eldrim blood, she does not have pointed ears; like anyone born in the Below with elven heritage, she underwent painful cosmetic surgery as a child to have them rounded off to avoid persecution.
Personality-wise, Glimmer is pragmatic, strong, and deeply compassionate. Though the Wavelight Church was originally formed by the Planners to keep the populace in line, Glimmer adopted the role of High Priestess to give the dying, overworked people of the Below something to believe in, using the religion as a facade to keep their spirits up. She is fearless in the face of danger, often plunging into hazardous maintenance work alongside the workers.
Biography
The Wavelight Church and Alluin
Born in the Below to Cothellon blood, Allana underwent painful cosmetic surgery as a child to round off her elven ears and avoid persecution. She eventually adopted the title of High Priestess Glimmer to lead the Wavelight Church, a religion centered around the city's water supply. She operated in secret for years, keeping her fallfoiling magic and true elven heritage hidden from the Planners while serving her post.
When the Planner Alluin was exiled to the Below to serve as the new Department of Water Supply manager, Glimmer greeted him at the elevator. She guided him through the bizarre, dripping, Art Nouveau-styled underground city, eventually revealing her true face and her Cothellon heritage to him. Her shared bloodline allowed them to connect immediately. She showed him the horrific reality of the Below: to meet the Planners' quotas, addicted mages were being forced to transmute refuse—and eventually living people—into water.
The Burst Main and Romance
Glimmer and Alluin worked closely together to maintain the failing pipe infrastructure. During a catastrophic emergency where a massive water main burst, two workers were killed by flying shrapnel. As the tunnel flooded, Glimmer finally revealed her magic to Alluin, using her fallfoiling abilities to levitate herself and the surviving workers to a ceiling hatch, saving their lives.
Their shared survival bonded them, and the two began a deep romantic relationship. Glimmer eventually became pregnant, and they had a son named Glisten. For four years, they lived as a happy family in the Below, doing their best to keep the city's water flowing.
The Exile of Alluin
When the Planners drastically raised the water quotas, Alluin realized the Below would not survive. Discovering he was a rare gatesender, Alluin resolved to open a massive portal to Earth's surface to funnel a river directly into the city. Glimmer, knowing the dangers of magic and the Below, begged him not to go, but ultimately supported his noble decision.
Alluin successfully opened the gate, but when he stepped through to inspect it, he was ambushed and suffered catastrophic memory loss, disappearing from the Below entirely. Glimmer was left behind to raise Glisten alone, believing her husband was lost forever.
The 20-Year Search
For twenty years, Glimmer relentlessly searched for Alluin. During the events of the final war, after Alluin (now known as Glint) returned to the Below and restored the water supply, he gated away to Earth just moments before Glimmer arrived.
Glimmer, holding Glisten's hand, entered the Gate Chamber. She looks changed—stronger, older—from decades spent in other parts of the world, searching for her husband. She encounters Lorelei and Phoenix. Phoenix informed her that Alluin had just been there and that he believed she was dead. Recognizing Glimmer's past service, Lorelei offered her the use of a Cothellon gatesender. Thanking Phoenix, Glimmer and Glisten stepped through a gate to Earth, determined to finally reunite their family.
Powers and Abilities
- Fallfoiler (Dark Maple): Glimmer's natural Alignment allows her to use darkprime maple to manipulate gravity. She can effortlessly lift herself and multiple other people into the air, a skill she used to save her maintenance crew from drowning.
- Earring of Mist: Glimmer possesses an incredibly rare mistweaver artifact that allows her to cast a permanent, physical illusion over herself without needing to actively burn primewood or possess mistweaving Talent. She uses this to project the beautiful, awe-inspiring persona of the High Priestess.
Key Relationships
- Alluin (Glint): Her husband. She initially viewed him with caution as a Planner, but fell deeply in love with him after seeing his noble heart and willingness to fight for the Below. She spends two decades searching for him after his disappearance.
- Glisten: Her son with Alluin. She raises him alone after Alluin vanishes.
- Lorelei: The leader of the Planners. Lorelei recognizes Glimmer by her real name, Allana, and respects her enough to grant her free passage out of the city.