Triad Primus

Triad Primus is the unofficial nickname of a trio of adventurers and heroes currently based in the Midlands of Gondara. One of the most celebrated adventuring parties on the plane of Waking Materia, Triad Primus rose to particular fame after their defeat of the legendary kaiju known as The Taniwha Queen, thus sparing untold thousands on the island nation of Ilhalvalaut from its terrible storms and tsunamis.

Some consider the trio to be a modern manifestation of the triplicate demigods of adventures and monster slaying, Ronom, Ranarim and Laila By-the-Sea, though only one member of Triad Primus is a worshipper of the 'Trioscuri' and the comparisons are otherwise broad.

The group has an official base of operations, an estate granted to them by the Ilautian Trade Guild as thanks for the defeat of the Taniwha Queen. It is located on the island of Khorsailhanaut, located in the Strait of the Leviathan between Ilhalvalaut and the Allesans. They also own a ship, a finely-constructed and well-armed carrack named the Hazy Jane II.    

Members

The Triad Primus is three.  

Garahau of Lagunitas

Though unofficial, the party is regarded to be led by the Allesander spellsword, corsair, monster hunter and ceda (cleric) of The Stormlords, Garahau of Lagunitas (Banner, Centre). Some consider Garahau the twin storm gods' Mortal Sword, a title with no equal in the church. The ceda himself is not known to have openly commented on the matter and seems disinterested in carrying such a heavy mantle, preferring to travel freely and escape the demands of celebrity when it suits him. He lost his left eye in the battle against the Taniwha Queen.  

Teletha Indra-Matra-Siluvarat

Considered to have co-founded the party with Garahau after the duo led a small rebellion to free Caer Duna from the cluthes of an insane warlord, Teletha Indra-Matra-Siluvarat (Banner, Right) is a being of many layers. She is Etiainen: an ancient group of warriors from a faraway plane. Their name meaning 'Doomgreeters', the Etiainen sacrificed their mortality to gain immunity to positive and negative energies, in order to rescue their home from catastrophic, life-stripping storms of Anima and Mordia. Teletha doesn't know how long she has lived, for like all Etiainen she loses her memory every few hundred years. Only shards of memory of her planar journeys remain. Regardless, she is a weapon master of the utmost skill and a practicioner of an otherwise unheard-of school of magic called Koldu'unic Sorcery. An eccentric in the extreme, Teletha is mildly precognitive and prone to speaking in vague half-thoughts.  

Inum of Arshau

More recently the two were joined by the Enari wizard, Inum of Arshau (Banner, Left), hailing from the Autumn Isles on the far Corewestern edges of the Gamma Quadrant. Gregarious and adventuresome, Inum is in many ways the opposite of his reclusive and mysterious people. Nonetheless he seems to respect their privacy and is not known to speak of the Islands or his roots. The enari is instead a very externally-motivated person: he is a voracious reader of all genres and has a particular fondness for music and musical theory, adept at multiple instruments. Above all, though, he is a wizard of immense power despite his seemingly young age, seeming to have mastered both the Bright and Umbral magicks.

The wizard is always accompanied by his blue jay familiar, Loudmouth. The jay is an expert imitator and, combined with Inum's glamours, can take the seeming of hundreds of different creatures, depending on the need.  

Stories

A growing favourite among troubadours and heroic writers, of the Triad's heroics number in the dozens, ranging in veracity from historical to apocryphal to fictional. Often they involve liberating or rescuing the downtrodden, favouring those most lacking in in the strength or wealth to defend themselves.  

The Devil-Birds of Artevangia

One popular story, the duo sail to the humble island of Talaus, plagued by the monstrous Devil-Birds of Artevangia, whose sharp, armour-piercing pecks bore an insanity-inducing poison, and whose dung created noxious vapours as powerful as mustard gas. Fighting through flocks of the demonic avians to reach the Talausian garrison, Inum noted the only wildlife they attacked were Maned wolves, which were killed even more violently than the local humans. He surmized the birds have an instinctual hatred of their old predators (mainly large canids). The three concocted a plan, starting with the surviving islanders weaving a net the size of a field. Slathered in wolf musk and flying as fast as he was able, Inum lured the Birds of Artevangia through a narrow chasm, whereupon Garahau, Teletha and a dozen soldiers dropped the net behind him, capturing the creatures. With their immense strength, the two warriors pulled the colossal net closed before the birds were able to untangle themselves, whereupon the wizard showered the lot in a massive arcane conflagration. Lingering birds were dispatched more easily without their mob tactics.  

The Taniwha Queen

Most famed is the Triad's defeat of the great kaiju known as the Taniwha Queen, whose temper was so powerful it summoned unnatural storms that devastated the Voidward coasts of Ilhalvalaut and Rhosgobel.

The Triad Primus initially thought to enlist the help of the great Rhosgobelish wilderwitch, Granny Ozma, known to be a sort of aloof (and somewhat insane) protector figure of the island nation, whose abilities were known to be near-demigodlike in scale. She drove the party away with a stream of hooting, farting noises and antequated insults, however her familiar, a Giant monkey-faced bat named Dog, seemed to take an interest in the heroes thereafter, following the party, albeit lazily and from a distance, as they continued their journey.

They were more successful in Ilhalvalaut, whose ruling council of Ahmite mage-clerics saw promise in the monster-hunters. Garahau's ship, the Hazy Jane I, was invested with sturdy abjuration magicks, equipped with advanced Ilautian ballistae, and provisioned with a small eladrin-drow crew. The tips of the ballistae bolts were alloyed with superconductive electrum, a technique whose use will soon become clear.

Though it was a clear day when the crew set sail from the port town of Inaarsuit, thick, black clouds had a tendency to gather about the Taniwha Queen's wroth, and the battle would be fought in what seemed like the deepest night. This would avail the sea monster little as the wizard Inum would ensure, between blasts of chaotic magic, the creature was enveloped at all times by bright foxfire, which had the added benefit of distracting the irate creature.

Dog, the Giant monkey-faced bat, did not appear to acknowledge the battle let along contribute to it, hanging lazily from the rigging as if it were a favourite tree. That said, the waves and sonic blasts sent by the kaiju had a curious tendency to veer away from the Hazy Jane for otherwise inexplicable reasons, as if the crew had the gods' own luck on their side.

Though the ballistae arrows did little but puncture the Queen's tough outer hide, the conductive metals on the tips did their work, empowering the lightning magic flung by the cleric of the Stormlords and eldritch knight, cooking the kaiju alive from the inside. It was this strategy that ultimately won the day, and only barely. Despite every advantage held by Triad Primus and the Ilautian crew, it was a brutal battle, devoid of grace or artistry; two powerful forces thrown against each other until the victor limped away victorious. The Hazy Jane I was only barely seaworthy enough to return to shore. Only half the crew survived.

Nonetheless, one of the most notorious kaiju of the Gamma Quandrant was dead, and from this victory erupted a great sigh of relief from two populous nations. The final mission left to Triad Primus would be to weather their newfound fame: perhaps their most challenging opponent yet.