Thirden Volammis

Thirden Volammis was once the guildmaster of Fir Riltaas (The Hundred) and is the only member of Tragwin's Council of the Nine (or, Asht'ari Qinis Sel'borom in the Tongue of Mana) to have died. The guild Fir Riltaas was formed to police the ethics of humanity on both the natural world and humanity itself. A very philosophical and idealistic guild, it was limited at any one time to 100 members, and as such, each member was encouraged to strike out and do things differently than other members did. Despite these differences in magic usage and style, the moral and ethical reasons the guild had been formed kept the members together. Interestingly, while the Gythl lir Gaas had a somewhat similar mission in name, members of Fir Riltaas accused them of being limp-wristed in dealing with perpetrators and focusing too much on their ideals and not enough on action. While members of Fir Riltaas were not often well-liked by other mage clans, the Gythl lir Gaas begrudged them some respect, and the 100 members were each fairly formidable unto themselves. A fair number of druids called themselves members.

Thirden Volammis was a quite outspoken member of Fir Riltaas, and when Tragwin was formed his moral and ethical viewpoints didn't change. Thirden ruffled a lot of feathers amongst the council, and soon very few enjoyed his company. He was once quoted as saying, "My greatest regret is that I made myself immortal only to see every reason I had done so slip away." As it turned out, he wouldn't have to live forever with his guilt. In ruffling feathers, he got under the skin of Feldanir Ostrith, the original leader of the Council.

Strong arguments and strong words were flung viciously between the two, while other council members either chose a side or stayed away from the argument. At different times, Lianna Rhif and Paselle Ganris sided with Thirden, while most of the rest of the council either sided with Feldanir or stayed quiet. Finally, things were brought to a head when, after decades of bickering over ethics in research, Thirden finally began taking steps in earnest to try to oust Feldanir from the position of leader, and possibly banished from Tragwin. Feldanir finally snapped, and in an epic battle that raged through the F'deris Qinis Asht'arum, Thirden met his end, but not before cursing his ring, the Omen of Change.

Thirden himself was said to be a master of both divination and transmutation, of truth and change. He had strong opinions and a thorny personality, but he was certainly polarizing of his peers, as all who knew him seem to tell a different story of the man.