Alias

Did You Know?

• Alias's signature chainmail armor was split open at the middle, baring the flesh between her breasts, yet enchanted to protect better than solid steel.
• Dragonbait repeatedly nagged Alias to stop wearing her revealing armor, believing it immodest, but she refused, claiming it was more comfortable than plate mail.
• Alias has a strong distaste for clerics and priests, which was conditioning by Cassana.

Fictional character biography

Alias awakens in a tavern room with no memory of how she arrived and discovers a blue tattoo on her sword arm. The innkeeper tells her she was found unconscious on the doorstep. A southern mage, Akabar Bel Akash, offers to investigate the tattoo, but a Detect Magic spell causes Alias severe pain and an eruption of azure light. An attempt by a priest to remove the tattoo compels Alias to attack him nearly fatally.

She soon leads a trio of adventurers: the lizard-like creature she names Dragonbait, Akabar, and the halfling Olive Ruskettle, whom they rescue from a red dragon named Mistinarperadnacles Hai Draco. It is later revealed that Alias is a magically created artificial being, her long-term memories implanted by her sole benign creator, and her short-term memory loss stems from the gap between the end of those memories and her premature awakening. She was programmed with unconscious tasks and desires to serve her creators, including an urge to attack anyone who tried to remove their controls.

Alias defeats each of her creators to gain freedom; by the end of Azure Bonds, only the Nameless Bard and the god Moander remain alive, though Moander is discorporated. In Azure Bonds, Alias is self-confident and strong-willed, but in Song of the Saurials, her limited emotional maturity leads to more immature behaviors and lack of emotional control.

Companions

Dragonbait is the first companion Alias encounters. He is actually a saurial paladin named Champion, a highly skilled fighter. He communicates through whistles and chirps augmented by emotionally linked scents. Akabar Bel Akash is a tall, educated Turmishman with three blue dots on his forehead marking him as a scholar of magic.

He is a skilled businessman who enjoys mild adventure and engineers a chance to join Alias. He prefers Alteration and Divination magic, using his spells to scout and enhance others' physical abilities. He is attracted to Alias but put off by her headstrong nature; he later marries her clone Zhara. A religious man, he sacrifices himself to his gods while imprisoned in the Abyss by Moander.

Olive Ruskettle is a halfling who claims to be a bard but is actually a talented thief and minstrel without true bardic training. She won her name in a dice game with the bard Olav Ruskettle.

Creators

Alias was created by six powers, each marking her with the azure tattoo as a means of control and ownership. Her primary creator was the Nameless Bard, Finder Wyvernspur, who fashioned her body as a clone of Cassana, improved for perfect health, strength, and beauty, and filled her head with his songs. Cassana, a cruel and powerful wizard, supplied her flesh for the clone and controlled Alias through a wand within a limited radius, calling her 'Puppet'.

Zrie Prakis, a lich and Cassana's dead lover, used necromantic abilities to animate Alias, referring to her as 'Little one'. He was killed by Cassana but became her undead slave, though he later helped the heroes steal her wand. Phalse, a unique extraplanar entity, initially appeared as a halfling but had a true beholder-like form with mouthed tentacles. He captured Dragonbait and split his soul to give one to Alias, and made a dozen copies of her. He had little direct control over Alias until he stole Cassana's wand, and was an old enemy of Moander.

Other versions

They wore diverse outfits, from heavy Mulhorand armor to a Waterdeep courtesan's dress. Most were thought destroyed at the end of Azure Bonds, but some appeared in later novels. Jade More was a larcenous version with loose morals and a wicked sense of humor, a talented thief who befriended Olive Ruskettle before being killed by Flattery for stealing his purse. Cat was a magic-user taken in by Flattery, becoming his wife and apprentice to restore her missing memories; she was more seductive than Alias or Jade. Zhara was a Turmish version and a priestess of Tymora who married Akabar Bel Akash. She was proud and quick to judge but lacked self-confidence, and briefly impersonated Alias using her armor. Zhara mentioned meeting other sisters: a sage in Candlekeep, a mage in Immersea, a warrior from eastern lands, a thief murdered that spring, and a lady of power in Waterdeep.