Kilili

Kilili stands over a defeated captive.
Kilili
Basic Information
Sex	Female
Race	Drow
Occupation	Mage
Dates
Died	1357 DR – Merged with Cybriana, becoming Kyriani
Rules Information
1st Edition Statistics
Class	Magic-user

Kilili was a female drow magic-user. She was in fact the embodiment of a dark spirit extracted from the body of Cybriana, and was her dark, other self. She plotted with the extraplanar monster Imgig Zu to release his people from the Selûne's Eye gem to overrun and conquer the Realms. Kilili and Cybriana ultimately merged into a single being, Kyriani Agrivar, the famed adventuress of Waterdeep.

History

Origin

The dark spirit escapes a shamanic trap after being extracted from the infant Cybriana.

Kilili came into the world in a very strange way. Her story began with Cybriana, whose father had been a young mage who wore a gem known as Selûne's Eye. He had been foraging for components for cures and potions outside Shadowdale when he'd met and been seduced by a "wicked" woman, a drow sorceress of the region. Shortly after her birth, her mother took her to an elf village in Shadowdale and abandoned her, leaving her in the care of an elderly elven woman.

Cybriana was a typical half-elf baby, marred only by a strange dark birthmark in the center of her torso. The mark swelled as she grew older, developing into a horrid growth, one that bore an evil face. It seemed to contain a dark spirit, perhaps a manifestation of the mother's evil. In fact, it was of the father's evil as well—Ostus Agrivar had had a dark side, as all men did, but the incongruity of this against his good nature had passed to his daughter. The evil of both parents was rejected by the goodness of her infant soul, forming the birthmark. By the time Cybriana was a little girl, the growth was causing a sickness that threatened to kill her. To save the girl's life, the village council performed a shamanic rite to extract the growth and bind the dark spirit within it, before trapping it within a crystal sphere. Young Cybriana was cured and freed, but the spirit grew to great size, shattered the sphere, and fled.

The dark spirit of Cybriana transforms into Kilili.

This dark spirit flew over the countryside, and where it passed, living things withered and died as their life force was absorbed into it. With this energy, the spirit transformed itself into a living being, an evil drow woman who took the name "Kilili". Meanwhile, the monstrous being Imgig Zu, trapped within Selûne's Eye, observed this and forged a magical link with Kilili, allowing him to escape into the Realms. However, he needed Cybriana and Kilili together to release the rest of his people from the gem. Kilili fell in with Imgig, and together they hatched their scheme. Somehow, Cybriana learned that this "sister" had gone missing or been kidnapped. She learned that they were but fragments of one being and, unless they were reunited, her life and many other lives could be lost.

Waterdeep

In the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR, Imgig Zu erected a magical tower a day's ride north of Waterdeep, and had his yuan-ti and chasme minions find and kidnap female elven magic-users in the area as he sought out Cybriana. Imgig Zu had determined that it was Kilili's own "sister", Cybriana, whose very presence could make Selûne's Eye glow like the moon. Kilili had her sport with those that were brought back, testing their power in magical combat and dispatching them with ease until she found her counterpart. Kilili was present when Imgig Zu used magic to contact his kin, who were trapped within Selûne's Eye and longed for release. Imgig Zu promised that he was close to succeeding and that he would release them to overrun Toril.

Later, after the chasme had gone hunting for more victims and been destroyed by Cybriana and her companions, Imgig Zu observed Selûne's Eye glow like the moon, meaning that Kilili's sister was near his tower and had been found by the chasme. In the black of night, Kilili visited Cybriana, and invited her to follow her to rid herself of the crystal curse. It was in fact a lure to bring her close to Imgig's tower. Imgig's gargoyles snatched up Cybriana; when dropped, Kilili rescued her with a ring of telekinesis, and Cybriana was taken into their lair.

In the caverns beneath Imgig's tower, Cybriana was placed inside a forcecage as Kilili stood just outside. Their proximity, both to each other and to Selûne's Eye caused the gem to glow even more brightly and to swell in size. Imgig Zu announced he would use their combined powers to open the Eye and release his long-imprisoned people to overrun and conquer the Realms. Meanwhile, Cybriana's companions battled through into the cavern, but were subdued by Imgig's ogre minions. But, just then, the roof of the cavern tore open and the brilliant light of the full moon shone through, blinding the ogres. Cybriana urged her brother Priam Agrivar to strike, and strike he did, slaying Imgig Zu in the name of their father.

Cybriana merges with Kilili, her dark half.

At Imgig's death, the forcecage faded, and Cybriana escaped. She grabbed Kilili, knowing that if they touched then they would merge, becoming one whole being, part good and part evil, and the living key to Selûne's Eye. The Kilili-half struggled but the Cybriana-half gained dominance, and the merged being vanished inside the gem, drawing all of Imgig's people back within, saving the Realms from devastation.

A merged being levitated down, bearing the shrunken Selûne's Eye, and wearing the shredded remains of Cybriana's dress. Part Kilili and part Cybriana, she combined their names and named herself "Kyriani".

Reappearance

Kilili later reappeared when a bolt of magic from the Great Door separated Kyriani into her and Cybriana once more. While Cybriana had no memory of her dark twin, Kilili retained her knowledge. She taunted Cybriana, and flew with the kenkus that had been attacking Kyriani and Onyx. The wizard Parwyyd Hanifar divined that this was possible because Kyriani had never fully accepted her dark side, and therefore was not whole. He revealed the truth of the origin of Kilili, who seemed a more complete product of mother and father, while Cybriana was barely real and intangible. Kilili left when she had the truth, but Parwyyd stole her ring of telekinesis, slipping it onto Cybriana's finger, forcing Kilili to return for the ring. Accepting that she, like her father, had both good and evil inside her, Cybriana seized Kilili and was able to merge with her for the second and final time, and a new Kyriani was born. She combined her powers with Parwyyd's to close the Door, and the one who waits behind it was slain. Kyriani thanked Parwyyd for giving her the truth of her nature and the courage to accept it. Kyriani felt that she was not the same Kyriani as before, but in fact the Kyriani she was meant to have been all along, accepting both sides of her nature and able to forge her own destiny.

Personality

Kilili was cruel and impatient, and she exulted in chaos. However, she would repay a debt, on her own terms at least.

Although a drow, Kilili was no spider-kisser. For idle amusement, she once turned a spider into a butterfly. Then tried to eat the butterfly. She was upset when she lost it. She disliked Imgig calling her simply "drow", insisting on being referred to by her name.

Description

Kilili had dark grey-brown skin and long, spiky, blue-black and had red eyes. She wore a gold-hued breastplate or dark vest, and often gold or silver mail armor on her arms, adorned with bracers and spiked armbands. She also wore a red sash from her waist and thigh-high boots, and often added a cloak of one color or another. She favored a single gold star earring from her left ear and a gold headband.

Abilities

As a magic-user, Kilili knew a number of spells, including bind, wall of fire, the ability to transform a spider into a butterfly, and to teleport. She could also fly.

Possessions

Kilili uses her ring of telekinesis to rescue Cybriana.

Kilili owned a ring of telekinesis, which passed to Kyriani.

Relationships

Kilili was intricately bound to Cybriana, being the dark spirit extracted from her body as a child, thought to be the living embodiment of her mother's evil. Kilili described herself as the "dark aspect of their twin-selved being", and Cybriana once called her her "other self". However, the two usually referred to each other "sister", even "twin sister". Kilili felt Cybriana had no claim to their shared existence. When they touched, they merged into a single being, but struggled for control. Cybriana won out, and the two became one, Kyriani.

Appendix

See Also

• Cybriana
• Kyriani Agrivar