Heshnel Elec

Heshnel Elec is a former follower of Uther Penndraig, former member of the Second Empire and later ally of Juniper Smith and his Party. He was stripped of his soul magic skill after the Empire's fall and reduced to a flower mage, briefly an acolyte of both Fallatehr Whiteshell and Vervain.^[1] He later became the leader of a now disbanded group working against the return of Uther Penndraig.

There was a distant part of Heshnel that had gotten used to freely adjusting the internals of other people, and longed for that power once again.

Chapter 143: "Manifold Paths"

Appearance[]

Heshnel is a dark elf, with purple-black skin and white hair, though he has human-looking teeth with purple gums. He wears a cape coming down over one side in an asymmetrical fashion. He wears no armor, but his jacket is designed to hold a variety of flower buds, arranged like an army general might pin his medals.^[2] After the battle with O'kald and his allies, the left side of his face was altered, with a misshapen eye with goat-like pupils the size of an apple, and fleshy ridges and bits surrounding it.^[3]

Personality[]

According to Valencia's devils, Heshnel is easily seduced by the promises of power.^[4] He's proud of his accomplishments during the Second Empire, but aware of its faults and atrocities. He feels as if he bears the weight of the world on his shoulders, but after meeting Juniper he's now adrift, not willing to follow him completely but with no idea what to do otherwise. He altered himself with soul magic to become more driven and cutthroat at the tasks before him, but little of that has been undone.^[5] However, Valencia concludes he's not irredeemable. He is deeply aware of his guilt, even though right now he's incapable of self-directed change.^[6]

Biography[]

Pallida Sade introduced Heshnel to Juniper as he was trying to escape the Athenaeum of Speculation and Scrutiny. They arranged to travel together to his group's Amber Lands base on the Egress and resume talks there.Egress

In their first meeting at their base, Heshnel and the others interrogate Juniper and his party about their exploits and objectives.Communicative

In their second meeting, Heshnel concludes his group is aligned in terms of goals with the Council of Arches and starts discusisng further plans, but gets interrupted by O'kald's murder attempt.Breaking Loose

During the battle against O'kald and his followers, Heshnel was quickly taken out in a way that left the left side of his face altered grotesquely.Depths

Some time after the battle, Heshnel and Gemma approach the Council and Heshnel suggests he might as well stay with them to observe, if not always to lend aid.The Remnants of the Past

Valencia approaches Heshnel while the rest of the Party is at the Athenaeum of Sound and Silence and asks him about his father. Heshnel shares some details, and Valencia tries to analyze him with the help of a devil. She eventually decides he wears his guilt deep, but that he's incapable of self-directed change. She decides to get to know each other better and try to help him become a better person.Manifold Paths

References

↑ “I believe I may know of someone who can help,” said Heshnel. “He was a soul mage during the time of the Second Empire, my mentor in that art, spared when Manifest claimed the Imperial City.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 125: "The Remnants of the Past"
↑ “She seemed to have a plan,” said Heshnel with a shrug. He was wearing a cape that came down over one side, giving him an asymmetric look. He wasn’t wearing armor, but his jacket seemed specially designed to hold a fair number of flower buds, which were arranged like an army general might pin his medals. As he spoke, I realized what seemed off about him: his teeth weren’t the horrifying fangs of the other elves I’d seen. They looked like human teeth, if a little too white, just like Fenn’s. I wasn’t sure if he was half-elf though; I thought his features were too pronounced for that. His skin was purple-black and his hair was white, classic drow, though on Aerb the historical drow lived at the bottoms of the oceans, in the Gelid Depths, rather than in caves.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 112: "Egress"
↑ Pallida was standing next to Heshnel. The left side of his face was a Cronenberg horror of pulsating flesh. The eye was the size of an apple, misshapen and with a pupil that was split, like a goat’s. Around the eye were fleshy ridges and bits that hung down, nearly resembling tentacles, wet with something viscous. That aside, he looked no worse for the wear.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 119: "Depths"
↑ “O’kald, Dehla, Gemma, and Everett,” said Valencia. “Pallida is weak-willed, Heshnel is too easily seduced by the promises of power
—Worth the Candle Chapter 115: "Communicative"
↑ With the devil in her, Heshnel snapped into focus once more. He felt as though he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders, one of the only people left alive who was in the know, especially with so many allies fallen, either in the Grand Finale after Uther had left, taken by old age, or killed when the Second Empire fell from power. Then more, in the last two weeks. He was adrift, uncertain, not willing to follow Juniper whole-heartedly, yet with no real idea what he was going to do if not that. He had a stubborn pride for what he’d accomplished as part of the Second Empire, though he was keenly aware of its missteps and faults, as well as those events and programs which would later be labeled atrocities. He’d been a soul mage, and seen hundreds of years of practice and dedication to that magic stripped away in an instant. He blamed himself for that; it was one of the things that drove him, the idea that he was meant to do something with his life. It haunted him that he had wasted enormous amounts of time and effort on a grand project that had borne only rotten fruit. Like other soul mages, he had altered himself, slowly and carefully, in order to become better at the tasks he laid before himself, more driven, more focused, more cutthroat. Little of that had been undone.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 143: "Manifold Paths"
↑ For Heshnel Elec, it was the way he wore his guilt, bone deep, so deep that she would never have seen it. He knew that things had gone wrong, even though he still believed in the ideals, even as he still wanted to defend his compatriots. He was incapable of self-directed change, incapable of doing better the next time, he’d already proven that by bringing together a band of murderers to kill Uther, but he wore his guilt well, and ruminated on it in a way that Valencia found pleasing.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 143: "Manifold Paths"

[1] “I believe I may know of someone who can help,” said Heshnel. “He was a soul mage during the time of the Second Empire, my mentor in that art, spared when Manifest claimed the Imperial City.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 125: "The Remnants of the Past"

[2] “She seemed to have a plan,” said Heshnel with a shrug. He was wearing a cape that came down over one side, giving him an asymmetric look. He wasn’t wearing armor, but his jacket seemed specially designed to hold a fair number of flower buds, which were arranged like an army general might pin his medals. As he spoke, I realized what seemed off about him: his teeth weren’t the horrifying fangs of the other elves I’d seen. They looked like human teeth, if a little too white, just like Fenn’s. I wasn’t sure if he was half-elf though; I thought his features were too pronounced for that. His skin was purple-black and his hair was white, classic drow, though on Aerb the historical drow lived at the bottoms of the oceans, in the Gelid Depths, rather than in caves.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 112: "Egress"

[3] Pallida was standing next to Heshnel. The left side of his face was a Cronenberg horror of pulsating flesh. The eye was the size of an apple, misshapen and with a pupil that was split, like a goat’s. Around the eye were fleshy ridges and bits that hung down, nearly resembling tentacles, wet with something viscous. That aside, he looked no worse for the wear.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 119: "Depths"

[4] “O’kald, Dehla, Gemma, and Everett,” said Valencia. “Pallida is weak-willed, Heshnel is too easily seduced by the promises of power
—Worth the Candle Chapter 115: "Communicative"

[5] With the devil in her, Heshnel snapped into focus once more. He felt as though he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders, one of the only people left alive who was in the know, especially with so many allies fallen, either in the Grand Finale after Uther had left, taken by old age, or killed when the Second Empire fell from power. Then more, in the last two weeks. He was adrift, uncertain, not willing to follow Juniper whole-heartedly, yet with no real idea what he was going to do if not that. He had a stubborn pride for what he’d accomplished as part of the Second Empire, though he was keenly aware of its missteps and faults, as well as those events and programs which would later be labeled atrocities. He’d been a soul mage, and seen hundreds of years of practice and dedication to that magic stripped away in an instant. He blamed himself for that; it was one of the things that drove him, the idea that he was meant to do something with his life. It haunted him that he had wasted enormous amounts of time and effort on a grand project that had borne only rotten fruit. Like other soul mages, he had altered himself, slowly and carefully, in order to become better at the tasks he laid before himself, more driven, more focused, more cutthroat. Little of that had been undone.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 143: "Manifold Paths"

[6] For Heshnel Elec, it was the way he wore his guilt, bone deep, so deep that she would never have seen it. He knew that things had gone wrong, even though he still believed in the ideals, even as he still wanted to defend his compatriots. He was incapable of self-directed change, incapable of doing better the next time, he’d already proven that by bringing together a band of murderers to kill Uther, but he wore his guilt well, and ruminated on it in a way that Valencia found pleasing.
—Worth the Candle Chapter 143: "Manifold Paths"

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