Oleander Hazelwind

Ollie is the golden retriever and resident conspiracy theorist of the party. Previously a junior researcher leading a quiet life working in Aster, they now spend their days going on dangerous adventures with the party, working on solving the mystery of (and possibly preventing) the impending Dies Auros. Their main role has been to heal and support their newfound friends and allies both in and out of the battlefield. When pushed to the brink however, they have shown capacity to deal serious damage, finishing off foes with their elemental magic.

Appearance
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Personality
Ollie is sweet, earnest, and passionate about the things they are interested in. They have been described as “a gentle giant” on more than one occasion, owing to their introversion and soft disposition despite their size. They are also quite awkward and naive about certain things, due to their sheltered upbringing.

Ollie tends to fall into the caretaker role, trying their best to support their allies, even when it’s to their detriment. However, they have a mischievous side as well, which has been making an appearance more as they slowly come out of their shell.

They are generally patient and a pacifist, preferring to talk things out before resorting to violence. However, they are quite protective of those close to them, the urge to maintain their loved ones' safety often overriding their moral compass.

Ollie is also quite impulsive, abandoning their careful nature at times, especially when they are left to their own devices. They also have the tendency to downplay their innermost struggles, rarely letting their guard down even around those close to them. On top of that, they also tend to get swept up in their emotions when things get rough. These behaviors have caused problems on more than one occasion, with one such instance leading to the under-prepared party's disastrous first fight with Cadmus during the Hunt arc, after an emotionally charged conversation with the runaway king in a Dream.

The Amare Fire
Little is known about Ollie's life in Amare, as they were roughly just a year old when House Laurent burned the firbolg village to the ground in 690 AE, leaving them supposedly one of the last of their kind. They were discovered by Kiana and Baltur during Aster's investigation of the Oakheart forest fire and the reported sighting of a Luåmrhan (a mission spearheaded by the former). The only memory Ollie has from before their rescue and subsequent adoption is of a lullaby, sung during a storm (which is implied to have happened sometime during the night of the fire).

Early Life
Due to the delicate political situation surrounding them, Ollie was kept hidden from the outside world for over a decade. The Hazelwinds spent their first year with the family in a small house in Grendale, taking a long break from Aster (which helped to keep Ollie's existence a secret) to get the hang of raising a child. After the first year, the Hazelwinds spent a few more years in Oakheart before eventually starting to avoid it entirely as Ollie grew harder to hide. They would move from branch to branch within Sylvain frequently, both for work and to keep their child safe.

All the while, Ollie was kept mostly locked in whatever room the family stayed in as Kiana and Baltur went work, with only books and toys to keep them company. Their parents refused to answer any questions about why they had to stay in their room all alone all day and why they looked different from their parents, preferring to keep Ollie in the dark about the history of the firbolgs. While they were doted on whenever possible, they were still isolated a significant portion of the time. The occasional times they managed to escape their room to wander into the rest of the Conservatory or whatever green patch awaited nearby were their only respite. This lonely existence led to them growing up with selective mutism, which they would not recover from until the birth of their younger sister, Peach, many years later.

One of their earliest memories is managing to escape their room and sneaking into the archives in the Oakheart branch as a small child. As they wandered around, a taxidermied Luåmrhan in a glass case caught their eye. They stared at it for a while before an old man - whose face they can't quite remember - asked them what they were doing. Ollie then quietly pointed at the bird and tilted their head in inquiry. Sighing, the old man picked them up to give them a better view of the specimen. The detail they remember most clearly from the encounter is the now fuzzy figure's profound sadness, although it would not make sense to them until much later (in-campaign).

Ollie started displaying an interest in science and illustration from an early age, and their first teachers were their parents, with their mother especially instructing them in the latter. Their druidic abilities manifested in their late teens, as the Hazelwinds had felt it was now safer to let them out more and decided to bring them along on an expedition in the forests of Northern Sylvain. During the trip, a wild pack of wolves ambushed the group, and to their surprise Ollie cast Speak with Animals for the first time in an attempt to calm the wolves down. From that point on, Ollie would then hone their magic under the guidance of Kiana and a few other druids in Aster.

Education & Work in Aster
Ollie officially enrolled as a student of the Institute at the age of twenty, first entering the Department of Medicine. While they did well during their stay in the department, they transferred to Nature after a couple of years. They spent the majority of their college life stationed in the Mythwood branch, as the nearby forests and mountains appealed to them. (There was also the fact that their parents were not nearly as strict about their activities as they were in the areas closer to Oakheart, for some reason.) While they thrived in terms of studying and such, they found it hard to make any friends, as they were unused to being around people.

Towards the end of their college education, Ollie fell into a deep depression as they noticed that they were starting to age much more slowly than their younger sister and most of their peers. The realization that they were likely to outlive their family and whoever else they would come to love coupled with their growing doubts about their gender exacerbated their loneliness, causing them to shut people out for a few years and focus mostly on their work. In spite of this, their thesis was delayed by a year due to Lavender stealing their samples, and they graduated at the age of 27.

After a particularly long solo study out in the mountains involving ptarmigan droppings and a whole lot of soul searching around the age of 29, they returned determined to live the rest of their life ensuring their loved ones were happy, for as long as they can. Their family was relieved to see them return to a semblance of their old self before the depressive spiral. They collectively decided to bury that period of time, which remains a sensitive topic still, in the backs of their minds.

Right before their first meeting with the party, Ollie finished a study on mountain goats, and was contemplating filing for membership in the Department of Conservation as well.

Campaign 1
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Arc 1: Beginnings
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Arc 2: Rebellion
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Arc 3: Scarecrow
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Arc 4: Islands
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Arc 5: Fate
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Arc 6: Sunhaven
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Arc 7: Ghosts
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Arc 8: Hunt
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Arc 9: Divinity
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Kiana Hazelwind
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Baltur Hazelwind
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Peach Hazelwind
Peach is their adoptive younger sister and the Hazelwinds' biological daughter, fifteen years Ollie's junior. Ollie regards Peach as the first (non-romantic) love of their life, describing the day she came home from the hospital as "the moment [their] world took on color". The siblings are incredibly close, and exchange letters regularly.

Hugo Laurent II
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Abilities
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Influence
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Quotes

 * "What else can you really wish for in life? Other than seeing the people you care about happy." ("A Dance to Remember", 1x65)
 * "I mean, I guess male lizards do have two appendages. I suppose, dragonborn..." ("Diverging Branches", 1x96)
 * "If the time ever comes... I hope our story's even more insufferable to read through than Exidia and Morgan's." (to Hugo; "Turbulence", 1x101)

Trivia

 * Ollie is the only player character to be fully present in all campaign arcs to date.
 * Ollie and their player found out about the genocide at the same time.