Aldebaran
Aldebaran was a significant court mystic during the Third Age, notably serving the Old Dynasty in Kasa.
Lore
Among his notable achievements is the creation of The Eye of the Taker, a ring enchanted to punish anyone who claimed it without offering anything in return. In addition to his artifact creation, Aldebaran undertook the ambitious task of creating glass, as per King Mathidas' request to please his daughter, Princess Leathides. Although he did not succeed in producing true glass, the resulting powder became a cherished spice named in his honor, beloved by the princess.
The "court mystic" referred to in the account of the Char-roots pouch is potentially Aldebaran. According to this tale, the mystic was angered by Gillasen, a skald known for his incisive critiques, who had publicly mocked him. In response, the mystic allegedly transformed into a bird to thwart Gillasen’s efforts to complete a hundred odes—a task vital to his survival, imposed by Queen Leathides. Despite this interference, Gillasen successfully presented his odes and was appointed as the Royal Skald.
Mentions
A gilded bronze ring with a cinnabar carnelian stone.
This ring was the creation of the Third Age court wizard, Aldebaran. Aldebaran's master, King Mathidas, owned a magnificent rainbow parakeet, gifted to him by a neighbouring vassal lord. Apart from its beauty, the bird also praised the King in the most flattering terms. Upon discovering that the parakeet stole treasure at night, delivering it in secret to the vassal lord, the King ordered Aldebaran to arrange some suitable vengeance to the audacious vassal and put an end to the thefts, without hurting even a feather on the bird, whose flattery the King much enjoyed.
Thus, Aldebaran created The Eye of the Taker. The ring puts a curse anyone claiming it without giving its previous owner anything in return.
What became of the ring was was long a mystery, as neither news of it nor the rainbow parakeet ever reached the citadel of King Mathidas of the Third Age.
Once, a foreign merchant came to the court of King Mathidas. He revealed a stunning display of glass items, impossible to reproduce in Braided Shore. The King purchased all the glass baubles and gifted them to his daughter Leathides. The little princess was spellbound by the glimmering glass and asked her father to make more. The King, not wanting to disappoint his daughter, asked his court mystic Aldebaran to create sand that could be made into glass. The mystic toiled for many moons in his laboratory, but it was for naught. Even with his brilliant mind, Aldebaran could only accomplish a sand-like powder, unsuitable for glassmaking. Dejectedly, King Mathidas returned to his daughter and said that creating glass with Braided shore materials was simply impossible. The princess shrugged, as she had forgotten all about the glass. Instead she requested a new spice to make her food taste less dull. Aldebaran, who had tasted the product of his sand-experiment earlier, presented it to the princess who thoroughly enjoyed the new spice. The King congratulated Aldebaran and named the new seasoning after the mystic's last name.
The story of the creation of porcelain stretches back to the third age. The daughter of a king became enamoured with Selkan glass and ordered her father to make glass objects right there in Braided Shore.
The king in turn ordered his court mystic to recreate glass. The court mystic tried many things to appease the princess but eventually landed on alchemically produced Porcelain as a glass substitute.
There once was a Skald named Gillasen who wrote scalding critiques of everyone in power. The Prince is of common birth! They shouted. The Queen is balding! They exclaimed. The folk loved Gillasen's poems and they soon gathered more and more popularity. The Prince Consort did not mind the mockery, and the Queen ignored it. But when Gillasen made fun of the Court Mystic, he was enraged. The Court Mystic is a sham! Gillasen cried out with a smile as they were carried away by guards to the people's dissapointment. The Court Mystic brought Gillasen in front of the Queen and asked her to execute the Skald for their disrespect. The Prince adviced against it and the Queen took his council. "Very well, Gillasen, you have one night to write a hundred poetic odes to my beauty. If you fail to impress me then you shall die but if you succeed then you shall have a place as my Royal Skald." So spoke Leathides.
Gillasen went to work, stop the prison tower, they began writing their hundred odes. The Court Mystic was further enraged and decided to sabotage for the Bard. The Mystic transformed himself into a sparrow and sat upon the prison towers' windowsill and chirped all night, with his aim of disturbing Gillasen's work.
Gillasen smiled at the bird and took a small pouch from his bag, he ate a small char root and offered some to the sparrow. The Court Mystic didn't want his cover to be blown, ate of the char roots and immediately began coughing. He flew away from the tower and transformed back, saving his life.
Come morning, Gillase presented his hundred odes to the Queen and she took him as her personal Skald at once. And from that day forward, there was not a day that went by without the Court Mystic enduring Gillasen's scalding mockery first hand.