Aliah Starbough is a half-dryad, her lineage a unique mixture of human and faerie blood. Born to Vadeya Dawnoak, a dryad of the Simmaron Forest, Aliah's paternity remains a mystery even to her mother. Dryads do not typically form lasting bonds with men, and Vadeya's grove, called Sollin-kel or "grove of beauty" by the patrollers, was home to many dryads who lived as a communal family. The identity of Aliah's human father was never revealed, as dryads cast their wiles upon men for purposes other than conversation or companionship.
Aliah grew up in the mystical beauty of Sollin-kel, raised not only by her mother but by all the dryads who shared the grove. Her childhood was spent learning the ways of the forest, developing a deep connection to the trees and natural world that was her birthright. As a half-dryad, she aged more slowly than humans, marking time differently and maintaining her youthful appearance even as years passed. Her mother and the other dryads taught her about the world beyond their grove, particularly about the patrollers of the Simmaron Hall of the Wood, whom Vadeya described as different from other humans—people who respected the ways of the forest and could be trusted.
During Aliah's youth, the dryads maintained a guarded but peaceful relationship with the Hall of the Wood. While they valued their solitude and never harmed patrollers, they kept their distance from human affairs. The grove's location was known to patroller trainers, who warned recruits never to enter except by invitation, valuing their dignity. Many novice patrollers were dared into trespassing as a rite of passage, usually receiving harmless but memorable warnings from the dryads—such as thorns in uncomfortable places or being hung upside down from trees.
Aliah's friendship with Jerrick Bur began during his early training years with the patrollers. Unlike other recruits who attempted to breach the grove's borders uninvited, Aliah befriended him naturally, and through this friendship, Jerrick was granted the rare honor of being welcomed into Sollin-kel on multiple occasions. Their bond was strong, built on mutual respect and genuine affection, though it remained primarily platonic despite occasional hints of deeper feelings.
As Aliah matured, she developed a desire to experience more than her secluded corner of the world. Unlike her mother and the other dryads who were content with their forest existence, Aliah felt called to explore the wider world beyond the Simmaron. She left the grove before Jerrick departed for his marriage to Kendra, embarking on a journey that would last several years and fundamentally change her perspective on humanity and the world beyond the forest.
During her travels, Aliah encountered the harsh realities of human civilization. She witnessed poverty, crime, disease, ambition, greed, and dishonesty—what she came to see as the staples of life for many humans. She observed bullies and braggarts ruling city streets, thieves, murderers, and brigands who cared nothing for the natural harmony she had known in her grove. The world outside the Simmaron proved to be one of mayhem and chaos, and Aliah, grown sick of it all, eventually decided to return home.
Her return to the Simmaron was not the homecoming she had anticipated. When Aliah arrived at Sollin-kel, she discovered a horrific tragedy—her mother Vadeya Dawnoak and all the other dryads who had shared the grove were dead, victims of a supernatural corruption that had been seeping into the forest. The trees told her the terrible story: a witch had come to the Simmaron and begun working subtle evil that slowly poisoned the very soil from which the dryads drew their life force. By the time the dryads understood what was happening, they were too weak to stop her. In their final act, they sacrificed themselves, returning their life force to the grove so its vitality might continue to provide refuge for other forest creatures.
The discovery of her family's death transformed Aliah profoundly. The grief and sorrow of losing her entire extended family—for every dryad had been like a sister, aunt, or cousin to her—gave way to something darker. A seed of rage and desire for vengeance took root within her, growing stronger as she learned more about the witch responsible for the tragedy. Her worldview, already darkened by her experiences in human cities, became further hardened by this personal loss.
Among her mother's possessions, Aliah found a fist-sized cerulean gem called a soul stone, which had been kept safe by her family for generations. According to tradition, it had been given to their ancestors by the ancient druids of the Simmaron, to be used if their aid was ever needed. Using this stone, Aliah was able to contact the spirit of Delbin Kinkaed, an arch-druid who had died centuries earlier. Through this supernatural communication, she learned about the Well of Darkness that the witch was using to corrupt the forest and gained knowledge about how to potentially stop the evil.
Aliah's return to the Simmaron marked the beginning of her quest for vengeance against the witch who had destroyed her family. However, she also discovered that the witch had not acted alone—her evil had been made possible by Evar, the Eldest of the Elders at the Hall of the Wood, who had revealed the location of the Well to the witch in a misguided attempt to save his own dying wife. This revelation deeply shocked Aliah, as it meant that someone from the very institution her mother had taught her to trust and respect was ultimately responsible for her family's destruction.
The trauma of her loss and the corruption she had witnessed in the outside world fundamentally changed Aliah's character. Where once she had been compassionate and trusting, she became harder and more focused on revenge. The half-dryad who had left the forest seeking adventure returned as someone willing to embrace violence and retribution. Yet beneath this transformation, traces of her original nature remained—her deep connection to the forest, her loyalty to true friends like Jerrick, and ultimately, her capacity for forgiveness when confronted with the choice between revenge and healing.
Aliah possesses the mystical abilities inherent to her dryad heritage, including the ability to communicate with trees and other forest life, enhanced senses and awareness of natural corruption, and a slower aging process that has left her looking virtually unchanged despite years of travel. Her mixed heritage also grants her greater resilience than pure dryads, who are bound to specific groves and cannot easily leave them. As a half-dryad, she retains the otherworldly beauty and grace of her mother's people while having the freedom to move beyond the forest's boundaries.
When Aliah encountered Jerrick again after their years apart, she found their friendship still intact despite the changes both had undergone. She recognized in him the same tendency toward self-blame that now plagued her own thoughts about arriving too late to save her family. Their reunion came at a dark time for both, as they worked together to confront the supernatural evil threatening their beloved forest home.
FIRST APPEARANCE
Aliah first appears in The Hall of the Wood.
