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|  New Character Submission - Caerwyn
Name: Caerwyn
Age: 37
Class: Ranger / Wizard ( 12 / 8 )
Race: Half-Elf
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Deity: Folian S'pae
Ability Scores:
Str: 14 +2
Dex: 15 +2
Con: 13 +1
Wis: 13 +1
Int: 12 +1
Cha: 10 +0
Languages: Common / Elvish
Description:
Tall and wiry, Caerwyn stands 5'11" and weighs in at just over 11 stone (155 lbs.). His copper hair, golden eyes, and agility are the legacy of his father, while his hard, plain features and hearty build derive from his mother's side of the family. His lean physique belies a strength acquired over 16 years, living rough in service to the military. He is affable with a wry sense of humor, but does not trust easily. He puts his faith in his bow, his mind, his sword, and his God - in that order.
Bio:
The year is 1392 A.C. Roldem has just fallen and an Elven military officer has been re-posted to Prantz on Dregar. Ahrail, called Alimar, has assumed his duties as Intelligence attache to the Prantz Army Officer Corps. There he meets, woos, and marries a Human woman from Sierra: one Sioned Taliesen, eldest daughter of a Goranite cleric. They set up housekeeping in the capital city and shortly thereafter are expecting their first child. In 1393, their son, Caerwyn, is born and all is bliss. When the child is but a few months old, Ahrail is sent north to Dalanthar for a brief inspection tour. He decides to take his new wife with him, leaving Caerwyn in the care of her father's household in Sierra until their return. It is on this journey that Sioned succumbs to The Sorrowful Death, what would later be termed the Willow's Weep epidemic. When Ahrail returns to Sierra with the terrible news, Hywel Taliesen, stunned and blaming Ahrail for taking his daughter north so soon after childbirth, heatedly ejects his son-in-law from his home. Master Hywel refuses to yield up his grandson however, vowing to raise Caerwyn himself. Ahrail goes, too grief stricken to argue further. It will forever remain unclear whether Sioned, Ahrail, or Hywel bore the most sorrow.
Hywel Taliesen, like most of his order, put great stock in a solid and continuing education. So as Caerwyn approached school age, Master Hywel saw to it that his grandson could pursue his studies right there in the household. He provided tutors from various Goranite orders in every discipline, especially in those of technology. Caerwyn applied himself to his studies, as would any young boy eager to please his grandfather, but he was never more than a competent, yet uninspired, student. As the years rolled by and Caerwyn's features became more defined, his grandfather became less able to face him; the reflection of Sioned's image progressively becoming too real to bear. But, honor bound, Hywel continued to fulfill his obligations with diligence, if not love. Confused and hurt, Caerwyn began to do the same.
Then, when Caerwyn was 9, his world literally changed. A great Darkness filled the land and times became hard indeed. Day became dusk, and dusk became night. Prantz had fallen and the Dregar Empire had broken into disparate kingdoms under the thumb of Lord Rael. His grandfather's religion, like so many others, was outlawed; but unlike the practice of other religions, the scholarship required by Goran merely transformed into a secular one. This transformation had the peculiar effect on the household of having most of Caerwyn's tutors simply take up residence there. The confusion of having so many scholars under one roof provided Caerwyn with a ready excuse to escape the confinement of his studies. The forest became his refuge; the forest was where the 'what' of the world was more important than the 'how' or the 'why'.
Fortunately for Caerwyn, his mother's younger sister Braith took him under her wing and helped him balance the requirements of his education with his natural proclivities. She would see to it that there was a plausible answer should anyone go looking for an absent Caerwyn. Braith had managed to maintain contact with Ahrail all these years, even though he would be forever unwelcome in the Taliesen home. She arranged for the young boy to periodically meet with his father in the forest where they could hunt and track and simply be. And it was Braith who opened Caerwyn's eyes to the wonders of the arcane arts.
After Sioned's death, Braith had taken up the study of magic, a subject that Master Hywel had always felt was a cheat in understanding and manipulating the physical world. A bit of a rebel herself, she continued in her studies even though magic was now proscribed. Despite the prohibition, Caerwyn was eager to learn what he could. She began letting Caerwyn watch her at her clandestine work and even began teaching him rudimentary cantrips - something the boy seemed to pick up quite readily.
The years passed this way, with Caerwyn dragging himself through his studies, dodging his tutors, surreptitiously learning basic spell casting, and meeting with his father in their beloved forest. There, Ahrail taught him to use a longbow effectively and, when he was old enough, to handle a sword. Through his father, Caerwyn privately learned of Folian S'pae and found that the tenets of that God reinforced how he had looked at the world; while having no interest in becoming a devout, Caerwyn did find comfort in the faith. Ahrail also taught his son his other hereditary language to the point that by Caerwyn's teenage years they would converse exclusively in Elvish. Around this time, by their campfire, Caerwyn began to be educated in the techniques of reconnaissance and in basic tactics, but always in the context of the hunt. Ahrail could never tell his son of his still active military role. Caerwyn simply understood his father had been an officer working with the Dregar army before the fall and let it go at that. In spite of this one deception, the bond between father and son grew until Caerwyn no longer felt alone.
Shortly before Caerwyn was to finish the education prescribed by his grandfather, Ahrail stopped coming to see his son; yet he would send a message through Braith postponing each next meeting. After several months of this, Caerwyn received no message at all and became concerned. While he never knew what precisely his father now did, Caerwyn did know that ex-military men lived in danger. When Braith's secret scrying could yield no answers, Caerwyn made a decision: he would search for Ahrail. He confronted his grandfather with the news that he was leaving, though he refused to say why. Hywel Taliesen could see that he was dealing with a near-adult who quite clearly was never going to be a true scholar and reluctantly let his grandson go; their mutual obligation was now discharged.
So it was that in 1413 A.C., Caerwyn Ahrail'lan left the only existence he had even known to go out into the dark world and try to find out what had happened to his father. Armed with only his skills, a bow, and determination, he traveled town to town, heading north toward the Succession Kingdom where he would begin his search in earnest. There he sought out the nearest contingent of soldiers hoping to gather clues about Ahrail, called Alimar. One group of soldiers would lead to another with tantalizing bits of information and one kingdom led to the next. At each stop, he would hire out his services as a hunter and when he had gathered what information he could, he would move on. As time went on, he developed a reputation as an above average hunter/tracker and began to also take assignments as a scout. But it is now 16 years later and Caerwyn has traversed the length and breadth of the continent without seeming any closer to his goal. Yesterday he decided: he would venture to Mistone to start a new life and, if possible, continue his search there.
Last edited by Cinnabar : 02-21-08 at 02:16 AM.
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