ShaintarAdventures GreyRangers:Backgrounds

Character Backgrounds

In order to keep the front page orderly, the backgrounds of each character are posted here, as well as a list of particular accomplishments, either heroic or nefarious.

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Martin Dorneld
Martin is a young man of a small noble house from the kingdom of Galea, the fourth and youngest son. Although his family lacks political influence or great wealth they are extremely proud, especially of their long line of great warriors and knights. Every member of the clan seeks to emulate their warrior ancestors and they are known as some of the finest fighters in the kingdom.

However, Martin's father, Cerald, was not a man to be bound by tradition and he was observant enough to notice that Martin showed greater aptitude with books and words than with a blade. Rather than force his youngest son onto the training ground with his brothers he hired tutors for the boy to help him pursue other talents. When his talent for magic became apparent Martin was sent to study the manipulation of the Aether.

Martin proved to be an able student and by the age of 20 he completed his training in the basics of Sorcery and would likely have attained the title of Mage in a few more years if his studies had not been interrupted by his father's death.

After returning home to pay his respects and mourn his father things turned much harder for Martin. His brothers did not have their father's appreciation for pursuits other than the art of battle and his eldest brother was not willing to open the family purse any further to allow Martin's education to continue.

Although there was no hatred between Martin and his three brothers they certainly looked down on the pursuit their youngest sibling had chosen for himself. In a family of warriors Martin recieved little respect and no small amount of ridicule.

Without the money to return to his studies, and no one in the family willing to give any responsibility to someone who could barely hold a blade Martin sought out a position in the Rangers to prove himself to his family (or at least to get away from them).

Although Martin is actually a fairly competent warrior, this is mostly incidental training and tricks he's picked up simply as a result of living in the same house with his family, compared to the rest of his brothers (all extremely capable swordsmen) he's a barely competent novice.

Also worth noting; although he is a noble by birth his status as the black sheep of the family means he doesn't have the Noble edge, the family treasury is closed to him and his status as 4th son ensures little in the way personal reputation or influence.

Erron Field
In the Malakar Dominion, you are what you make yourself. Snatch and grab any scrap of power and hold on to it, and you just might rise above. Erron Field thought he could be a bandit prince, and perhaps even the leader of an Association. The Lords of the Red Oak had other ideas.

Erron had it all: he could shoot, he could track, he could live out in the woods, and he was a terror with a longsword. So when he recruited six childhood friends from his no-name backwater village and went to work robbing caravans, he thought he was on the fast track to wealth and power. He was wrong.

Erron's little "association" (notice the lowercase a) did pretty well for themselves, for a while. They all knew the terrain and were young and vigorous, able to overpower guards and intimidate Guildsmen. The few good scores they pulled doomed them.

Once the local Association, the Lords of the Red Oak, got wind of their operation, their fate was sealed. Erron watched from the bushes as the Lords hung his gang, his six closest friends, upside down and gutted them like deer. Erron wanted to charge into the fray, but he knew he'd end up Riding The Oak with them.

How could he go back to his village? How could he face his friends' parents? How could he stay and live under the Lords' noses? He couldn't. So he ran. He ran far and fast, and ended up in the Wildlands and the Rangers. His tracking skills and woodcraft were in high demand, as were his sure shot with a bow and skill with a blade. He joined the Rangers to put distance between himself and the Lords, but he just might do some good, and quiet ghosts from his past, blood crying out from beneath the Red Oak.

Kathla, Brinchie from Camden
Kaltha stands short for his kind, he has sleek, black-almost-blue short fur. The thin frame appears almost panther-like, but despite Kaltha's fancying that its closer to an alleycat. The Brinchie grew up in Camden from a kit, a cat in a den of snakes. By necessity claws were kept sharp on the back streets, knives sharper. Cunning and speed was all that helped the street kid surviving, eventually becoming a minor enforcer from a lowly cutpurse. Life was rough but dangerously predictable those first years. Then it all changed; A theft gone bloody, amidst the wreckage a crying child. The greenish-tinged goblinesh child left that night with the hardened thief. Grik grew up strong and fast, Kaltha doing his best to keep the kid fed and alive. Then the unthinkable happened: A group of thugs went to rob Kaltha's ramshackle flat for the latest take. Grik was buried in the ashes of Kaltha's old life. The thugs were doing the same as the black furred enforcer had done years ago, he hated them but could not blame them. They say these Grey Rangers do some good in this land, maybe he can still honor Grik's memory in some small way.

Damon Starborn, aka Damon D'Avenant, Alakar Fencer from Parts Unknown (oOOoooh!)

Born from the union of two adventurers - a Camon swordsman and an Alakar scout, Damon was raised by his mother, hidden away in a small Alakar enclave in the Krin Woods. His father, being Camon, knew that the Prelacy was no place for his wife and child to live openly. As such, his parents parted ways after they left the adventuring life. Damon’s father later became the headmaster of one of Camon’s best dueling schools in High Port, teaching his own style of swordfighting to nobles, aristocrats, and anyone he thought worthy of his knowledge.

When Damon came of age, he took on his mother’s family name, Starborn, but never forgot his father’s own name - Petyr D’Avenant. Learning of his parents’ adventures and exploits, he became enamored with the idea of becoming a swordsman like his father. During the winter, his mother taught him as much swordfighting technique as his father had taught her; the following summer, with his mother’s blessing and caution, he departed for High Port to seek his father and what he thought to be his birthright.

Damon was careful to hide his Alakar features from any Camon whom he thought might turn him over to Church authorities. Soon, he found himself in High Port, where he began to seek out his father in earnest. Upon entering his father’s swordfighting school, he found himself sorely challenged to prove his worthiness as a student.

“Let’s see what you’re made of, lad,” was the greeting he received from his father. Before Petyr could duel his only son, his own prize student, Eric Renault, stepped in as his teacher’s second. With a jaunty salute, the two engaged in a rip-roaring duel that found them backing each other into corners, jumping atop tables, and even jumping from some stairs to swing by a chandelier. By the time Petyr called an end to the duel, Damon had duelled Eric to a stalemate.

Petyr called an end to the day’s exercises and invited Damon to join him at a local inn. Eric declined, leaving them to discuss their common ground alone - or so they thought. Renault, being a skulk and scrounger by nature (for D’Avenant had found him a street urchin and adopted him as a surrogate son), trailed the two and sat nearby, eavesdropping upon their conversation.

“How is your mother?” Petyr prefaced his conversation; he then revealed that he could see a resemblance to his wife in Damon’s face and duelling technique. The two caught up quickly and bonded just as fast, much to Renault’s chagrin and disgust.

Over the coming months, Renault kept his disgust and anger hidden, becoming a bitter rival and sometimes surrogate brother to Damon. It was through this relationship that he came into Damon’s confidence regarding his past. It was this relationship that brought about the downfall of the D’Avenant dueling school and put Damon on his current path.

Prior to his “adoption” by Petyr, Renault had employed his skills as a skulk and scrounder to make a name for himself as a spy and assassin of small renown in High Port. It was with this experience and the D’Avenant dueling school that Renault thought he could make a bigger name for himself beyond High Port. Renault had long argued with Petyr about turning the dueling school into an academy for spies and assassins, something Petyr was steadfastly against. Being Petyr’s prize student (now second only to Damon), Eric hatched a plot to take over the academy while eliminating both Petyr and Damon.

One stormy summer’s evening, Eric engaged Petyr in a heated debate, again pressing the issue of changing the academy’s mission. Petyr refused until Eric issued a challenge he couldn’t refuse. The two would duel to first blood; if Petyr won, Eric would drop the issue entirely and continue as a student. If Eric won, Petyr would give serious consideration of the idea. The two duelled mercilessly and Eric pressed him each attack.

Eventually, the younger swordsman struck a lethal blow, running Petyr through with his rapier. Damon returned to the practice hall to find his father dying on the floor. With his dying breath, Petyr apologized to his son for being absent and then gave him the key to his destiny - a silver signet that belonged to his grandfather, Niles D’Avenant. Eric emerged from the shadows, applauding the demise of his teacher. Sliding a rapier across the floor to Damon, he ordered the young man to fight or die. The two duelled mercilessly, each drawing the blood of the other several times. The fight quickly moved outside into the thunderstorm. As a storm raged, Eric rallied his fellow students against Damon, claiming that the “dirty Fae-blooded cur” had murdered the headmaster. The mob chased the young Alakar through the streets until Damon lost them by hiding in a farmer’s haycart.

Returning to his meager quarters and escaping the city under cover of darkness, Damon tried to make his way quickly back home, but was forced to dodge and hide from several Prelacy patrols. Unfortunately, his lot was worse than he thought. Although the patrols were on the lookout for Damon, they were also searching for an Alakar enclave hidden in the Krin Woods. Damon returned to find his home a burned out shell and his mother dead. It was then that he realized the fullness of Eric’s betrayal.

Knowing that he had to avenge the death of his parents, yet that he could not do so if he himself were dead, Damon fled the Prelacy, seeking to become one of Greyson’s Grey Rangers. Still, he is haunted by his parents’ deaths and is dogged by his father’s former students (including Eric Renault), all of whom seek to hunt down and kill him.

Kenssei vo Trasshka, Dregordian Paladin from Dregordia Kenssei vo Trasshka, his parents a wealthy landowner and her warrior-consort in Northern Degordia, was born with one foot in both the realms of warfare and the courts. He found he preferred the (obvious) battlefields of the Northern Watch to the political intrigue of the palaces, and spent his time training for the time he would command soldiers on the front. His trainer, a scarred Paladin visiting at the request of the Commandant of vo Trasshka, noticed the deep running vein of justice and Light running in Kenssei, and suggested he might consider joining the ranks of Paladins one day. Kenssei, awe struck by the outsider's skill and gentle manner, was flattered but dismissed the thought as simple praise. However, a week later during a family gathering, Kenssei spoke a little too loudly of his support for the outside world and the Paladin's teaching methods near a few old-school isolationist nobles. The next morning the Paladin had been dismissed, and Kenssei's squad tasked to escort him home, far beyond the borders of Dregordia. Over their weeks of travel together, the Paladin and Kenssei spoke at length about the Church of the Light. When at last they arrived, Kenssei threw himself at the opportunity to be a harbinger of Justice and Light. Now that he's out in the world, and with so much evil to combat and wrongs to be righted, Kenssei has decided to spend some time doing good before returning to protect Dregordia. His talks with the Paladin, an ex-Grey Ranger himself, made his choice of destination easy.