Editing Asheth Barkeep (section)

= Background =
Crusading Zealot

To a difference from other shifter clans Asheth's family had been urban for as long as one could remember, even before the fall of Nerath. So long, in fact, that some jokingly claimed that their lycanthrope ancestors were more dog than wolf. Throughout the years this became so established that the part of city where the clan lived became known as Doghill.

Asheth was the son of, unsurprsingly, a barkeep in one of the most rowdy street of Doghill, which was the most rowdy area of the city. The tavern had been in the family for generations and one of the vast number of Asheth's siblings would one day inherit it. That was far into the future however, and Asheth lived his young life with his brothers and sisters playing on the streets. There he quickly learned the value of seeing but not be seen, and soon turned out to be quite a nimble and quickwitted boy. He did get into a lot of trouble, but he was also smart enough to get out before he was caught.

This happy childhood would not be forever, however, and unbeknownst to Asheth, his family, Doghill and pretty much the whole city, a cult planned a takeover in the city. And worked it did, apart from a small problem, a paladin of Bahamut who was resting in the city after a hard journey. That problem soon became a large problem as he called his kin and single handedly almost put a stop to the cult's action. In a desperate last attempt from the cult they opened a gate in the middle of the city straight to the nine hells, unleashing an army of demons upon the city.

The slaughter was great, although the Paladin's allies soon came to help, an army of warriors and priests sworn to Bahamut, as well as no less than three dragons. The demons were vanquished and the gate closed, but the city was burned to the ground and it's inhabititants killed. Among the few survivors was a young shifter boy who had lost his left eye to the demon that killed his parents and siblings.

Asheth was taken in by an order of clerics, and while he proved zealous in the fight against evil he was filled with rage, and would rather train with arms than recite prayers and cleanse his soul. He was shifted to a friendly order of Paladins, where a female shifter took him in as her squire, feeling deeply for him. Asheth grew to love his new master as a mother, and she him as a son, but he was still filled with rage, and his foster mother quickly saw that he would not make a good paladin, even though she tried.

It was then, with deep regret, feeling as if she was sacrificing her own son, that she sent him away to a remote cloister, known only to a few. There an order of monks trained in the martial arts in the name of Bahamut, but their focus was not on upholding law and order, honor and justice nor defending the weak and innocent. Their description was closest to holy assassins, rooting out evil in all its forms and destroying it.

Asheth was finally at home again, here he shaped his raging soul to a sword in the name of Bahamut. The skills he had learned on the streets of Dogville and his natural abilities and talents came well to fit his new call, and as he was initiated he swore to find the demon that had killed his family and let it pay dearly for its deed.

That was one month ago, and with little more than a bag of coins, his robes and an ornate sword handed down from the order he left out into the world.