Artesia bakgrunder [lång]
Här kommer några riktigt bra bakgrunder till karaktärer i Arteisa. Texten är hämtad från www.theknownworld.com och är inte skriven av mig (jag vet inte av vem). Men jag tycker att det är bra bakgrunder.
ULBRACE OF VERAN, Mercenary for Hire
Ulbrace was born, in i1448, in the small trading town of Veran among the hills of Pavas Mole. Situated on the western coast of the Watchtower demesne and due south from Warwark and the Wall. Born under the Sky Twins, Ulbrace was the third born son of the family. His mother, Caila of Myvern, spent the first 25 years of her life as a Sworn Warrior to the King of Myvern on the Great Wall of Fortias. Excelling in military matters, she had risen quickly and gained the favor of her superiors. It was with no small amount of surprise when she eloped with Istvan of Glam Aras. Istvan was known smuggler from Daradja who used the hills above Myvern to bring goods and charms in from the North. In addition, he made a decent living looting relics from Uthedmael and gained an unsavory reputation.
After their elopement caused his mother to lose her position among the King’s Guard, the two of them moved to small town of Dera. Here they began raising a family supported by Caila’s earlier windfalls and a steady smuggling operation run by Istvan. In time, they had three sons. Although the father attempted to raise all three sons to follow in his footsteps, their hearts led them to their mother. Despite the training of their father, she managed to instill in them her skills of war. It was the life of a warrior that all three sons desired. And so, one by one, they left the home to find their fortune.
At the age of 16, Ulbrace gave up his father’s trade as a smuggler and followed in his brother’s footsteps. Bearing a letter from his mother, Ulbrace traveled north and enlisted with the mercenary company “Last Sons”. The Captain was a friend of his mother and therefore, he joined his two brothers on the campaign trail. The Last Sons was under contract with the Wall Kings to guard the area, pursue raiders and repel any attempts against them. So Ulbrace tested his mettle by fighting the Djar Maelite raiders and walking the lonely lengths of the Great Wall.
In i1465, Ulbrace had acquitted himself well amongst the company and was well-liked by the men. Despite being several years behind his 2nd brother, he was promoted over him. With the promotion, Ulbrace joined his eldest brother, Dyllam, in leading raids into the Uthedmael. After several months, a Dumeghal raid hit the Wall and caused serious damage. Mounting a punitive expedition, Dyllam and Ulbrace led a group of men into the wastelands to hunt down the raiders. They caught up with the raiding party after several days and attacked without mercy. Despite an ambush, Ulbrace’s brother was cut from shoulder to waist by a Dumeghal Warlord and perished on the battlefield. The remaining members of the band followed Ulbrace in flight back to the safety of the Wall.
Overcome with grief, Ulbrace requested a change of duty and was ordered to attend a contingent of Last Sons who had been recruited by the King of Angowrie. During his service, he was detailed to work with the Prince of Angowrie. He spent the year in the royal city of Angora working with the Prince in subduing a series of border raids. During this time, he witnessed a number of contacts between the Prince and Phoenix Court representatives. While not privy to the conversations or substance of the meetings, the Prince met several times with delegations from the Empire of Thessid-Gola under suspicious circumstances. Keeping his mouth shut, Ulbrace decided to confide in his Captain and it was with some relief that the contract was cancelled at the end of the year. Other than his captain, Ulbrace spoke to no one else about what he witnessed. The machinations of royalty were too dangerous for him to be involved in. With the death of King Adelwen, the Prince Euwen Derc Jaraslas ascended the throne and Ulbrace returned to the Great Wall.
Upon returning to his mercenary company in i1467, Ulbrace discovered that his remaining brother had acquitted himself quite well and ascended to their brother’s former position. Ulbrace spent the remaining year fighting and warring with a modicum of success however the camaraderie he once felt with his company seemed to be lacking. By the end of the year, it was obvious that his fellows held him in contempt for some trespass. There were rumors of cowardice and implications that he might have been the cause of his brother’s death. The gossip mirrored his very own fears that he may been responsible in some way for his brother’s death. Despite the assurances of his Captain, Ulbrace sunk into a depression under the accusing eyes of the mercenaries.
It took some time but Ulbrace finally traced the source of the rumors back to their source. It was to his surprise, his very own brother Urian, now the Shield Lieutenant of the Company. He confronted his brother and despair turned to rage quickly as he saw the jealousy that drove his brother’s actions. Threatened by his meteoric rise amongst the companies, Urian had backstabbed his own brother and piled the guilt of their other brother’s death upon him. While Ulbrace had been away in Angowrie, Urian had spread rumors of his guilt, working the other men against Ulbrace. The confrontation quickly turned to violence as he accused his brother of malicious acts and the two drew swords. So it was, brother against brother, that their blades were drawn and wielded against one another. The battle was brutal and ended with Ulbrace slashing through Urian’s guard and slicing a furrow down the left side of his face. Slumped over and defeated, Urian collapsed from the pain as Ulbrace left the courtyard where they had battled. Crushed by his brother’s betrayal, Ulbrace went to the Captain and tendered his resignation. The Captain and the other men, aware now of the treachery, reluctantly accepted his commission and urged him to reconsider after some time on the road. The day after Ulbrace left, they threw Urian out of the company.
Ulbrace spent the entirety of i1468 traveling seeking to banish the taste of betrayal from his mouth. He followed his father’s smuggling route into the Bale Mole. After two months in the hills, he fought his way back out again bearing new scars and new insights. Traveling east through the Middle Kingdoms, Ulbrace found his way to Atallica. He found steady work guarding caravans and doing work with local Lords and nobility. Throughout his travels, he has managed to gather a number of contacts and friends. In his time abroad, he has discovered that there is more to this world than a Wall and death on all sides.
DARWAIN THEROS, Knight-Assassin
Darwain Theros was born the 4th child of Lord and Lady Theros of Atallica. His birth was ushered in painlessly on a calm night but was seen by others as most auspicious. Born under the Sun Lion, a Red Veil slid over the moon as he was brought forth into this world; a sign of bloodshed to come. A trueborn Aurian from both sides of his family, he inherited the hypocrisy of Queen Gunhilne through his father and never professed a true dedication to the Divine King.
Raised in the family seat, a small castle south of An-Andria, Darwain was trained and tutored as a trueborn son of an Aurian Lord. Preceded in birth by his two sisters and brother, Darwain’s prospects were limited as befitting a non-inheriting noble son. As a child, he was distracted and bored with the martial training of a lord’s son. Despite this, he excelled and evoked a bitter rivalry with his brother; the proper heir. His sisters were pledged to various Lords as they came of age. His first sister was happily married off into nobility of Dainphalia but his other sister, Fergi, was chosen to marry the royal nephew of the High King. During a sparring match with the young Lord she was betrothed to, Darwain fell to a sneaky trip and was soundly defeated.
Possessed of a rage, Darwain lost all control and attacked his sparring partner beating him severely and leaving him bloody on the field. The Lord, shamed by all measure to this countrified young noble, quickly accused him of a dishonorable attack. This accusation was echoed by his sister, who was scared of losing her betrothed by the actions of her brother, and taken as truth. Disgraced before his family, betrayed by his sister and in fear of his own temper, Darwain took up his sword and shield and entered into service with Duke Owen Lis Red. Unrest over taxes had led the peasants to revolt and the Duke, under direction from the King, brought his forces to bear against the mobs in southern Atallica.
Taking up the mantle of knight in the Duke’s army, Darwain brought the King’s Justice to the people and reveled in the freedom of battle. His rage made him respected on the battlefield and he threw himself into the position. Under the Duke, Darwain won renown and loot from his actions and resolved to return to his family covered in glory. It was on his travels home that he was beset by outlaws. Losing himself in battle-rage, Darwain regained consciousness to find himself surrounded by the corpses of his opponents and bleeding from numerous wounds. He had acquitted himself well against multiple foes but had, at last, succumbed to his wounds. The remaining outlaws had fled the scene with his packhorse and wealth. The entire encounter left him with only his blade, his name and a burning desire to prove himself.
Realizing he could not return to his family in this manner, Darwain managed to make his way to Therapoli. Once there, he quested about for some means of returning to his family. In doing so, he came across an old acquaintance from his time in the King’s service. A Palatian Merchant, Savaj, had been one of Darwain’s companions in the peasant rebellion. Savaj, a successful merchant, approached Darwain about his prospects and was dismayed to discover his dire straits. Over many nights of discussion, Savaj tentatively broached the subject of a new career for the young noble. Recognizing his battle prowess, Savaj broached the subject of Darwain becoming a blade for hire. After some minor questioning, Darwain agreed to accept the tutelage of Savaj. The merchant, a Palatian native, turned out to be a prominent member of the mercantile guilds. Darwain, under his schooling, became practiced in the manner of the hidden blade; the assassin.
Using his nobility and new skills, Darwain became a successful blade for hire. He was surprised to discover the level of animosity and cut-throat competition amongst the various guilds. For the better part of the year i1466, Darwain fought the back street wars of the Guilds amongst the backdrop of Atallica. His contacts and newfound wealth were good enough to have landed him an invitation to the Crown Prince Edrick’s wedding. After a great deal of wine, merriment and carousing Darwain woke up next to the Prince’s favorite bard. After a few moments of nervous laughter, he and the young lady, Iala of the Seven Strings, spent several days in each other’s company and became fast friends.
His introduction to the high lifestyle of Therapoli continued over the next couple years. His relationships became the talk of many drawing rooms and word eventually reached his family. His love life was mercury swift and although none of his paramours spoke ill of him there was much comment on his icy demeanor. In retrospect, none of his favored partners could claim to have touched him in any way. His success sparked jealousy amongst his brother but the his mother and father were pleased to see that their son had found his own fortune. Many lives fell underneath his blade under the cover of darkness and on the field. He dealt death for coin and other men’s slights. In i1469, Darwain took the commission of a Hemapoline merchant for the death of one of the Guild Heads in Therapoli. The actual assassination went off with ease but the furor it raised convinced Darwain to seek his fortune elsewhere. Not pursued, but not assured of his safety, Darwain cashed in the largesse granted to him for the slaying and took to the road.
MERRITT THUMBSCALE, Merchant-Warrior
Born in i1448 to Athairi-bred Aurians, Merritt was raised in the protective expanse of the Eastern Erid Wold. His parents originated from the eastern Aurian kingdoms but moved to below An-Athair to encourage his father’s mercantile contacts. Open to other viewpoints and enamored with their children, his parents saw nothing wrong with his attachment to the Old Religion at an early age. Being raised among the ethereal trees of the Erid Wold, Merritt grew up surrounded by the otherworld trappings of the Old Religion and Spirits.
At the age of 16, Merritt took up in his father’s footsteps as a merchant serving the various communities in the Erid Wold and Erid Dania. Relying on his father’s network, Merritt showed a quick acumen for the merchant trade. Young and on the road, he met his first love, a young innkeeper’s daughter in Abueth. Leery of the young man’s advances, the girl’s father was an ardent Divine King follower and resisted the match over the pagan influence of Merritt. Called out in the public square, Merritt was forced to relinquish the relationship for fear of being identified as a heretic. As he grew in influence, Merritt and his brothers slowly took over the trade network of his father. In general, good feelings abounded among them and the area was divided up equally.
In i1465, Merritt was called home unexpectedly to discover that his eldest brother, Lyrian, had been beset by outlaws and slain on the road. Lyrian had been granted the trade in the western end of the Erid Wold and worked closely with the villages there. Merritt and his other brother sought to find the individuals responsible but there was no way short of the arcane. His brother had died alone and unknown on the side of the road and it was with great grief that they discovered his failure to cross into the Underworld. It was this pivot that drove Merritt to the study of the arcane. His journeys throughout the Wold had brought him into contact with a number of adherents to the arcane and Old Religion. As he passed through these communities, he did his best to stop and learn from each of them.
It was this way that he met Ilaern, daughter of a wise woman. He came across in his search for knowledge and entreated her grandmother for instruction. During the month he spent under his tutelage, he fell deeply in love with her grand-daughter and she shared in these feelings. At the end of the summer, Merritt was forced to return to his route and promised to return during the winter and ask for her hand in marriage. His route led him home and then abroad in search of a betrothal present. It was late in the year of i1466 when a bird brought the last words of his beloved to him. A chance encounter in the forest had led a banshee straight to the home of Ilaern and sparked fear amongst the locals. The banshee battered night and day at the protections woven into the hut and finally breached it, breathing in the last of her life. She struggled to hold on, aided by her grandmother, but at least was forced to release her soul lest it be trapped on Earth forever. By the time Merritt had returned to the village, she had been buried for several days. In his grief, Merritt succumbed to a malaise that brought delirium to his waking days and nightmares to his dreams.
The old woman took him in until his family could come for him. He spent a week in a daze at the loss of Ilaern and sought her frantically. At long last, he breached the veil into the other side and searched in vain for his beloved. To his surprise, it was his brother’s reft spirit that he encountered. Merritt spoke with his brother’s spirit for hours and guided him on the path to the Underworld. In their discussions, he finally had a name for the villains that slew his brother. He was slain by bandits under the banner of Valorous L’arr. The name was known to him. The following morning, he awoke to the concerned faces of his family and went home with them. As overjoyed as they were about the return of his brother’s spirit to the Underworld, they were concerned with the health and sanity of Merritt.
Merritt managed to recover from his malaise and set out once again on his trade journeys. He pushed himself incredibly hard in penance to his brother and beloved, feeling guilt that was not his own. By mid-summer, his frenetic pace had taken its toll and he fell ill to a fever sweeping the area. The remaining days of the year were composed of feverish delirium and the gradual leeching of his body’s strength. His nightmares were dark and confused, the loss of his beloved and the murder of his brother stood out amongst his memories. He could find no rest from their fates.
In i1468, he returned to health and left his family. Professing to his family to be continuing in his trade as a merchant, Merritt set out along the path to another fate altogether. He tracked down a former acquaintance, a mercenary warrior who wintered in the Wold and paid him significant amounts to teach him the martial skills necessary to avenge his brother. Throughout the spring and summer of i1469 he worked mercilessly at the skills taught by the aging warrior ignoring all responsibilities of the family trade. The financial loss suffered was enough to make him realize that his days as a merchant were done.
The year of i1469 found him acquitting himself well in the local riots and conflicts that spanned the Middle Kingdoms. As a mercenary, Merritt was an accomplished warrior and his mercantile skills assisted him in the campaigning necessary for the mercenary way of life. Despite the liking of his fellow freeswords, Merritt continues to move from band to band in search of the skill to hunt down those responsible for his brother’s death.
ALLADAR, Thief and Hedge-Wizard
Born on the mean streets of Nagria, Alladar had only the barest of chances. A son of the Scales, he was an uncommonly insightful child. Blessed on both sides of his parentage, Alladar inherits the blood of Rhyd-Narys from his mother and the scholarly acumen of Hurias WormBane from his father. Raised in the shadow of the tenements, fed on the scraps of a city’s refuse, he attempted to thrive. His mother carried him around with her, bound up in mock bandages, to aid her begging outside the Divine King Churches.
Once he was old enough to be of assistance, he began helping his father in his trade: fortune-telling. Around the meager fire late at night he sat and listened to his father’s endless speeches about the properties of divination, spirits and the Otherworld. All of it fascinated Alladar from a very young age. Mean though his father’s skill was, he could still pass on the basics to this most ancient of occupations. Herbal lore, minor charms, all of these were passed on to the precocious child who sat quietly absorbing all his father could teach him.
It was with some surprise when the child began to surpass his father at a young age. It was with even less surprise that the father harbored a grudge against his obviously gifted son.
This festering feeling came to a head one day when, toying with ointments and attempting to duplicate a salve of his father’s Alladar applied the concoction to his younger brother Darath. The salve, incomplete, seared itself into the skin of his brother’s face. This was all the impetus his father required and Alladar was tossed unceremoniously out of the rickety hovel they kept their shelter in. Beaten severely, Alladar fled his family’s section of the city, taking residence amongst the shadier sections. Here his meager trade was all that kept him alive. As word does, the child would come to be known amongst the people as a troubling and accurate foreteller. His skills were minimal but raw power made his name. As the years passed, the stories grew. Tales of birds coming to roost near him, dogs following him quietly through the streets as impromptu guards. He was rarely bothered.
It was during this time, that he fell in love with a fellow beggar. A young girl, Chulain, a waif cast aside at birth who had managed to survive on the mean streets of Nagria. Chulain and Alladar cowered nightly beneath rotten boards, growing into love and adulthood together. This was where things stood at the age of 15, Alladar was content.
Then came the Templars and the inquisitions. In i1464, the Agallite Templars swept through Huelt and descended on the countryside and cities of the kingdom in their search for heresy. They rounded up beggars, malcontents and even a few genuine witches in their hysteria. One of those gathered up was Alladar’s father, Durant. Pinpointed for his trade, Durant was thrown into the dungeons of the Divine King to await his turn at the stake. Given the chance, Durant turned on his son in a moment. Stories of the “Beggar Prophet” had reached the ears of the Templars and they spared the life of the father in exchange for the son.
Alladar barely escaped with his life. Warned by his love, Alladar fled the cruelty of Templars. Heart wrenched, he was forced to leave Nagria and Chulain behind as he fled into the hills west of Huelt. There, forced into isolation, he surrounded himself in solitude. A year in the bandit-ridden hills of the Manon Mole brought him into contact with one of the bands in the area. He came to be relied upon as both wise and generous, sharing his knowledge in exchange for companionship and goods. In the woods, Alladar found peace and friendship. He spoke with the animals during the day, mastered some of the more obscure arts through experimentation, talking with the ghosts and abundant spirits among his troubled lands.
At the age of 18, Alladar had enough of the hills. The King’s troops were moving into the hills on a regular basis and he grew concerned of being rounded up in one of their raids. Taking a final look at his home, Alladar packed up and headed back into the Kingdom of Huelt. Arriving in Berrina, Alladar stayed away from his former occupation. He had smelt the burning flesh in Nagria and wanted nothing to do with it. Raised on the streets, he returned to them taking up thievery to make his way.
After a year in Berrina, Alladar ran afoul of the Beggar Baron. The self-styled lord of the streets, the Baron brought his heavy hand down on Alladar after some successes brought him to the man’s attention. After several run-ins with the Baron’s men, Alladar made a bad choice. Ignoring the protection warnings bought from the Baron by a prosperous merchant, Alladar and a few friends looted the merchant’s warehouse. Word got back to the Baron in a matter of hours and the manhunt began. It ended with Alladar and his friends on their knees before the Baron. His friends did not make it out alive. Alladar managed to escape with a promise to pay the Baron back for his transgressions. With over a hundred and a half gold coins on his head, Alladar fled Berrina for Atallica.
He spent the next two years working his way from town to city until finally settling down in Vesslos. Here he worked his way to the top working both sides of society. His insight and magical training served him well and he managed to make a good friend of the Baron’s son. It was with deep regret that the Beggar Baron’s men caught up with him and forced him to leave. He set out quickly on the road, a few days ahead of murderers, seeking his fortune so that he could return to Huelt and find his lost love. He is still seeking.
