PCs:Zander
Zander DeVane
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- Race: Tyedu-Romini
- Gender:Male
- Age: 24
- Birthplace: M'Chek
- Height: 6'2"
- Hair Color: Blonde
- Eye Color: Baby Blue
- Overall Physical Description: Ruggedly handsome, large framed, strong, yet surprisingly agile
Personality
Zander is normally seen in what appears to be a sour mood. It's not, he just seems that way. He's quick to joke with friends, quiet in groups, but get him alone and he will tell you anything you want to know. He is trusting of new faces until they give him reason not to. Zander is the type of guy you want on your side in a fight, and also the type you don't want to face in one. He would defend his friends and family until his death, and he nearly has. He will rarely be seen without a dark hood covering his face, that only allows a brief glimpse of his eyes and sometimes his contagious smile. Though not a rich man, he is generous to those he cares for. He normally wears black, sometimes with silver trim. His favorite clothing is black leather strappings on his legs, simple leather shoes, fingerless gloves, and a black tunic. His appearance is one of cleanliness, but he is not obsessed with it.
History
A child is born to a farmer and his wife in M’Chek. Not an unusual occurrence really, but that’s where the story starts.
As a very young child, this boy showed a curiosity for everything, always poking his head where it probably shouldn’t be and wandering off alone. His parents were kept on their toes by this one, that’s for sure! Once he was able to walk (run is probably more accurate), the trouble really started. This blond haired, blue eyed human child got himself into more trouble than any three children should. At about the age of seven years, the boy escaped into the wilds, with only his father’s rusty old knife (large for a knife, almost a short sword in a child’s hand), where he quickly got lost in the woods. Night approached, and he became frightened, but he never cried out or showed his fear. He climbed a tree and spent the night there, listening and trying to see anything that might come for him. As dawn approached and his feeble human eyes were finally able to see, he climbed down from the tree and was ambushed by a jaguar. The two wrestled for a bit, the jaguars claws digging into the boy’s shoulder, it’s teeth in his forearm. The boy reached for his father’s knife and with some regret, tore open the beast’s throat, killing it rather quickly. He then finds the way home and imparts this story to his Mother and Father, who now worry for his safety, yet are secretly proud of the strong child they have borne.
A year or so passed, and the boy began taking on the tasks of a man on the farm, showing an eagerness to learn, and a prowess for anything physical. On several occasions, he helped his father defend the farm against raiding bands of kobolds, so much so that his Father decides to take him to a friend of his. This friend being an ex-M’Chek Army Officer. The boy would run to the retired officer’s house after his daily chores for his lessons, he loved hearing about the battles and loved the feel of a sword in his hands. For several months he did this, learning all he could from the wise old man.
One day, seemingly no different from any other, he completed his chores, said Goodbye to his mother and father and began the run to the Old Man. Along the way, he encountered a single kobold, not entirely unusual, but odd. There was no conflict, just watching, on both of their parts. He arrived at the Old Man’s house to see it being torn to pieces by kobolds, the boy drew his sword and began to unceremoniously slay each one until he found the Old Man, dead by many terrible slashes and piercings on his body. In a rage, the boy charges home, worried for his family.
He arrives at the farm to see plumes of smoke rising from the house and fields. He runs as fast as he can to the house, to see kobolds tearing everything apart, his father bled to death in the yard, and his mother held at knifepoint by two armed human men. The men laugh at the sight of this young boy holding a sword and shield, glaring at them. “Let her go!”, he snarls through his teeth, sounding more like a wild child than a civilized one. This only makes the men laugh harder and louder, some kobolds join in the laughter. “Let her go, NOW!”, his voice thundering to a point it actually gives the men a bit of a start. One of the men comes toward the boy, unsheathes a bastard sword and takes his first swing, halfheartedly. The boy easily blocks with his shield and slashes straight across the man’s face, slicing the bridge of his nose. “You little son of a….”, the man exclaims, and fully attacks the boy, who parries the blow and counters by cleaving the man’s lower right leg from his body. As he falls to the ground, the boy stabs him through the heart, and twists the blade. The boy then drops his small sword, and his shield, and lifts up the man’s bastard sword. “That’s a bit much for even you, little man”, the other man says from behind ruined teeth. The boy raises the sword to his shoulder and says, “LET HER GO!”. The man, slightly surprised by this boy’s bravery, loses his balance a bit, in his stuttering, he slices across the woman’s throat, severing an artery and she begins to bleed. He drops her and charges the boy. During his charge, he pulls out a short sword and attacks the boy with both weapons. The boy puts both hands on his sword, and stands, facing his opponent. He is scared, but enraged as well. As the man gets into strike range, the boy takes a step, spins on his right foot, bringing his blade in a full circle, and down onto the man’s shoulder, cleanly slicing him from neck to mid-torso. The man falls dead, instantly.
The boy drops his weapon and rushes to his mother, who is dying, quickly. He tries to staunch to bleeding, but it’s just too late. She looks up at him and smiles, “My little warrior, I am so proud of you……..”. Those would be her last words, she dies in the boy’s arms.
The boy, further enraged, retrieves his weapon, and furiously battles each and every kobold in sight. He takes a few minor hits, but eventually kills them all and emerges victorious, as it were. He drops to his knees, looks to the burning farm, and cries. He stays there through the night, and into the next dawn. He then stands up, takes a last look at his ruined home and walks away.
Now part child, part man, the child escapes to the wilderness areas of M’Chek and T’Nanshi, where he wanders for years, hunting for food, and occasionally taking what he can from bandit's purses and chests. On more than one occasion, his prowess in battle was tested by a wary brigand, yet the boy thrived and grew stronger.
One fateful day, the boy was sitting near a stream, resting and contemplating his next move when he heard a rustle in the bushes. He jumps to his feet with a start to see..... nothing. He scours the area looking to find the source of the noise, only to have it always just out of his reach. Then he stops, taking a moment to catch his breath. From his side he hears a giggling, from a girl. Quickly he turns, but sees only a flash out of the corner of his eye. He pursues the noise, only to find himself lost in the woods with night quickly approaching. A voice says "don't be afraid, I wont hurt you". To which he replies, "I am a warrior, I fear no one, especially a girl in the woods". He hears another giggle. She responds back with "Oh I know! You are a powerful warrior, I have seen you". He is surprised and intrigued by this. She then steps forward into a shaft of moonlight, illuminating her features. It is a young elven girl, apparently out to torment a young warrior. She smiles and says, "I am Eowien, what is your name". He replies, "I have no name, it has been taken from me", she says, "Everyone has a name, surely you do too." He shakes his head and will not say any more. "Come with me" she says, "It's dangerous at night". He follows her for what seems like hours through winding forest with seemingly no particular path in the dark, led only by her hand holding his. He trips and falls several times, and of course she finds this endlessly amusing. Finally they arrive at a great stand of trees, that reaches in each direction. The girl leads him to a part of one tree, touches it, and walks through. The boy stands in amazement. She comes back through what he can now see as a sort of door in the tree and takes his hand again to pull him through.
They are greeted at the door by Prionde, Eowien’s mother, who disapprovingly looks at Eowien's dirty clothes and the stranger she has brought into their home. Eowien, slightly regretful, says, "I was in the woods and found him Mother, he was all alone, and scared". The boy glares at Eowien, crosses his arms and says, "Was not", to which she replies, "was too!". Prionde laughs playfully and says, "well, we can't have that now can we". She brings them into a large sitting room, lit by candles, and graced on one wall by a large elaborate bookshelf. In the corner, in a chair, reading a book is an Elven man, looking young for his age, and strong. He lifts his gaze as they enter the room.
Prionde announces to him, "Dear, Eowien has brought home a.... friend." He raises an eyebrow and studies the boy, then rises to his feet and approaches them. Prionde introduces her husband as D'eldor, and asks his name. The boy states with confidence, "I have no name, it has been taken from me.". D'Eldor, confused at this, replies, "One's name can never be taken boy, it is yours and yours alone". The boy replies, "Well mine was". D'Eldor is apparently amused and slightly impressed with this human boy and says, "Then we will have to name you.... again. Then you will always have a name that cannot be taken away". He ponders for a moment and remarks, "I once knew a human man named Alexander, he was a fine man, strong and sharp of wit. That should be your name as well, young boy." The two women smile and nod at this, seemingly in agreement. The boy, indignant and stubborn of course shakes his head, and replies, "too long, and I think it sounds silly. How about Zander?". D'Eldor chuckles and says, "Zander it is. What of a surname? Don't all humans have them as well?" Eowien chimes in with, "He is very proud, maybe we should call him Vain." Zander glares at her again. Prionde, states,"he may seem proud on the outside, but he is also hiding more than we know on the inside, so he is not so vain after all.", to which D'Eldor replies, "Then he is de-vained", and chuckles slightly. Eowien says, "That's it! DeVane! he shoud be Zander DeVane!" Zander seems to think about this very carefully, then nods his agreement, and with complete confidence states, "Mister D'Eldor, I am Zander DeVane, it's nice to meet you." And so he became known as Zander DeVane.
He lived with D'Eldor, Prionde, and Eowien for a few years all the while spending much time with D'Eldor learning the ways of their people and trying to learn their language. He had great trouble with the language for he is but a simple man.
Eventually he meets some of the Elven guard, and he convinces them to train him to fight like an Elf, in return, he will teach them some of the style in which he was trained. They really couldn't care less about his style, but decide to mock him by training him in the longbow and various fighting techniques, surely expecting his utter failure. Much to their dismay, Zander turns out to be an excellent student and learns to use a longbow nearly to the same ability as his Elven peers, his surefootedness in melee combat is quite impressive as well. He masters the longsword quite quickly, but finds it...... lacking for his tastes.
He has earned the respect of the Elven Guard, and his adopted home. In time he is accepted nearly the same as any Elf would be. He makes friends with many of the guards and the militia. But his closest friend is Eowien, and they spend much of their time exploring the woods surrounding their little village.
D’Eldor, being the wise man he is, sees Zander as a good man, and a good companion for his daughter. He also can’t help but notice that Zander does not seem truly comfortable with the longsword he was given by friends in the militia. One day he brings Zander aside for a talk.
D’Eldor compliments Zander on his achievements even in the face of mockery and prejudice by the other Elves. He states that Zander should be very proud, few humans have achieved this level in an Elven community. “You have done my friend Alexander proud.” He smiles. D’Eldor also says he can’t help but notice that Zander doesn’t really like the longsword given him for practice and defense. Zander replies, “Its fine, but I learned to use a large sword as a boy and that is still with me, I”m afraid.” D’Eldor muses for a moment, and says, “I need to keep reminding myself you are not an Elf, you have greater strength and size, you deserve a weapon fitting these abilities.” Zander, apparently slightly confused by this looks to D’Eldor and asks, “What are you proposing?” D’Eldor merely smiles and says, “Come with me, my son.” He leads him out of town into the woods and up to the treetops of Le’Or. They walk up to a small thatched building in the trees. A quick knock on the door and they are greeted by a dwarf, yes, a dwarf, a seemingly very old one as well. The dwarf yells, “What the hells? Who the heck disturbs….. oh! Master D’Eldor, my apologies.” D’Eldor introduces Zander to his old friend and master blacksmith Niorin. Niorin sizes up Zander and asks what he needs. D’Eldor explains the unique situation and asks Niorin for a special weapon for his “son”.
After some thought and some measurements of Zander’s height, arms, etc., Niorin comes up with an idea. “I can make him a very large version of your longsword, Master D’Eldor, this way he can use the skills of the elves with the brute force of the weapons he knows to use.” “Perfect!”, D’Eldor replies. Zander smiles and nods at this new prospect. They leave the dwarf to his work, though Zander returns day after day to watch Niorin work and show his impatience to get his hands on his new weapon.
And so it was that Niorin forged a great sword for Zander to have as his own personal weapon. Zander still came to the forge to watch Niorin work and over time made slight but useful changes to this weapon and his armor to make them more befitting of his personal fighting style and tastes.
Two more years pass with Zander becoming more and more comfortable in his surrounding of the Elven city. He and Eowien now go on adventures together rather than just romps through the forest. Zander proves himself to be most resourceful in the wilds, his skills of survival are top notch. Eowien has taught him much, and they together make a great team, uncovering lost caves and some semi-valuable items along the way.
Something else happens during these adventures, Eowien and Zander are falling in love. Their friendship has turned into something more, and stronger. Zander asks D’Eldor for her hand and his response, “It’s about time!”. And so if was that Zander and Eowien became husband and wife.
After a short time, Zander and Eowien decide to make their own way in the world. Zander would like to take up his father’s mantle and become a farmer. He speaks with some farmers in M’Chek and one of them offers him a job and a room for him and his new wife.
Within weeks, the farm is overrun by brigands and bandits, set ablaze and the farmer is killed. Zander and Eo escape to Elysia to start a new life. Within days, Elysia is taken over by Shaahesk and it becomes more difficult for them to stay. It seems no matter where they go, there seem to be troubles.
T’Nanshi it is, the young couple makes their way to the wilderness and here their story really begins……..