PCs:Aur
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Aur is a half-nymph who made M'Chek his home after spending the early part of his life in Jechran and the Kurathene. Having studied the art of weapon mastery from Master Donan Hull, he is among the founding members of the Midnight Mercenary Company and a soldier in the elite M'Chekian Blackhawk Company. The story below is that which he tells his closest friends among the lands of Avlis and beyond.
Appearance
Outwardly, Aur looks like a fairly typical half-nymph. He stands at about six feet tall with a muscular build. He lacks the outgoing demeanor of other nymphs, substituting the typical ebullience for a keen gaze and taciturn demeanor. While he enjoys a stout drink and a good laugh, his typical attitude is one of grim determination.
Aur is consistently armed with an array of magical weapons, the most obvious being a heavily-enchanted scythe of Baatorian origin across his back and an onyx longsword on his left hip. He is rarely seen without some form of armor, be it full plate or a chain shirt.
Early Life
Aur began his "civilized" life with a Jechranian tribe. When the time came to move on, he wandered among the northern reaches of the Kurathene with a small band of mercenaries before taking a boat to Elysia.
Jechran Internment
Aur began his life in southern Jechran. He was taken in by a Jechranian tribe at a young age. With the Wastelands to the South and the mostly untamed forest to the North, he had little choice but to abide the female-dominated society. To this day, he has many choice words about how "the Dre'Ana wenches" kept males as little more than breeding stock.
While he did not enjoy the situation, Aur now accepts that his time in Jechran provided invaluable experience. Despite not being a prototypical woodsman, he learned from those in the tribe, language and survival skills chief among his lessons. When he felt he had learned enough, he slipped away, angling Northwest through the forests.
Northern Kurathene
After biting and clawing his way through Jechran and Galdos, Aur finally "settled" in the Northern part of the Kurathene Empire. With no money and few skills to speak of, he fell in with a band of mercenaries known as the Phoenix Brigade. As a unit, they were remarkably disorganized and, to this point, were best known for their near miraculous ability to reform after being repeatedly crushed in military conflicts. (Hence the Phoenix moniker)
As one could imagine, a force of this caliber did not have access to good equipment, and often fought with whatever was available. During a battle for one minor noble or another, Aur used a scythe 'acquired' from a dead comrade to fend off two armored opponents. While his survival of this encounter could scarcely be attributed to skill, he kept the weapon and continued to train with it, with the goal of, one day, being able to duplicate his success at will.
As Aur's prowess grew, so did his peers' respect for him. Under the alias 'Crowe,' he grew to some notoriety for forging the Phoenix Brigade into a force to be considered, if not reckoned with.
While work was plentiful with the struggles between the Kurathene and Tyedu, negotiating with uppity, minor nobles quickly lost it's appeal. Throughout his travels, Aur heard many tales about the riches of the Southern cities. When the opportunity presented itself, he took a job as a deckhand, and worked on the ship that would eventually take him to Elysia.
Life in Southern Negeria
The Beginning: Elysia
Aur's arrival in Elysia was an eye-opening experience. Having spent his time outside of Jechran on the battlefield and away from civilization, he found the opulence of city life stunning. For a time, he occupied himself with whatever work there was, laboring as a farmhand and doing (very) small-time mercenary work. He did, however, take advantage of the opportunity inherent to the city.
Perhaps the most radical difference between his past life and his current situation was the availability of books. To a half-rate mercenary band books were useless. At best, they were fuel for the fire on a cold winter night. Here, however, books were a source of power. Aur made liberal use of the Elysian library, reading there what he could and stealing what he could not. His rudimentary grasp of written language soon grew, as did his desire to rise above the common Elysian rabble.
Master in Training
Aur's training under Donan Hull was arduous in that it required a complete shift in mindset. While the physical aspect of the training was not difficult for him, the calculating opportunism required for true mastery came slowly. As his training progressed, so did his assimilation of this into his personality. He began to see everyday life as a battle waged with information rather than swords, and forged a greater appreciation for tactics and subtlety. Opportunities were not found so much as created. Applying this mindset to life and combat, he grew to master the scythe.
Aur has yet to take an apprentice in the ways of the Weapon Master.
Kuras Arena Tournament
The event that finally pushed Aur into notoriety as a fighter was the prestigious Kuras Arena Tournament, a competition where he took second place in a field of several notable up-and-coming combatants. His field included procrastinator extraordinare Eldrea Addams (who later wrote Gladiators' Glory -- a song about the event), Vugaris Hurdokan, and Aerie Lazzar. To this day, he keeps his silver medal close to hand at all times.
In the dark of Midnight
Coming soon to a wiki near you.