Backgrounds

Farion was born to an elven servant of Russian Duke Andrei Barinov. She might have had to raise him alone, but for some reason or other the guards of the keep took a shine to the little half-elf boy. Knowing the bigotry half-elves sometimes faced, and after the enthusiastic child begged and pleaded, they taught him to fight with knives, each guard having his own technique. Before long, he wanted to learn the big sword. They laughed, and found him a wooden short sword to practice with, but the brashness and overconfidence of youth shone through: Farion would not be happy unless he got to use a long sword. It must have been a sight, seeing the small child grasping the sword in both hands, shaking from the effort, yet he did not falter. He couldn't take the sword from the barracks, but they taught him what they could when they could. As he grew older, larger weapons were found for him to accommodate his style. The guards would take Farion on hunting trips to teach him the ways of animals and the different beasts of the world. He was working in the stronghold by this time, helping his mother and his friends. He would, also, frequently venture to the village to enter knife fights for a little extra cash. In his 17th year, his mother took ill. She was dead before his 19th birthday, but on her deathbed, she revealed the secret she had kept his entire life: he was the bastard son of the Duke. Farion decided he could not stay in the stronghold and wished to try his hand at mercenary work. He used all of the money he had saved up to purchase armor, good knives, and enough food to keep him going for a few days, long enough to find a job. On the eve of his departure, the guards, his oldest and only friends, made merry with him, and at the end of the night presented him with the great blade that can now be seen on his back. He left with a heavy heart and an anger for a father who was never there. He plied his blade mostly as a caravan guard, stopping would be highwaymen. Usually, one look at his sword was enough to send them running. After a few years of this and many stories of opportunity down south, Farion took a job on the Danish ship, the Golden Windmill. The captain, one Beauregard Poissant, was ever an enterprising man and sought to turn to piracy and offered Farion a place on the crew. Farion politely declined, saying that no amount of money could keep him shipbound his entire life. At the next stop, the captain kicked off a few passengers and one guard, and so, Farion found himself walking down the streets to Dirty Frank's...

Remind me to paste this into your character sheet.

It's already there. I wrote this up when I first made the character.

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Bovak of Gimmelwald Elven Falconer (Ranger) / Chaotic Good Bovak was named and raised by Odebek, a 512 year old Gnome Priest, who found him as a small child in the remnants of a travel caravan that had been waylaid by brigands. Bovak lived with the Gnomes of the Davandi Clanhold, in their underground warren until his size made it difficult to enter and exit the warren without causing damage. The members of the Davandi Clan were responsible for the majority of the food gathering and for patrolling the forest around the Gnomish Village of Gimmelwald; they were one of 6 Rock Gnome clans that made up this mining village. As a member of the clan, Bovak was taught at an early age how to forage and hunt with a bow across the hillside forests that surrounded and protected Gimmelwald. He was also taught to silently patrol the hilly pastures and forested ridges nearby for dangers that could threaten the community. When he could no longer comfortably live within the underground warrens, he took to sleeping in the wilderness on the outskirts of the village. He was content to sleep high within the trees during the day, return to the village at dusk for food, drinks and merriment and then spend his evenings patrolling the forest and protecting the village. Over the course of the next decade, Bovak developed a keen kinship with the land and the animals that dwelt there. They became part of his extended family, and he began to imagine that he was actually communicating with them in some way. Some animals, especially birds, would occasionally follow him on his nightly patrols, alerting him to dangers and even bringing him food. One evening while on patrol, Bovak encountered faint human tracks that he had not seen before; he took it on himself to start tracking this individual. Bovak followed the difficult tracks to a hidden campground in the forest. He approached the location with the highest degree of silence and stealth at his disposal, but it wasn't enough. The campground was a trap, set by a Xanear, a high level human ranger, who overtook and disarmed Bovak. Xanear questioned Bovak and learned of his life and skills as a woodsman, hunter and tracker. Xanear took Bovak under his wing, enhancing his natural skillsets with the bow and short-sword, teaching him new tricks for tracking, stealth and how to empathize with animals. After recognizing Bovak’s natural abilities and talents, Xanear invited Bovak to join him in travelling to a foregathering of rangers several weeks walk from Gimmelwald. Odebek cautioned Bovak not to leave (sensing the time was not right) and suggested that he wait until the next forgathering (3 years from now). In an uncharacteristically impetuous move Bovak ignored the elder’s advice and left with Xanear. Xanear and Bovak traveled by foot across the the Swiss foothills by both day and night, stopping only to rest and forage. Five nights into the trip they surprised a party of goblins who were attacking a cattle farm and easily dispatched the evil intended group (Bovak's first humanoid kill). The overland trip concluded without additional incident and Bovak made it unscathed to his first Ranger Foregathering; the event was in full swing upon their arrival, with nearly 100 attendees from all over central Europe. Bovak came into his own during the time there: he lost his virginity, won many contests of skill (and luck) and learned how to train falcons to work with him as a hunting team. Finally he was initiated into the order of Rangers and set off alone (puffed with newly found pride and confidence) to return to Gimmelwald. Upon his return, Bovak found Gimmelwald a smoldering ruin. Goblins had attacked the village in force and ransacked it to find hidden caches of gems and precious metals. He tracked the survivors to a nearby village only to discover that his mentor Odebek had died in the fighting. Blaming himself that he was not there to deliver a warning to (and fight with) his clan, Bovak began (driven by uncontrollable rage) to track, hunt and kill goblins at will. This fire still burns in his gut and is only temporarily quenched by the spilling of goblin blood. He currently wanders the continent in seek of opportunity to quiet his pain and self-loathing by rooting out goblin evil and providing protection/troubleshooting services for individual gnomes and gnomish communities that he encounters along the way.