Marcus the Red Warlock

Marcus was born a noble, but as a third son he was almost universally ignored. His education certainly is left wanting, and he often doesn't grasp exactly how everything works having himself never needing to know anything as he lounged his days away in his family's castle. Eventually however boredom gets the better of him and he starts asking questions of their fiefdom that people don't appreciate, and quite by accident he learns how his noble family has stayed in power by rather dark means, mainly worshiping Mephistopheles. His family brings him to Mephistopheles as an offering. Mephistopheles however sees a charming, rather athletic, and most importantly easily influenced mark and strikes a deal with him, form a pact and become a warlock and he will continue his support for his family. He gladly accepts, realizing the alternative would most likely be murder at his family's hands and tries to take his new found power and find a use for it. He is given an imp as a familiar to be his guiding 'conscience' and he goes out into the world for the first time.

Gyfli, Goliath Cleric of Vassa

Gylfi of clan Katho-Olavi is not your typical cleric. At nearly eight feet tall he looks like he should be leading his troops into battle. However the gods had a different plan for him.

Gylfi was born into one of the few permanent Goliath settlements. He spent his childhood learning how to fight and trading with a local settlement of hill dwarves. Both settlements were under constant attack by tribes of goblins seeking to acquire their rich farmland and mining resources. On one such attack his use of a hammer to smash the heads of goblins earned him the moniker Goblin Skullcrusher.

Shortly before Gylfi reached adulthood the clans of hill dwarves and goliaths decided to come together to destroy the goblins once and for all. While fighting to protect the hill dwarf settlement Gylfi found himself outnumbered. As he was overwhelmed by the little beasts a bolt of lightning suddenly flew out of his body and struck down several of them. Before being completely routed the little beasts cursed Gylfi and swore vengeance on him. Realizing he had been chosen by the gods, Gylfi took up a new path and became an acolyte of Vassa.

Biography: Ezral Dawn

Born Earendel Mithrilvari, Ezral Dawn comes from a clan of wood elves that go by the name the “Taldori Moon”. The Taldori Moon is made up of a smattering of heroic elven families who participated heavily in the 2nd demon wars. Elven communities typical have a small population of elven children at any given time due to the long lived nature of their race so usually there child hood is carefully watched over but Ezral's generation is a special case. Ezral grew up in the midst of a war that threatened his people’s existence. As a child he watched many elves lose their lives including the live of his parents. The Taldori Moon are master spies and assassins at their core, well versed in the art of infiltration, information gathering, and the art of death. During the time of the 2nd Demon war the Taldori played a major role in gathering information and exterminating key individuals who left to prosper would surely mean more elven deaths. The philosophy of the Taldori states that for every Taldori that falls 100 more elven souls are allowed to live. Many Taldori agents found cruel untimely deaths that often (due to the nature of their work) would never make it back to the ears of the people they sought to protect. Ezral's parents were no exception to this rule, falling tragically during the war so that their son and many more could hold on to the future not promised.

This loss at an early age has very much shaped Ezral life. He holds his parents sacrifice deep in his heart and strives to live up to their heroic example even if the rest of the world lives on in blissful ignorance, a fact which deep down tears him apart. Any youth that lost family in that age was adopted by the clan and was provided a future. Taken under the wing of the clan elders Ezral sought to learn the path of the blade that his parents made legendary. He trained long and hard hours with his teacher Ilmadia Yelxalim (An elven woman who fought alongside his parents and took him under her wing in the absence of his parents) and soon came to established himself as a prodigy. Even though the war was over the death toll had left the Taldori fearful that any repeat of such an event could prove disastrous. With that mindset the elders set out to establish a far reaching network of spies across the land with the intent that should ever the scourge that provoked Demon Wars arise again they would know in time to warn the powers of the world and summon them to battle. Eventually he graduated to field work. He left Shadow Haven and adopted the alias Ezral Dawn. Over time he moved from city slum to city slum working as an agent, infiltrating crime syndicates and black market gangs, acting only when appropriate but always keeps his ears tuned for the most vital of information. After a decade of low level missions Earendel received a raven enlisting him to travel north to an area where elven ears failed to reach. Earendel under the guise of Ezral Dawn now travels into the unknown north to seek his fate.

Biography: Volodemir

Volodemir is not a typical bard. He hails from an island in the north famed for its skalds, but Volodemir sought a new tradition. From a young age, he traveled the free nations, learning what he could. Volodemir is charismatic and handsome, though he's easily marked as an outlander by his broad features and bright red hair. His presence and appearance, as well as his skaldic performance, so different from the typical bard in Arden Est, gives him an almost exotic, if rugged, appeal among the civilized. He's smart so he's been able to adapt to civilization but he still has many quirks, sayings, and superstitions, like spitting on his hand and flicking his fingers three times to ward off ill luck. Some say he has more in common with the orcs than the free nations.

Biographies: Galathil

Galathil, an Elven Wizard, is still rather young at just over 100 years. As a high elf he spent most of his early years reciting poetry, and learning the tradition elven arts of the sword and bow. While this training was often interrupted by a couple years of wandering or carousing here and there it was soon recognized that he might have a talent for the magic.

He then spent the next several decades as an apprentice to a sage, here he learned all of the basics the high elves consider necessary before starting learning any magic, history, medicine, and of course basic arcana. Then began his formal wizard training. Unlike some of the other young wizards he kept himself in practice with his sword, always finding it interesting to mix magic with the physical. And while some other races might find it tedious to train for so long, the high elves believe everything should be done in a very measured and methodical manner and as a bonus it keeps a young immature elf occupied for 20 years or so.

Once he demonstrated the mastery of basic spells he was no longer considered an apprentice and give more free reign to move about. Being cooped up in rather old musty library had put a bit of wanderlust into Galathil so he decided he'd try to find some other uses for his magic out in the world, and hopefully do some good.

He left his home and meandered helping out where he could, and although it may not have been the intended result, his spells did resolve the cat episode one way or another.

Biographies: Dyn-Bach

Dyn-Bach, paladin of Fayon, is possibly the youngest member of the group. As an infant he was found abandoned outside of a temple of Fayon. The brothers took him in and raised his as one of their own. Being smaller than a human boy of his age, the brothers gave him the name of Dyn-Bach and taught him the ways of Fayon. As a red-haired child, the brothers assumed that one of his parents might be from the lands beyond their borders but no one will ever know for sure.

Dyn-Bach has had a wander lust all his life but also the drive to be a paragon of his religion. When the opportunity arose for him to squire to a holy knight of Fayon he jumped at the chance. Sadly, this knight went missing before he could begin his training. The brothers and warriors of the area taught him all that they could in Religion, Medicine and Fighting. Reaching the age of twenty, Dyn-Bach decided that he would find the knight that has spread the word of Fayon across the land and help him in his quest to enlighten the world. Though he has no idea if the knight is alive or dead, he has received a divine calling that he must continue in his footsteps. Given the blessing of his leaders he has set off to accomplish this task.

Biographies: Flint Forgeflame

Flint Forgeflame is a graying cleric of Adreham. Flint spent about 50 years pursuing childish/adolescent dwarven pursuits, like exploratory mining instead of working an established vein in the hopes of getting lucky.

He then buckled down and spent 50 years as an apprentice blacksmith, making shoes for the donkeys that worked the mines and high end pots and pans. He spent his 100s as a journeyman, cranking out bulk orders of swords for the armies and overseeing some smaller projects, while sometimes being allowed to try making pommels and grips for masterwork weapons. When he became a master at 200, he joined the smith's guild, and over the years rose in the ranks, and even became an ambassador of sorts to the central guild for about a decade or two. At about 250, he began to train a student or two a decade. On the eve of his 299th birthday, he had a vision in a dream which caused him to rethink his remaining years. He has spent the last year liquidating his assets, donating most to the church after ensuring that his 3 children and 5 grandchildren are well taken care of.

Though he was always a believer, a combination of the vision and his impending old age have made him more devout. He has spent a great deal of time discussing his life and current situation with his local spiritual advisers and training to venture into the wild in pursuit of expanding civilization. He has learned the healing arts and though he's not as strong as he was in his prime, his hammering arm has learned new techniques more suited for crushing the skulls and ribs of the unholy than those untempered masses of red hot steel.

Chances are, his mark or the mark of one of his apprentices is on at least one piece of equipment floating around the party. If not, he knows he could fix their gear if he had the time and stability, but Fayon only gave him so many breaths, so he's going to make his mark on the world while he can by taming the wilderness in the name of Adreham.