Cold, black rain beat on the small band of Shundar-Quah as they made their way through the foothills of the Kodar Mountains. The Kodars are deadly at night, but a terrible vision the night before had woke Garek Night Song, the quah's elderly shaman. Time was of the essence. Something or someone waited in the mountains.
Garek could sense them getting closer and closer to something and then suddenly they stood on the edge of a terrible battlefield. Dead dwarves and hill giants lay scattered across the rough ground. And there, in the midst of all the carnage was a young dwarf sleeping against a rock, with a mountain lion standing watch over him.
Upon awakening, the young dwarf recalled nothing of the horrific battle. In fact, he could remember nothing at all, except for his first name - Margrym.
On that fateful night, Garek Night Song adopted Margrym into the Shundar-Quah. Margrym grew up among the Shundar-Quah much like the other young Shoanti with the important differences of his size, his age, and his mysterious companion Night Whisper.
When it came time for his rite of passage, Margrym was sent to the Lyrune-Quah, the Moon Clan. Initial acceptance among the Moon Clan was difficult. Margrym found the bow simply impossible to learn. But, gradually, the young clansmen he was paired with learned that Margrym and his mountain lion companion, Night Whisper brought a different set of skills and became a welcome addition to any hunting party.
That reputation was cemented late one night when his hunting party was stealing through the Cinderlands along the Yondabakari River. Margrym's sharp hearing caught the sounds of battle from the shore ahead and creeping forward the small party found a similar party of Sklar-Quah beset by a band of orcs and a hill giant. Leaving the orcs to the arrows of his brothers-in-arms, Margrym and Night Whisper rushed to the aid of the Sklar-Quah fighting desperately against the giant. Moving swiftly into flanking positions, the dwarf and mountain lion attacked the giant together and a fortunate blow from Margrym slew the giant with a deep blow to its shoulder that nearly severed its neck.
That night and all the next day, the Lyrune-Quah camp rocked with celebration. The next morning, the Moon Clan's shaman came to Margrym and told him it was time for him to take The Black Walk.
Unsurprisingly, amidst the tunnels, lonely and lacking Night Whisper for the first time in his life, the vision that appeared next to him was a mountain lion. Margrym emerged from The Black Walk having earned his full name from the Lyrune-Quah shaman - Margrym Sees Through Shadow.
Shortly after the ceremony, Margrym returned to the Shundar-Quah. Garek Night Song had passed away, but Margrym joined a new shaman and began training as a shaman of the Spire Clan. Training that ended only a short time ago during the once-a-decade pilgrimage that Shundar-Quah shamans make to Spindlehorn on the eastern shore of the Storval Deep. There, while in commune, Margrym's mentor experienced a vision of a great doom that threatened not only all the Shoanti people, but all the peoples of Varisia. But, the vision also showed that there was hope and that the Shundar-Quah needed to send the fierce lion south into the lands of the outsiders to a town named Sandpoint.
