"I suppose I was always meant for a life on the road.
From my youth, I had always been different, and I had been called ‘half-blood’ long before I even knew what it meant. I had a few friends, but I quickly outgrew them. Not by choice, but simply because I grew up quicker than them, and whilst I was initially just considered the ‘big kid’, they soon started asking their parents the awkward questions, and one by one, the parents started to keep them away from me. I cherish my memories of them, though. Jedadiah, Elissa, Kaydee and Raquil were my closest friends, and as I matured into adolescence, my love for them instilled in me a passion for caring for little children.
Although my father was a member of Alfheim’s ruling caste, he had fallen into disfavour for having taken a human for a wife. Furthermore, there was no way for him to induct a half-blood into the elven courts. Thus he began to teach me swordplay in the hopes that I could join the warrior caste, and to leave me in the care of Father Rothlan to test my suitability for the priest caste. Father Rothlan instructed me in the ways of the gods, and I came to find solace in the temple, for the priests and children at the temple were always the most supportive and forgiving of my ‘other-ness”. In time, the teachings and my service at the temple came to define me, and I thought I had found my place.
Then came the discovery. My mother had always been somewhat distant and secretive, but no one would have suspected that her of necromancy, or that when she was not entertaining my father she spent her time performing secret experiments that no one would speak of. She was exiled soon after, and my father started to withdraw from me, as if I was a reminder of a mistake he wished he had never made. There was still some solace to be found at the temple, but I had inherited enough elven blood for my senses to perceive the hidden looks and whispers that surrounded me when I walked the streets. Or perhaps it was intended that I perceive them. And when I started to hear those whispers in the temple, I began to feel that I had lost my refuge.
My love for Father Rothlan and my friends kept me from bitterness, but I began to fear that by being associated with me they too would come to suffer. There were many tears shed between when I made the decision to leave Alfheim, but I believed it for the best. The people of Alfheim see me as an ‘other’, and a child of a necromancer, and until I do something to change that, I would never find acceptance there. And so I left, hoping to find opportunities to distinguish myself and prove my worth as an individual – opportunities I would never find in Alfheim.
Perhaps someday I will return, when I have proven my worth as more than the son of a necromancer, as more than the half-blooded son of a disgraced nobleman. Or perhaps I will find a place on the road, and find a new family amongst the people I travel with. For now, I have no home, and my fortunes lie before me. May the gods guide my path.”
“My wanderings have led me to the coast of the South Seas. Whilst resting at a tavern, I heard stories of a group being gathered for an expedition to some ruins on the Lacroix Isles. Whilst I have little sea-faring experience, my purse has lightened considerably. Besides, the ruins sound interesting, and it will be a welcome change from travelling alone. Now where did that man say they were recruiting…”
