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Uinseach of Leaping Shadows grew up with an aunt in the Lantern Bearers, although he did not understand the significance of her interest in him until he was older. As a child, he was always a troublesome child, getting into fights and showing a fierce and cruel temperament, petty, vindictive and full of spite and contrariness. His aunt convinced his parents that she should remove him from the community, taking him to join her in a spiritual retreat, and the community leaders pointedly agreed with the plan to get this disruptive child away from their own children.
He knew nothing of the Lantern Bearers, only that aunt Siobhannon had many unusual and secretive friends, in elven communities scattered around the region, some of whom he’d never even heard of. From one of these mysterious friends, he learned secret rites to purge the darkness from his soul, causing it to erupt forth in a painful and traumatic ritual, as a clawed feral creature of pure darkness and spite. No matter how amazingly free he felt, with the anger and the destructive urges cast forth in this manner, laughing like the carefree child he have never been, he learned that it was ever his responsibility to keep his inner darkness from terrorizing the world. He could not just cast it free to wreak havoc upon the innocent, but must remain bound to the dark beast that once lived within him, to keep it in check. Within him, it was tainting his soul, it’s own violent and destructive impulses overwhelming his own inner goodness, and he learned to keep the beast leashed, manifest in the world, but more or less subject to his will (although the Beast was never an eager servant, unless the cause was violent…).
He has practiced caging the Beast within himself for longer and longer times, under his aunt’s encouragement, as she has warned him that simply casting it forth and pretending that there is no part of himself in that black anger is a fool’s wish, that he must accept his own part in bringing this creation into existence, and not delude himself into claiming no kinship with his Beast. He struggled with this teaching, wishing to believe that it was a possessing spirit, or some malicious fey trickster-spirit left over from the First World, and not a part of himself, but he is slowly coming to recognize that the Beast is not his shadow opposite, darkness to his light, but a thing that he nourished and allowed to grow within himself for decades, not knowing what seed he was watering with his resentment.
He has learned of other elves, known to few, and opposed by his new allies among the Lantern Bearers, who have surrendered to the darkness they allowed to grow within their souls, so that, instead of casting it forth and learning to control it, it consumed their souls, and now controls them, instead. Creatures of cruel malice, darker than any wicked sprite and uncaring trickster, these ‘drow’ have turned to the worship of demons, finding no gods cruel and vicious enough to suit their fell natures.
He know travels among the border communities, seeking information about these dark elven folk, attempting to quietly scout out any potential sightings among the men and gnomes and halflings of nearby territories, without revealing any information of significance, and allowing anyone who seems too curious to believe that he is charting the activities of wicked fey, or the underground dwellers some call the ‘dark folk.’
Boons Someone who has assisted him in his mission to track down the movements of the drow, or to conceal such information from the general public (particularly the non-elven public), will earn his favor.
He can provide access to certain elven crafted items that might not be available otherwise, such as durable arrows, and can teach a spellcaster in a single day how to perform a ‘Power Component’ stunt involving using a flask of black adder venom as an additional Focus component while summoning vipers with conjuration (summoning spells), so that a single conjured viper will produce potent venom (+1 DC). If the dose of black adder venom is instead expended as a material component during the spellcasting, any or all vipers summoned via summon monster I – III or summon nature’s ally I – III impose a +2 DC to the efficacy of their venom.