Birth/Childhood
Vethuk was born to the Hearthome family, a noble family dealing in the trade of building materials – stone, wood, nails, hammers, and the like. His father, a human like himself of strong build and confident disposition. His mother of an elven bloodline, thrice diluted (one-eighth elf). He was being brought up to eventually take over the family trade, to continue amassing the family’s wealth, ensure the advancement of the family lineage, and to find uses for the family fortune to improve their reputation… or at least, such was the plan the two parents had for their white-haired child.
When he was first born in the city of Benssa, much talk was had of the strange white haired boy – was it prophetic? Was he cursed to bring misfortune? … Was the man’s wife a filthy cheat? Many of these rumors were discarded eventually as the family quieted the suspicions, and Veth had a… relatively, normal childhood. He took lessons in diplomacy with his father, he played with the fellow noble boys and girls – in particular he truly loved his staged gladiatorial battles with a good friend of his named Rothar. And eventually, once he hit 6. As most nobles do, he was beginning his education in music – the Viol was his instrument of choice.
While he was growing up in this manner, Veth however found himself drawn away from the life of a noble, and instead found himself adoring the knights of the city. The sight of honorable, powerful and confident men in their silver and white armor, riding atop mighty steeds and rescuing beautiful ladies – sure, it was a fairy-tale to imagine to be sure, but it was one that Veth found himself falling in love with more and more as the days went by. So, in secret, Veth began sneaking away from his lessons to watch the knights of Benssa in their training, and eventually, he even found himself able to receive a few lessons from one of these knights – a high elf named Crestfall, who found the boy’s excitement and ambition worthy of his time.
Teenage Years
As his lessons under the paladin Crestfall continued, and Veth refined his agility and mental acuity under the man, his parents began to catch wind of his little schemes, and he soon found himself with less and less free time. It was like he was caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to find time to continue his lessons with Crestfall, his lessons with his father, those with his mother, and still find time to hang out with his friends. Rothar was one of the few that he managed to stay connected to thanks to their close childhood bond, and as Veth was continuing his training with Crestfall, he eventually met his first crush – another noble girl by the name of Saffron. From the Idashi royal family on this small island, the two ended up meeting when Saffron signed on to become a fighter for Benssa, and began studying wizardry with Crestfall’s wife, Loretta, a half-elf from a nearby city. Crestfall, as he mentioned Saffron to Veth during their training sessions, inadvertantly ended up sparking something in the boy, who went out of his way to try and meet Saffron. The two taking time to practice with each other, and spent their studying time in each other’s company – Veth studying in paladinhood and the various oaths and beliefs that paladins follow, and Saffron studying the basic theories into magic.
As he grew older and continued in his many lessons, he started to grow closer to the three noble families closer to his own noble families as well – those that dealt in the trade of raw lumber, metal, and tool creation. He was set to manage his own noble party when he finally turned 17, watched over by his father. However…
Disappearance
During a relatively normal caravan trip from Benssa to Deadmouth, Veth was, as always, having light chats with the orcs that he and his family had been well known to do business with. Accompanied by a single guard, the exchange came to a close with the exchange of contracts, and as the two were headed out to their return boat trip to Benssa… a small group closed in upon the two at the docks, headed by a very familiar orc mercenary captain that he and his family had traded with quite often. The last feeling was that of shock and betrayal as a hefted greataxe cracked into the boy, knocking him down in one fell blow.
Well, thanks to the ‘pity’ of the orcs that had been bought off to take Vethuk out, as opposed to simply being killed and disposed of, Veth found himself stripped of his belongings, dressed in slave robes, and being traded in the city of Tarsal as a slave. Due to his lack of physical strength, agile build, innate charisma, and noble heritage, he was traded out as a trophy butler to a small noble family, and forced into menial labor and entertainment services.
A New Life
Unable to do much in this compound of sorts, Veth did what he does best and talked to people. Made new friends, quickly learned about the social ladder in this area, which wound up being a large-scale slaving compound. The people of importance, the people to draw close to, those to keep away from, and those to ‘vanish’ from. Over this time he helped raise a slaver’s daughter, interacted with the slaver themselves and with their wife, and made ways to interact with and help the other slavers down below. Over the course of many years, Veth found himself making friends amongst his fellow slaves, keeping hopes high of a potential rescue or breakout… while doing his best to keep the suspicions of the slavemasters low. Though, as time went on, Veth’s hope started to waver, until with the help of one of his new friends… an orc, named Gruck, a plan was struck to break the slaves out. With the delivery of a new group of slaves coinciding with the delivery of new goods for the slaves to work on, a rebellion could be staged to take over the ship and escape to the nearest island with it. Using the tools they had been working with for a long time, these slaves readied themselves to revolt… only to find out that this ship was a ruse in and of itself. As their rebellion sparked, it was quelled by the military aboard the ship, which was more than well armed for any potential fighting. It took a matter of minutes for the fighting to be quelled, and amongst the casualties was his friend Gruck.
Struck with a wave of regret and self blame, Veth found himself resigning despite that which came due to his role in the failure of a rebellion. Many of these years came and went as a blur, as the boy came to realize – he really was not a hero. For the second time, he had failed to save anyone. Or so he believed.
A New Hope
Over the course of the next 4 years, slaves came and went. Many of them found themselves growing ill and perishing, others being sold off to other slavers. Due to his failures, Veth found himself growing more and more tired and physically weak as time went on – many a time it was only the slaveowners that actually kept him working at a reasonable pace. This led to him getting a reputation amongst his fellow slaves as “The Quiet Snow”, and even in this state of resignation, Veth was still quietly socializing and paying attention. Though, escape was the last thing on his mind at this point.
However, 2 months before his 28th birthday, things would change quite drastically. During a very normal day of work, a couple ripples of wind blowing over the crops could be felt around midday… and about an hour after this, an incursion began. The loud war horns echoing out from wooden ships with massive sails decorated in all manner of color, before men and women of all age, race, and rank came upon the lands. Setting fire to the slaveowner’s manner, slaughtering these slave keepers and cutting the chains that were binding the captives. Before handing off stolen weapons to the captives so they can fight for their own freedom.
In particular, Veth found himself approached by a massive, tank of a man with an eyepatch over one eye and a greataxe in each hand. His skin was a vibrant golden color, and his other eye, a piercing red color. A large mask covered the bottom half of his face, as he reached down, casually tossing a curved blade to the boy, and commanding him, ‘Fight, or die.’ And fight he did, empowered by this spark stirring in his breast by this towering man, he stood against those that had captured him. Raided, pillaged and slaughtered those that had harmed those he cared about.
The battling went on from Noon until Sundown, upon which, these realm-breakers called to the slaves. Ordering them to never squander their newfound freedom, before, turning to leave. Veth had a choice to make… he could try to return home, face an incredible amount of disgrace for having been forced into slavery and for failing not once but twice to save people… or. He could sneak along with this group that broke him from his chains, and try to assist them. Suffice it to say, Veth took this opportunity to escape and try to start anew.
The Start…
With his newfound freedom at the hands of the realm-breakers, Veth took outward, and took to the city of Tarsal. Putting his old diplomatic skills and merchant’s experience to work, he began to slowly amass wealth and reconnect with old contacts… many of which were beyond surprised to see the boy was still alright after 10 years disappeared. Some of whom were disgusted to work with a former slave, others offering pity to the noble boy that had lost so much. But over the course of time, keeping his head low in the city of Tarsal, he managed to slowly amass wealth, and managed to make one reliable business partner – a blood hunter by the name of Vance Erling. The two working together on a number of important business dealings and exchanges in each other’s company, and eventually, sharing some personal information about each other regarding their long term goals. And with this the campaign begins, as Vethuk approaches Vance with a bag of gold, and a few big questions in mind…