Bakgrund - Athrax the Smith

Found as a mere toddler on the doorstep of a blacksmith at the outskirts of the small village of Thine and adopted by the two sisters whom were its owner. Athrax was a thinking child and was eager and able to learn and help with the tasks his foster mothers had him do to uphold his part of the Smith. He did not much care to play with the other children of the village and was regarded as alien due to his deviant skin tone and hair. Many of the hours which did not involve the books which he'd come across or working with wood and metal he drifted of into the forest in which the smith was adjacent to. More interested in the silence and the opportunity to think he favored a shaded spot on the side of a pond a fair distance into the woods. It was during these visits he came to know Natali whom resided within the woods much like a stray cat. She was hardly friendly at first but as their encounters grew in numbers a small acquaintance if not friendship emerged between the two. Athrax's mothers at first tried to take in the girl as well since they did not find it appropriate for such a young girl-child to be living alone with the beasts of the forests but the offers were never heard or simply ignored.

As early teenage years came Athrax was needed to work during the daily hours and his interest in knowledge and religion had incited the curiosity of the local cleric and he'd been given the opportunity to study when not otherwise occupied. Although it somewhat saddened the young man to lose a child's freedom and the silence of the forests or plains he was so invigorated with but what he learned and the potential he saw in each possible new knowledge he might obtain. With Adulthood came also the interest in girls. An interested he did not seem to have to the same extent or at least not as uncontrollable as his peers. His lore master congratulated him on many occasions when he was found with scrolls and books rather then in a barn during the different festivities the village held yearly. His mothers on the other hand thought it might do him good to befriend others and occasionally forced him to dance and attend the festivals, which he did but not with the result they might have hoped for. At the age of 16 Athrax came across texts acquired from a temple dedicated to Gond. The texts spoke clearly to the boy as no other text had before. The deities message was simply what the young man had been waiting to find. shortly after, he convinced his mothers and obtained a recommendation from Cleric and lore master Mathew and set out to the temple from which the texts had originated.

Gonds clerics had found it suitable to build their temple as a small bastion along one of the major trading routes from the dwarven mines in the east. Giving both a place for caravans and travelers to rest and a first-hand access to both the minerals and knowledge of the dwarfs that traveled along the road. It was also a ideally placed within a few hours travel from the larger city of Haggsport in which they also had a building for practice in among the people. Young Athrax had few hardships during his weeks on the road but was amazed at how much he had yet to learn about the world. When he first arrived at the temple he was simply given the task to preform what he could with a limited amount of time and raw materials. Since he was a smith they gave him access to one of the forges and 3 of the clerics watched as he made one of his favored craft-work, a set of horseshoes with matching nails that were gentler for the horse and well durable. The clerics then took him and the crafted horseshoes and presented him to the head-smith Ograth and simply confirmed that the boy was able. Ograth then proceeded with asking the boy about his life and why he had wanted to pledged himself to the lord he served. Athrax simply responded to the best of his ability and hardly controlled his excitement when described his fascination for knowledge and craftsmanship.

Ograth found the boy to be of promise and enlisted him as a novice at the temple, in which he would serve under many other clerics, with craftsmanship as well as long studies and the few rites of Gond. With great focus and dedication he undertook the art of divine magic and proved to be quite talented at it. During the years at the mountain and city temples Athrax came across another set of books that peeked his interest more then others. They spoke of a group of knights whom fought with armors and weapons they had forged themselves. They also forged with bones as he himself could with metal. When prying more info from his teachers they simply said that there had been none seen in decades and it was a delicate matter if such craftsmanship should be practiced, the temple itself had little problem with it but to maintain it's relations with the local population few or no undead helpers were used at the temple and necromancy mostly practiced to maintain the knowledge. Athrax thought it stupid not to use what their God so clearly had provided means to but accepted that diplomacy was not so logic as he would have wished it to be. None the less the interest in these bone knights remained and he often tried to acquire more knowledge about them. Ograth took notice in the mans specific interest and when he obtained full membership and pledged to Gond, not long after he turned 19, took him aside and told him what was known to him. Athrax would need to travel out across the sea to seek the bone knights, for they had not been allowed to enter these lands for quite some time. But if he would be interested it was a suitable task for the freshly appointed cleric to bring back whatever knowledge he could from these warriors of the bone forge. Athrax reasoned that he would learn little more from the temple and that his thirst for the knowledge about these knights needed to be addressed and agreed to the task.
Leaving the temple he first traveled back to Thine to greet his foster mothers and see what had become of the village while he'd been away. Thine had change little. The townsfolk greeted him and wondered little of how he'd fared. His mothers on the other hand growled that he'd sent to few letters and demanded a few demonstrations of what he'd learnt, both knowledge craft and magic. After a few days he passed by the pond and the lake were he as a child had spent much time thinking and stumbled upon a young female. She was quick to anger from being found but realized before he did that she knew him, and he her. Natalie had spent her days in the forest well and had somehow adopted the nature into herself. Now a druid she had similar abilities and Athrax and her knowledge of the woods and it's creatures fascinated Athrax. Knowing well that he needed to set out soon he convinced Natalie that she should accompany him on the journey, surely there would be forests and creatures she would be interested in elsewhere, had she not come to know the entire forests every tree and stone by now?

Athrax finally took farewell of his foster mothers again and promised to return when this task had been completed, Natali left the forest and they traveled to the city of Fenyond. The city was thriving with life and they shortly found out that a ship was setting out to explore the seas in the direction Athrax though he needed to travel. They agreed to join and there met a few others whom had joined the enthusiastic captain. A sorcerer of some kind that glowed with an interesting darkness, A wizard whom was most but not only human and Ranger whom seemed to be searching for adventure and fame. The ship hoisted it's sails, had the slaves lower the oars and thus it began...