Ishtaar was born and raised in Havere as the oldest child in a family of modest fisherman. He never demonstrated much talent for fishing, but he demonstrated a real knack for music and telling a tall tale, so when he was old enough he enrolled in the Havecois Bardic College. Havecois admission was a prestigious process (at least for the son of a fisherman), and Ishtaar had no formal training or experience to help his case, so he fully embraced the "fake it until you make it" philosophy and bluffed and charmed his way through the admission process. The college fit his talents better than fishing, although he never fully embraced the more classical aspects of his education, preferring instead to focus on folk music and the more physical aspects of performance. He started dueling lessons in his first week and proved to be adept with the sword and quickly developed a very flamboyant style that embraced high risk maneuvers and bluffs.
 
The hardest part of his advanced education turned out to be finance - tuition was not cheap, and neither were instruments or dueling swords. Ishtaar worked odd manual labor jobs in his free time and stretched his income with a frugal lifestyle and a handy nature, fixing up and repairing second hand gear. But ultimately he needed to secure a better paying gig, and in his third year he was presented with a golden opportunity. An older gentleman with the presence of a grizzled veteran approached him one night after an exhibition duel and offered to buy Ishtaar a drink if he would listent to his proposition.
 
The man's name was Leon Hammersmith, and he claimed to be assembly a roster of spectacular fighters to put on the grandest fighting tournament Havere had ever seen. As the discussion evolved, it became clear that the tournament would be as much theater as actual martial combat. Leon proposed the idea of creating carefully scripted personas, histories, and fights that could engross the populace far more than any tournament based in reality. The pay was good, and the concept was apealing, so Ishtaar signed right on.
 
The endeavour started small. The first few conspirators started working local tournaments with carefully crafted fake personas designed to draw the attention of the locals, and with some hard fought performances (and some careful bribes) the plan started gaining traction. The scheme grew, and soon Leon was organizing the largest tournaments and exhibitions in the city under the moniker of "Leon's Tournament of Champions", starring his ever expanding cast of larger than life characters. Ishtaar's persona was an instant fan favorite and in short time he found himself involved in the central story line crafted by himself, Leon, and a few of the other early adopters. Ishtar portrayed Averth Crow, a supposed royal bastard from beyond The Veil who had rejected the awkward advantages of his birth and chosen instead to focus on an adventurous life of drinking, brawling, and charming the fair maidens. He was opposed in the ring by a mysterious and shrouded figure known only as the moniker "The Typhoon of the East", an undead warrior who's sole purpose was the destruction of Crow's family line. In reality, The Typhoon was a tiefling by the name of Osric,a nd a close friend.
 
The enterprise ran better than expected, and Ishtaar enjoyed two full years in the spotlight, easily earning enought to finish his education and secure his family's retirement. It was all too good to last, though, and eventually the secret got out. Perhaps they had pushed the narative too far, or had included too many insiders as the conspiracy grew, but the final nail in the coffin was the intervention of the Haveccois authorities. It turned out that Leon Hammersmith was not big on reporting incoming or paying taxes, and the long arm of the law began issuing warrants and threatening prosecution for anyone involved in his fraudulent enterprises. It also turned out that the general public was less than thrilled with the fact that their heroes and villains were more or less regular people after all. Ishtaar suspected the whole act had just been ahead of it's time.
 
Either way, he thought it best to skip town and let the fervor die down. A year or two away on real adventures would bide his time while the world quietly forgot his alter ego, so he took advantage of the conveniently located floating city of the Mage's Guild and set off looking for his next adventure.