Appearance

Mentality

Personal history

Childhood

In the marble streets of Ilmäre in Ilsworth, Elräen was born into a wealthy family of high elves. He was raised with strong national values, and with his father a master sage and his mother a warrior, he had a strong education in both academics and fighting. He developed talent with a bow quickly and it soon became his weapon of choice. 20m. 50m. 100m. Elräen continued to improve his archery skills to that of a professional, at such a young age that his bow was stretching well above his height. He gained a low level of fame in the higher echelons of Ilmäre as an esteemed young archer and fighter.
 

Dark Clouds on the Horizon

In times of peace and prosperity, waves lapped against the pale sandstone cliffs of the Ilsworth coastline where a great city of marble stood tall amidst great redwood forests and beautiful vegetation. Concentric stone walls form a boundary surrounding the majestic spires reaching for the heavens, with stained glass glinting in the light of the sunset. At this time, the city of Ilmäre (or Sea Star in elvish) is thriving, with the streets full yet serene with high elves in the many open plazas and floral glades. Up paved stone steps and through a grand arched doorway is the Naïlo home, where a feast is in full swing. Magical wisps of wind bring platters of food to the lengthy varnished tables, and chalices are overflowing with fresh wine from their famous vineyards. Things are merry but calm, as this is a noble family, but a young Elräen and his friend Willow are fidgety and want to get back to training. With her unruly black hair and mischievous blue eyes, Willow secretly practices her knife skills and tells Elräen a secret - that apparently negotiations aren't going well with the orcs and they might be able to practice their fighting skills in battle. "Isn't that exciting?" she whispers with an eager grin. Elräen is a little more hesitant but still interested in getting to use his archery talent to good use. Alära -Elräen's mother - stands and shushes the table, announcing that she is exiting her role as head military trainer to take up the post of High Commander of the Ilmäre army. There is a cheer as she goes to Elräen and presents her ornately carved birch wood bow in an ancient tradition. Elräen accepts it and his mum bring him into a fierce hug, though Elräen can sense a bittersweet sadness in her facial lines. The party eventually dies down and the Naïlo family head to their bed chambers.
 
In the quiet hours of the early morning, Elräen is awoken from his trance by Willow at his window, urging him to come and see something. She climbs agilely from the ledge don the marble pillars and down to the empty streets below, while Elräen clumsily follows in his tiredness. She leads him down dim alleys, sneaking through pruned gardens and elegant courtyards to the inner walls of the city, where they scramble up to a hidden spot away from the guard towers. There Willow uses a spyglass to show him darkened shapes moving in the forest, explaining that they might "get some action on their hands tonight." The figures move towards the main eastern gates, revealing the high orc commander Tarrosh Blood-Letter, his three warrior sons and a group of orcs. He shouts up at the gates, causing the guards to tremble at the sheer power of his voice. Eventually, Elräen's father Arin appears at the gates attempting to further negotiations. Tarrosh scoffs and explains that there will be no more talks, that they refuse to give up territoies and their armies won't stand down until the west's "civilisations" are erased. Arin attempts to say that if the east attack they will feel the full force of the Western Armies, but the orc is already commanding a few soldiers and surprisingly leaves with most of them. This short relief transforms into horror as the few orcs at the gates rush forward and reveal make-shift bombs strapped to their chest. The walls of the city tremor as a large explosion bursts from the city gates, almost making Willow and Elräen fall from the high ramparts. Worried for his father, Elräen rushes down to the ground and through the smoke and sudden chaos breaching the once peaceful night, finding him crumpled against the inner wall with his silk shirt charred and half his face almost melted off by the flames. Elräen drags him to safety as clerics come to help heal him, before he leaves he says to his son in a strained voice "I don't want you getting hurt by these meaningless conflicts. Please not my son." Elräen stands in shock as his mother rushes up asking what happened, and as he explains she marches out after the orcs, bow at her side and commanding a dozen guards with her. Elräen follows suit to protect his mother despite several soldier attempting to pull him away, and finds her in a circle of her platoon with her elbow digging into one of the orc soldiers throats, holding him against a nearby tree. She interrogates the orc, who refuses to give answers even as she slices up his arm. She yells in rage as she begins to choke the orc, but Elräen shoots him through the head with a perfect shot from his bow. In shock , Elära turns and takes her son in her arms despite the black blood dripping from her tunic. She cries with fury, before calming down and facing her troops. One tells her that they've received reports of similar incidents - a goblin army attacking forts in Vashnir and Kenku killing dwarves in Goroth. With her eyes alight with fierceness, Elära yells  "I will not allow an attack like this to go unanswered. These MONSTERS will not hurt my people - my family - without consequence. If they want a war, a war is what they'll get." They walk back to their city with the flames still ablaze  - not destruction, but a warning of the horrors to come - and the elven commander holds her son tight as the days of war commence.
 
 
He was brought into the army at a young age and quickly excelled. He was amid the Ilmären infantry at the start of the War of the Eastern Front, still a child but strong in his values to protect the city and people he loved. He fought in many major battles during the war, losing close friends and celebrating victories.
 

First Blood

In the midst of the War of the Eastern Front, Elräen went on a scouting mission deep into the goblin territory of Malodor. The air was filled with the buzzing of insects and the humid heat suffocated the soldiers in their uniforms. Along with Willow and other soldiers of the West, he paddled a small canoe through the sludging mud rivers of the swamps, on the lookout for a goblin ambush. Willow makes a joke about missing out on the action, which Elräen instead takes seriously and says that he's proud to do anything to protect their country. They dock their vessels on the muddy shore of the swamp before a major goblin warren, large hobgoblins and tall lizardfolk standing guard. His group sneak into the warren, taken aback by the swarming hordes of goblins within the various earthen tunnels. They traverse the horrid scene with care before reaching their destination - a bomb making factory they have been commanded to sabotage. However, despite their task and Willow's urge to get it over with, Elräen spots a command station and sees this as his opportunity to gain more info against the Eastern Armies. He searches through scratchings of paper, learning of army positionings and the elevation of a strange new commander lording over the goblins. Willow urges her friend to get back and he obliges, but accidentally reveals himself to the goblins. They scramble toward him and their group makes a desperate attempt to escape. As they do, Willow lights an arrow on fire for Elräen, who shoots it directly into one of the oil vats which explodes, knocking them back and incinerating a horde of goblins and lizardfolk. Reeling in the mud and choking in the smoke, Elräen turns to flee from the wreckage when he hears screams and notices Willow is missing. He heads toward her, but the explosion knocked him off balance and the mud and thick vegetation of the swamp slowed him down. He didn't make it in time. Willow's body lay strewn in the mud, her skin cracked and charred but from something much more malevolent than an explosion. A 4 clawed scratch mark was scraped across her torso, deep wounds like volcanic ravines, and on her face was a symbol (or initials) carved into her flesh - C.B. She tries to speak, but can only give Elräen one warning of "Devil" before the life leaves her eyes. After holding her body and vowing to avenge her, Elräen closes Willow's eyes and escapes the marshland, angrily killing any enemy that gets in his way.
 

Malignant Devastation

One fateful day, he was stationed outside Ilmäre ready to march out and face the enemy, when loud booms echoed from behind the army, as the grand walls of the city cracked and its towers crashed into the ground. The soldiers of Ilmäre were quickly overrun by the sudden destruction of the city combined with the ensuing orc ambush, a massacre that would leave its horrid mark on history for centuries. Elräen - older now but still too young - ran back to the city despite the danger in search for his parents. Surrounded by chaos, he found his family home razed to the ground, blood pooling around it and came to the despairing revelation that his family was gone. In one of the most scarring moments of his life, Elräen turned in horror to see the high orc commander Ugrash Earth-Scorcher, the silent brute of the 3 brothers that ruled the orc battalions of The Eastern Armies. The orc held his menacing warhammer - the source of Ilmäre’s destruction - and slammed it into the ground, splitting the earth.
 
Elräen barely escaped that day. He ran through the battlefield into the wilderness, and wandered for weeks across Ilsworth and past the border into Vashnir, where he arrived at a small town just outside the city of Ravadesh, dehydrated and malnourished. Collapsed at a shopfront awaiting death, Baron Vilkrest found Elräen and nursed him back to health when others ignored him. Baron took him back to his home on the outskirts of Sareth, where they’d reside together for years with Baron attempting to get Elräen to open up about his emotions to no avail. He thought about returning to Ilsworth many times, but couldn’t find the strength to face his fears. Thankfully the destruction of Ilmäre was the final major loss of the West, and the Eastern Armies were soon defeated in the coming years, with their major leaders slain and the 3 Brothers left scattered across the lands of Malodor and Sintar with only scraps of their power remaining.
 

The Plague of Normality

Elräen struggled to adapt to civilian life once the war was over, seeing threats at every corner and left unable to cope with his grief. If not for Baron, he likely would have ended up in prison or dead. Struggling greatly to form bonds after losing so much, he tends to stay isolated and unable to express his grief. He found some comfort in hunting deep in the woods, reliving the adrenaline of his army days. With his mother’s bow still at his side, Elräen has fought smaller threats on the edges of Sareth (Bandits and lingering orc fugitives), but now as the flames of war begin to blaze once more, he fights alongside a group of adventurers to prevent the fate that befell his city and his parents from repeating itself.

Personality

Vices & Personality flaws

Elräen is still haunted by his past, and can't connect with his ordinary life in the rural town of Sareth. He was only a child when his city, Ilmäre, was brutally destroyed by the orcs and he has been scarred because of it. Despite several attempts by his mentor, Baron, to bring him back to reality, Elräen can't escape the adrenaline rush and control that fighting gives him. He finds it highly difficult to make connections as others can't sympathise with his grief causing him to lose more of these relationships which, despite his surface-level abrasion, he desperately desires.

Social

Current Residence

Sareth