Rydel

Current steward/caretaker to the Archmage of Galren, Daxius. Born into a military family, Rydel is a veteran of the War of Severance where he served in the 6th cohort under the command of his Mother and Father. Losing his parents in the the Battle of Blood River, he and the remaining elves were forced to leave the river of Badur and retreat further into Picris forest. There he assumed command of the remainder of his parent's army and held off the further advances of the human army.   Three years later, he returned to his home city of Galren where he found the previous ruler, Nilren, had passed away and his son Luren had been crowned as the new monarch. In the short time he has been gone, Luren had given land and homes to his friends in Crown and Feyfane districts. When Rydel had returned to his home in the Crown District he found that one of these aristocratic friends of Luren had taken residence there. When he attempted to gain an audience with Luren to recover his inheritance due to the passing of his parents, he was denied an audience.   For about 100 years, he traveled to neighboring elven cities where he found work as a mercenary, attacking the newly established human settlements along the river of Badur. After a particular raid had gone sour, Rydel suffered a bad head wound from a human mace and escaped into the forest where he lost consciousness. He awoke in a small cabin in the woods being tended to by a human couple. Initially disgusted by idea of being healed by the very humans he fought a war against and lost his parents to, he was too weak to refuse their help. As time went on he grew fond of the family and pledged himself to their service to repay them for saving his life. Being a military man, and son to the commanders of a regiment, he had not learned how to properly help around the house. The human family taught him how to cook, clean, sew, garden, and any other housekeeping skills necessary for their secluded life.   Rydel stayed with the couple for decades and enjoyed the relatively peaceful time in his life. Toward the end of their lives, Rydel tended to them as they did to him many years earlier. After their passing, not having anyone to protect him from the human prejudice should he stay, he had no choice but to return to Galren. Upon return he found that Hartsdale had become a shadow of it's former self, strife with poverty and civil unrest. With no work for him in the city he found himself begging in the streets of Feyfane. Starving and sick, the aristocracy of Feyfane looked down upon him, ridiculing him and spitting at his feet.   He would regularly beg outside of Feyfane tower, home to the self proclaimed 'Archmage' Daxius who was the laughing stock of the city. Daxius had seldom been seen leaving his tower in hundreds of years, infact, even before the war, Rydel had never seen the man who was rumored to somehow be thousands of years old. Then, much to Rydel's surprise, the door to the tower opened and out came a peculiar looking elf with a perfectly young face, yet hair fully grey. Upon seeing a sickly and frail Rydel begging outside his tower, Daxius took pity upon him and brought him food and drink and promised to bring him more the next day. Though not the next day, Daxius did come out again a few days later to give him food and drink and stayed to ask him what brought him to beg in a city as grand and wealthy as Galren. Daxius noticed how people looked at him and laughed, and how they thought themselves above Rydel who was one of their own.   This continued for weeks where Daxius would bring Rydel something to eat and they would exchange stories. This was until the disdain of the people became too much and some became violent. Daxius invited him into the tower to talk and stay so they would not have to deal with the residents of Galren. There they became close friends and Rydel opened up and told him about his time with the humans. Daxius was impressed with how he could overcome such a prejudice and upon hearing how he learned to care for their home offered to take Rydel into his service as his steward/caretaker. Graciously accepting, Rydel took on the impossible task of trying to organize the disarray of Feyfane tower and keep Daxius' schedule. He was given a room to himself next to the kitchen and also prepped meals for the Archmage throughout the day. Though it was hard work, Rydel would be forever grateful to Daxius for saving him from his life on the streets as a beggar and to this day considers him his one true friend.