Redmane

Date of Birth:	6 Aestry, 995
Apparent Age:	21
Occupation:	Unemployed Scout
Class:	Rogue
Level:	2

About My Character

Redmane the younger, as he is known to his family and the one friend he had growing up...well, the donkey doesn't really know him as Redmane, often referring to him as Feeder or Ass-Master in his limited donkey-ish way, has always been somewhat of an anachronism. An embarassment to his father, a merchant from Blar who has been desperately trying to set up trade routes for his tribe in the Heartlands Region, a burden to his mother who doted too much on him as a child, he has learned to deal with things pretty much on his own.

Growing up as the son of a merchant in a race who are learning to barter for what they want instead of burning and taking it was a tough gig. Redmane the younger is the part of that generation that sees the benefits that his race has received from freedom but didn't have a direct tie to the prices paid for that freedom. Typically he went completely opposite from the ways his parents stressed. Beaten often and strenuously, he more often than not found himself wandering through various camps and villages, admiring the Great Orcs, humans and even the half-elves for their abilities. Somewhat of a runt when he was younger, he began overcompensating soon enough when he neared the age of majority. Lifting grain sacks for his father helped with that...when he was not lifting coin purses and small weapons. A dagger here, a goblin knife there. His practices became apparent when his father was accused of harboring a theif one day by a village elder. That was a fun day.

Having been born on Aestry 6, his mother of course felt he would be a blessed child. Growing to hate everything to do with Blar, the tales of the Thulites, and pretty much everything having to do with hobgoblin culture, he shocked and scandalized his parents on his fifth birthday when he asked not for the traditional colt...no, he asked instead for a Donkey. Donkey was of course the best thing that ever happened to him. The fact was plain, Donkey didn't expect him to be a great horselord. Donkey didn't care that he was a 'Blessed Child'. Donkey enjoyed the fact that he could steal an apple from under a farmer's nose while expounding on the tales he hated so much with a flourish that was nearly mesmerizing. His quick hands didn't hurt the task either - always known, and picked on, by his peers as being a delicate flower with those longish fingers that could do the most amazing minute tasks.

Yeah, all these thoughts were running through his head when he was 13 as his father confronted him with the studded belt for the last time. Having stolen a chain shirt to add to his growing gathering of gear, the village Elder had demanded a public striping of the boy and to get the chain shirt back. Redmane the younger had already determined that was never going to happen - the Elder was a snide old man with a queer penchant for picking great green boogers out of his nose and flicking them at any youngling in the vicinity. He hated children in general and Redmane the younger in specific. No, that old bastard was never going to get that chain shirt back. So when his father had finally given him the ultimatum of returning the shirt or leaving the village alone, without support, it wasn't ten minutes before Donkey was saddled (searched by his father of course, to no avail in finding the equipment he had secreted outside the village in a hiding place known only to him and the crows of the forest, including his grandfather's beautifully made Falchion) and he was riding him out of the village under cover of darkness.

Travelling throughout the Heartlands has been the greatest adventure of his life. Adventures, he has come to surmise, completely suck. Adventures are great when you have a full belly and coin on the lend by a wealthy merchant looking for an explorer to provide some rare herb or ancient piece of stone artifact from a ruins. Overall though, they suck when you're cold and miserable, looking for a place to get in out of the rain and wishing you knew that you could trust that Great Orc you're watching through the bushes not to attack you the instant you ask to share his fire. They suck even worse when you end up sneaking into the Great Orc's camp at night and end up alarming him to your presence when you're trying to steal some jerked meat and hardtack. Who the hell knew they could cast those kinds of spells anyways? Gods willing he would have never found out. Sadly though, he did find out.

Finding that the youngling was simply trying to get some food didn't seem to sway the Orc from casting a spell that held him rooted to the ground as if his legs were made of stone. HYell though he might, the Orc simply stood there, out of his reach, with his arms crossed waiting for the boy-man to tire and finally stand, quietly, awaiting his fate. Karak was a mighty wizard. He could make water from nothing, he could cast bolts of energy from his fingers, he could even make Redmane stand still and shut up - a miracle in and of itself when he was doing anything besides being stealthy. A Puissant wizard for sure. Karak was a kindly wizard as well. Kindly enough, anyways, that he didn't decide to eat Redmane on sight. Instead he decided to let the little pissant tag along with him until they reached Alexandria. His father had been a rogue and through a couple of encounters with hungry rats, Karak said the boy had earned his old da's set of theive's tools. Beautifully made, they were only slightly bent - something that could be easily fixed!

Working with Karak for all that time really developed Redmane's strength and endurance, the Orc even had books that he let Redmane read from time to time. Not his magic books or course, but books about Alexandria, and a book on curious quotes and sayings that gave life lessons from some old, dead human. Redmane read these books almost to tatters and any time he had extra money and they were in a village, he would barter or buy extra books from anyone willing to rid themselves of them. Finding that he had a voracious appetite for the written word was shocking enough, but even worse was when Karak decided to introduce him to some of his old running mates. One of them was a rogue of some note...notably having had his hand blown off by a poorly disabled fire trap on a chest. This had apparently made the man extremely nervous and highly attentive to detail in searching for traps, disabling them, sneaking around, even appraising items.

Redmane soaked up all the information he could, reading from books while on the road, practicing with Stephan One-Hand when they were in camp or adventuring. Often Karak would hire a fighter of some sort to go along with them when they had a task to complete that would require bladework, and Redmane would often study with the less surly of these to hone his fighting skills. He finally managed to learn a fighting style that let him leverage his grace over his strength when sparring and he then began to take his abilities to the next level. Redmane has indeed had an adventure filled life and finally decided to part ways with Karak when they neared Alexandria after several years of travelling around. It has been an interesting time, and having been in the city for a few months he has begun visiting various libraries and bookstores working on learning as much about the breathtaking city as he can. His next task is going to be to locate an adventuring group that he can join and begin building his fortune. Ahh, fortune, something he hasn't focussed on too heavily until now...Why else would anyone /choose/ to adventure after leading the life he has?

RP Hooks

• Neurotic - Redmane is as neurotic a Hobgoblin as has ever been. Different from his people, different from the people he'd like to emulate, he's a 5'5" ball of worry that he's going to do something so socially unacceptable as to get kicked out of the city that he's wanted to be a part of his whole adult life.

• Adventurers Guild - Redmane is a newly minted member of the Adventurers guild and as such, is looking for a good time. Well, at least a time with good pay. Half decent pay really would be good enough for him as long as he makes a couple of new friends.

• Adventurers Guild - Joining The Guild is a goal of his, and he's looking into it, if he can get into the organization and begin learning the ins and outs, he's happy to toil in obscurity for long enough to learn the ropes and begin moving up within the power structure so that he can carve out his own little niche in the world, perhaps even becoming renowned for his rogue'ly prowess.

Logs

• Currently None