A child was born in the Griffin tribe of the Uthgardt to Gregak and Ulcina. Gregak being a challenger to the role of chief of the Griffon horde. There is one other in line for the title, Berong, a distant cousin to the current chief, Lonken. This child grows up to pre-teenage years among the Griffon Barbarians and is taught the ways of a warrior and the skills necessary to someday become chief. He excels at all these lessons and the people come to love and honor him as the "Prince of the Griffons".
Lonken, on his death bed, charges Gregak with the title of Chief, though there is no one there to witness it, or so it is believed. Berong has a spy in the bedchamber listening in to the conversation. Upon Gregak's departure, the spy informs Berong and Berong attends to the dying chief with a smothering hand. He then proclaims himself Chief of the Griffon Horde, by rights of the former chief and the witnesses present (of course all agents of Berong).
Chaos ensues in the tribe, with a rift forming over Gregak and Berong being the rightful chief. In true Uthgardt fashion, a challenge for the throne is issued to Gregak and Berong. A simple and fair fight is not good enough for Berong however and he slips poison into Gregak's meade before the fight. Not strong enough to kill him outright, but weaken him.
Of course, during the fight, Berong wins, easily. Gregak is brutally beaten and eviscerated, his lifeless body ruined further by dismemberment and burning. The child was there to see the whole thing, including the poisoning. It seems his skills of spying and sneaking are quite good after all. After the fight, Berong adds insult to his win by taking Ulcina to his hut and forcing himself on her, all in front of her child. Mortified by the entire experience and losing her husband, Ulcina commits suicide.
Berong claims the child as his own son, in an attempt to quiet and pacify the horde. He begins brutally training the boy to become the greatest warrior of the horde, unfortunately, the boy will not accept the tutelage, but instead forced his hatred deeper and deeper into himself.
After many attempts to warn the elders of the horde and try to explain the situation to no avail, the boy confronts Berong. He threatens Berong with complete exposure of his acts. Berong laughs at him and draws his ax. A duel ensues and the boy is beaten, but not without getting in some hits, one of them blinding Berong in one eye and disfiguring his jaw to the point he now has a speech impediment. The boy escapes death, and leaves the horde, never to return.
Now part child, part man, the child escapes to the wilderness east of Waterdeep, where he wanders for months, hunting for food, and occasionally taking what he can from bandit's purses and chests. On more than one occasion, his prowess in battle was tested by a wary brigand, yet the boy thrived and grew stronger.
One fateful day, the boy was sitting near a stream, resting and contemplating his next move when he heard a rustle in the bushes. He jumps to his feet with a start to see..... nothing. He scours the area looking to find the source of the noise, only to have it always just out of his reach. Then he stops, taking a moment to catch his breath. From his side he hears a giggling, from a girl. Quickly he turns, but sees only a flash out of the corner of his eye. He pursues the noise, only to find himself lost in the woods with night quickly approaching. A voice says "don't be afraid, I wont hurt you". To which he replies, "I am a warrior, I fear no one, especially a girl in the woods". He hears another giggle. She responds back with "Oh I know! you are a powerful warrior, I have seen you". He is surprised and intrigued by this. She then steps forward into a shaft of moonlight, illuminating her features. It is a young elven girl, apparently out to torment a young warrior. She smiles and says, "I am Eloine, what is your name". He replies, "I have no name, it has been taken from me", she says, "Everyone has a name, surely you do too." He shakes his head and will not say any more. "Come with me" she says, "It's dangerous at night". He follows her for what seems like hours through winding forest with seemingly no particular path in the dark, led only by her hand holding his. He trips and falls several times, and of course she finds this endlessly amusing. Finally they arrive at a great wall, that reaches in each direction. The girl leads him to a part of the wall, touches it, and walks through. The boy stands in amazement. She comes back through what he can now see as a sort of door in the wall and takes his hand again to pull him through.
They walk along winding streets lit by what appears to be dust simply hanging in the air. His jaw dropping and his eyes bulging at the sights around him, Eloine pulls him along. Eventually they reach a fine looking home and Eloine drags him inside. They are greeted at the door by Prionde, Elloine's mother, who disapprovingly looks at Eloine's dirty clothes and the stranger she has brought into their home. Eloine, slightly regretful, says, "I was in the woods and found him Mother, he was all alone, and scared". The boy glares at Eloine, crosses his arms and says, "Was not", to which she replies, "was too!". Prionde laughs playfully and says, "well, we can't have that now can we". She brings them into a large sitting room, lit by candles, and graced on one wall by a large elaborate fireplace. In the corner, in a chair, reading a book is an Elven man, looking young for his age, and strong. He lifts his gaze as they enter the room.
Prionde announces to him, "dear, Eloine has brought home a.... friend." He raises an eyebrow and studies the boy, then rises to his feet and approaches them. Prionde introduces her husband as D'eldor, and asks his name. The boy states with confidence, "I have no name, it has been taken from me.". D'Eldor, confused at this, replies, "One's name can never be taken boy, it is yours and yours alone". The boy replies, "Well mine was". D'Eldor is apparently amused and slightly impressed with this human boy and says, "Then we will have to name you.... again. Then you will always have a name that cannot be taken away". He ponders for a moment and remarks, "I once knew a human man named Alexander, he was a fine man, strong and sharp of wit. That should be your name as well, young boy." The two women smile and nod at this, seemingly in agreement. The boy, indignant and stubborn of course shakes his head, and replies, "too long, and I think it sounds silly. How about Zander?". D'Eldor chuckles and says, "Zander it is. What of a surname? Don't all humans have them as well?" Eloine chimes in with, "He is very proud, maybe we should call him Vain." Zander glares at her again. Prionde, states,"he may seem proud on the outside, but he is also hiding more than we know on the inside, so he is not so vain after all.", to which D'Eldor replies, "Then he is de-vained", and chuckles slightly. Eloine says, "That's it! DeVane! he shoud be Zander DeVane!" Zander seems to think about this very carefully, then nods his agreement, and with complete confidence states, "Mister D'Eldor, I am Zander DeVane, it's nice to meet you." And so he became known in this city of Evereska as Zander DeVane.
He lived with D'Eldor, Prionde, and Eloine for several years all the while spending much time with D'Eldor learning the ways of their people and their language. He had great trouble with the language for he is but a simple man, and I call him a man for he is now nearly sixteen years old, a man in human terms. He eventually learns their language, and spends a great deal of time speaking to anyone who will listen to him in Elven, just to show off his skill.
Eventually he meets some of the Elven guard, and he convinces them to train him to fight like an Elf, in return, he will teach them some of the style in which he was trained. They really couldn't care less about his style, but decide to mock him by training him in the longbow and various fighting techniques, surely expecting his utter failure. Much to their dismay, Zander turns out to be an excellent student and learns to use a longbow nearly to the same ability as his Elven peers, his surefootedness in melee combat is quite impressive as well. He masters the longsword quite quickly, but finds it...... lacking for his tastes.
He has earned the respect of the Elven Guard, and his adopted city of Evereska. In time he is accepted nearly the same as any Elf would be. He makes friends with many of the guards and the militia. But his closest friend is Eloine, his adopted sister, and they spend much of their time exploring the woods surrounding Evereska.
D’Eldor, being the wise man he is, sees Zander as a good man, and a good companion for his daughter. Not in any sort of romantic way, but more a protective brother. He also can’t help but notice that Zander does not seem truly comfortable with the longsword he was given by friends in the militia. One day he brings Zander aside for a talk.
D’Eldor compliments Zander on his achievements even in the face of mockery and prejudice by the other Elves. He states that Zander should be very proud, few humans have achieved this level in an Elven community. “You have done my friend Alexander proud.” He smiles. D’Eldor also says he can’t help but notice that Zander doesn’t really like the longsword given him for practice and defense. Zander replies, “Its fine, but I learned to use a large ax as a boy and that is still with me, I”m afraid.” D’Eldor muses for a moment, and says, “I need to keep reminding myself you are not an Elf, you have greater strength and size, you deserve a weapon fitting these abilities.” Zander, apparently slightly confused by this looks to D’Eldor and asks, “What are you proposing?” D’Eldor merely smiles and says, “Come with me, my son.” He leads him out of town into the woods to an old looking house with an attached workshop. A quick knock on the door and they are greeted by a dwarf, yes, a dwarf, a seemingly very old one as well. The dwarf yells, “What the hells? Who the heck disturbs….. oh! Master D’Eldor, my apologies.” D’Eldor introduces Zander to his old friend and master blacksmith Niorin. Niorin sizes up Zander and asks what he needs. D’Eldor explains the unique situation and asks Niorin for a special weapon for his “son”.
After some thought and some measurements of Zander’s height, arms, etc., Niorin comes up with an idea. “I can make him a very large version of your longsword, Master D’Eldor, this way he can use the skills of the elves with the brute force of the axes he knows to use.” “Perfect!”, D’Eldor replies. Zander smiles and nods at this new prospect. They leave the dwarf to his work, though Zander returns day after day to watch Niorin work and show his impatience to get his hands on his new weapon.
And so it was that Niorin forged a great sword for Zander to have as his own personal weapon. Zander still came to the forge to watch Niorin work and over time made slight but useful changes to this weapon and his armor to make them more befitting of his personal fighting style and tastes.
Two more years pass with Zander becoming more and more comfortable in his surrounding of the Elven city. He and Eloine now go on adventures together rather than just romps through the forest. Zander proves himself to be most resourceful in the wilds, his skills of survival are top notch. Eloine has taught him much, and they together make a great team, uncovering lost caves and some semi-valuable items along the way.
On one of these adventures, in the night, Eloine and Zander are attacked by human bandits. They are outnumbered three to one. Zander manages to dispatch four of the invaders only to turn around and see the remaining two holding Eloine with a knife to her throat. One of them sneers, “What ya doin’ wit this here elven maiden there boy?” Zander moves forward to attack then stops suddenly when the man pulls at Eloine’s hair to expose her throat that much more. “One more step boy, just one more!” Zander snarls through his teeth, “Do NOT touch her! Or I will KILL YOU!” The remaining bandit is already holding up a rucksack which he is searching through for anything valuable. The other says to him, “Anything? They got to have something, find it!”, then to Zander, “OK, lets make this easy, gimme all your valuables, and I let the elf live” Zander sheathes his sword, and pulls out a pouch from his belt, containing gems and a few pieces of rare jewelry. He tosses it at the brigand’s feet. “Ha! I knew it was here somewhere!” The bandit replies. The bandit with the bag promptly drops what he was doing and snatches up the pouch. “Now, let her go!” Zander states. “Sure, I’ll let ‘er go…” the bandit sneers and slashes Eloine’s throat clean open. “NOOO!” Zander screams and goes into a rage, drawing his sword and cleaving the man in two. At this the other bandit runs off into the forest with the pouch in his hands. Zander puts his sword back in its scabbard and draws his longbow, and quickly puts two arrows into the man’s back, dropping him like a stone without even taking another step.
Zander then drops to his knees over Eloine’s body, and cries. He has failed her, he has failed all of them, Prionde, D’Eldor, Niorin, even his mother and father. He passes the night crying at her body. When the sun rises, he carefully wraps her in clean blankets, picks her up and carries her back home, all the way, punishing himself for his failure.
Upon arriving in Evereska, some two days walk from the attack, Zander is greeted by friends and neighbors who seem horrified at the sight. Apparently Zander, walking for two whole days while carrying Eloine looks more worse for wear, with bandit blood still caked in his hair and on his hands and clothes. He says nothing, and simply trudges toward D’Eldor’s house with his head held low. D’Eldor and Prionde are already outside upon his arrival, word travels fast in this city. Prionde gasps and puts her hand to her mouth and begins to cry into D’Eldor’s shoulder. Zander approaches them and places Eloine at their feet, kneels, and says, “I have failed you Father, I am truly sorry.” D’Eldor places a hand on Zander’s shoulder and says, “From what this appears and what I know of you, most would not have come back from whatever tragedy has befallen you.” Zander says nothing, still keeping his head low, tears streaming down his face. Prionde, through her tears, says, “Zander, you are our son, we do not blame you for this.” Zander still says nothing, but stares down at Eloine’s body, his muscles tensing and he clenches his jaw. D’Eldor, places a hand on each side of Zander’s face to raise it up so he can look at him, he can see the pain in his eyes. Zander says, “I have failed you, I will never fail you again.” D’Eldor says, “We all fail, my son, it is how we learn.” “I will never fail you again, because I cannot stay any longer. You have been kind to me, and I have caused you to lose your daughter. I must not stay here any more. I am sorry.” Prionde puts a hand to his cheek and says, “If you leave we will have lost a son and a daughter today, Zander.” “I cannot stay.” D’Eldor speaks the final words Zander will hear from him, “You are always welcome here, my son, you will always be my son.” At this, Zander rises, turns, and walks away, never turning back. He leaves Evereska, and heads into the wilderness.
Some time passes and he still punishes himself for Eloine, he also makes a habit of killing every bandit he sees, with a rage so strong, none can withstand him. His prowess with the Greatsword and longbow is amazing and his survival skills, superb.
One day, on a hunt of a large stag, Zander happens upon an area of land he has never seen before, he races through it after his quarry. All around him, a fog forms, yet he keeps running. Suddenly, he is struck down, unconscious to awake in another place, nothing like where he was before……
