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May. 22nd, 2006 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookish_dragonAn Elven Rogue this time, more geared towards conning people than catburgling them. He wasn't the most friendly of people, and had a sarcastic disposition. Big weak spot for his sister though, and by inference for little girls.
Elves in large parts of this country were usually not more than slaves, except for in Dalwish. It was a harbour-city known for its not keeping to the laws as such.
Alathièn Merur met Ceorl Esgal at the bar he worked at as a bartender. They fell in love and got married, much against the wishes of her family. Alathièn got disinherited, but after a period of getting used to her new situation of not having much money, she didn’t care. Elissa Merur, her mother, merchant’s daughter, had had problems of her own when she married Barathor, but she insisted that Alathièn was marrying beneath her station.
Alathièn kept in sporadic contact with her parents her sister Midreth and her brother Ymere, but otherwise was content in her life and didn’t go back to her family to beg for money or forgiveness. Annael was born in one of the poorer sections of Dalwish. Money was tight, both parents were working hard, but they cared about each other and their son.
When Annael was 30, Elissa died. Mad with grief and unstopped by his wife’s hand in all things financial, Barathor spent most of the family-fortune before being stopped by Midreth and Ymere, his two other children. Neither wanted to take the old man in, and dementia was fast approaching him. Eventually Barathor ended up on the doorstep of the one person who didn’t expect to see him…Alathièn. She took him in, even though it meant a mouth more to feed.
Annael spent a lot of time with his previous unknown to him grandfather, as both parents had to work harder to keep everybody fed. The old elf’s mind quickly followed his never strong body into decay, and he retreated further and further into his past, Annael the sole audience to his ramblings. There, in the living-room made more cramped with the last of Barathor’s possession stacked into it, he learned more about his family’s past.
Barathor hadn’t always lived in Dalwish. Before, he’d lived as a domestic slave at the Nurn-household, in a small city near the capital city. With random thieving going on in the house, tension mounted, and eventually Barathor got blamed, while he hadn’t done anything. Adamant on to being convicted, he managed to escape before ‘justice’ could be meted out. More due to luck and some sloppy organisation on the part of his pursuers than his own cunning, Barathor stayed free and in the end reached the city of Dalwish. There were measures taken by the elf himself to let his pursuers think he was dead, but even so he was on his guard and took care to change his appearance enough as to not be recognisable. In Dalwish, he found work in a warehouse, and after applying himself to the job at hand got promotion and caught Elissa’s eye.
He never told her about his past, but she had a pretty good idea to it, due to the faded markings, indicating he was Nurn’s property, on his shoulder which he could never entirely get rid off. Elissa didn’t care. She married him, with her parents’ grudging permission. Alathièn was their first daughter, a wild one, and a dilettante. That was how she met Ceorl. Midreth and Ymere came 30 and 50 years after her, respectively, and kept themselves more in line with the family’s expectations, marrying into other merchant’s families.
The history was garbled, and it took Annael a long time to make sense of it, aided by questioning his mother whenever she felt in the mood to ‘drag up old stories’, as she put it. The information made Annael quite glad he was a free elf, and he resolved that he would never ever become a slave to humans, ever. Barathor stayed with the Esgal’s for 20 years, being around for the birth of Denna’kiol, Annael’s sister. Annael extended his promise to stay free elves to his baby-sister, Denna. By that time, there was not much left of the elf, and he died shortly after. Much to her surprise, Alathièn found out that there was still some family-money left, enough to bury Barathor, and then some left over. They set that aside for their children’s future. Midreth and Ymere were quite outraged that they didn’t get any of the money, and broke off all contact, such as it was, with the Esgal’s.
Around 100 years, Annael fell in with a local gang led by the elf Thordun. He was big and strong, had a way with his fists and words, but wasn’t much good at thinking. Annael was, and he became the ideas-man of the gang, taking a backseat from the leader and the yes-men. Thordun had the habit of setting up one of the yes-men as a patsy, to take the fall if one of their endeavours went wrong. It was a pattern Annael saw quickly, but seemingly the yes-men never caught on to it. It got him a cynical streak, as he wondered how people could be so blind. Then Thordun found himself a new ideas-man. He’d never liked Annael that much, since the latter never seemed to hold him in the same respect as the rest of the gang. They staged a break-in in a warehouse, and Annael got pointed out as look-out, Thordun’s standard way of setting up of yes-men. Annael nodded, smiled, and went to the guard after the gang-meeting was over, ratting them out and then making himself scarce the night the bust went down. Replacing him, like that? He’d walk out on his own terms.
The break-in went well, the bust even better: the entire gang got caught. Annael made himself scarce for a while, to avoid repercussions. While he had a good excuse, he didn’t want to risk it. He used the time to figure out what to do now.
Then…Alathièn died when Annael was 120 and Denna 100. Ceorl couldn’t handle being without his wife, and started to fritter away the money they’d put away for Annael and Denna. Annael moved out of the house, he and his father started fighting too much. Denna stayed, taking care of Ceorl and keeping Annael informed of how his father was doing.
A minor epidemic broke out in Dalwish. It wasn’t much, a small infectious virus going around, but it scared people and miracle-workers sprang up as out of nowhere. This gave Annael the idea he needed, and he set up his own small stall of ‘Cure-it-all’ (coloured water). At home he laughed at the people lining up to buy his cures, and then coming back claiming it worked wonders and did he have some more? After the epidemic was over, he stayed in the business, ranging from ‘Cure-it-all’s to ‘Universal cleaner’ to whatever the latest fad was. He got Denna’s help in making his brews, which, while not hazardous to people’s health, were about as effective as a paper boat while wild-water-rafting.
Denna didn’t mind helping, knowing what they were doing. Annael did make sure she never went out with him on the streets: the promise he’d made to keep her safe he would not break.
To avoid problems with potentially outraged customers, Annael learned to disguise himself, talk even better to head off trouble and to never take the same route home twice in a row.
Elves in large parts of this country were usually not more than slaves, except for in Dalwish. It was a harbour-city known for its not keeping to the laws as such.
Alathièn Merur met Ceorl Esgal at the bar he worked at as a bartender. They fell in love and got married, much against the wishes of her family. Alathièn got disinherited, but after a period of getting used to her new situation of not having much money, she didn’t care. Elissa Merur, her mother, merchant’s daughter, had had problems of her own when she married Barathor, but she insisted that Alathièn was marrying beneath her station.
Alathièn kept in sporadic contact with her parents her sister Midreth and her brother Ymere, but otherwise was content in her life and didn’t go back to her family to beg for money or forgiveness. Annael was born in one of the poorer sections of Dalwish. Money was tight, both parents were working hard, but they cared about each other and their son.
When Annael was 30, Elissa died. Mad with grief and unstopped by his wife’s hand in all things financial, Barathor spent most of the family-fortune before being stopped by Midreth and Ymere, his two other children. Neither wanted to take the old man in, and dementia was fast approaching him. Eventually Barathor ended up on the doorstep of the one person who didn’t expect to see him…Alathièn. She took him in, even though it meant a mouth more to feed.
Annael spent a lot of time with his previous unknown to him grandfather, as both parents had to work harder to keep everybody fed. The old elf’s mind quickly followed his never strong body into decay, and he retreated further and further into his past, Annael the sole audience to his ramblings. There, in the living-room made more cramped with the last of Barathor’s possession stacked into it, he learned more about his family’s past.
Barathor hadn’t always lived in Dalwish. Before, he’d lived as a domestic slave at the Nurn-household, in a small city near the capital city. With random thieving going on in the house, tension mounted, and eventually Barathor got blamed, while he hadn’t done anything. Adamant on to being convicted, he managed to escape before ‘justice’ could be meted out. More due to luck and some sloppy organisation on the part of his pursuers than his own cunning, Barathor stayed free and in the end reached the city of Dalwish. There were measures taken by the elf himself to let his pursuers think he was dead, but even so he was on his guard and took care to change his appearance enough as to not be recognisable. In Dalwish, he found work in a warehouse, and after applying himself to the job at hand got promotion and caught Elissa’s eye.
He never told her about his past, but she had a pretty good idea to it, due to the faded markings, indicating he was Nurn’s property, on his shoulder which he could never entirely get rid off. Elissa didn’t care. She married him, with her parents’ grudging permission. Alathièn was their first daughter, a wild one, and a dilettante. That was how she met Ceorl. Midreth and Ymere came 30 and 50 years after her, respectively, and kept themselves more in line with the family’s expectations, marrying into other merchant’s families.
The history was garbled, and it took Annael a long time to make sense of it, aided by questioning his mother whenever she felt in the mood to ‘drag up old stories’, as she put it. The information made Annael quite glad he was a free elf, and he resolved that he would never ever become a slave to humans, ever. Barathor stayed with the Esgal’s for 20 years, being around for the birth of Denna’kiol, Annael’s sister. Annael extended his promise to stay free elves to his baby-sister, Denna. By that time, there was not much left of the elf, and he died shortly after. Much to her surprise, Alathièn found out that there was still some family-money left, enough to bury Barathor, and then some left over. They set that aside for their children’s future. Midreth and Ymere were quite outraged that they didn’t get any of the money, and broke off all contact, such as it was, with the Esgal’s.
Around 100 years, Annael fell in with a local gang led by the elf Thordun. He was big and strong, had a way with his fists and words, but wasn’t much good at thinking. Annael was, and he became the ideas-man of the gang, taking a backseat from the leader and the yes-men. Thordun had the habit of setting up one of the yes-men as a patsy, to take the fall if one of their endeavours went wrong. It was a pattern Annael saw quickly, but seemingly the yes-men never caught on to it. It got him a cynical streak, as he wondered how people could be so blind. Then Thordun found himself a new ideas-man. He’d never liked Annael that much, since the latter never seemed to hold him in the same respect as the rest of the gang. They staged a break-in in a warehouse, and Annael got pointed out as look-out, Thordun’s standard way of setting up of yes-men. Annael nodded, smiled, and went to the guard after the gang-meeting was over, ratting them out and then making himself scarce the night the bust went down. Replacing him, like that? He’d walk out on his own terms.
The break-in went well, the bust even better: the entire gang got caught. Annael made himself scarce for a while, to avoid repercussions. While he had a good excuse, he didn’t want to risk it. He used the time to figure out what to do now.
Then…Alathièn died when Annael was 120 and Denna 100. Ceorl couldn’t handle being without his wife, and started to fritter away the money they’d put away for Annael and Denna. Annael moved out of the house, he and his father started fighting too much. Denna stayed, taking care of Ceorl and keeping Annael informed of how his father was doing.
A minor epidemic broke out in Dalwish. It wasn’t much, a small infectious virus going around, but it scared people and miracle-workers sprang up as out of nowhere. This gave Annael the idea he needed, and he set up his own small stall of ‘Cure-it-all’ (coloured water). At home he laughed at the people lining up to buy his cures, and then coming back claiming it worked wonders and did he have some more? After the epidemic was over, he stayed in the business, ranging from ‘Cure-it-all’s to ‘Universal cleaner’ to whatever the latest fad was. He got Denna’s help in making his brews, which, while not hazardous to people’s health, were about as effective as a paper boat while wild-water-rafting.
Denna didn’t mind helping, knowing what they were doing. Annael did make sure she never went out with him on the streets: the promise he’d made to keep her safe he would not break.
To avoid problems with potentially outraged customers, Annael learned to disguise himself, talk even better to head off trouble and to never take the same route home twice in a row.
