Mannon Blackfeather

Name, race, and class:
Mannon Blackfeather, LN Halfling, Warlord 5th level

Description:
Sturdy-build, Black Hair w/ long bangs some black feathers and braids pulled back into ponytail; Deeply tanned skin with some tattoos (mix of tribal and arcane); Black studded leather, black cloak, Backpack; Bandolier of vials and pouches; 2 kukri blades and 1 shortsword.

Background:
Barntook Blackfeather made his living as a collector and trader of secrets. Shortly after Mannon's birth, Barntook gained possession of an ancient leather-bound journal containing black pages filled with strange arcane writings, glyphs, and the ramblings of a mad man inked in what appeared to be blood.

Barntook began to read from this book at every available moment, and soon became obsessed with it. Sequestered away in his study reading the dusty tome, he barely ate, spent time with his wife and son, or conducted his regular business. He began to waste away mentally and physically, and ranted about surviving the arrival of the elder gods and the hungry darkness they would bring.

Barntook's wife, Mirriah threatened to leave and take Mannon. The night before she planned to leave, Barntook brought Mannon into his study, burned the black journal and performed a ritual with it...tattooing Mannon with its ashes. Morning came and Mirriah found Barntook dead and her son Mannon lying peacefully, covered in arcane tattoos and blood.

From that point on Mirriah was deathly fearful and protective of Mannon. Mannon on the other hand, was very precocious and adventurous, despite his mother's protective ways. He was bold, daring, fearless...always getting into trouble, but never really sure why. It was as something beyond his understanding influenced his actions...

One day while digging through his father's old possessions, Mannon discovered a hidden note meant for him. It read simply: "The glyphs will guide you, Mannon...focus on them and you will learn the secrets of Djedkara, the Fifth Prince". Mannon surmised that the glyphs were the tattoos inked on him by his father, but the message was cryptic.

More answers came from one of the Gadjarria mystics, who explained that the tattoos connected him to the fiendish world and that someday Mannon would be overcome by this connection and become a thrall to the demons in the Underworld. Mannon didn't believe in destiny, and certainly not one that he couldn't control.

There was however, some truth in the mystic's words. Mannon spent a great deal of time alone, pondering his tattoos. After a time, the glyphs began to make sense...they would "speak" to him. Sometimes they would provide simple guidance, other times they would act as his conscience. The voices imparted great wisdom, and through them, Mannon learned of the balances between order and chaos, discipline and anarchy, purity and taint, and eventually tools through which he himself would be able to gain great power by following the Sublime Way and the Path of Darkness.

The Sublime Way offered Mannon order, control, and discipline... but the Path of Darkness provided power... Mannon took shelter in the beauty and wisdom of battle. It gave him purpose, his blade to a foe, as an artist's brush to a canvas. The voices guided him and he grew stronger and faster...and wiser. The voices, however, provided only theory, and Mannon desired practical application of his craft. With this, he left the caravan in hopes to find out more about his connection to the Underworld, his father's mysterious death, and his growing powers.

Mannon joined a small group of traders headed north through the Ghetrian Desert as a guard, and eventually found his way to the Lirean Sea, where he helped out as a deck hand on a merchant vessel bound for Kassantia. From there, he worked various odd jobs until he set sail again finding his way up the Archen River to stop in Dundraville for a while. It was there that he heard rumors of trouble brewing in the nearby town of Hadler's Gap.

Mannon packed his things (what little he had), and made his way to Hadler's Gap to see what adventures await.

Goals:
Find out more about his connection to the Underworld, his father's mysterious death, and his growing powers.