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PCs NPCs Maps Calendar Post Archive Old PBeMs: The Darkening The Game	Something Stinks! I Think It's Kale. The Non-Player Characters Tirant Lo Blanc One of man's first question's is why. Why do the skies thunder? Why does the ground bring forth trees? Thus, in mankind's pursuit to understand, he is first scientist. When answers seem lacking, when the questions grow more complex, the answer's become gods, ideas, concepts. Man is now philosopher. As such, mankind would continue to repeat the same mistakes, relive the same arguments and conflicts. Man is now the historian. This is where Tirant comes in. His childhood is one of very little note. He was born into poverty, and left at the doorstep of an orphanage. He was a gifted child. When the priests' would chant their hours, Tirant would listen. Later, he would "borrow" a copy. Remembering the words he heard in the services, he matched them up. One day the abbot caught him taking the book, and was not about to believe the story Tirant gave him. In order to prove himself, Tirant was forced to read aloud from a book dealing with the history of the orphanage. While stumbling with fear over most of the words, Tirant was able to get by enough to convince the abbot. In a matter of minutes, he went from an unknown to the abbot's "pet project". Immediately he was placed with the initiate's class at the nearby seminary. He made every attempt to learn the ways and means of the clergy, but for him, the call was not there. He found himself spending more and more time with the kids he knew back at the orphanage. They were would be thieves, grabbing an apple here, a coin there. He mainly followed, learning how it was they could move with such grace and get away from the constables. Though he was rather good at getting away, he wasn't good enough as soon he was before the abbot with a whole lot of explaining to do. The abbot looked him over, and soon realized that the way of the cloth was not Tirant's way. Nor was a life of crime a viable option for someone as smart as this kid. The abbot, almost in desperation, made a prayer on behalf of the boy. Soon, a notion came to him, one which the abbot was unsure of at first. As an obedient disciple, however, he followed the advise of the vision and led Tirant (who was by this point 13) to the local bard's college, in the hopes that the youth would find his way there. After a few words to the elder bards, the abbot left Tirant to fend for himself, with instructions to Tirant not to return until he knew his course. Through a few tears, the two parted, and Tirant began towards his true fate. He began by doing odd jobs for the college (which was nothing more than an inn which a well-to-do bard had bought for the college some years back). Between cooking and cleaning, he would sit and listen to the stories and discussions between the bards. He would listen for hours as the bards would tell stories of love and conquest beside the fire he kept. Many a night he fell asleep listening to these tales. As he grew, he became more active, occasionally entering into the fray to offer an opinion here and there. Though young and inexperienced, he spoke cautiously and well. One of the elder bards, knowing of Tirant's abilities, placed Tirant in the town's library. While not every person's cup of tea, for Tirant, it was heaven. The books and scrolls that he read were filled with the same stories he heard, and more. It also meant that Tirant met some of the most powerful people of the time. Many was the occasion when powerful wizards and town elders would come searching for some old manuscript or the like. Whatever they asked for, Tirant rushed to get. After they were finished, he would wait for them to leave and then read it himself. He began to meet and talk with every sort in the realm, from the most sinister to the church leaders. As the years went by, he remember the words of the abbot, and what they meant. So it was that when he turned 20, he went to the abbot. The abbot looked at him, and asked him what purpose Tirant would have. "Knowledge, was the response. Knowledge of what was, so as to understand what will be." With that the abbot smiled. Tirant had grown, and learned to serve a "god", if not exactly what the abbot had in mind at first. Soon, with the abbot's help and that of those he had met through the library, he was given more responsibility in the library. This meant too that he would have access to the lower vaults, the ones with special works and the like. The day he was to become a permanent member of the library, a mage came and cast some sort of spell on him. Though Tirant felt nothing at first, he did notice a certain charge in him. The mage then instructed him to speak towards the door to the vault a word or phrase that only he would know. Tirant obliged, and with that the charge seemed to leave him through his mouth. The mage laughed as Tirant looked dumbfounded. Forever after, when Tirant would say the word, the door would open and allow him access to the vault. Here in the vault Tirant first learned to test the realms of magic. By watching other mages and speaking to them, Tirant learned how to manipulate the forces known as magic. His first spell seemed rather appropriate for him, read magic. After that, the books in the vault became more understandable (Tirant had always read the books before, he just had very little idea what they meant.) Yet his time was not just spells. He had obligations to the library as well. Along with a young mage, he wrote a book on the similarities between priest magic and that of a wizard. While not saying anything particularly new, (it was more a compilation of some of the more recent thoughts on the two into a single book) the book was a good effort and earned the mage the opportunity to advance in his class. For Tirant, it meant some money in his pocket and the satisfaction that he could actually add to the vast store of knowledge he protected. He went on to write more and more, and not just on magic. His studies continued, along with his writings, and he was very content to remain in his little library, or so he thought. There was in him, however, the young boy who wound up before the abbot for a dressing down those years ago. He discussed the idea of traveling with his fellow bards and others, all of whom urged him to do so. After a year of training and preparation in the bard's work shop, he was ready to journey. He was not about to go, however, without help. The bard's college chipped in. Tirant had saved enough over the years to buy some additional equipment. Finally, the abbot gave him a half a dozen doses of a healing herb and his blessing on a good journey. With that, the historian went out to make a bit of history himself. Tirent knew the hub of adventure is Saberhaven. He imagined the city as full of intrigue, danger and exciting new information. The bard booked passage from Stallore on "Mercy's Avenger" and sailed to Saberhaven City. The city wasn't quite what he had imagined. The crime rate was very low, due to "the Arena" where criminals were forced to fight out their discrepencies. In fact, most people visited this town to see the games, either to gamble on them or to participate in them. Fist thing in town, Tirant found a grand library and sat down to study. All the new information excited him and he read for 24 hours straight. Finally, looking up to take a break, the bard realized that he hadn't come to transplant himself into another Bardic College environment, but to find _new_ stories. Tirant hung around for a couple of days at local taverns and inns, listening to master bards spin tales about chimeras and riding giant rocs. He wrote several down, but really felt he needed to be out there adventuring to get a truely great history of his own, that he could relate to others. Answering one of many postings about "adventurer's needed", Tirant attended one such gathering, hoping to offer his services as a historian and writer to the group.