by DaBowlOfSoup Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:58 pmYoung Life
Art was born in the land of Laestrumall on a small ranch a few miles away from the nearest town. As a boy Art was very sheltered, his parents would not let him leave the ranch very much and if he did get to it was always with a guardian. Art was very close to his mother when he was a child. He enjoyed spending time with her because of her kind and caring nature, she would never get angry or yell at him like his father. Art’s relationship with his father as a child was neutral, he didn’t hate his father but he also was not very fond of him. Art did enjoy when his father would take him out to shoot bow. He absolutely adored archery and would continue to even into his adult life. From the moment he could start talking, he was very close to his brother. They would do everything together it was practically impossible to separate them.
Unfortunately, when Art was around 70 years old, tragedy struck. The land in which he lived was full of orc tribes hell bent on destroying every man, elf, dwarf, etc. The little ranch where he and his family lived was practically untouched by these tribes, but one day a nearby tribe broke through the outer defenses, inching their way closer to the house. As soon as the family became aware, his mother and father told him to take his brother and hide upstairs. He could hear the screams of his parents being maimed by the orcs as Art sat upstairs with his brother. After the screams had died out, Art’s brother wiggled from his grasp and ran out. He could not catch up to him in time and watched as the orcs took his head from his body. Art was the only survivor of the attack on the ranch, giving him a fear of orcs that he would have to overcome in his later years.
A few days after the attack Art returned home hoping that somehow his parents and brother were still alive and well. The sights he saw when he returned were horrific; his family was maimed and there was red all over the walls and floors. Upstairs, Art picked up his father's sword, when he heard footsteps enter the house and the voice of two men. These men were part of a local mercenary group that were hired to loot and burn the place to the ground. As one of the men came up the stairs, Art charged at him and killed him, but the other man was quick to get to Art and knocked him out.
Art awoke in captivity in a dark damp room in an underground dungeon. It was here that he would meet his best friend, and later enemy, Ikino Ironfist. He was also a survivor of a brutal orc attack. The two were taken to see the leader of the mercenaries to have their fate decided, where Art first shifted into a bear cub. This caught the eye of the leader and he wanted to keep him alive; knowing that one day a cub would grow into a full sized bear. Much to the young Arturo’s dismay, his new found friend was to be sentenced to death. Art, angered by this, told the leader he would not cooperate unless he let Ikino live. Luckily Art’s plan worked, and both of them begun the training process to become killers.
Before Caerundal
After 80 years of long hard training, the boys were ready to join the mercenary party. Now they were both 150 and ready to go into battle with the group. The first group Art was a part of was cruel and brutal. They would raid villages and kill everyone in them-- not even the children were spared. Even after all the training to become heartless killers, Art and Ikino did not enjoy or support what their leader was doing. After 5 years of this, they decided to sneak out in the middle of the night and find better employment.
Their luck was awful at first. They were on the run from their previous employer for a little over two years and couldn’t find a new job for another good year. Now they were 158 and running out of food, water, and other supplies. Finally they hit a stroke of luck and found another mercenary party hiring. The leader of the group was a 22 year old human named Viktor. Viktor was a kind and humorous man, and loved Art and Ikino from the moment he met them. They were gladly accepted into the group and enjoyed the work they did much more then the work they did with the old group. This group had morals; they would not kill innocents, and they did not raid villages without a purpose. They worked for the kingdom, protecting the people from the orcs that ravaged the land. Art was fearful at first of the jobs they had to do, because a lot of them had to do with orcs. The memories of the attack on his home were still all too fresh in his mind. Regardless, Art stayed with the group for another 10 years working for a great leader who he became good friends with.
In Arts 11th year working for the group things took a turn for the worse. Ikino started talking about taking over the mercenary for himself and he would stay up late plotting ways to overthrow Viktor, who was also a close friend of Art now. Art confronted Ikino, telling him that what he was doing was wrong and that he needed to stop. Viktor was a good man and had took them in when they were in a bad place; they would have died if not for his help. He could not believe that Ikino wanted to take him out. Art decided that he needed to be notified of the rising rebellion, so one night he headed to his quarters. Unfortunately, it was too late.
Ikino had already enacted his plan-- Viktor lay in his tent, dead. Art immediately ran to find Ikino, looking all over the place for him. He didn’t want to kill his friend, he just wanted to talk to him about what had happened and why he did it. It took hours, but he finally found Ikino and brought up what had happened. Ikino was unremorseful; he said he did what needed to be done and that Art should rule over the group with him now. Art refused this offer, not wanting to have anything to do with Ikino now. He saw now that the training had more of an effect of Ikino then it did him. He was not the boy that he met in the cell all those years ago. He had changed for worse. He lunged at him, enraged by Art denying the offer, trying to kill him as well. Art knew he wouldn’t win this fight; Ikino had always been the better fighter. So he took off running towards the nearest port town.
After days of running he reached the port town of Oar’s Rest, where he boarded the first ship he could find. As they were sailing off into the distance, Art turned to the captain and asked where the ship was going, the captain told him they were going to a town called Tidebreaker’s Halt in the land of Caerundal.
