Xander Jackson

“Now you there, come on over and let those people go. We don’t want to make this messy do we now?” – Xander Jackson

 

Andoran… Land of freedom, democracy and idealism. The shining beacon of hope to the world – or a nation destined to destroy it. Depending on who you are, Andoran is any of these things.

 

For Xander Jackson, born in Almas 29 years ago, it was clearly the former. Growing up there, the son of Keran and Sasha Jackson he was indoctrinated in the way of Andoran from birth. Keran and Sasha run a well-to-do alchemy shop in the city and Xander spent a lot of time learning it – when he wasn’t listening to stories about the Eagle Knights.

 

Keran is a short man with a long brown beard that he sported and was often jokingly called a dwarf but he was a patient man with a flair for stories and his father fought in the People’s Rebellion. He told stories of brave people fighting for freedom, of the Eagle-Knights bravery, of the fight against slavery, of the Gods and many others. A member of the Andoran militia and active with politics he was also a skilled alchemist and trader, now into his early 60s he still works some and laments the loss of his son.

 

Sasha on the other hand, is a tall, blond woman with pale skin and a quick laugh. A healer of sorts, Sasha uses herbs and a touch of magic that she uses mostly subconsciously to help on that and helps bolster the alchemy shop with that knowledge of how to deal with minor aches and pains. Now in her late 50s she has taken over more of the shop as Keran has backed away mourning Xander.

 

Yet most of that was still to come, as Xander grew up it was in a house of plenty and he learnt a lot of different things and excelled in most of his studies – when he bothered to try which wasn’t too often. He also got into all sorts of trouble but his quick smile and quicker tongue kept him out of too much trouble.

 

As he left schooling – a young 16 it was then that Xander first found how life was going to go – on the docks chilling with a few friends when he saw some of the bully boys in town about to beat up on one of the younger kids. Xander shouted at them to stop and as they wouldn’t – he felt an odd calm come over him. Instead of going to his fists as he had in the past he focused on something he felt, in the distance that had been bugging him for a while. Without thinking, he drew a symbol in the air that glowed a dark red and then faded as a dog came running through shining brightly and tackled them. The bully boys ran away as one of them was severely injured and seeing something they couldn’t understand.

 

Seeing this, one of the Eagle-Knights waited to see how the young man reacted and as he helped up the younger lad and went on his way – the Eagle-Knight approached him and suggested that he get some training – young Xander already in shock of what had happened earlier and then meeting one of the legendary Eagle-Knights was for perhaps the first and last time tongue-tied.

 

The Eagle-Knight – a Half-Elf called Tyden – laughed at the young man’s shock and took him along. The Half-Elf was a member of the Steel Falcon and a Sorcerer in his own right and he thought that was what he had just seen – a young sorcerer’s power just arriving.

 

Tyden took to training young Xander personally and they spent a lot of time together – learning to fight, learning how his casting worked and he summoned his Eidolon – much to Tyden’s amusement a larger version of Tyden’s pet parrot Izzy and named it after him making for a rather frightening appearance when they dressed him up a bit – well and amusement.

 

It was when he was 22 and serving as an officer on Tyden’s ship that Xander’s life took another shift. Having recently learnt how to use a gun from Tyden (after a lot of work over the past 4 years on it) and getting better      at using his magic, Amara Kasina approached him about moving into the Twilight Talon first.  Xander resisted the idea at first – he enjoyed serving under Tyden and was learning well there.

 

Still he considered it more and a year later, at the age of 23 he took his crash course in Pirates 101 to learn how to take on the role. He had finally accepted because Tyden effectively kicked him off the ship to take the promotion as he thought that Xander would be able to do quite well in the role and was resisting it.

 

Finally though he did go along and spending time among several pirate groups over the next year – despite the personal distaste for most of them – Xander and his partner Silpal learnt far more about the dirty underside of the seas then most ever wished to. Finally though they were ready and with cautiously given resources from Andoran at 24 Xander was the captain of a ship.

 

With his new bought ship, and a brash attitude, he took to being a terror to unknowing smugglers, slavers and even the occasional pirate as well as cautiously transferring information back to the Eagle-Knights. During this period Silpal served as his first mate and it was on one such stop in Katapesh that he met with James Bishop.

 

James was setting up a tavern in the city of Katapesh – given its large size and traffic it was a natural first place for Wersitter’s to go across the Sea. Xander, having seen the man before in Andoran and heard about him from other agents cautiously approached. Upon meeting with him, Xander decided quickly he liked the mercenary and called in a bit of favours he had built up in the meantime to help James get some inroads. In addition he set up an agreement to send slaves he freed through him and put James in the line with the anti-slavery underground transferring people out.

 

Time passed as Xander and Silpal worked on stuff, but over time Silpal became more and more jealous of his younger commander and unknown to Xander launched a campaign to blacken his name. A year ago they went after a ‘smuggler’ – it was in fact a legitimate merchant ship with Silpal planting the information – meaning that when he reported that fact to Andoran it looked like Xander had crossed the line.

Tyden warned him at the last moment and right before the noose, Xander ran from Andoran on charges of Treason. Angered and despairing, Xander arrived in Rideonport (In Taldor) hoping to get work as a sailor when he saw that a poster of him was posted – with a bounty of 500 gold.

 

Fleeing, he wandered aimlessly north for a while when he ran into a group of mercenaries from Niroch working and decided that since he couldn’t go home he might as well see if he could find a job with James who took him on a month ago.