Tarron/Arte backstory

Arte was born into a branch of the Orlovsky noble house, to a military veteran mother and a butler father. His family wasn't especially rich, but it wasn't poor. However, a part of their money went toward Arte's training and education, while most of the rest was saved in order to adopt a child from the main house. Thus, Arte didn't grow up with most of the commodities you'd expect a noble house to revel in. By the time he was twelve, Arte's parents had saved up enough to convince the main house that they could take care of, and were worthy to have, one of their children. This was Tarron, an Aasimar-blooded girl, technically far older than Arte. Weak but charming and bright, Arte saw the girl as a true sister, and dedicated himself to his training, both so that he could protect the girl, and so she would look up to him. And she did; for her part, Tarron saw her younger brother, rising to the top of his unit, as a role model. Knowing she wouldn't be of much use as a fighter, Tarron began to study divine magic, aware of her blood ties to celestial outsiders, and the fact that many of her kin had become clerics. After a few years, however, she had all but given up; none of her efforts bore any fruit. Arte didn't look down on his sister, for this, but Tarron still strived to become as powerful in magic as Arte was in physical battle.

Eventually her chance came; being a part of the main family, Tarron had access to certain secrets, and was able to convince the nobles to plant the seed of magic in her. Doing so would require a certain ritual, which her family would be in attendance for. In essence, it would transplant some of a high-ranking Cleric's magic to Tarron, hopefully sparking her own talent. While the ritual was under way, however, a fight broke out between Arte and one of the sons from the main family. To date, only those two know what caused it. Nevertheless, the Cleric's deity, being one of peace, sent its servants to intervene and stop the fight. Unfortunately, this was near the very end of the ritual to grant Tarron her magic, and as the outsiders appeared, they were converted to magic and bound to Tarron. She passed out from the strain at the time, but would wake up soon. Not physically hurt, she was still mentally exhausted, and once she discovered that the outsiders were still, in a way, conscious, she took off to see the Cleric who had imparted the power on her. She was told that the servants could not be removed without powerful magic, but since they were servants of a peaceful god, they should not be malevolent.

In order to save face with the main house, Arte was cast out of his home and forced to join the military. Of course, this was his life's plan anyways, but his original intent was to have the stature of a nobleman while doing it, to rise up the ranks quickly. Now, his family refused to acknowledge him at all. The worst part was not being able to see or talk to Tarron; he didn't even know what had happened to her beyond a short briefing. Word eventually got around that she was fine, and Arte didn't give up his training. Even if his fight and banishment had embittered him toward nobles, he still wanted to become one; it was the only way he could right everything with Tarron. And the only way for him to do THAT was to become distinguished and recognized by his own efforts.

However, five years passed, and while Arte was usually at the top of his class, nobody ever came to him and he was never sent on anything but small missions. The obvious reason was that the main house was preventing his advancement, but Arte's attitude didn't help either. As time went on, he became more and more self-absorbed and arrogant as a way to keep his mind off of things. He took up mounted combat and jousting to give himself something to do besides training, as well as picking up pyrography as a hobby. Eventually, Arte was sent on a real mission, picked by his noble family - one designed to end his career no matter what the outcome. It may have worked, if the Orlovsky family had had nothing to do with it. As it were, however, it only inspired Arte, both because he knew Tarron would find out about it, and because doing well would spite the nobles.

It was a diplomatic mission that turned sour and became a capture mission, as the family had expected. Had Arte attacked the target, a noble, physically, he would have been arrested at best, and he was aware of that. Instead, he cut down the girl's guards and frightened her so much that she didn't dare to oppose him. The nobles were astonished and outraged at his success, as they had intended Arte to fail, and then deny any involvement with the scheme. However, the military was pleased with Arte's success, and decided that they would send him on more outings, despite the nobles' complaints.

Shortly after this, Arte heard of the campaign to send a party to scout the Stole Lands and defeat the bandits there. He was interested, but decided against it, since it would take him away from the city, and thus Tarron.


During the five years that Arte was training to be a military officer, Tarron was attempting to get a grasp on her newfound magic and what came with it. She found that she could not speak to the "guests" inhabiting her soul, but they could communicate their feelings well enough by interacting with the outside world. Despite being seen as holy by worshippers of Shelyn, Tarron was looked down upon by her family for her "tainted" magic. This, coupled with Arte's treatment, led to Tarron's disillusionment with her family. She lived a comfortable life, but wanted nothing more than to get away from it and see her brother. When she heard of Arte's successful mission, she was proud of him, but even more bitter towards her family, since she recognized their true intent. Upon learning of the expedition into the Greenbelt, Tarron accepted her family's invitation to go, even knowing it was simply meant to get her out of the house. After all, that was what she wanted. However, she had one condition: Arte would be going with her, as a guard. The nobles agreed to this, since it would send Arte out of the military and prevent him from rising up the ladder, and nobody expected them to get very far in the Greenbelt.

Arte was surprised to hear of this, and eager to go along with Tarron, but had a condition of his own for the nobles; he wouldn't be going empty-handed. He enjoyed mounted combat, and demanded a powerful monster to aid him in this adventure; one that would increase his own prestige. A thousand or so gp was nothing compared to what Arte could do if he truly became a noble, so the family accepted and purchased an intelligent, strong, and frightening beast resembling a sort of demonic lion from a gladiator arena. While it scared the skeletons out of everyone else who saw it, Arte was fascinated by it, and named the creature after a hero he'd read about.

Arte and Tarron spent a few days together, learning about the other's experiences and discovering their mutual distaste for their family. Arte also used this time to get acquainted with his new companion Siegfried and gather up supplies. When the moment of departure arrived, the two left together, determined to make a name for themselves and separate their names from that of their family.