Rene' Legrande was born on a stormy night twenty-six years ago. He had come earlier than expected, forcing his parents off the road they were traveling on and into a cave nearby. He was the first of many, the firstborn of ten total siblings, five boys and five girls. His family lived in a large home, inherited from some distant ancestor, but were slowly running out of money to sustain such a property. Around the time Rene' turned six years of age, his father was slain fending off a raiding party of hobgoblins seeking to raze their home. His mother fell into a dark depression, refusing to leave her room for weeks at a time, and young Rene' drifted from his few friends as he took on the hefty responsibilities laid upon him by fate.

After ten long years of taking immaculate care of his siblings, his mother called him into her room. In her hands, she held a pendant with a large, multifaceted jewel set into it. With tears in her eyes, she insisted that he take it and sell it to fund a trip to Candlekeep. Two years prior, on a trip into town for bread, Rene' had almost been hit by a wagon carrying the Grand Librarian of the Great Library. He had apologized profusely and left the young boy with several thick texts on various subjects, which he had then pored over for every waking moment of free time. At first, Rene' refused his mother's gift, unwilling to take such a generous gift. But he eventually conceded, and set off on the road to the Great Library.

However, Fate would seem determined to keep him from his path. After a particularly grueling day of travel, Rene' led his mule into the trees to make camp. In doing so, he stumbled upon a grove in the spruce trees, and in the center of the grove was a ring of odd mushrooms, of every shape, size, and color. Weary, eyes heavy from exhaustion, he thought little of it as he set up his camp in the grove. Little did he realize that he had stumbled upon a fairy circle. In the middle of the night, as Rene' was fast asleep, the circle started to glow with an alien light, and two figures stepped out. One was tall and thin, with hauntingly pale skin and eyes like the frost on a cold morning. The other was short and plump, with friendly features and a long red dress of an unidentifiable material. They whispered back and forth for ages, came to an agreement, and loomed over the sleeping Rene'. The next person to stumble upon the fairy grove would see a dismantled tent and the bleached white bones of a mule.

The two fey beings stole Rene' from this world and dragged him into the alien realm of the Feywild. They introduced themselves as Willow and Holly, and wasted no time twisting his mind and reveling in his humiliation. Short were his reprieves, but they felt even shorter still. Only three years passed in the material realm, but they toyed with the boy for at least six, until, after one particularly long period of revelry, with his tormentors passed out cold, he escaped. It would be days until he found a way out of the Feywild, but he would not leave without a scar. On his way through the portal, a clawed hand stretched out unnaturally from behind him and tore into his back.

Fate was still not done with the boy. A sickness racked his body, worse than any he had suffered before, as his form shifted to that of a great wolf. The Feywild had left him with lycanthropy, and his mind roiled as his body joined the hunt. He knew what he had done immediately after snapping awake, and vowed to never let it happen again. He wandered into town, and used the last of his gold to pay the blacksmith and enchanter to make him a special set of silver manacles and a thick leather collar. Naturally, these items gathered some unwanted attention. A young upstart monster hunter by the name of Verals cornered him on the trail and, bolt to his throat, nearly spelled his doom. He managed to fight the hunter off and evade him, stumbling into a suddenly misty night.

Fate was still not done with the boy.