Myrbec

Myrbec Turen was born in the year 1326 into the Thistleberry clan, a small gnome village in the middle of a great forest. His father Alston and mother Ella were humble, but the family got by on their own. The forest provided everything they needed.

Thistleberry village wasn't large, but it was very old. Nestled in the great forest, it was unknown to the rest of the world. This suited the forest gnomes' way of life well, since they wanted to live in peace from others. Visitors to the village were rare.

Myrbec proved to be a lively and highly intelligent child. However, he grew frustrated and bored quickly. The safe forest offered only few challenges. But the stories about Baervan Wildwanderer, told at the campfire during the full moon by Giles Lightfoot, the village's druid, offered relief for his lively mind. Especially the stories in which Baervan tried to communicate through humor were to young Myrbec's liking.

Myrbec also traveled a lot outside the village in the great forest with Giles and his pet, Arry. Arry was a raccoon that Giles took in, in honor of Baervan. Myrbec also learned to communicate simple things with the small forest animals.

Life in peaceful Thistleberry, however, took a stormy turn before Myrbec's fifteenth year. The day was beautiful and warm, and Myrbec was outside on the village fields, high on a hill. Suddenly Myrbec noticed a great many animal sounds coming from somewhere on the other side of the village, from the middle of the forest, and they were approaching the village. Far off among the trees, Myrbec could make out many enormous figures approaching the village. Birds and other forest animals moved ahead of them.

Myrbec started running toward the village as fast as his legs could carry him. Soon the whole small village was alive with activity. Warning horns sounded and the gnomes rushed from their homes. Myrbec couldn't find his parents, they weren't home. Giles, however, was at the village temple and said that his parents were safe.

Massive giants, monstrously ugly and misshapen creatures, stormed out of the forest into the village. They were fomorians, the gnomes' ancient enemies, which Myrbec always heard about as a child whenever he didn't do as he was told. With their huge clubs they began destroying everything they saw. The destruction was too much for Myrbec, and together with Giles he gathered a fighting force from the gnomes in the temple. The commotion outside drew closer to the temple. The building shook. The battle between the gnomes and fomorians was fierce. The gnomes' cries mixed in with the sound of breaking boards and trees. Eventually the giants were lured away and driven out of the village. Myrbec was seriously injured after leading the fighting on the front line. The final blow from a club took Myrbec's consciousness, and then came darkness.

The next time Myrbec came to, he was in a large bed. He had a bandage on his head and his head ached. Beside the bed was a person Myrbec didn't recognize. He was safe, however, and the person beside the bed turned out to be a human, and his name was Robyn Gunther.

Robyn said that Myrbec had suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the floor of a great hall, where he lay. Robyn and his companion carried Myrbec to bed and tended to his head.

As Myrbec and Robyn told their stories, it became clear that Myrbec was at an ancient druid school. The school is located on the isle of Norland in the Moonshae Isles. Giles had been at the school long ago, until he moved off somewhere to the north after completing his training. No one, however, could say exactly where Myrbec had come from or where Thistleberry is located.

Giles's name carried a good reputation at the school, and the druid school gladly took Myrbec on as a student, with Robyn serving as Myrbec's teacher. Myrbec had nowhere else to go, and the druid school offered a chance to develop and heal his body and mind, battered by the battle.

The years passed quickly at the druid school. The training is very long, as much as 20 years. In that time, Myrbec gained much knowledge. The druids' main task is to preserve the balance between humanity and nature. Many druids serve as important advisors to local rulers. Sometimes they even act as the law's right hand and as judges, settling disputes and problems. Many also watch over ancient sacred sites and protect untouched nature.

The most important task, perhaps, is to watch that the elements of earth, air, fire, and water remain in balance. According to the druids' ancient prophecy, Tharizdun, the chained god, seeks to break his chains and bring about the end of the world by upsetting the balance of the elements. They must therefore report all major natural upheavals, so it can be studied whether they are normal or supernatural.

Traveling with Robyn, Myrbec got to journey across the north, through its various realms and city-states as well as its great wildernesses. He has seen at least the vast and beautiful city of Neverwinter, the pearl of the north, whose King Nasher Alagondar needed help subduing a mysterious illness. In the vast metropolis of Waterdeep, Lord Piergeiron needed consultation. In Silverymoon, capital of the new realm of the Silver Marches, help was needed preserving ancient trees.

Along the way, all sorts of things have happened. During one long evening in Waterdeep, Myrbec met the charming and cheerful Shamil Longspire, with whom he also spent a long night as the full moon lit the inn room. Waking in the morning, Shamil was gone, and later Myrbec has heard that the number of rock gnomes has apparently increased, but despite his efforts he hasn't been able to find them.

After another particularly heavy evening, Myrbec found in the morning, tucked under his arm, an odd map that looked like a treasure map, but its old writing no one has yet managed to decipher. And Myrbec has no memory of what happened during the evening or who gave him the map.

As Robyn approached the respectable age of 60, he decided to settle down to tend the great forest of the High Forest, where Myrbec followed as his student. The forest is a remnant of ancient times, and is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, surviving forest. Myrbec learned that long ago, one of the elves' great realms stood in the forest, but nothing remains of it now except a few dangerous ruins somewhere within the forest. The elven realm vanished centuries ago, when the forces of darkness were unleashed in the city of Ascalhorn. The roots of the story, however, have been lost over the course of history. All that remains is a dangerous part of the forest in its northeastern reaches, known as the fortress of Hellgate.

Over five years, as Myrbec wandered the High Forest, he found many things reminiscent of Thistleberry, though not quite the same.

The final part of Myrbec's training is the Walkabout, which he began at 40. The purpose of the journey is to find one's true self. When Myrbec feels he is ready, he must return to Robyn in the High Forest or to the druid school, at which point his abilities will finally be tested.

Personality

I get bored easily. When am I going to get on with my destiny?

Ideals

Sincerity. There's no good in pretending to be something I'm not. (Neutral)

Bonds

I have a family, but I have no idea where they are. One day, I hope to see them again.

Flaws

I have a weakness for the vices of the city, especially hard drink.

Appearance

Skinny and flaxen - haired, his skin walnut brown and his eyes a startling turquoise.

Notes

Folk hero defining event: I led a militia to fight off an invading army.

• An indecipherable treasure map

• Gnomes take delight in life, enjoying every moment of invention, exploration, investigation, creation, and play.

• A male gnomes beard, in contrast to his wild hair, is kept carefully trimmed but often styled into curious forks or neat points. A gnomes

clothing, though usually made in modest earth tones, is elaborately

decorated with embroidery, embossing, or gleaming jewels.

• A personal name, a clan name and a nickname.

• a wife and children