#context. woke up with this in my head one night. banished it to the drafts. now am 1/3 a bottle of rum in. so. hehe

[starsailores]

i am so sorry

[scatterpatter]

[ROUGH DRAFT] Corren’s Backstory

Okay so i REALLLY stress the “rough draft” part because I need to run this by my dm and he’ll probably need me to make changes, but this is the general idea so far- granted its worded for him and the group who know the story already rather than for like a new player, so sorry if a lot of things are out of context XD

JAZZ THIS IS SPOILERS SO IF I CATCH YOU READING THIS ILL FITE U >:(

Content Warnings: Death, emotional and physical abuse, violence, depression

Life for Corren was pretty par for the course for a Marelienth child. He lived with his father, mother, and 2 older siblings in a somewhat large town known as Warrencrest. Warrencrest was a town nestled in the Thistlepoint mountain range- a range named for the thistle-bearing plants that lined the edges of the trails. Many adventurers traveling through the mountain range wouldn’t take the trail through Warrencrest, so the city did not see many travelers. Of course travelers and adventurers weren’t rare, but the town was mostly made of Marelienth residents.

Growing up, Corren was the youngest of three siblings- his brother Julian being the middle child and his sister Mila being the eldest of the bunch. Mila and Julian were very close in age, though Corren was considerably younger. Despite this, they were as close as siblings could be- even building a tree house on their property. Most in his town practiced spellcasting in one way or another- and that followed to his family. Julian was a necromancer, and Mila was an Evoker. Due to a lack of visitors and adventurers, there were often all sorts of jobs and mini-quests posted for townsfolk to take to earn some extra cash.

Julian and Mila were definitely the adventuring types, always taking jobs to help provide for the family when not working their usual jobs. They loved every minute of it, and they’d do it full-time if they didn’t have a family to help provide for. Corren was far too young to accompany them, since many quests involved either fighting enemies and monsters or some other form of treachery, but they let him tag along on more tame quests such as deliveries or escorts. They were both so kind and happy to have him tag along, and he wanted to be just like them when he grows up.

… But things couldn’t be perfect forever. When Corren was about the Marelienth equivalent of a pre-teen, Mila got sick. It didn’t seem serious at first, but her condition slowly began to deteriorate. No one knew exactly what this illness was nor where she contracted it, but many believe she contracted it on one of her adventures with Julian. Healers in Warrencrest did whatever they could to help save her, but for whatever reason, they couldn’t. She died in their home.

Julian and Corren were understandably devastated upon losing their big sister, and neither really knew how to cope. The day she died, they spent the entire afternoon in their treehouse, just hugging each other close and not saying a word, crying in each other’s arms. … Though, Julian was a grief-stricken young adult with a focus in necromancy. That never ends well. That night, while everyone else was sleeping, Julian snuck to where they kept Mila’s body… and attempted to use his magic to resurrect her. One cannot truly resurrect a corpse unless they are level 20, and Julian was far from 20, but that didn’t stop him.

Corren woke to the sound of screaming, rushed over to where the noise had come from- only to find his sister’s corpse, still fresh and beginning to rot… attacking his brother. Mila was not herself anymore, she was a mindless undead creature with the mind of a cornered animal. Corren watched in horror as his parents rushed over to help Julian and ultimately kill the creature that was once Mila. Being only one undead creature, the battle itself wasn’t hard, but it looked too much like Mila for anyone to willingly bring more harm than necessary to it. The battle quickly ended and she was laid to rest a final time.

This was the last straw for their parents, though. They chewed Julian out for being so reckless and for essentially desecrating their daughter’s corpse. As things escalated they eventually kicked Julian out of their home forever, unofficially banishing him from the town. Corren attempted to protest, but no one listened to him. As they were throwing him out, Julian caught one last look at his little brother and shouted “We’ll meet again, this isn’t goodbye forever!” and, as a physical reminder of this promise, threw a pendant to Corren. The pendant was nothing special- a simple amethyst wrapped with copper wiring on a chain, but Julian would always wear it, and now it belonged to Corren.

To this day, they still haven’t found each other. Julian could be long dead for all Corren knows. He has no leads on where his brother could have possibly ended up.

The next few years were the hardest. Being the Marelienth equivalent of a teenager, he now had to truly focus on studying and magic, and his parents became extremely strict with him now that he was the only child of theirs that wasn’t dead or disowned. They forbade him from any questing, as they believe that’s what killed Mila, but they also forbade anything to do with necromancy, as that’s what Julian specialized in and they didn’t want Corren to turn into someone like that. They pressured him into various “safe” schools of magic, to which Corren eventually decided on Chrono-Busting.

Over the years, the tree that their childhood treehouse rested upon grew old and began to rot, and one storm brought winds high enough that made the tree topple altogether. The treehouse was ruined and unsalvageable, and as Corren stared at the wreckage that once brought him so much joy, he felt that last pit of childhood innocence fade from his soul. He kept to his studies, completely absorbing himself in books to try and distract himself from the vast emptiness he felt inside himself. As he learned how to properly cast Rope Trick, he found the room he was brought to could be molded to look like anything he wanted… … Of course, it was that tree house. It was still empty and depressing without his siblings, but at least it gave him good memories to cling to.

 … Though, he still kept the small amethyst pendant that Julian gave him. He simply couldn’t hate his brother, no matter how much his parents tried to convince him of how awful his brother was. He still looked up to Julian and still aspired to be like him… maybe without the whole “messing up in trying to revive their dead sister” part. He couldn’t help himself, as he started to study necromancy on the side, learning a few spells in that field. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but… he simply couldn’t help himself. 

One night, however, his father caught him practicing his necromancy, and things quickly went south. Corren admittedly doesn’t remember much about what happened that night, it was a blur. All he remembers is there was a lot of yelling- mainly from his father- him trying to explain himself, his father grabbed something from the desk, a sudden movement- and next thing he knew, Corren was on the floor, a dull throbbing in his head as he only saw red from his right eye. Time felt like it slowed down from there- he wasn’t sure if it was from the adrenaline or the fact that he was studying how to manipulate time itself, but it was just enough to act before he got hurt any worse. He didn’t mean to cast a magic missile… it just… happened. To be honest, to this day he’s unsure if he killed his father or simply wounded him, because once he hurt his own parent he knew there was no going back. Panicking, he took the amethyst necklace, a cloak to shield him from the elements, and ran.

He knew he wouldn’t survive a winter in the Thistlepoint range without a proper shelter, so his first order of business was to get away from the mountains and flee to a town with a more temperate climate. As he was crossing one river, he spotted his reflection in the water and realized why his vision in his right eye had gone wonky: whatever he got hit with was sharp, and left a good scar across his eye. Great, now he looks like a criminal too. But it was something he’d have to live with. His vision returned to normal within a few weeks which was good, though of course he still needed glasses. 

The next few years he just spent on the run, hopping from town to town. He never stayed in one place too long, as he didn’t want to raise any suspicion and for people to find out he was a runaway from a town he could potentially be wanted in. He absolutely hated this life, he hated feeling like a criminal, he hated how afraid he was to be found out and forced back home, he hated how he barely scraped by… and he hated being alone. He missed Mila. He missed Julian. … At least his scar slowly healed over the years, to the point where most don’t notice. At least he didn’t look like a criminal anymore.

One day, going between towns, he ran into the city of Lilenthemar. The story he told the residents there was that he was some kind of refugee from the Crescenfall area. Luckily they seemed to trust him and his story enough to allow him to stay a while, so that became his temporary home. … One day, though, he ran into an interesting fellow by the name of Jethro Mosen. He doesn’t even remember how they began talking, especially since Corren was far from the social type. Yet- something just clicked. He found himself conversing with this man, avoiding as much about his own story as he could but rather focusing on who he currently was. Though, Jethro seemed to have picked up on something, and began asking more… intellectual questions. It felt as though he was being quizzed… but Corren didn’t study magic and history for years for nothing, so he answered everything with ease. 

Then… Jethro smiled. No one had smiled at him like that since he was a child. Before he could question it, Jethro offered to hire him as a historian for the Mosen household. Corren couldn’t believe what he was hearing. To be offered a job and a place to stay- and to offer that to a stranger? There had to be some kind of catch, right? Jethro explained that whatever his story was, he was clearly qualified. Maybe it was obvious that Corren was currently homeless and jobless, to be offered a position on the spot, but… how could he say no?

And that’s what lead him to live in Lilenthemar as he aged into adulthood. He had a job that paid for food, a shelter to keep him warm, a place far from Warrencrest… And most importantly, he had Jethro. Someone who took him in and cared for him, seeming not to care about who he used to be but rather who he is now, and was so much more than an employer, he was a friend. He was even the only person that Corren had ever told his true backstory to, and despite being a runaway criminal, Jethro was so understanding and non-judgemental to his situation. Some may think that his feelings towards his employer are romantic, and honestly Corren himself doesn’t really know what he feels for Jethro… but all he knows is that for the first time in many years, he didn’t feel completely empty anymore.

The next few years he remembered what it was like to feel happy. He grew his magical skills, still mostly chrono-based but with his typical dash of necromancy. He learned to handle firearms to defend himself if magic couldn’t suffice. He began a collection of books that quickly grew into full library now that he didn’t have to be on the run with minimal possessions anymore. He even wrote a few books based on his studies, mainly focusing on the Menoa tree. He spent much of his time studying the magical properties of this place, albeit a bit frustrated that he couldn’t ever seem to activate these supposed magical properties. He kept the amethyst pendant all these years and almost never took it off, though he usually wears it underneath his clothing to protect it, so it’s rare for anyone to actually see it. He spent much of his time with Jethro, offering to help out with chores or housekeeping whenever not doing his usual historian tasks. He would find just about any excuse to have bonding time with the other, but why wouldn’t he? He may not have been this exciting adventurer that he wanted to be when he was a child… but he had a stable life that treated him well, which is more than what most of his adolescence offered.

But then… he met the F.U.C.K.s, as Jericho was Jethro’s son and the crew needed escort to the Menoa tree. Corren was more than willing to help someone of the Mosen family, so he didn’t mind giving them escort at all. Though… they quickly revealed themselves to be so much more than a typical group of adventurers. The Menoa tree immediately reacted to their presence, putting them through a series of trials before bestowing a magical weapon to Jericho. And yet… they hardly reacted, as if this was normal to them. Corren… admittedly had a meltdown in front of them, he’ll admit it, yet he just couldn’t wrap his head around who the hell these people were! Who just shows up, activates a magical tree, accepts a magical object from said tree, then turns around and leaves like that isn’t a huge deal?! Yeah, no, that was enough excitement for him. He escorted them back and told them how to get to their next destination… then he took a goddamn nap. He was so done with that crazy shit.

… Yet, he couldn’t quite forget them as easily as he wanted to. There was something so familiar about them… and then it clicked. They were just like Julian. Loud, dorky, rushing head-first into adventure, and not questioning how crazy life was for them. He nearly forgot what living life as an adventurer could be like, since that was something he gave up in favor of a stable life. He did whatever he could to distract himself from these thoughts, yet they never failed to creep back.

One day, while with Jethro, they both received the news that Jericho and company were going to war. Not just any war, the war against the Scabbards- Corren was lucky enough to have never run into them before, but he heard the stories over what they were capable of. They both knew this wasn’t going to be an easily-won war, and many would die in its wake. Jethro was worried about his son, and could Corren blame him? They weren’t fighters, though, so all they could do was sit back and wait for news- good or bad. … Unless?

To this day he didn’t know what came over him, but Corren offered to go and assist Jericho, doing whatever he can to keep him and his party alive. He came up with every excuse to go: he was a historian and wanted to witness this historical event, he was a skilled spellcaster who could help the party when need be, he had a sniper rifle and pistol to use when not using magic, so on and so forth. Something was pushing him to join and help… and he had a feeling Jethro could see that, considering how willingly he allowed Corren to go.

And that’s how he rushed to the city of Joshua as fast as he could. Admittedly, he was pretty late in the game, considering how the walls came down and just how many either evacuated or lied dead on the ground. But he knew who he was here for, and he was determined to catch up to them… of course he tripped the moment they saw him. Of course. But he was relieved to see that everyone in the party was still alive. It took some convincing, but they let him tag along and offer whatever help he could.

This had to be the worst place to begin adventuring- right near the climax of a brutal war? Well, things were never easy for Corren, so he gladly took on the challenge. Maybe it was rude to feel so exhilarated when so many were dying around him, but hey, he’s part-necromancer, death is far from foreign to him. But what made his heart race more than anything was the party he was with. They were brave and strong, inspiring and kind, even if annoying and confusing at times- they were just like Julian. In every action they took, in every enemy they slain, he saw his brother. He saw his brother in each and every one of them. He’d never admit it, but he was quickly growing endeared to them- he didn’t really know what he was doing, but he knew that it was right. 

All he has to do is try and prevent these dorks from getting killed.

...

No pressure or anything.