Approved Bio for Darin Saine (Returning - No CC Needed)

[Taymist]

Character Name: Darin Saine

 

DM Handle: DarthRand

 

Physical Description: Darin stands roughly five feet and seven inches tall, with his straight, ebony hair hanging to a tapered point between his shoulder blades. He has a muscular build thanks to his years in the Children of the Light, though he is certainly no blacksmith. His eyes, once a deep brown, have become a burnished gold, almost glowing in the night like a wolf’s. Other than his odd eye color, the only thing that would mark him as out of the ordinary is the confident, easy air with which he carries himself, as though he were a noble, or someone else who knew none around them could do them much harm.

 

Age: 24

 

Gender: Male

 

Place of Birth/Raising: Amadicia - Amador

 

 

 

Character History:

 

Darin was born to merchant parents, though it was only his father who did any travelling. Where his father’s punctuality and personality were what made him so well liked, it was Darin’s mother’s head for numbers and business sense that kept them all living an upstanding lifestyle, as Darin’s father liked to indulge himself in taverns on his travels. Darin himself had little to do with the business, save loading and unloading his father’s wagon when he departed and returned respectively. As such, Darin considers himself raised more by the streets of Amador than Alam or Jaya Saine, though granted with the Children of Light’s headquarters in town, those streets were nowhere near as rough as those of Caemlyn or Cairhien. His childhood was that of a normal Amadician child, playing swords with his friends; admiring the Children or the King’s men, and pestering the opposite faction (though the King’s supporters got the short end of the fun stick, no one ever dared pester the Children of the Light).

 

When Darin was seventeen, his father decided it was time for him to go on his first trading route, as it would be his job to take over his father’s business one day, although the idea rankled at Darin. Still, enticed by a wondrous desire to see the world, to know the lands outside the walls of Amador, Darin loaded himself into his father’s cart after detaching himself from his mother’s tearful embrace, and he and his father set out for Cairhien, stopping at several small towns along the way. Darin marveled at the beautiful Ogier architecture of Caemlyn’s Inner City, and the topless towers of Cairhien, but when he and his father returned home a year later, Darin had made up his mind that he was never going to be a merchant. Having to put up with fool people complaining about your prices, as well as the ever-growing risk of bandits did not exactly appeal to the boy of eighteen. And because he was eighteen, Darin, much to the protests of his mother and father, joined the ranks of his childhood heroes, the Children of the Light.

 

While he had never been anything special outside the Fortress, as an Anointed of the Light, Darin excelled, taking to their philosophies with ease. His father had imbued into him discipline and punctuality already, so these things came naturally to Darin, though he nearly perfected them in the Children. He climbed the ranks quickly, and at twenty-three, he was just on the verge of being promoted to a First Lieutenant he was certain, when the Howling came upon him. He didn’t know what it was of course, but he began noticing...changes. He began hearing things that none of his men could, seeing things long before any other man possibly could have. And with all this, oh Light how he cursed it, Darin began hearing mutterings of "Darkfriend" among the ranks, and he was certain they were talking of him. He grew paranoid and angry at once, and these led him to do the unthinkable. He broke his oaths to the Children.

 

In the dead of night, Darin shed his pure white cloak, caressing the golden sunburst over the silver lightning bolt as he laid it on his cot, on top of all his other belongings save his sword, and donned a fresh set of civilian clothes, a sturdy pair of trousers, a red shirt with golden suns at the collar, and a knee-length, dark green coat with blue vines embroidered on the sleeve. He fled into the woods, avoiding all the sentries with ease (he had placed them himself). It wasn’t until he was away from the camp that he began hearing...them. It wasn’t hearing so much as it was seeing pictures in his mind and being aware of something outside of his own body. He traveled for days along the edge of the forests of Amadicia, sleeping on the ground more often than not, though he usually managed to stop at a village inn for a hot meal at midday.

 

It was on one of those stops that he truly feared for his life. The meal was received and paid for, but when Darin thanked the man, the innkeeper only stared at Darin’s eyes before throwing up a call of Darkfriend. Darin, as a former member of the Children, took a few moments to discern that he was the so-called Darkfriend in question, and fled the town. He had not been near another human being since, hiding out deep in the forests of Amadicia, trying to figure out exactly what was happening to him.

 

For days Darin wandered the wilderness, sleeping in his jacket, and often starving, for he knew little of actual woodscraft such as hunting or fishing. At times he would wake and find a freshly killed deer carcass at his makeshift camp, and while he never caught a glimpse of his benefactors, the voices and images that appeared in his head were those of wolves hunting and aiding a cub of the pack. Despite the connotations of being aided or associated with wolves as a Child of the Light, Darin managed to put aside these reservations in the face of food, though he mentally refused to acknowledge that he was actually hearing, much less understanding the thoughts of wolves.

 

After almost a week of wandering the forests of Amadicia, Darin was confronted by a woman who stood directly in his path. She spoke with a strange accent and introduced herself as Timewalker, a rather odd name to be sure. Timewalker offered to take Darin to a safe haven, a place where he could learn to control his “gift,” as she called it, though he rather thought of it as more of a curse. Nevertheless, he agreed, and their next few days were spent travelling further north, to an abandoned Stedding. There Darin was introduced to Aleeza, a young woman among the sect of Wolfkin known as “Sages.” She judged him to be mentally and physically sound, and gave him lodging in a rather large hall, which he was to share with other cubs.

 

The past months had been eye-opening for the former Anointed. Weapons training as usual, though he had thrown away his old sword. He did eventually do enough odd jobs to earn the coin for a new one to be forged. As well, he began work on constructing his own home, a small log cabin on the outskirts of the Stedding. It had been a long job, as Darin insisted on doing most of the work on his own, as a sort of cleansing rite for his soul, though he accepted help when it was necessary. Overall, life in the Stedding had been good for Darin. He’d learned to filter out the wolves and speak to them himself. And he’d even been given a new name: Snowback.