Raiern 'ul Na Shadrys
Raiern was born in the Skydancer Clan in the distant Vijorni Forest to Groeden and Jaien. His childhood was filled with the usual playfulness that only youth can muster. He spent his days amongst the tree trunks and in their loving branches. His freinds were the other children of the clan, but more so the birds that flew among the branches he so loved to play on. While the tribe would follow the herds of deer that lived among the forrests he learned the skills needed in life, hunting, fishing, crafting. His life was not what many would call easy, but it was never hard. His nomadic tribe would go where the food led them and they seldom met with the outside world. The chief firmly believed that if Melora wanted them to meet the world then she would show them a sign.
On his tenth birthday there came a visitor to their little clan. This stranger stepped out of the fey wounded, and in need of help. Never ones to turn away those in need the tribe took him in and helped him in his recovery. The man's name was Paelias, an Eladrin who had just had a run in with some of the less friendly residents of the feywild. When he had recovered he told the clan that he was a prophet, and the reason he had been traveling the feywild was his destiny, and meeting this traveling group was also his fate. When he emerged from the shaman's tent his eyes set upon Raiern. The sky grew dark and the forest silent. Paelias' eyes lost their color and shone bright with silver and with a voice that was not his own Paelias spake.
"Oh child of the trees and boughs!
Yours is a life of wandering!
Through you shall your tribe live!
Go forth and they shall flourish!
Pay no heed and they shall wither.
Go out and seek the tribe Woodsinger.
There amongst them lies a rift,
From the rift comes a daemon.
But nay! A daemon is not the foe.
Your path, his path, their path, all as one.
The journey will lead you away.
Away from that which you hold dear.
Far across the land shall you venture.
Many the ob-stacles and harrowing shall be the path.
Tho some may fall, you must not waiver!
When you reach the mountains
There shall your quest be fulfiled.
There shall you meet the blight of your tribe.
There shall you save your family.
There shall your songs be sung for generations!"
When Paelias finished his eyes regained their normal hue and the forest returned to its normal state. The tribe was stunned to say the least. Paelias looked around him and realized what had happened. He said that he had been sent to find this child and lead the boy to his destiny. Many were the skeptic of this "seeming coincidential stranger". Raiern, however knew right away it was true, he could feel it in his heart. His parents let him make the decision that he thought was right, and would help him in any way they could. Many questions were asked of Paelias, who seemed to have only vague memories of his prophecies. The chief personally met with Raiern to discuss what his thoughts were. When in the privacy of the woods the Chief told Raiern that he too had been having dreams of the boy and his travels, but that he was hoping it was nothing more than his own wanderlust. Raiern's path was clear.
Raiern spent the next few days prepairing to head out into the wild with the stranger. When the time came for him to head out, the tribe came with him to the edge of the woods that met with the feywild and all saw him off on the beginings of his travels. Paelias traveled with his charge across the great reaches of the feywild. Days rolled into weeks, and weeks into months. Durring this time Paelias would tell Raiern about traveling, and about the mysteries of the fey. He taught him to use a sword and what to do when around others that were not like him. A year later, when finally they came to a small band of gnomes Paelias knew they had come to their destination. Raiern walked through the rift and looked back, but his mentor was still at the edge.
"This is as far as I can go, from here on out the journey shall be yours. Mind what I have told you and bear with you your one true friend." With the last comment a hawk flew out of the trees and alighted on Raiern's shoulder.
Raiern turned and went on, once again not alone, to find his destiny. His next stop brought him to the Woodsinger Clan that lived near the rift that he had just come from. The clan was wary of him and his new companion for some time, but as Raiern had no real timeline he didn't really know what he needed to do next. So he spent the next four years waiting for a sign. Living amongst the tribe with his falcon, learning from him and teaching him at the same time. Soon it was a second home to Gus (Raiern had no idea why, but he instinctivly knew that was his name) and himself. He soon met Autumn Mist and knew she too was to be among the wanderers. Her ability to call upon the spirits of the wild intrigued him and he saw that she too sought to better the world. The forest called to her and she could hear its song much the same bond that Raiern shared with Gus. Autumn Mist, it seemed, had a forutitous birth herself. A comet was seen in the sky at the time of her birth and stayed visible for one whole year. Raiern didn't tell her, but he saw that as a sign too, one that she would walk the world, stoping at nothing, not even the heavens, to reach her goal.
The sign that Raiern was waiting for soon apeared out of the very same rift that he himself had come out of four years earlier. Leucis came to the small tribe in the spiring of the year, and his arrival caused quite a stir. The moment that Raiern saw the "demon" he knew that this was the traveler spoken of in the prophecy. The time to set out was at hand. The trio decided to spend some time together, getting to know their abilities and personalities.
It was durring this aquaintence period that fate delt yet another card into the hands of the growing troupe. Kyrie stumbled into the village on a dim and overcast afternoon. She too was a woodland soul, cast out from her dwarven home for her belief that her home was among the animals of the forest. She had traveled for months among the trees until she came upon a sect of druids who saw her for what she was, a kindred soul. Her training began and in a few short years she had learned to link her spirit to the wilderness and even briefly change her form to match that of the wild animals she so loved. One night she awoke to the archdruid gently shaking her. He told her it was time to go. He had a dream, and in that dream Kyrie was fighting the Great Bear in a swamp. She had three other "nature spirits" beside her, helping her. So once again she left into the forest to wander, but this time she was more prepared. She met Raiern and Autumn Mist and felt their connection to nature was much like her own.
Now the trio was a quartet. So begins the story...
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And ah, perfection. Well, if you discount that Jake isn't using a bow with his male elf ranger/beastmaster with a falcon companion. This male elf ranger with an eagle on his arm is about as close to perfection as we're likely to get.
