Falandar’s birth was long awaited by his parents, Torendil an Gallina, both powerful elf magi who fully expected their heir to be just as powerful and influencial. Near the end of the pregnancy however, while Gallina was travelling, she was caught in a brutal battle and though she succeeded in killing every last (insert dangerous foes, maybe greenskins or trolls)the baby kicked and broke her concentration at the last moment, doubling the spell’s effect but also sending a near catastrophic aethyric discharge coursing through her body that nearly sent her to the void.

Having only narrowly escaped being ‘embraced’ by the very aether that so often fueled her shook her confidence to the core nearly robbing her of her ability to even sense the winds of magic for a time. When after she recovered, she was never truly able to regain her former level of control. Glad to have walked away from the ordeal with her life and that of her unborn childs’, she counted her blessings and tried to move on with life. When Falandar was born however, she and Torendil were horrified to discover that the chaotic energy that had wracked her body had indeed affected the baby… Falandar was left with bright red swirling scars from his hands all the way up to his shoulders with a few tendrils creeping up his neck to his temples.

The healer that atended mother and child was quoted as saying : “It is as though, from within the womb, the child absorbed some of the wild energies in order to save both your lives…” Though all others were convinced of this, Gallina couldn’t quite bring herself to let go of the resentment she had felt towards the child… part of her reasoned that it was his fault afer all, though she would never say so to him… The new parents tried to move on with life as usual but soon realized with renewed horror that Falandar did not seem to be able to sense the winds of magic in all but the tiniest amounts…which for an elf would be like any other race having a child born blind… Healer after healer tried everything they could think of to mend the child’s ability to no avail… Falandar would grow up as perhaps the only elf without the ability to at least sense the winds… Though neither parent ever openly said it, Falandar grew up constantly feeling as though his parents somehow blamed him for his mother’s reduced ability and his own lack (he’d heard the stories many times after all and who else could be blamed?)

He spent day and night trying every trick he could get his hands on, every obscure piece of lore he could find on the subject (which were precious few indeed), sometimes going without food or rest for several days at a time, and failed each and every time to achieve more than a tiny inkling of the sense that even the most dullard of elven children had of the winds. As a result, he grew resentful over time, resentful of elfdom at large and of his family and their seemingly extra-ordinary abilities. during his 30th year, he finally decided to leave and never come back, choosing to go where fortune took him.

At first he survived as a beggar, eventually taking on odd jobs no one else wanted to eek out a meager living, preferring to spend all his time and effort seeking ways to mend his ability to sense and even perhaps manipulate the winds… more than anything he wanted to show his family that he would achieve his goal through hard work since birth had hobbled him so. About a year after leaving, an old magister named Amendil took pity on Falandar and hired him as a squib, promising to do all he could to help Falandar achieve his dream. The work was hard and often demeaning or embarrassing but Falandar never complained about it, grateful that any mage would do so much for him.

As the tasks set before him became more and more challenging to his focus and determination, Falandar realized that his ability to sense the winds had begun, ever so slowly to improve. After almost 4 years with Amendil, studying, meditating, debating various subjects and performing ever more complex tasks, his ability had reached the point that any elf had… to his delight, Falandar could now sense the winds and it was glorious!

As time had gone on, his resentfulness of his family had slowly decreased until he very seriously entertained the idea of getting in touch with his parents again. y years was a long time and he’d taken great pains not to be found, but he longed to see them again and that longing only got stronger as time passed. On the day Falandar told Amendil of his desire, the old elf decided to celebrate Falandar’s success with him and helped him plan out the trip at the same time. In the midst of the revelry though, a messenger burst in, bedraggled and injured, claiming he was a servant of his family and that they’d been kidnapped.

He was to escort Falandar to the edge of the city to negotiate a ransom for their release. Amendil urged caution, concerned that it was likely to be a trap to bait Falandar but the young elf could not think past the guilt that welled up inside and he rushed out, only to fall right into the afore mentoned trap. Amendil, though very old, made a valiant attempt to rescue Falandar but was struck down by one of the mercenaries, a rogue hidden in the shadows. He soon finds out that it was in fact a ploy to bait his parents into a trap of their own, set by their one time ally and now sworn enemy, and elf gone chaotic called uviel. The couple soon showed up, accompanied, to Falandar’s surprise by Amendil.

An epic battle ensued and though he could sense the currents of magic screaming around him, Falandar still had no hold over the winds. Must as the battle seemed to be won however, uviel screamed an unearthly cry and loosed a bold of chaos energy directly at Falandar. Gallina vanished from where she was standing, only to appear in front of Falandar, catching the blow full on.

Meanwhile, Torendil and Amendil tried to shield both mother and child but the chaos of the situation caused an aethyric blowback to both of them, sending them into the aethyr’s embrace. Gallina’s defection combined with the partially successful shield spell from the now departed duo caused Gallina to be ripped apart while Falandar watched but in that moment, he felt a change in himself.

As uviel crowed his victory, Falandar finally understood how to manipulate the winds and with what little strength he had, sent a magic dart that buried itself into uviel’s right eye… killing him.

TBD