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TeediousPrime 08-16-06, 12:49 PM

Disclaimer: The characters and events described in the following postings hail from a largely homebrew campaign world. That being said, I have been greatly influenced by the Eberron works since I discovered them nearly a year ago, and have been integrating large portions of the ECS into my self-made world. Anything that doesn't seem to jive with established Eberron facts is largely due to this (for example, the geographical placement of Sharn, which I have imported largely independent of the rest of Khorvaire, and the dubious references to a "war" only loosely based on the ECS's Last War.) Thank you and enjoy. Arvuis Gerse 1/4 Elf, 3/4 Human, and 100% eccentric, Arvuis is viewed by many to be a cautionary tale against the path of the Artificer. Though undoubtedly wealthy and skilled, this infamous crafter has a reputation for being unsociable and at once singleminded and scatterbrained. Very seldom seen outside the company of his Warforged companions and any number of other strange constructs, he seems to have no desire for contact with the living, save for his own inner circle and those with whom his business causes him to interact. Arvuis was born to a Half-Elven father and Human mother in the days when war ravaged the land. Brought up in hiding due to the persecution of "part-bloods" by the Red Thorn, a vicious cult of elitist mages, he passed a healthy if unstable childhood in the forests of the world amongst his Elvish brethren. Shortly before the closing days of the war, in his twelfth year, Arvuis lost his closest companion, his cousin Verlydyne, daughter of Arvuis's uncle and a Half-Elven woman. While traveling to the land of their birth, the cousins' parents were forced to seperate; weeks later the violently slain bodies of Arvuis' uncle and aunt were discovered. No sign of the child was ever found, and Arvuis vowed to one day discover what had become of her. As Arvuis grew, he displayed a distinct talent for the use of magical items, and while not gifted in the ways of magic as would be a cleric or sorcerer, it was clear that a mystical power of some kind had come down to him. Freed from the oppression of the Red Thorn by the peace that had settled on the lands, his parents brought him to Sharn, where he studied in various magical academies and eventually established his own production and shop of various magical curiousities. It was during Arvuis' first years on his own, after his parents had departed the City of Towers for the forests of their birth, that he met a Gnome by the name of Vedrostriktsikale, of Vedros, an eccentric bard with a great talent for illusion and a greater talent for trickery. He took the Gnome into his apprenticeship and attempted to impart as much of his knowledge as possible; however, displaying tendencies bordering on the schizophrenic, Vedros would occasionally vanish and turn up in the company of those with dubious motives often in direct conflict to Arvuis' goals. At last count Arvuis has been forced to recapture his wayward apprentice seven times, usually attempting to imprison him in his shop as a salesman. In his work with the magical community of Sharn, Arvuis eventually befriended and fell in love with a member of fallen royalty from a distant continent, a beautiful but mysterious sorceress named MylDira. The first of her family to be born in exile, she resented the "theft" of her proper title of Princess, and sought to restore the honor of her royal heritage that had been "squandered" by her "weakling" father. Though romantically involved for some time, the two have not married, and have most recently parted on unknown terms. In his youth, Arvuis became fascinated with the nature and personality of the Warforged, the living constructs that had been created to serve the rulers of the world in their innumerable battles. The idea that these beings could be created not through the usual biological process, but crafted by magic and skill so appealed to him that he sought to gain access to the creation forges from which these beings were born. He would eventually get his wish, but mere weeks after he had begun to study the ways of their creation, the war came to an end and the creation of new Warforged was made illegal. Devestated, Arvuis refused to give up, and after nearly a full year of further searching, met and befriended the eccentric Merrix d'Cannith, who accepted the eager learner. Together, the pair would create wonders never before witnessed in even the legendary Warforged. (More to come later)