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MaplessManiac620 05-24-06, 05:07 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/xromeomustdiex/Scan.jpg Jace Draekyn, The Shadow of Cyre Jace was a child of Cyre, "the land of the future" as his father would say. Growing up outside Eston, young Jace appreciated art, music, and fashion as much as the next youth. He was also enthralled by the magic that surrounded him, from ever-glow lamps to the Cannith wands seen hanging on Artificer's belts. Artificers like his father. Jace's parents attempted to have their son educated in the ways of magic use. However, the youth was far too impatient and wild to master the art of the spell like his father, Teric had - no matter how much it fascinated him. Still, Jace would spend hours upon hours watching and assisting his father at the workbench, enthralled by his ability to create magic. Like most youth, his Teric was his son's hero. Unlike most children however, Jace saw things - visions. A blasted, barren wasteland patrolled by twisted monsters. Dead soldiers who's wounds refused to stop oozing its red gore. A thick, choking fog who would devour all who entered. A bright, blinding light coming from the ground, a lake of blood. As he grew older, the more his visions would bother him. And the more they bothered him, the more he begged his parents to make them go away. The Draekyns did what any parents would: They made it worse. They took him to the cleric of their town, begging him to help their son. The local temple of the Sovereign Host decreed that Jace's visions were the work of the Dark Six - and that Jace, if left uncleansed, would become their agent. Barely a teenager, Jace had been abandoned by his parents and left in the care of people that thought him tainted and evil - the pawns of the Sovereign Host. Jace constantly moved from temple to temple, from the care of one cleric to another - none giving him more thought than that of a beggar who had wandered in. He was never allowed to leave the temple; for fear he would turn to the Dark Six. Eventually he made it to Sharn, the City of Towers he had dreamed of visiting as a young child. Jace spent his time reading, researching, expanding his knowledge of history, nobility and his surroundings - including religion. He also took up sketching, drawing his warped visions; to rid them from this head. As he aged, Jace's visions grew in intensity; and so did his anger. His parents abandoned him, threw him to the streets - because they thought he was crazy, tainted...evil. Jace knew he wasn't crazy; he would discover what his visions meant. He wouldn't have to wait long. Jace had been in Sharn for 14 months. It'd been 4 years since he saw his parents, his home. He awoke to the hushed murmors of the clerics. Hushed words of destruction. Cries of grief. Cyre. The entire nation, gone. Something about an explosion of magic. A weapon to end the last war. Those who would talk to Jace all told him a different story of what occurred that day. The Day of Mourning. Jace burst out of the temple, more angry than confused. In the excitement, Jace was never missed - not at first at least. Everyone had forgotten about the tainted man who'd been skulking in the shadows for more than a year. As the weeks passed, and as he roamed the streets homeless, stories of the horrors that replaced the beautiful nation of Cyre reached Jace's ears. A lake of blood. A mysterious glow. An impenetrable fog from which some never return. His visions. He could've stopped it. Could've prepared them. Could've... If only he wasn't trapped in those temples all this time. He could've found somebody to listen. He hated the Host. In his own mind, the Host caused this - if only they hadn't held him prisoner. Jace struck out on his own, becoming an independent Inquisitive, Detective, and 'problem solver'. Based in the metropolis of Sharn, Jace follows every lead and whisper about the Day of Mourning - tracking down anyone who might have more knowledge than he about what happened. His small office holds all the artifacts he could buy from traders and pirates. Photos of people he never knew. Pieces of paintings and cracked sculptures. Old, non-functioning wands and tattered flags. The walls are lined with books and tomes - clues as to what destroyed his home, and who could be responsible. He'll find out what happened. He'll make them pay. Jace has made a few friends - those who share his goal of discovering the source of the Mourning and punishing those who caused it. Aldun, an aging dwarf who's mastered the art of Artifice has agreed to a make-shift partnership with Jace. As he can afford it, "Al" would supply Jace with the items he would need - including the wands Jace prefers to use in a fight - if Jace shares the information he uncovers with Al. However, Jace is not without enemies. By taking on the investigation of crimes, Jace has marked himself a 'lawman' - not something very popular in the parts of Sharn he must frequent. The young investigator is also still marked as a potential 'minion of the Dark Six'; and now that he has escaped, more zealous agents of the Sovereign Host look to bring him in and under control. The Valenar Elves - the monsters who slaughtered Cyran refugees - have also marked themselves as targets of Draekyn's justice. Draekyn hasn't let the fashion of his home die - he dresses in flowing coats and dark colors. Like his ancestors, Jace constantly wears gloves, and only takes them off in the presence of those he trusts and cares for. Under his coat and stylish dress, Jace wears a dented and aged breastplate bearing the marking of Cyre - recovered from the Mournland. He covers his nose and mouth with a red cloth to keep the swirling dust so present in the lower levels of Sharn out of his face. Sometimes, his work requires more than just a few careful words and a handful of coins. When fighting can't be helped, Draekyn relies on wands to defend himself, and spiked gauntlet when the fighting gets 'up close and personal'. As long as the Mourning goes unsolved and the monsters that made it happen unpunished, Jace Draekyn will continue to search for an answer and attempt to reclaim the little pieces of his nation that remain. ----- I'm looking for some input on the background and some improvements I could make. I hope you enjoy.