Name: Saros
Gender: Male
Age: 154
Race: Human
Affiliated Organisation(s): None, though occasional dealings with the Circle of Ash have occured.
Other Affiliates: Munin and Azaein, two thieves he often works with. He considers them his friends, though they don't often meet. Besides that, he has three daughters, two of which are adult and are estranged to him, and an underage one who is under the care of his sister.
Physical Traits: Short, pale-skinned man with sapphire eyes. His brown hair is fairly average, hanging around his forehead and ears. He always has a tired look on him and a smirk or a grin. Looks as if he is around the thirty.
Noteworthy Abilities: Saros has studied destructive and illusionary magic for a long time and thus is fairly good at it.
Noteworthy Weaknesses: Saros has a terrible phobia of being locked up and displeasure of losing control.
Background:
Saros was born in a relative poor neighbourhood. With one little sister and a big brother, he was the middle child of the family. Unfortunately, his mother died at the age of seven and his brother never bothered to tell him who their father was and where he was. His brother was already an adult when he was born and thus he took care of him, taking him as apprentice. Saros lived the life of a carpenter apprentice with unease, as he felt a great wanderlust within him. He would often wander the streets and steal things with some friends, avoiding being caught quite often. Other times, he had to pay with whippings. Over time, he finally became a carpenter and helped his older brother in the business, though feeling increasingly unwelcome as his brother's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter.
One day, his brother went out for a walk and didn't return. The next day, Saros went to look. And the next day, he looked again. Fifty days of Saros searching through the eternally sprawling cities followed during the day, following the hints that people gave to him, his quest becoming more and more desperate, along with hopeless. After those fifty days, he began searching day and night, leaving his work behind and not bothering much with providing for his brother's wife and child. He covered many neighbourhoods, though he found nothing. His sister often pleaded for him, though her pleas being heard only by deaf ears. After one year of searching, he lost all hope and returned to his brother's home, promising his brother's wife to take care of her and her daughter. Years flew by and eventually, the two began an intimate relationship and he began raising his brother's daughter, much to his shame however. He always kept his distance as he feared his brother would return and felt immense guilt. Saros began getting somewhat paranoid, always looking over his shoulder, whether his brother would be there.
One night, he too disappeared, like his brother had many years ago been. He had been captured by a group of six men and carried into a brothel, where he found himself in a cage, in a room as dark as the night. He stayed there for three days, without food or water, before he was moved to a market. He was sold off to a merchant while half-conscious due to starvation and when he found himself in reasonable shape again, he felt a chain around his neck. He worked as a slave for four years. It was a strange world, to say the least. Food was given to whoever worked the hardest. Unfortunately, not everybody was as strong as some, so a culture of disappearances and blood trails developed as they fought for food. Ten times Saros tried to escape, and after the sixth time he was continually whipped. Ultimately, he gave up hope of ever seeing his pseudo-family again. One hope enlightened his stay, though, as after many years, he finally met his brother again, though he was a silent shade of his former self, having been worn down by the continuous work. His brother started pinning the blame of his captivity on Saros and after days of conflict between them, he confessed of his relationship with his brother's wife. The conflicts became torture as brothers fought each other often to bloody pulps over the span of a year, to near-death, much to the amusement of those who watched them.
Eventually, he'd had enough. He could not stay any longer here. Saros grabbed a stone and bashed a nearby watcher's skull in. He took his sword and walked to his brother, or the shade that he had become. He felt rage at his sight, as he saw his own possible future as a slave. He saw not his brother, but his enemy, his rival. And no longer would he look over his shoulder in freedom. He slew his brother right there, before heading out with the keys of the dead watcher and escaping. He slew the many men who barred his way. Outside, he slew the women of the watchers who would give him away. He was in control and he felt high as he swung his sword around. Nevermore would he be controlled.
After that episode, he returned home. His face had become rather pale and his eyes had become hard. He returned to living with his brother's wife and his daughter, silent about his brother, but they found he was becoming increasingly possessive and controlling. After a long period of increasingly tyrannical patriarchial rule and the fact he would often be gone, having turned to stealing instead of carpenting, his adopted daughter left the house in a fit of rage, especially after she found out that she wasn't his actual daughter. Her mother became depressed and Saros bitter as his daughter started seeing his brother as her father-figure and only started visiting when he was out, carefully avoiding him. After a long time of bitterness, Saros let go of his tyranny and to his surprise, found that his wife started blooming again. A new time of happiness emerged from a dark period and his wife got pregnant with his child, bearing him a daughter. Though he had become relaxed around the house, he was still very strict and controlling to those who were not part of his family. He started working together with Azaein and Munin to rob and thieve. Besides that, Saros started studying magic extensively, massively afraid of being taken again just when his life had entered a bright period.
With Azaein and Munin he started working together to seize power from the local lords and petty rulers, building a netwerk around him. His fear of losing control became ambition and with magic and steel, he openly fought the petty lords, becoming simply known as the Sorcerer. He was careful to avoid the direct glare of anybody more powerful than him. Meanwhile, he started training his daughter as his apprentice, as his prodigy, as ambition and hope flared up within him. His daughter became a good student, though the pressure was at times too much for her. As he began demanding more and more, she was unable to keep up as she started participating in his actions. The tyranny of her father for his subordinates, the paranoia that ruled his persona when he was not home became too much for his daughter to deal with and finally she fled. She still kept contact with her mother and her half-sister, but just like her half-sister, she avoided her father, who grew embittered, began wondering whether he had not lost her by allowing her too much freedom.
Once his wife became pregnant of his second child and gave birth to a daughter, he saw the path she would walk. Embittered, he began spending less and less time with his wife and his daughter, as he had hoped for a son, a true heir. His wife became lonely and raised her daughter mostly by her own while Saros left her to pursue his ambitions, the one subject where he was free to do whatever he wanted. Home was a repressing place for him, because he could not have control without driving his children and his wife farther from him. Eventually, his wife and his daughter, still an infant, moved in with Saros' sister, as he personally focused on gaining true control, as the family life had been one of disappointment, bitterness and mostly, guilt.
Mostly guilt.
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