Name:Balian.Age:Thirty.Race:Human.Gender:Male.Sexuality:Hetero.Class:Ranger-
Can handle bladed weapons as well, allowing them to defend themselves against approaching enemies or close in for the kill. Ranged is preferred style of combat.Appearance:
Balian stands at 5"11, his build is somewhere between slim and lean. Grey eyes chestnut brown hair and face almost always adorns a four day stubble.. His eyes lack life, probably from years spent on the road, only ever stopping for brief respites in towns and villages that he passed. Notable features are a small scar on his chin and skin tested by the elements. Weapon(s):Ring Sword - A long sword with a ringed pommel and black leather wrapped hilt. The blade itself is 35 inches in length while the weapons overall length is just over 46 inches
As'Loith Recurve Bow - A bow fashioned in As'Loith design, a reclusive group of wood elves the remnants of whom reside in forests across the known world and beyond in small tribes. A gift of appreciation bestowed upon Balian in his short time spent with a particular tribe. Made of the strongest and most flexible blackwood, an ebony finish it is the ranger's pride and joy, rarely far from sight or out of reach.
Armor:As seen in picture. Also clad in a fine linen shirt, dark woolen hose and soft travel-worn leather boots, over his shirt Balian wears a jerkin secured by braided cord ties.Personal Trinkets:Rabbit's foot (Lucky Charm)
These take many shapes, but the most common are symbolic religious symbols that a pious priest has touched or carved heads of ancient Gods. The rabbit’s foot is a symbol of good luck in many places of the world and is often threaded with a thin cord of leather or string.Short History:Born to a master woodsman and a mill worker, Balian was taught from a young age the skills necessary in his father's trade. Although he would not grow up to follow in the footsteps of his parent as a young lad he had a knack for navigation and the skills learnt by his father's side, certainly sharpened the boys survival knowledge.
Never shy of hard labor, having worked all his young life, Balian spent most of his younger years in and around the midlands village he was born to, working and training. At age eight he was shown how to use a bow by his father for the first time and took to it like a duck to water, swordplay followed in an effort to teach his son how to defend himself if ever the need arose (as much as he did not want a violent life for Balian). It was in his teens that Balian decided he did not want to suffer the bondage of serfdom or peasantry his whole life but neither did he want the privilege associated with nobility. At age seventeen, Balian left his village starting on a journey to see as much of the world as he could and to live off of the land.
After some five years travelling, Balian returned to Vale only to discover his father had succumbed to a sudden illness two years previous and his mother so stricken with grief at the loss of her son and now husband had hanged herself in the mill where she worked. With no ties to his birthplace he set off once again after a short respite and since has traveled, stopping from time-to-time for short respites in towns, villages and cities he would come across. He made sure never to allow himself to become too attached to people or towns always making it easier when time came to leave. However, Balian has at least one trusted friend in many of the different steads from South to North, relying on these as his source of information and news when he does stop.
For a few years the ranger traveled with another, a woman by the name of Morrigan. Black hair, blue eyes and pale skin, Balian quickly became infatuated with her. During a stay at the village of Lindow they were awoken in the middle of the night by commotion, screams and cries filling the night air. A beastman warband had happened on the village in a raid, Balian pleaded with Morrigan to barricade herself indoors and once she agreed took himself outside into the middle of it all with sword and bow. The ranger was knocked unconscious in combat and when he awoke in the early hours of the morning the smell of burning, smoke and death filled his nostrils. In a daze he made his way to the inn, only to find it raised to the ground. Balian fell to his knees as his cries turned to a sour roar. It is since that day the ranger has taken it upon himself to actively hunt out Beast scouting parties, occasionally joining up with bands of rangers (many of whom share similar stories) to take on larger groups. It is the element of surprise, the ability to blend in with surroundings and that they pick the battlefield (usually woodland), that give Balian and other rangers alike the advantage over unsuspecting beastmen who have often been stalked for days like prey.
The ranger had been in the woods perhaps a short time, comparative to other lost souls, when he was exploring the area in search of beasts, creatures he had sworn to slay as his ranger's oath should he ever come across them. So far he has enjoyed his time at the inn, and despite his drifter lifestyle has been rooted for the last month, even to the keen senses and navigation skills of a veteran ranger - the Drakenwald is a maze. However, he has grown weary of the road and has not stopped in a town for longer than a few hours in longer than he can remember.
Begrudgingly he is becoming accustomed to the sense of peace brought with the relaxing surroundings and spends much of the day acquainting himself with new, unseen areas of the mysterious living woodland.Other:- Has a non-magical, knowledge of herbs, plants, wildlife and toxins.
- His many years as a drifter and a ranger have taught Balian sharpened survival skills and instincts.
- Once, while heavily intoxicated, Balian made a wager with the baron of a small duchy in what seems now to be another world. The bet dictated that Balian would have to loose an arrow at a man to be hanged from one hundred and fifty yards away, hitting him before the executioner could submit the prisoner to his fate. While he did not know of the man's crimes or history, he did fire an arrow and remarkably severed the rope that tightened around the condemned just before it could snap his neck. Impressed, the baron awarded the ranger half the promised coin, the convicted however was executed anyway at a later stage by beheading - it turned out he had been charged as part of a group of bandits. Ex-knights of the duchy that had taken to raping and pillaging villages, leaving none alive in the area. Maybe not every action can be justified. In the end, he lost no sleep over the event. 
