[CHAR] on wings of blights ;; the grey warden && el taco taco

[El Taco Taco]

Sarein Goureal

“The Maker smiles sadly on his Grey Wardens, so the Chantry says, as no sacrifice is greater than theirs.”

Race: Elf
Gender: Female
Birthdate: 8 Justinian, 4:90 Black
Birthplace: Alienage of Val Royeaux, Orlais
Class: Rogue, Archery specialist.

Sarein is a survivor. Raised in an overcrowded and dilapidated slum, she had to get creative to get by. She learned at an early age how to move silently and misdirect attention. Both came in handy when she began picking locks and pockets, a craft which put food on her plate and dry shoes on her feet. Her relative success did not endear her much to her peers, and Sarein learned early on that, in the streets of Val Royeaux, fellow elves were motivated more by desperation than kinship.

Embittered by the hopelessness of her situation, Sarein took on greater risks. She forged herself into a thief-- and scrapper-- of considerable skill. Commanding a loose network of human and elven children alike, she began hitting the nobles of Orlais with concentrated robberies. At eighteen, her luck went sour, and Sarein was captured after robbing a Comtesse.

She thought herself lucky when Senior Warden Givrail, whom several of her child thieves had attempted to pickpocket, invoked the Rite of Conscription. Sarein later amended that to 'completely fucked' when she underwent the Joining. Her first four years with the Wardens were spent traveling with Givrail, recruiting and endlessly training.

After the destruction of Antiva that heralded the beginning of the Fourth Blight, Sarein and Givrail traveled to Wycome to join their fellow wardens.

[El Taco Taco]

Givrail

“Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you.”

Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 11 Cassus (Haring), 4:64 Black
Birthplace: Qarinus, Tevinter Imperium
Class: Warrior, two-handed weapons specialist.

As soon as Givrail could walk, he was put to work. A slave to House Matherennis, he knew little of the outside world beyond his mother’s tales of Seheron. Ruined by poor luck, she had sold herself into slavery to provide for her three children. Well behaved and clever, Givrail did his best to ease his mother’s burden, often taking on additional work to earn coin.

Givrail was sent at age nine to train under Evereth, a man considered the finest trainer of warriors in Qarinus. He found solace in a blade, and when he was deemed ready he found himself traveling with his mistress, the Magister Velyssia as her personal guard.

Everything changed in his early twenties—traveling through the Anderfels, their caravan was overrun by Darkspawn, Givrail failed to protect Velyssia and was struck by The Taint. A small contingent of Grey Wardens managed to pull his body from the carnage, and Givrail was offered a chance to live. He was surprised as anyone when he survived The Joining—and infinitely grateful.

Givrail found purpose in the Wardens and thrived with his newly won freedom. He made a name for himself as a leader and recruiter; his empathy for the oppressed and eye for talent won many talented blades and arrows for the Wardens.

He married a fellow Warden, the Fereldan mage Jaryssa, several years into his service despite significant disapproval. They were put to work on opposite sides of Thedas. Givrail and Jaryssa maintained their marriage for nearly eleven years before Jaryssa left for the Deep Roads.

In 5:8 Exalted, Givrail recruited the elf Sarein and took her on as a ward as he continued recruiting. With the fall of Antiva, and the loss of several friends in the Order, Givrail is eager to join in the battle at Wycome.