The following is a character backstory for an Eberron RPG. The character is a Shifter rogue living in Sharn and trying to acquire the skills necessary to avenge his clan.
Longbluff
Drayel was born in a tiny thorp nestled near the feet of the Howling Peaks. The thorp, known to residents as Longbluff, is home to a shifter clan named Far’Shar which has lived in the area for but a few generations. The thorp appears to be little more than a wayside hamlet, perhaps a large hunting camp or trapper’s settlement nestled into the forest shadowed by the Howling Peaks. The predominant buildings are smallish huts comprised of hides and brush which blend into the wooded surroundings as naturally as any animal den.
Usually, travelers who happen upon the small thorp pass through with little knowledge that they do so. This is because the residents prefer to hide from those they do not know so they may watch them and discern their intentions. Those who do frequent the thorp do so to trade for the fine furs and leather that the thorp’s hunters produce.
Far’Shar
The Far’Shar clan is descended from a group of lycanthropes that could take the form of great black panthers. After generations of breeding with humans, the Far’Shar clan stabilized as part of the shifter race, a decidedly feline aspect thereof. The most common shifting abilities to manifest within the clan are the cliffwalk, longtooth, and razorclaw. These abilities the Far’Shar refer to as “going feral” and they guard the secret of these abilities jealously.
Unfortunately, the Far’Shar clan does not stay mobile and secretive for frivolous reasons, a clan that is descended from a powerful predator has become the prey.
The Hunted
There is a band of individuals who call themselves were-hunters. This group has for centuries hunted lycanthropes wherever they are found. These individuals, recruited and trained in secret, make it their purpose to rid the world of lycanthropes.
Not content with merely going after pure natural lycanthropes, these individuals also target unnatural lycanthropes and shifters as well. These hunters will often stalk lycanthrope and shifter settlements, preying upon those foolish enough to venture out alone. Generally, they lack the strength to take on several lycanthropes, let alone an entire community, but by using hit-and-run tactics, as well as assassinations, these hunters are able to do serious damage to these communities.
Occasionally, groups of these hunters have been known to band together and take on small communities. But for the lone lycanthrope or shifter, every stranger is a potential hunter.
Prey
Many members of the Far’Shar clan have been lost to these hunters over the centuries. If this were not enough for the Far’Shar to fear these hunters, every few generations the hunters manage to learn the location of the current Far’Shar settlement and attack in numbers. Fortunately for the clan, there always seem to be those who escape harm to move to a new location and begin anew, each time hoping they will go undiscovered.
The current clan settlement of Longbluff has been able to escape detection for three generations now. Many of the young Far’Shar are beginning to believe that they may finally be safe, though the elders know it is but a matter of time before they are found again. Eventually, no matter how well they hide, they will be found.
The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
Drayel doesn’t believe the hunters will ever leave them alone, but then, his uncle was taken by them when Drayel was just a boy. Drayel’s uncle, Jerad, was murdered by a hunter in the capital city of Wroat but was able to convince his attacker that the clan had moved into the Blackclaps before he died. Drayel understands that it is just a matter of time before his clan is found again and those he loves are vilely murdered; he doesn’t plan on waiting around.
At a fairly young age, Drayel got it into his head that to simply fear the hunters and run from them constantly is not the answer. He believes the hunters can be in turn hunted and that in fact, the shifters possess the abilities to do so. At age nineteen he set out for the city of Wroat to learn the skills he would need to take up the hunt. The next couple of years only taught him the raw basics of urban survival, however, so when he was able, he left for the one city where he felt he may be able to find what he needed; Sharn.
Once in Sharn Drayel discovered there was a hard fight for survival in Sharn’s dark byways and lower towers, but his natural abilities served him well. Soon enough he gained the notice of certain people and was able to find someone willing to train him in secret ways. He became an avid student, spending all his waking hours learning those skills he knew would serve his cause.
Drayel spent five long years with these people, long enough to learn all they had to teach, long enough for him to surpass their abilities. Then he left the worst areas of Sharn for the merely dark and disquieting locales.
Now Drayel is searching for a new teacher; someone who can help to make him into the stalker he must be. He is also beginning his search for clues to the mysterious organization of hunters. They are out there. He shall find them.
And he will slay them.
