Bart grew up in the poor district of the frontier city, Aspenwood. He loved to listen to street storytellers, especially those that braved to speak about magic, dragon riders, and wizards. These stories are not told often, at least in this part of the world. His father died on an exploration team that was attacked by barbarians near the geysers. His mother left him when he was 13 so she could work the streets for necessities. He has two older brothers but does not know where they are anymore or even if they are alive.
He follows the beliefs of the deity, Kord, believing that weakness should not be tolerated and strives to be better than others. He despises cowardice, and supports fights. One of his past times is arm wrestling. He would challenge an ogre if the opportunity ever presented itself. He loves fighting and often gambles on fights, though he also gambles for fun anyway. It helps relieve his divorce stress.
Bart was married when he was younger and has one daughter, who is now six years old, from the marriage. The divorce occurred because Bart would not stop with the magic talk. Bart, being as Headstrong as he is, insisted that magic is in existence. When he started his “Arcane Tracker” occupation, his wife wanted to prevent herself and their daughter, Valerie, from being caught and burned at the stake. From the divorce, all the child support payments have been paid in full. Bart loves his daughter and he also loves his wife. Someday he hopes to return, proving to them that magic is real, or in an apologetic manner with full proof that it is not. His ultimate dream is to have a castle for them with a magical room of illusion that is absolutely perfect and dream-like for them.
His love of stories and fantasies led him astray when poverty drove him crazy. It turned out that by playing the act of an “Arcane Tracker” had given him enough money to pay child support and start a new life somewhere, but also had some negative psychological effects. Once he got enough money to move, he did, knowing that this arcane job could get him into some serious trouble. The risk seemed to be worth it, and he no longer publicly announces that he is an Arcane Tracker. Though this all started as a risky scam to get money to escape the streets Aspenwood, he started to believe that he really is an Arcane Tracker and his main goal in life is to find funding to set out on a real arcane tracking expedition, find himself some real magical items, and encounter magical origin creatures.
What Bart has done with this Arcane Tracker job is take ideas (which could be truth or lie) from all the stories he listened to as a child and put them together to explain the reality he has observed. He has superstitions like moon phases (eclipses especially) are sources of magic and wants to continue investigation of this magical source with a rare tool called a telescope. He also believes that dragon blood, religious beings, spirituality, and other observable astronomy features are also sources of magic. Another superstition of Bart is that he believes a supreme magic governs all sciences, history, and reality. So far, however, he has seen only some hints of magic and its existence.
Bart’s dream magical item (other than a castle for his wife and child) is an axe of fiery magical capabilities. He is a strong proponent of the axe as a weapon. He also likes fire, and hopes to someday find an axe that burns on the blade, without consuming it, when in an aggressive stance and deals fire damage upon a hit. He has never seen such a weapon, but believes the stories that they exist.
Other magical items Bart wants to observe are magical glowing crystals that possess certain powers. He wants to glance through a crystal ball to see how his wife is doing and to see his daughter growing up since he hasn’t seen her for nearly five years. He wants to wield a magical implement and use it to lift things off the ground without touching it. He wants to throw a fireball straight up in the air and have it fall down as it dissipates with a flash when he catches it. He just firmly believes magic is out there.
He moved to Trindam Pass in order to search for the silver riches. He hopes that the silver he finds will be enough to fund an arcane tracking expedition so he can find magic, master it, and win his wife back. Even if it takes, according to Bart, “Traveling the different planes of existence.”
