Bio

Zantias grew up in a small town near the deserts of Sol. It wasn’t a particularly note worthy town, but it did hold the claim of being one of the closest towns to the ruins of Matrygard. Zantias’ father was a capable, and locally respected warrior. In his early youth Zantias did not see much of his father, who worked as a caravan guard and often was required to travel all over Sol, so his early youth was spent mostly with his mother. His mother was fairly well educated and insisted on Zantias spending as much time learning as playing. His mother was also fascinated by the Matrygard ruins and she often told Zantias stories of them, claiming that some of his ancestors died there at the end of the Lonely war.

At a young age Zantias’ mother grew very ill and eventually succumbed to the illness. This meant his father needed to find a way to stay closer to home. For this reason, and perhaps because his wife’s death left him open to risk, Zantias’ father started a small expedition service with several other ex-caravan guards. The service offered guidance and a guard for historians, scholars and wizards who wished to visit the Matrygard ruins (or some of the minor ruins on the outskirts). These trips were somewhat infrequent and there were not a large number of interested customers. Despite this, because of the uniqueness of the service, some people did come. And for those who did they were able to charge decent coin. Despite the practicality of it, Zanitas would later suspect that the entire operation might have been his father’s way of honoring his mother, since she had been so interested in the ruins but had never visited them.

During this time of his life Zantias learned the basics of combat from his father. His father focused mainly on combat techniques with the sword and the dagger. These were his father’s preferred weapons. Especially the longsword, since his father owned a masterfully crafted one that was the envy of many of his caravan guard companions. It was a sword that his father told him had been passed down in the family for generations, as far back as the lonely war. Zantias was often asking to practice with it, but his father always insisted he practice with a wooden training sword until he perfected his maneuvers.

As Zantias grew older his father also began to bring him on his guided expeditions. Zantias had many duties on these trips, but his main duty was to assist the patrons with whatever they needed during the trek. Given that the clients were mostly historians, scholars, and wizards, their most common need seemed to be to talk his ear off about their studies and research. He didn’t mind though, he enjoyed learning and became quiet knowledgeable on a variety of topics because of the exchanges.

Things went like this for several years until the company’s last expedition. One that last expedition the group had been nearing an area around the ruins that they had not been to before and his father and several scouts went ahead to assess the danger. This was a fairly common tactic. Sometimes they would even find sign of bandits or other danger and would return to tell the group they must turn back, but this time they did not return at all. The remaining group waited for hours but the clients and guards grew more and more nervous as time passed, until eventually they determined that something must have happened and they should head back. Zantias refused to go though. Despite the warnings of the others, his youth, and his inexperience, he set out alone to find his father.

A client named Halizul was part of that expedition. He was a middle age wizard, and a somewhat capable one. Or at least that seemed to be the consensus amongst the group. It was always hard to tell with wizards. Rumor amongst the caravan was that he had a tower of his own and was more skilled than the apprentice wizards who often signed up for the caravan. Halizul had been impressed by Zantias during their conversations on the journey and he could tell Zantias was a sharp boy. Apparently he didn’t want to see Zantias head to certain peril, because he alone followed after Zantias. Halizul offered to help Zantias look for his father if he promised he would use caution and heed his wisdom. Zantias wouldn’t have known where to start looking, but Halizul seemed to be able to magically track Zantias’ father, claiming it had something to do with his father’s weapon. Zantias found this a bit curious, but didn’t think too much on it. After traveling several miles and getting quite close to some of the ruins, they did eventually come across something.

There on the ground, amidst patches of blood and some other miscellaneous equipment, they found his father’s prized sword. Though there were no bodies, it was quite obvious that there had been a battle of some kind. Shock overcame Zantias; seeing the sword was as good as seeing his father’s corpse. Zantias knew that his father would never have left that sword behind. Halizul paced the area and studied the scene for a moment but said nothing for sometime.t Eventually he broke the silence to tell Zantias that they must leave urgently to meet up with the caravan. Seeing his father’s blade amidst the bloody scene took the resolve and the stubbornness Zantias. Still in shock he retrieved the sword and headed the wizards advice, following Herazul back the way they had come.

Eventually they caught up with the caravan. Shame and grief caused most of the group to avoid Zantias on the journey back, and eventually they made it back to town safely. Upon reaching town, having given Zantias the entire journey home to reflect, Halizul offered Zantias the chance to return with him as his ward. He also explained that he saw wizardly potential in Zantias and would be willing to take him on as his apprentice. It was an incredibly generous offer and even in his depressed state Zantias recognized this. He took him up on this offer and after a few days accompanied Halizul back to his small tower on the outskirts of another small town in Sol.

Zantias was quite busy during this time of his life. In exchange for his board and apprenticeship Zantias assisted the wizard in whatever ways he needed. In the early years this was mostly menial tasks like fetching supplies, assisting in magical crafting, or tending to the wizard’s small library and alchemy lab. Zantias also spent much of his time engaged in his wizard training, though perhaps not quite as much as he should have, and not as much as Halizul requested. Instead Zantias found himself spending some of his time practicing the martial drills and katas that his father had taught him. Zantias had not brought many possessions with him but he had kept his fathers weapon and kept it close at all times as it was his only link to his past and family. He began to develop a strong bond with the weapon. Practicing with it was comforting and relaxing in a way. Halizul disapproved of this and tried to persuade him to focus wholly on magic, but because he understood the reasons it comforted Zantias, he did not press the issue too far.

Learning the common cantrips proved quite easy, even with his martial practice as a distraction, but soon Zantias found himself having some trouble with many of the real spells Halizul eventually set him too. As the studies got more difficult, it was becoming hard to find the time to continue practicing with his sword and study his spells adequately. To increase his efficiency, he had the idea of trying to do both at once. He started to practice casting some of the combat oriented spells he was learning while he was outside practicing with the sword. He found that the focus provided by his rehearsed katas, and the bond he had with his weapon, actually made it easier for him to concentrate and perform some of his spells. As time went on he learned to integrate some of these spells directly into his katas and started to diverge from his fathers training into a style something his own. Eventually he began to feel more comfortable casting any spell with his sword as opposed to without it and began to carry it around even when researching more mundane spells.

One day, while Halizul and Zantias were procuring some rather expensive components from a market, they were set upon by theives. It was a poor choice by the thieves. They probably thought Halizul was a simple merchant and he quickly made them regret their decision with some powerful spells, but not before Zantias was also forced to defend himself from the gang. Zantias made good use of his martial and arcane training that day, unleashing some of the maneuvers and attacks he had been practicing. Halizul observed some of it during the skirmish and was quite impressed with the display. From that point on Halizuul stopped his casual resistance to Zantias’ martial study and instead began to focus his instruction to Zantias on spells that might be of more use to his unique skills.

Having proven his capability to defend himself, Zantias began receiving more and more interesting tasks from Halizul. He was now often asked to travel on behalf of the wizard, sometimes performing research in odd places, sometimes fulfilling minor magical requests from clients in Halizul’s place, and sometimes he was even tasked with more bloody affairs, such as helping small villages deal with goblin trouble and the like. He enjoyed researching arcane lore and experimentation, but he found that he also enjoyed these bloody tasks as well. It was satisfying to personally help rid the world of nuisances.

At present Zantias continues to serve as Halizul’s apprentice and truly admires and respects the wizard. Most recently he was assigned a new task by Halizul and it is that task which now brings him to…(wherever we are starting this campaign)