Zhao Yun was born on the year 3440 in the very middle of the year to Zhao Xin and Zhao Wenji. He had 2 brothers; his first brother, Zhao Ren, was 3 years older and his other brother, Zhao Jin, was 2 years younger.
Being a middle child Zhao Yun didn’t get very much attention. His father was a very skilled fighter (for a blom), and his mother was the medicine woman (Zhurdana [sp]). It so happened his elder brother was very skilled with the sword and his younger brother had his mother’s gift as well, which made Zhao Yun even more left out. What he did have though was a knack for causing trouble (mainly to get attention). This was displayed first as physical pranks, just harmless jokes to him. He was often punished to his room, so he usually had a lot of books to read while he carried out his grounding. His town wasn’t a very large town but they did have a decent sized library (his blom town loved literature and documented everything). One such book, an adventure book that seemed like it was written in first person, had some weird gibberish and some unusual movements. Of course he thought it was just some ritual so he liked to pretend he was the hero and tried it every so often, but didn’t do anything. While thinking of pranks this “ritual” was part of it, almost like a good luck charm.
When he was 8 and thinking of new pranks to play on his neighbor, his thoughts coalesced as an illusion of what he wanted to do while performing the ritual, in this case a scary monster to frighten them.
When his neighbor called out for help in fear his father was first to arrive to defend against the “attack”, which of course when the “monster” scared his neighbor Zhao Yun immediately stopped concentrating on the illusion (as it scared him too), so the figment was no longer around. Zhao Yun ducked behind the corner coming to grips with what just happened. He didn’t realize it was a spell.
The town was fearful that there was a monster loose so they called for everyone to stay indoors until they deemed the situation safe. That night he confided in his mother what he did. Wenji, knowing that he picked up a knack for wizardry, consulted his father on what to do. They knew he was a problem child but also knew it was only for attention. They decided to try to get him into school.
It took a year, some favors, and a fair amount of money from the parent’s savings to get Zhao Yun into school. During that time he refined his spell, also looked in other books to see if any other spells found their way in the library by chance. He found a few, none powerful, and each one usually got him in trouble. His parents forbade him to harm anyone with his magic, and he got scolded everytime he played a trick on someone using magic. Zhao Yun didn’t mind the scolding, he liked being able to do things his family couldn’t.
While at school Zhao Yun blended in with everyone else there, despite only being 9. There were a lot of blom there, but a few of the other races as well. Zhao Yun didn’t enjoy the stuck up attitudes most other blom had and dealt with his race’s criticism with pranks and practical jokes, often landing him in detention. He didn’t care, he was used to being in trouble.
He excelled at his schooling, only using harmful magics when he had to (usually from instructions). Since Zhao Yun only practiced hand magic he often was chastised by the wordcasters, but dealt with it with his usual bouts of detention.
It took him 9 years to graduate, right before his 18th birthday. He spent 2 years after working for the school for exploration or discovery missions hoping to broaden his horizons (to see more interesting creatures for better illusions).
