Bio

Background: Alain was born in a relatively backwater barony in the Union of Southern Fiefdoms, just to the South of the Nentir Vale region. Even though each fiefdom in the USF has its own unique cultural idiosyncrasies, they are all very strict, mostly religious, agrarian, societies where the family or clan is the central unit. The Theren family in particular owned a moderately sized swath of plantations on the outskirts of the McCoy Barony where they raised a number of common crops such as tobacco, potatoes, and corn. The Theren’s lands had been granted to Alain’s great-great-great-great grandfather for heroic service in the Barony’s army ages ago, and since then it had been a family tradition for all able bodied men to serve a full military career before returning to the land to live out the rest of their days as farmers.

Despite the best intentions of his extended family, Alain never really bought into most of his family’s traditions instead yearning to lead his own life and make a mark on the world. He was a bright boy, and spent many days in his dead great uncle’s library looking through old books and journals about his experiences in the service. His great uncle was unique among the Theren men in that he was something of an arcanist. He stood in stark contrast with the rest of them who instead focused on more traditional military endeavors. Alain admired his great uncle, much to the chagrin of his father, Roderick Theren, a former captain in the Baron McCoy’s army. His father was very explicit in wanting his oldest son to stay as far away from that “blasted deviltry” as possible.

After doing his best to postpone his entry into the service by attending school in a neighboring duchy, Alain’s father finally put his foot down and dragged his son to the Baron’s keep and administered the oath of service on his 20th birthday. Though landed gentry, the Therens were not a noble family, and Alain was not able to enter as a commissioned officer. He was expected to earn a commission through service like his father before him. Instead he was able to leverage his schooling and basic arcane knowledge into entry as a warrant officer in the Baron’s mage corps. There would be no room for promotion or commission, but it was better than being a raw grunt.

Within a few months of entry Alain found himself shipped off to the West as part of a combined USF army involved in some sort of border skirmish with the neighboring kingdom there. What started as a conflict that “would be over by the feast season”, instead turned into a quagmire of occupation and retreat as the two factions continuously took and retook territory. After nearly six years of watching the land be torn asunder, and the fortunes of its occupants along with it, Alain had had enough of both the military and the politics that lead it. Fortune would shine upon him with the signing of a peace accord just as his initial obligation was up.

Alain wasted no time in turning in his walking papers. Knowing his family wouldn’t be happy with him, he decided to not even to return home. Instead he would head North to the Nentir Vale where he had heard there was need for people like him. Certainly it wouldn’t take long for word of Alain’s decision to reach his father considering he was serving with both of his brothers and over a dozen of his cousins, and his father would most definitely come looking for him. But Alain didn’t care. He would deal with the old man when the time came. Until then he was going to try to be an actual hero and do something important in the world.

Personality: As they always say: “You can take the boy out of the South, but not the South out of the boy.” Alain is gruff, stubborn, pragmatic, and speaks with a thick drawl which a lot of people in the Vale may find off putting. Those who get to know him however will find that he is loyal to a fault and treats his word as his bond as is common amongst the peoples to the South.

However, when things start to go pear shaped the voice in the back of his head that tells him to look out for number one gets louder. Alain saw too many friends die on the battle field to want to follow them. He will never be able to shake the survivalist attitude that got him through some terrible things.