Wayward Souls
Many odd sorts travel the highways of the Old World, but an Elf and a Dwarf willingly traveling together combine into something odder than most. Despite the historical and ever-present enmity between their two races, these two have managed to form something of a bond through a force far older than that- suffering shared. Until recently, they were both enslaved in the shipyards of Clar Karond, 'employed' in the continuous expansion of the Witch King's fleets.
A chance escape saw them able to run away from the city, crossing Naggaroth overland, braving the wilds and keeping out of view of the Shade clans, until they eventually arrived in Arnheim, and were able to take a breath without ever present danger. They could have gone their separate ways from that point, but neither felt able to return to their old lives. They eventually resolved that they would sail to Marienburg, and then see where the road took them.
They each have their own reasons, though such can only be speculated on. Perhaps Bram wants to rekindle a fire within him after so many years of keeping it snuffed out for fear of what defiance would bring him. Perhaps Galandril wants to strike back at dark things in the world, and assert her own strength. Perhaps they hope that wandering and seeking will allow them to find a new path in life, or allow them to find the means to be able to return to their old ones.
The two fight well together, working in tandem and covering for one another. They do not get along perfectly, often falling into arguments over one thing or another and trying to get the other to see their viewpoint, but they never let an argument get in the way of the friendship they've developed. Perhaps they'll find what they're looking for, or perhaps they'll meet with tragedy again.
Bram of House Fooger
"I would like to return to my craft. To set plane to wood and fashion what will be a ship. But my hands remember what my mind wishes it could forget, and before long they begin to shake and I grow tense. And it is not because I expect the lash. It's because I know it's not coming. I cannot create without a threat at my back. One more thing the Drazhelgi stole from me."
Bram hails from Marienburg, a scion of House Fooger, although only distantly related to the current Head. He spent over a century at the Marienburg shipyards, first as an apprentice and eventually as a master, working towards the construction of the ships that are the lifeblood of Marienburg. It was on a shakedown cruise of the latest ship of which he had overseen construction that they ran afoul of Corsairs and all aboard were killed or captured. His experience and skill at ship construction made Bram a high-value commodity, and he was swiftly bought to employ the craft he once so loved to the ends of one of Clar Karond's premier noble families.
Bram is almost two centuries old, but after nearly five decades in Druchii captivity, he doesn't quite look it. The Dark Elves are well aware of how Dwarfs prize their beards, and snipping just a bit off the end was their favorite 'light' punishment for the Dwarf. Bram had his share of whippings over the years, as the scars on his back would prove, but his beard has been shorn down to that of a beardling- the only sign of his age is how gray it has become.
He lost most of his tools and mementos when he was captured, with the main exception being an old spyglass he had lent to a nephew a week before he was captured, which has now been returned to him in a very emotional reunion. He now keeps it on his person at all times and is prone to fiddling with it and using it to view the horizon, as one of the few connections to his old life with his tools gone and his skills unable to be employed. He wears a dark green cloak of fine Elven make with a symbol of House Fooger on the back, one of the few pieces that Galandril has been able to complete since their escape.
- Equipped with Axe, Shield, Heavy Armor
Galandril Nightweaver
"I have not created a single tapestry since we escaped. I've started quite a number, choosing a rainbow of colors, always the brightest, running from the darker hues like a starling chasing the setting sun. But I go too fast, and I cannot slow myself. Once I weaved at a gentle pace, binding the threads tightly before moving on, but now I rush and the piece loses form before long. And I cannot help it, because speed was once a matter of my own safety, and the cloth for sails could bear the pace where my threads cannot. I feel the fear still."
Galandril once enjoyed a very comfortable existence, working in her family's home in Cothique weaving tapestries and similar works of cloth to be sold throughout Ulthuan or the wider world- she was particularly fond of creating tapestries depicting the night sky and stars, with those works being highly acclaimed. While traveling to Marienburg with a set of her pieces, the ship was attacked by Corsairs and she found herself up for bid in the markets of Karond Kar, 'Slaver's Gate'. A High Elf is a highly in-demand product, and bidding was fierce. With her talents in weaving, she might have been employed for all manner of things, from tailoring to still making tapestries, but this time depicting the glories and victories of the Druchii, but in time she was bought by a ship-building noble family of Clar Karond, who put her to work making the sails that would one day go on the Ravenships and other vessels that emerge from their shipyards.
Galandril's golden hair was shorn short all the way to her scalp, and she is still working to regrow it. Though she was enslaved for less than a fifth of the time that Bram was, she has many more scars, as a number of her captors delighted in harming the 'proud usurper', always being careful to leave her arms and hands undamaged so she could still perform the labor they needed.
Galandril has worked hard to return to the training that she has not needed since her required fifty years of service many years ago, and has at the very least discovered a joy in the flight of an arrow and striking down her target. When fighting beside Bram in melee, in her left hand she holds a fine spear of Elven make, but in her left is a stout shield that he put together and painted with her family's crest, going off of her best description.
- Equipped with a Spear, Shield, Longbow, Light Armor
