Delandros, born to a human mother and elf father, would have been adored for his beauty and strength had he been able to live a normal life. Born with golden brown hair and emerald eyes; everyone knew he had the destiny of strength and honor. But life had different plans for the young humanoid. He was to experience hardship and failure. Maybe this was the cosmic forces balancing out his gifts? Maybe it was just dumb bad luck? Time would be the decider.
Growing up in a small village with a hungry belly every night made life difficult for a young Delandros. Having lost both his parents to violence left a gaping void in his development. He knew how to be kind, as it was the only way for his survival, but he also had to learn the harsh cruelties from the world at a young age. The kindness of strangers could be great but their wrath and greed often won out in the end.
Struggling to survive since the age of 8, Delandros sought out a way to protect himself as he felt alone in the world. Due to the prospect of having to feed another mouth; many in his area refused to help or train him how to survive. It was pure serendipity that he was in the path of a caravan of future paladins who saw the chance at some charity, while bolster their ranks, and picked him up and ushered him far off to an unknown region.
While the small monastery felt like a resort to the young half-elf; it provided warmth, food and shelter. It wasn't till his adolescence that he realized the order had an extremely flawed dogma that on the surface was one of charity and good works. Unfortunately the corruption rotted out the order and left it a husk of its previous glory. Over time less and less of the paladins would return; some even missing from camp. It wasn't until Delandros was able to start to detect the presence of evil that a noxious sent filled his nostrils every time he entered camp.
While thankful for the skills acquired and food given; self preservation won out and he needed to grow and adventure out making his old ways. Full of piss and vigor; overconfidence was to be his undoing. For the woods were very unkind to any who did not belong or at least travelled in groups along the safe paths. Gnolls were particularly bad; raiding villages in the night and leaving all dead in their wake.
Not but a few hours after abandoning the monastery; he found himself in mortal peril. It seemed as if his half complete training was not enough as he would not be dying the heroic death he yearns for; but one of fear, shit, and carnage at the hands of a lowly bear. Luckily fate intervened and a wise and powerful Dryad, Elysia, stepped in and felled the hungry bear in one blow to the back of the neck.
Elysia, seeing the potential for a great warrior, knew that Delandros would simply die when left out of her sight if not giving proper training. Augmenting the training, while keeping the bones of the paladin order, Elysia planned on making Delandros a force of nature; the potential savior of her forest: a loyal worshiper of her diety Silvanus.
Elysia lived in an enchanted forest, full of life and light. It was as if it was uncorrupted by the world around it. Fruit and vegetables were plentiful, as was game, and the water was the freshest and clearest and coldest Delandros ever knew. It was a paradise to him. The perfect place to commune with nature full of hope and warmth. For the first time in his life he was able to feel true happiness.
Delandros, having a natural affinity to the forest, showed tremendous growth over a few short years. Elysia became the family, mother like in nature, that he lacked. He pledged his life to her service and cause as repayment for the life she gave back to him. To Delandros his life was not his own but his protector, master, and friends.
Slowly over time the perfect forest was being corrupted. Game disappeared, trees lost their vibrant green dying, falling, and taking out their healthy brethren. The fruit lost its sweetness. The vegetables lost their crispness. Even the water lost its clarity and coolness; running warm and filled with silt and mud. Elysia felt the end of days was upon her forest. She tried to cure and protect it any way she could but never made any progress. She was growing more and more desperate every day.
Due to the growing destruction of the forest and impending doom to the continent, Elysia grew restless and concerned. Fearing that her way of life would be wiped out and exterminated, a seed of darkness was planted and slowly corrupted her. Seeing the opportunity to protect the land and herself and Delandros she moved out of the forest, settled in the Nexus, and pledged her loyalty to the Cult of Gigareth for power and protection.
Though Delandros did not know exactly what was going on, as a similar powerful stink radiated throughout the town, he knew that it was not of a good and holy nature. Even though every cell in his being was telling him to cut ties with this place he ignored the warning for the sake of his master. It was his job to protect and further the interest of Elysia; even if he didnt understand and agree to them.
Spending years among the people belonging to Gigareth opened up Delandros’ eyes to the spectrum of good and evil. Most of the members wanted nothing but to survive, some were greedy and wanted power, but very few gave off a truly evil presence; those that did were often seldom seen and routinely avoided by the regular populace. Delandros went so far as to even further the Cults goals when he felt things would line up properly with his own desires or that of Elysia.
One night, Elysia, in a moment of frantic speculation attempted to explain the nuances of the cult of Gigareth and her roles and desires. Due to the complex nature of the issues and plans, while having a lack of real interest, Delandros was only able to gather some basic knowledge; mostly for survival sake. He knew that the White hair and the Black hair on some of the cultists signified importance but the aspect of builders and breakers went over his head; though the sense that he should be extra cautious of them remained.
Elysia continued her supposed late night ramblings about demons, devils, and the end of the world; stirring vague memories of his adolescente at the monastery. Not being worldly enough to catch the importance of this he asked silly things about their smells, if you can eat them, do they sell wine, among other childish questions. One of the only things that truly stuck to him was the fact that Elysia thought joining these people was the only way to cleanse and save the forest from the plants that caused a rare incurable blood disease. While not really caring about most of the regular folk under distress from the blood disease; its corruption of the forest and the creates sickened her; it was the only task on her mind and as it progressed over the years she was driven to the brink of madness trying to stop its spread.
Having built strong relationships with the elf tribes in the neighboring wood due to trading and a mutual desire to slayy gnolls’; Delandros was ushered away on an urgent mission to help the Wolf tribe cull the population of Gnolls to the south. Knowing the trip would take several weeks in total; he wished his townsfolk safety and was reluctant to leave Elysia on her own for the amount of time. Knowing that his battle prowess would be a great boon to the cull; she pushed Delandros away and ordered him to go and to bring back some blood and fur for a ritual she intended to perform.
Wishing him well travels; Elysia was oddly emotional toward Delandros. She gave him a hug, a rare occurrence, and told him no matter what to make sure he comes back alive and continues to be the great paladin he is destined to be. As he starts his journey south, along with some other fighters from town, he gets uneasy about leaving but decides that he must not disappoint Elysia and follow his orders to bring back her materials.
Due to the strength of the wolf tribe, bolstered with the warriors of Nexus, the Gnolls did not stand a chance. Having ventured further and further into the wood; the cull was an outstanding success. A large problem in his youth, the Gnoll populations are under much better control; though those who lived through the horrific raids never wanted to let populations get higher. This was to be an annual event for the people of nexus to better keep their lands safe. As the hunt closed. Delandros wished his friend Zanna well and told her to keep safe and to come visit soon so they could share a few too many ales in his favorite tavern.
Though some were lost to the gnolls his travel party was thinned but still strong enough to act as a deterrent to the lesser beasts of the forest. This made the travel quick and safe; a welcomed break due to Delandros’ desire to return to Elysia.
Upon reaching the crest of a large hill, dense of hardwood trees, overlooking the town of nexus the smell of smoke, fire, and blood fill the air. Delandros rushed to the top of the mountain and saw the carnage of a massacre. Women, children, even the pets were all murdered and violated. The town looked as if six inches of blood ran through the streets. Straining his eyes to look he finds a horrific sight that nearly drives him mad: Elysias’ head on a pike outside of their home. His heart pulled him to run down and avenge his Elysia; but his head won out and he retreated into the woods and did not follow the others down to town.
Dread, despair, sadness, fear, and anger filled his mind. His head was racing too fast; he could not think right. Gasping for breath he lays down and curls into a ball. Sobbing uncontrollably the voice of Elysia telling him to survive echoes through his mind forcing him to try and regain his composure and stand up and run; if just to live a little longer for his master. As his mind attempts to block out the image of Elysia from his mind; the only thing he can remember is the flags of Purple and Silver.
Running non stop for hours at a time for days on end, in a state of pure adrenaline and anger, Delandos is luckily able to survive and make it to a familiar face before collapsing from exhaustion: Zanna.
Zanna, not a true friend yet but a close acquaintance who has done battle beside him, took pity on the poor Half Elf. While not being welcomed into the wolf tribe due to his half human heritage; Delandros was able to stay on the outskirts for protection and was treated favorably with leftovers and trades. He was even lucky enough to find skilled sparring partners among the youth; though the elder members of the tribe avoided him and looked down on him and his skills.
Over the years of near solitude, Delandros took on an introverted mask, one to better protect him from feeling such strong emotions again. Slowly over time he saw less and less of the wolf tribe deciding to take his training and live off the land as much as he could. This was to be his self imposed penance: to live as one with nature and alone because he failed to save his Elysia.
His solitude and training was going well, as well as could be for living alone in a tree, as was his prayer rituals to Silvanus. Deep in a trance-like state the image of Silvanus appeared in the young paladin's mind. It was time for him to release himself from the self imposed prison: he was to take up his masters task. He was to protect the forest that Elysia hailed from and make sure it prospered and returned to its pristine natural state. Though this was not his only task; he sought vengeance on those who murdered Elysia.
With renewed vigor and unparalleled drive; Delandros sought a way to gather funds, experience, and allies as he knew his task would need it...