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Early life (1167-1185)
 
Reinar Tychon, born on the 22nd day of Ulexil 1167, was the second child of Gunnar and Mina Tychon. Reinar, along with his elder brother Valde (b. 1163) and younger sister Siru (b. 1172) grew up in the company of a nomadic group of travelling merchants called the Girovagi.
 
The Girovagi made their living trading goods from different parts of south Galdra. While much of the trade was legitimate, they also engaged in underworld activity, maintaining a finely tuned network of blackmarket buyers and sellers. The Girovagi’s astute leader, Jurgos Markunas, was careful to keep on the good side of the local lords through flattery and bribery, and if things got uncomfortable, the Girovagi would quickly decamp and head to the next place.
 
The Tychon family, including Mina's mother Sissel Bergren, were one of 7 families in the close-knit Girovagi caravan. The other families had all been Girovagi for many generations, but the Tychons were a relatively recent addition, and Sissel would enthrall the Tychon children with stories about their mysterious Great-grandmother’s magical exploits before joining the travelling merchants. As they got older they dismissed the stories as nothing more than fanciful fairy tales, although Reinar liked to think maybe some magic still flowed through his veins.
 
Reinar’s brother Valde was composed and level-headed, and at 18 was already being trusted with delicate Girovagi blackmarket deals. Reinar, on the other hand, was impulsive and full of nervous energy. He was generally put to work announcing the Girovagis’ arrival into new towns, often with comedic (and sometimes vulgar) song and dance, making sure that everyone knew about the great deals to be had. Yet Reinar longed to see the inner-workings of the underworld, and frequently pleaded to join Valde on his underworld errands. Of course Jurgos and the other family heads knew that Reinar would only be a liability, and he was told to play to his strengths: acting the fool and performing to the punters.
 
Capture and Shadow Plane (1185-1189)
 
At the age of 18 (1185), Reinar finally got the chance to join his brother on a blackmarket deal. Valde was meeting an elderly mage named Dalthas, who wished to shift a number of occult relics. Having already set up the deal earlier in the day, Valde needed help with the exchange in the evening. With the Girovagi unusually stretched, he resorted to asking Reinar, who of course leapt at the chance.
 
Before they could even reach the meeting point, Valde and Reinar were ambushed by several shadowy assailants. The Tychon brothers were quickly overcome and knocked out. They came-to in a small jail cell, hanging by their arms, which now bore inky black tattoos. Their contact, Dalthas, was waiting for them. He apologised for the subterfuge and violence, and told them that they were no longer in southern Galdra. In fact, they were not even on the same plane of existence, but had been transported to the shadow plane. Dalthas revealed himself to be a fetchling sorcerer and explained that the brothers both possessed something he needed: shadow blood. Dalthas’ tribe, the D'var an Ral, were being persecuted by a more powerful tribe, the D’var lo Sret. Being the only magic user among the D’var an Ral, Dalthas realised that his tribe’s best chance of survival lay in finding other sources of shadow magic. The Tychon brothers were one such source, and once their ‘shadow blood’ had been awakened, they would be able to help the D’var an Ral drive back their enemies.
 
And so Reinar and Valde begin their life on the shadow plane. Within a few days they began to notice changes in their bodies. During the night, they could feel the gloom gravitate towards them. Dalthas set up small arcane-looking contraptions outside their cell, which seemed to feed off this swirling darkness and leave the brothers exhausted. It turned out that these devices were alchemical bombs infused with shadow energy. After a couple of months the brothers saw the power of their ‘shadow blood’ for themselves, when a D’var lo Sret raiding party attacked the settlement. Using the shadow bombs, the D’var an Ral easily repelled the raiders. After the attack, the D’var an Ral began to visit the brothers’ cell, bringing food and small gifts to thank them for their ‘help’ in defending the village. The brothers began to pick up the language of the fetchlings, and despite the circumstances, sensed a kindred spirit with the tribe, whose semi-nomadic lifestyle was not unlike that of the Girovagi.
 
Of course, the first time that they were let out of the cages, Reinar and Valde made a break for it. They managed to last half an hour before the fetchling trackers found them. They tried to escape several times in the first few months, but never made it more than a few hours from the D’var an Ral settlement. A couple of times they pretended to escape, then snuck back to search Dalthas’ possessions for clues to get home: the second time they did this a magical trap knocked them both out for a week. After that they stopped trying to escape, and having spent a year in captivity, the brothers were finally released from their cell and granted greater freedom within the settlement. Valde began to adjust to his new life. He would help out the fetchlings when he could, and even fell for one of the maidens, Jinyda. Reinar, however, retained a deep anger, and could not accept his fate: all his energy was spent figuring out a way home. Valde would listen when Reinar explained his escape plans, but somehow his heart didn't seem to be in it. When the D’var lo Sret next attacked, several months later, Reinar put his plan into motion. Stealing into Dalthas tent, he grabbed as many of the mage’s occult artefacts and writings as he could. He rushed to meet Valde, but instead of finding him at the edge of the settlement at their agreed escape point, he saw him fighting the D’var lo Sret beside Jinyda. It seemed his brother had made a choice. Cursing, Reinar ran to the nearby river, where he had hidden a crude raft, and made his escape.
 
Reinar wandered the shadow plane for a long time. It was a cold and brutal place, and he lived a solitary existence, avoiding fetchling settlements for the most part. But he devoted himself to understanding Dalthas’ occult writings, and even managed to unlock the small chest of Dalthas’ contraptions he had stolen. Without his energy constantly being drained by Dalthas’ devices, he felt his shadow powers grow, and was able to start manipulating the darkness. As his understanding of Dalthas’ experiments improved, he realised that he was able to operate some of the artefacts and contraptions that he had stolen. One day, more than four years after arriving on the shadow plane, he made a breakthrough. Channelling the shadows into a small cube, he created a tiny, short-lived rift in the fabric of the plane. Over the following days he practiced tearing the rift, and was able to create larger and more stable portals, revealing the material plane on the other side. One evening, when the moon was new, he finally braved the trip through the rift.
 
Return to the material plane (1189 - present)
 
Passing across the planar rift, Reinar was struck with a shooting pain through his arms. The small cube which he held shattered into pieces, and the rift closed. He was exhausted, but he had made it home, or at least back to the material plane. He was actually in Night Valley, a place infrequently visited by the Girovagi. So he began his journey to south Galdra, determined to find his family. Reinar was able to track down the Girovagi within a few weeks. Unfortunately, his family was no longer with them. Jurgos, the Girovagi’s boss, explained that the day after the brothers disappeared, the rest of the Tychon family set off on their own way, with barely an explanation. Reinar’s grandmother Sissel had seemingly transformed from a jolly old lady into a stern matriarch, and informed Jurgos that they would have to part ways. In the intervening 4 years they never again saw the Tychons.
 
Although Jurgos offered for Reinar to rejoin the Girovagi, Reinar couldn’t face it. Dejected and lost, he wandered southern Galdra. He might as well have been wandering the shadow plane again. His family had abandoned him. Or had he abandoned his family? What did it matter? He tried to fix the planar rift cube, but to no avail, and he began selling the other artefacts to pay for food. After that he got by on petty theft and begging (the thought of performing made him nauseas). Then one evening, while sitting in a tavern in the town of Caldarron, he overheard stories of the Wayfarers, and their interest in the arcane and occult. Maybe they could help him to reach the shadow plane?
 
In 1190, Reinar stepped into the Wayfarer’s lodge for the first time. Although he had nothing to offer in terms of money, he had kept the broken planar rift cube, and his story of planar travel piqued Inisha Arklow’s interest sufficiently to question him further. After several days studying the shards of the cube, Reinar's tattoos, and Dalthas' notes (which Reinar had been unable to sell), Inisha was able to determine the steps necessary to create a portal to the shadow plane.
 
Driven by her desire to learn more about the shadow plane and it's denizens, Inisha sought Heyton Aldalayne's permission to carry out a small expedition. And so, nearly a year after he had left the shadow plane, Reinar returned, together with Inisha, and the ranger Sakyp Valiyar. Setting foot on the Shadow plane, Reinar sensed dark energy filling him. He felt more alive than he had done in months. Part of him was of this place, and could only flourish in the barren gloom.
 
With Sakyp’s tracking skills, the Wayfarer expedition were able to locate the D'var an Ral within a couple of weeks. Although Valde was still with the tribe, it was not a happy reunion. The night that Reinar escaped, the D'var lo Sret had inflicted heavy casualties on the D'var an Ral, and Dalthas had been seriously wounded. Sensing he may not be able to lead them for much longer, Dalthas imparted his knowledge of shadow magic to Valde, and begged him to look after the tribe. What's more, Jinyda was expecting Valde's child. Valde felt responsible for the safety of the tribe. No matter what Reinar said, he couldn't persuade Valde to return to the material plane with him.
 
However, they did not return to the material plane entirely empty handed. Taking the ‘scenic route' home (i.e. remaining on the Shadow plane a little longer so Inisha could continue her studies), they stumbled upon a young girl named Jakara, who claimed to have also been transported to the shadow plane many years earlier. She was eager to leave, and returned with them to the wayfarers lodge.
 
Back on the material plane and cut off from the Shadow, Reinar once again felt empty and was in danger of giving into despair. He and his brother had drifted apart. His family had disappeared without trace. He didn't know where to go next. When Inisha took pity on him and offered him the chance to hone his magic skills at the Wayfarers, he didn’t hesitate. If there was anywhere he might find balance between the light and the dark, it was here.

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