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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mahiro Satsu" data-source="post: 304776" data-attributes="member: 4970">Episode IX Crown of Fire part 2The History of the Selûnite OrderVol. 12, From Bane to BoonCHAPTER TWO: A Moony, Moony LadDyk Gransun and his wife, Maura, were simple folk of Waymoot. In the Winter of the Year of the Bow (DR 1354) they were expecting the birth of their first child. What they didn’t expect was the orc attack on the night before the full moon that sent the small village scrambling to find their weapons. While wandering bards and merchants had brought news of orc attacks, Waymoot had been spared much of the Cormyrian war, and certainly hadn’t expected such a daring raid in strongly guarded human territory. The courageous villagers, some of whom had fought in previous wars, were able to protect their village from the marauders, but several lives were lost in the battle and many were wounded. One of these was Maura Gransun, whose arm was nearly severed from her body by a rusty poleaxe. Before she was found early that morning, she had already lost much blood. Dyk stayed at her side throughout the next day, waiting for the healer to arrive. He arrived too late, but the midwife didn’t. Before she died, Maura gave birth to her only son, Van Dyksun, as Selûne rose high overhead.Unfortunately for young Van, losing his mother wasn’t the only difficulty of his youth. Due either to the poison in his mother’s blood at his birth or the shock her system had taken, from birth his hair was a shocking white, as striking as a moonbeam. His green eyes and pale skin also were attributed to the circumstances of his birth. Yet Dyk Gransun harbored other suspicions. For the most part, Dyk was kind to the boy, and trained him in the ways of the wood. On the occasions that Dyk drank, though, he would look at the boy (white hair, fair skin, green eyes) and then at himself (dark hair, dark skin, brown eyes) and remember his wife (also dark), and wonder. If Dyk was less than affectionate in these times, no villagers said anything about it, but the boy learned quickly to avoid his father and would often sleep in the boughs of a tree when his father had once again taken to the drink.The children of the village weren’t much better to the strange looking boy and engaged in those small cruelties that children are known for. Van was alternatively known as ghostboy, moon baby, whitey, and Van Dykmoon. A sensitive child, he retreated to the only refuge that he knew—the King’s Forest surrounding Waymoot. From his father’s instruction and the fact that he had no other pastimes, Van learned the ways of the animals, how to track them and how to kill them. Along with his wood knowledge, he became such an accomplished ranger that he was allowed to join older men from the village to hunt orcs during the Ghazneth War. Of course, he had a particular grievance against the orcs, which likely aided his arrows in flying true.Dyk Gransun forced his son to select a patron deity before allowing him to join the hunt—no son of his was going to be disposed of by the Lord of the Dead because he had failed to choose a faith. Van, remembering the slights of his youth and also the benefit that the moon’s light gave him when hunting at night, chose Selûne. Rather than ridicule his choice as he had suspected they would, his father and the village elders merely nodded their agreement.Following the attainment of his majority, Van asked for his father’s permission to leave Waymoot. The old man had seen the adventurous spirit grow in the boy and didn’t even attempt to sway his decision. Instead, he presented Van with a fine dagger, a wedding gift that he and Maura had received, yet never been able to identify the giver. The masterly crafted weapon, old yet still as sharp as the day it was forged, had a strange design on the hilt that resembled four quarter moons.</blockquote>

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