Character Backstory -Aaerdon Long Shanks
Aerdon is a bastard born to a wench employed in a dirty, mean hole of a tavern on an equally dirt part of the city. Raised amid squalor, lawlessness, and violence, Aerdon knew nothing but fear and loneliness as only an unwanted gutter child can know. As he grew older, so did his body. By ten, he was considered a freak being as large as a grown man and as strong. Quickly seduced into the life of the street gangs, Aaerdon was used as an enforcer, quickly gaining a reputation for his willingness to fight at the drop of a hat. By the time he was fifteen, he was already wanted for his part in numerous robberies, muggings, and murders.
On a day like any other, the now towering young man was sitting in a gutter slum bar when a half dozen soldiers stormed in and beat Aaerdon to near death. Awakening in a jail cell, the guard informed him of his tremendous luck. Since his involvement in the robbery and death of a judge's brother was common knowledge, Aaerdon was getting the privilege of being the first criminal labeled an "incorrigible". This made him eligible for the judge's revolutionary new punishment. The new punishment was designed to demonstrate the merciless fate that awaited their eventual capture. Something that may last for days, weeks, or even months before claiming the life of the criminal while allowing the public to watch.
Every day, Aaerdon was marched under guard from his cell to the city gates and taken to a nearby abandoned stone quarry. He was tetherd by a long iron chain and given a hammer and chisel. His task was to quarry enough stone to pay his way back to the safety of his cell every afternoon before sunset. It was understood that no cut stone blocks meant no reentry into the cruel safety of the city.
A single guard was placed nearby to watch Aaerdon. This soldier was not there to help him if danger came, only to report back if it finished off the criminal. Day after day, the already towering youth toiled; shattering boulders and forming the remains into usable blocks. While he was not mason, his tremendous strength allowed him to work quickly and to always fill his quota. Every day he laboured in every sort of weather.. Everyday he grew in strength and coordination and sheer toughness. Every day his watchers marveled at his ability to endure and even thrive.
A day came when there were two watchers. Aerdon was taking a break in the sweltering heat of the midday sun, his hammer carelessly tossed aside while he lay on the jagged and burning stone. Aerdon froze at the sound of a soft scuff of footsteps on stone. A huge desert cat had come to fill its growling belly with this lone creature so conveniently unable to run. Aaerdon glanced at the unmoving watchers, grimly acknowledging that no help was forthcoming from them.
