Kurst
Male Human
Artificer 1/Warlock 2
{stat details coming later}
History:
Kurst, formerly Palar d'Cannith, was perfectly happy being a nobody. True, he was a member of House Cannith, but he didn't have the Mark, nor were his talents as an artificer much to speak of. He was good enough to do the basic work handed down to him, and that was plenty good enough for him. He certainly wasn't worth putting on the front lines in the war, which kept him alive through the whole mess. It also meant he wasn't good enough to hang around the capital, which kept him alive when it was destroyed.
Palar was as distraught as anyone over the loss, both to the nation and to the house, but when the would-be-new-patriarchs started to consolidate power, he wasn't worth much more than being a pawn, and was quickly shuffled around to work for anyone who needed a pair of somewhat expendable hands attached to someone who at least had an idea what he was doing.
Ultimately, this led to alot of very dangerous trips into places chasing after every rumor of something that just might be of use to the House rebuilding it's power. Palar managed to survive that too, largely due to the fact that, as it turns out, he wasn't quite as bad as he had thought of himself.
That aspect wound up not working out so well for him.
The place was supposed to be some kind of cache of weapons from the Age of Demons, full of artifacts, each one enough to restore the power of House Cannith. His current master, Arrant d'Cannith, however, couldn't manage to get the door open, and under no condition was the old man prepared to turn back to get help, and risk sharing the glory with anyone.
Days crept on and supplies ran dangerously low, prompting Palar to do something very rash and try the seal himself.
The fact that he was able to open it would have been most impressive.
The fact that it wasn't a weapons cache made it much less of a feat.
The fact that he had just unbound a fiend sealed since the Age of Demons somewhat overshadowed his accomplishment.
Things continued downhill, the fiend slaying most of the team, sparing only Palar and a pair of the guards, the latter left to witness the fiend thanking Palar for setting him free and bestowing his mark on the young man before vanishing.
Somewhat understandably, the pair figured that Palar had unleashed the thing on purpose, and was an agent of the fiend. When a panicked Palar wounded one of them with a blast of eldritch flame, they were assured of the fact and quickly fled.
By the time the distraught Palar managed to make his own way back to civilization, agents of the Silver Flame were already looking for him. Ordinarily, Palar would have turned himself in, wishing for nothing more than to have this strange power removed from him.
Unfortunately, the general order was that Palar d'Cannith was to be killed on sight, his body and head burned in separate fires.
Ever since, Palar has sullenly taking up the name Kurst, running from just about anyone who would kill the servant of a fiend - which turns out to be most people. The fact that the mark left by the fiend looks like an aberrant dragonmark doesn't help any either.
Appearance:
Kurst is a tall, somewhat lanky young man who would be fairly attractive if his own lack of self confidence didn't show so clearly. That and the brooding over being empowered by a fiend and marked for death, and the guilt from letting the fiend out to start with.
Oh, and his upper-right arm is covered by a mark that virtually anyone would assume is an aberrant dragon mark.
Personality:
Palar was a quite, humble young boy, content to do as he was told and to not get in anyones way.
Kurst is perpetually afraid he is going to get captured and killed for what he is.
That and the fear that his fiendish power is going to turn him into a monster.
Just in time to be found out, killing many good people before he is killed.
He would take the easy way out and kill himself, or turn himself in to be killed, but he lacks the conviction to do so, and hates himself for it.
Enemies:
Just about any good aligned person around, at least any that find out who he is, as well as most who see his mark.
More specifically, one Almia d'Cannith, the daughter of the late Arrant d'Cannith and cleric of the Silver Flame, has a particularly large issue with Kurst. fortunately for poor Kurst's nerves, he's not aware of this fact yet.
Allies:
Kurst is sadly lacking in anything like real allies, largely since he can't trust anyone not to turn him in - and anyone ok with the fact that he's marked by a fiend likely isn't the best sort to hang around with.
What Kurst is blissfully (relatively speaking, of course) unaware of is that the fiend he unsealed has not forgotten about the boy he marked, and has it's own reasons to keep him intact...