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Leiche Pancrates was born to a farming family, in a namless northern village by a small lake. When he was four, his mother died of disease. Leiche’ father, Thanatos, was a kind and somewhat meek man, aged prematurely by grief for his deceased wife. For ten years the two of them got by the best that they could.
One cold bright autumn day, while inspecting pumpkins on the west side his small farm, Thanatos happened upon an unconscious woman lying pale, and half-frozen amidst the large round fruits. Taking her home and nursing her back to health, the two fell in love and were eventually married in a quiet ceremony.
Bastinda (for so was the name of Leiche’ new mother) was kind to her husband and loved her stepson dearly. And while the love was eagerly returned by the young boy, he sensed that there was something different, something not quite right about his new mother. Indeed, sometimes when he glimpsed her in just the right light, he thought he could almost see through her. Other times she seemed to emerge suddenly, as if from the shadows in a room. Soon, Bastinda revealed to her stepson the sorcery that she could command. And in return for teaching him the ways of the arcane arts, she made him promise not to tell anyone of her powers.
Amongst the villagers, hostility and suspicion towards Bastinda reigned at first. Only by brewing the simplest of sleeping, health and love tonics for them over the course of almost ten years did she manage to win some amount of goodwill. The fact that she charged them nothing for these potions and that they worked splendidly was of key importance in effecting this turnaround.
All the while, Leiche learned more and more from his stepmother, including where she kept her large book of enchantments – only, as the boy would later come to discover, many of these spells were those of the necromantic arts.
When Leiche reached twenty-four years of age, people in the village began to weaken for no explainable reason, and, eventually, to die. The villagers’ suspicion and hostility centered on the Pancrates family. And just as suddenly as she had come, Bastinda vanished. Yet she left a note for Leiche, and a large black-scaled leather spellbook with spells written into it. The note said only, “you must go now too, and chart your own course in the world.” The young man left the village soon thereafter and wandered the nearby lands never straying too far afield.
Leiche has now been wandering for years and reached the age of 42. He has survived by doing odd jobs, and occasionally casting the odd cantrip or brewing the odd potion, then moving on. But he has been growing increasingly restless in his homeland and curious about just what else he might be able to do and accomplish with his magical abilities; abilities that have been atrophying until now. He is also desperate to find what has become of his mother. As such he is leaving in order to seek what he can, and to put himself to the test.
One cold bright autumn day, while inspecting pumpkins on the west side his small farm, Thanatos happened upon an unconscious woman lying pale, and half-frozen amidst the large round fruits. Taking her home and nursing her back to health, the two fell in love and were eventually married in a quiet ceremony.
Bastinda (for so was the name of Leiche’ new mother) was kind to her husband and loved her stepson dearly. And while the love was eagerly returned by the young boy, he sensed that there was something different, something not quite right about his new mother. Indeed, sometimes when he glimpsed her in just the right light, he thought he could almost see through her. Other times she seemed to emerge suddenly, as if from the shadows in a room. Soon, Bastinda revealed to her stepson the sorcery that she could command. And in return for teaching him the ways of the arcane arts, she made him promise not to tell anyone of her powers.
Amongst the villagers, hostility and suspicion towards Bastinda reigned at first. Only by brewing the simplest of sleeping, health and love tonics for them over the course of almost ten years did she manage to win some amount of goodwill. The fact that she charged them nothing for these potions and that they worked splendidly was of key importance in effecting this turnaround.
All the while, Leiche learned more and more from his stepmother, including where she kept her large book of enchantments – only, as the boy would later come to discover, many of these spells were those of the necromantic arts.
When Leiche reached twenty-four years of age, people in the village began to weaken for no explainable reason, and, eventually, to die. The villagers’ suspicion and hostility centered on the Pancrates family. And just as suddenly as she had come, Bastinda vanished. Yet she left a note for Leiche, and a large black-scaled leather spellbook with spells written into it. The note said only, “you must go now too, and chart your own course in the world.” The young man left the village soon thereafter and wandered the nearby lands never straying too far afield.
Leiche has now been wandering for years and reached the age of 42. He has survived by doing odd jobs, and occasionally casting the odd cantrip or brewing the odd potion, then moving on. But he has been growing increasingly restless in his homeland and curious about just what else he might be able to do and accomplish with his magical abilities; abilities that have been atrophying until now. He is also desperate to find what has become of his mother. As such he is leaving in order to seek what he can, and to put himself to the test.
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