Aedon was born in the rural village of Winterburn, whose main responsibility was to provide food and livestock to the land of Aegis. However, after the fall of Aegis in 1351, Winterburn fell into poverty, unable to generate enough income to flourish as it had in the past. Aedon’s father had died before he was born, and as such he had inherited the name of the village rather than that of his biological father. The responsibilities of maintaining the quaint family farm were thrust upon Aedon on his twelfth birthday, and from then on he had no choice but to work with his mother for fourteen hours a day in the fields and surrounding farmland in order to keep a roof over their heads.
His mother was a wise and educated woman, and spent all of her free time teaching Aedon how to read and write, in the hopes he could one day become a scholar in a distant land, despite Aedon’s best protests. Mere weeks before his nineteenth birthday, Aedon’s mother passed away, and despite his best efforts to work through the suffering, it grew impossible to maintain the same income. As such, he was cast from the family home with only the clothes on his back.
Wandering the wilderness for what seemed like weeks, Aedon eventually came across a small dock, where trade ships would set sail twice a day, venturing across the seas to distant lands. Aedon offered his labour in return for a bunk on the next ship to set sail, and after much begging and pleading, and weeks of heaving heavy crates on to each and every ship to make port, Aedon finally found himself out upon the waves and far from home. When the ship finally docked, Aedon stepped down on to the unfamiliar land of Arcas, and set off on foot towards civilisation in the hopes of finding a better life.
