VoidTheViolet

Alexander was born unto a poorer family consisting of a farmer and a dressmaker living in the borderlands of the Kingdom of Haense. In his youth, he had two siblings; both brothers, both older. Unfortunately, during a time of illness, both passed away; leaving Alexander alone to support his father’s already struggling farm. This didn’t last long; as at the young age of just eleven, Alex’s father abandoned him in a small trade town to preserve money and food in favor of his wife, whose business was declining. For awhile, he lived as a street urchin, scraping by on the scraps of others. It wasn’t until he was thirteen that his life-defining moment came. A man came into town pulling along with him a cart full of weapons and armor. He was an older smith by the name of Bermund Johannson. While he was busy with a potential customer, Alex attempted to swipe one of the daggers from the man’s cart. Due to an onlooker, he was caught; but instead of beating the child like most probably would have, Bermund took a look over the child, and asked if he had anywhere to go. One thing led to another; and the man ended up taking up Alex in, in exchange for his assistance. For the coming years, Alex would help Bermund in his forge; and slowly, his fascination with smithing developed. Over time, Bermund warmed up to Alex, and Alex to he. Bermund would go on to share with Alex his reasoning for taking him up: some time back, Bermund and his wife had tried for children. It turned out that such acts were fruitless; and years later, his wife had passed away. Bermund always wanted a son and heir to pass his knowledge of the trade onto, so he felt that meeting young Alex had been fate. Having this sort of positive focus on his existence after years of toil and disappointment from his parents meant everything to young Alex; and quickly, he let Bermund’s wish mold his life. He wanted nothing more than to be the heir Bermund never had. For years to come, he trained happily under Bermund, until fate struck once more. As Alex eased into the age of seventeen, Bermund passed away. His age and decades of breathing the smoke of the forge caught up to him; and his lungs had failed him. On Bermund’s deathbed did he ask something of Alexander. As odd as it seemed, he did not wish Alexander to carry his name... or that of his parents. He used his final breath to wish upon Alex to forge his own identity; and carry the fire of the forge as he had onwards in that way. This cemented two of what has become the most important of Alex’s features: his last name, to which he chose Verriphim; and his oath to his mentor that he would always carry the flame of the craft in his heart and mind, for the only man to care for his well-being. At the age of twenty, Verriphim found that the towns around old Bermund’s forge were fading or finding their own smiths in their growth. With a final goodbye, Verriphim sold the land for what it was worth, pulled up his roots, and set off to find somewhere new to settle down and continue the trade. For the time being, he operates from a small forge in the wildlands; but to date, he attempts to find a settlement to call home. (A Note: I really tried my hardest with including lore references and accurately referencing information, but all of what I can find on the forums is just about the inner workings of government bodies and regulations of the lands in question, not really any information about things like land, plagues, economic growth and stability/instability, etc. So, I’m sorry if I was a little weak in that department. If whoever ends up reading this can actually help me find links regarding that sort of thing, please do let me know. I want to be more into this. I just can’t find any of the information I want to find.)