Aithen was born an only child to two Snow Elves in a remote fishing village. He was raised there, spending a great deal of time on his father's fishing boat and in the surrounding wilderness, until he came of age. Shortly before leaving to join the Snow Elves' military, his father took out for a last fishing trip as part of a kind of informal local coming of age ritual. Upon returning to his village with the largest fish he had ever caught, he was tasked by his mother to prepare a stew and divvy it out to the rest of the village. At first, he was annoyed with this task, seeing the fish as his, but as he shared the stew with his people, he came to understand that his reward for his catch would not be money or the fish itself but the gratitude of the people he had known his whole life. Shortly following this revelation, he left for the military, spending many years in training and guarding the borders of Snow Elf civilization from the threats of the sea, wilderness, and outside world. Only a short time ago now he was dismissed and for the first time in his decades of life, left to his own devices.
