Shade's Past

      Vailian was born the second son of a thatcher in a small hamlet by the sea. At the age of 15 he set out to find work so that he wouldn't be a drain on his financially strapped parents. After traveling for some time and doing odd jobs on and off, Vailian got a job as a clerk at an oddity store. Working here for the next three years Vailian would often buy items that the store would not, selling some and keeping others. One of these items was a spellbook that had been found after a miner had excavated a cave in. It was here that Vailian first became exposed to magic and it was here that Vailian became Shade.

     The spellbook held the lingering influence of a powerful Drow wizard, his personality becoming infused into the magics surrounding the book. The curse that allowed the spirit to remain bound to this world also allowed for it to infest the young inexperienced wizard, plying through pages of magic he did not understand. The subtle influence of the Drow wizard began to plant the seeds of its master plan in Vailian's mind. Taking his little wealth and his spellbook, the wizard now taking to calling himself Shade set out on the road to find more power. The Drow Wizard's spirit is content to wait, knowing if Vailian doesn't reach the required strength to reconstitute the Drow in time than he may deliver the book to someone who can... With his death.

      Vailian has no idea of the conflict raging within him between these unseen suggestions and his psyche. Vailian has specialized in Transmutation and has chosen to forgo any learning of enchantments or necromantic magics for the most part. This choice seems natural to him, but is rather the influence of the Drow steering him away from the magics which could reveal his machinations or enchanting suggestions.

      Shade doesn't know it yet, but he will be driven to create magical devices of great power, he will even eventually return to necromantic magics... The magic which will allow the Drow to return to the material plane as a Lich and strike down the fool who has been slowly working towards his own doom.