Forenrond Shankley

Played by: Dog Pants

Introduced: Adventure #1: Dungeon Siege

Description
Shankley is a slight, furtive half-elf with a slightly unnerving demeanour. Ostensibly attractive, as befitting his elven blood, his appearance has an air of uncanny valley such that anyone entering into dialogue with him for more than a passing comment starts to get the distinct impression that there's something not quite right. This is compounded by his slightly odd mannerisms which, again, only become apparent after a short time. Most notable is that he does not break eye contact when caught looking at someone, and that he tends to hold it for just slightly longer than is comfortable.

Background
Shankley grew up in the city of Siriath, with a human mother whose slow descent into alcoholism reached its perigee when he was in his early teens, and an elven father who he never met. His mother was a large, domineering woman who was known to frequent the inns and taverns of the city even before her ultimately fatal alcohol problem, and popular rumour among the crueler patrons was that the father of her half blood child had no choice in the conception.

Despite her reputation, Shankley was his mother's world. She gave him an elven first name in the hope that he would progress beyond the gutters in which she dwelled, and doted on him in private. However, her increasingly apparent problem reached a point where, by his eighth birthday, Shankley was the carer of the pair. For five years he fended for his increasingly ill mother, using whatever means he could to provide for them both. Eventually though, despite his best efforts, he lost her. To this day he does not know whether the drink killed her, or whether she chose to relieve him of the burden of her in a moment of clarity.

Alone in the city at the age of thirteen, Shankley fell in with his small network of urchin friends with whom he had plied the streets. Before long he became part of a petty street gang, graduating from pick-pocket to burglar over the next ten years. Minor scrapes with the guard became frequent enough that they would accost him on sight and shake him down. Occasionally he spent a few weeks or months in the gaol, more often they found nothing and gave him a beating for wasting their time. Eventually his criminal lifestyle got the better of him. While working in the house of a moderately successful merchant, Shankley found himself in the midst of a setup. His friends on watch fled when the guards appeared in numbers, and when they came upon him rifling through supply manifests he was finally arrested for a crime that they could pin on him for good.

Shankley faced a long spell in prison, one that he had a good chance of not surviving. The outlook was bleak, but redemption came in the form of the merchant whose house he had been robbing. A pious man, the merchant appealed to the church of Cuthbert to take the rogue in and turn him into a decent, productive member of society. Shankley eagerly took the offer, relieved to be avoiding the festering oubliette that is Siriath gaol. For two years he has studied and served with the church, away from the city and its influences in the town of Orhedge.

Notable Events
The fourth adventure, The Art of the Cudgel, was Shankley's final act of penance. His missions for the church previously had won the favour of a handful of passing adventurers, and with their assistance he won his chance at freedom.

Quotes
"I'm not an elf."