The Assassins

Azareth was born in the sprawling city of Westwall in The Hold Of The Sea Princes (a South-Western Country) to a retired Sea Captain. His father, the highly decorated Commodore Filmanor, was very successful in his activities in The Azure Sea and was lucky enough to retire with a veritable fortune. The Commodore married a politician's daughter and Azareth was born - his first legitimate son - when he was in his late fifties.

The Commodore's money bought Azareth the best food, best clothes and the best academic training. The Commodore had had a long, hard life and he wanted to spare him the trials he had experienced. From the outset his father intended him to enter politics - where easy money could be made with comparatively little effort. By not sending him off to the Naval Academy - as most retired officers did with their first born - he kept Azareth in Westwall and enrolled him in the Westwall University.

He excelled in his studies and, at the age of fifteen, won a scholarship to the prestigious Monburg University located in The Hold's Capital - Monburg. In less than a year it was clear that his intellect was being wasted in politics and his father bowed to the pressure applied by the University's Lecturers and allowed him to enter into an apprenticeship with Grand Mage Tehlecki, a member of the "Wizards of the Coast" and his future looked very bright...

Kalach came to visit Azareth's father one evening in the summer while he was home on vacation. He knew the minute he saw Kalach that this man was trouble. He was a tall, slender man with ice-blue eyes and fair complexion; he carried twin blades at his side. His complexion indicated he was a Northerner and, when he first spoke, his accent proved him correct. The stranger spoke to his father in the study for several hours and when they finally emerged his father was ashen-faced, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

"Son", began his father, "this man is an assassin. He has come for my life."

Kalach smiled - his father blanched.

"In my younger days I used to smuggle slaves to a group in the Densac Gulf. The slaves were sold to me by the Azure Sea Pirates and I, inturn, sold them for substantial profit. On one particular occasion, however, the Pirate Chief tried to overcharge me for a group of savages and... well... in my anger I sunk his ship and killed all his men. I left no trace of the encounter; though I rescued the slaves from the wild seas and subsequently sold them to my usual contacts." The Commodore looked to the tall stranger and flinched. "I believed that the other pirates had put the matter to rest. Well it seems they haven't forgotten."

Kalach put a slender hand on his father's shoulder and said, "Azareth, I don't intend to kill your father. If I did he would already be dead. This is not a boast, just a fact of life. What we have decided is for you to accompany me instead. If you do this, Azareth, your father will be spared." His father began to weep. "You will come to the secret abode of the assassins, and you will join us. We will continue your training - in fact you will be trained by one of the best tutors in all the Flanaess. But there is a price and it is the price you must pay to keep your father - and your family - alive."

Azareth was forbidden to see or contact his parents during his years of training. In time he became an assassin - body and soul. His tutor (Ghaas Krionis Tsestiak) instructed him for seven years and taught him many arcane and magical things. Another tutor taught him how to use weapons of death and move as silently as a thief.