Character Sixteen: Marluk Denbrauth

Life in a small town can be very daunting for anyone let alone the youngest child of a Merchant family. Brother already being groomed as the heir to the family business. Sister being shopped around the upper classes to marry more wealth into the family. Left to your own devices, the forgotten youngest child can lead to all the wrong things.

The Denbrauth trading company had a thriving business through the small towns and villages of Brevory. Marluk Denbrauth was never interested in any of this. He spent much of his childhood running around with some of the older boys who were constantly getting themselves in trouble. Many times Marluk would find himself sitting in the kitchen with his father scolding him after he and his best friend got caught stealing, or cheating people out of their money at games of “chance.”

Always feeling his Brother and Sister had everything to look forward to Marluk felt like an outcast in his own home. When he turned twelve and puberty set in this was even further exacerbated what his Jann blood emerged and his Suli heritage was revealed. His family was further horrified at the stigma this might bring to them and sought to keep their youngest child locked away at home.

While he was being hidden away his parents gave birth to a new youngest child. At first envious of the boy, his heart softened as the child grew and was the only member of the family not afraid of him. The two youngest of the Denbrauth clan had a strong friendship even with their many years apart. When the youngest of the clan caught the pox and died at age four Marluk was heartbroken.

His brother’s death infuriated Marluk who broke from the family. Leaving his life in exile to rejoin his childhood best friend on the streets. Having moved up from petty thief to a member of what passes for the biggest gang in a small town, the young Suli was quickly swept up in things that would sully is parent’s reputation. Not the brightest of the toughest of thugs Marluk was quick, of both fingers and wit, and transitioned nicely into a life of crime.

One fall when the nearby villages were bringing their harvests to the market square all this changed for the Suli thief. Travelling among the farmers, vintners and goat herds was a holy man, a paladin of old one eye, the god Erastil. The man looked the part of a woodsman selling his own furs at market but flashed a little too much coin for his own good. Marluk and his troupe made to relieve him of his riches one night. The fight was quick, none expected the resistance they got and Marluk lay unconscious as his fellows ran off.

When the Suli child awoke he was in a comfortable bed being tended to by the woodsman. He wasn’t restrained but he still didn’t run. The follower of Erastil had seen the pain in the young boy’s eyes even during the battle. The Paladin offered to take him away from the town and show him a better life. He wished to show him the bounties of the world through the one good eye of his god. With nowhere left to turn Marluk left that day with the Paladin.

Years later Marluk returned to his home, bow in hand, symbol of Erastil around his neck. He met with his father who hand since retired, leaving the business to his brother as expected. He sat at a table through the night and much of the day, the same table at which his father scolded him as a child. The teachings of the stag god put family first and on that day Marluk reconciled. He was now not just a paladin but he was once again a member of the Denbrauth clan.

Remember the first person to post a race (Core or featured), that will be the race I use for my next randomly rolled character.