I am seriously thinking about using Veldan as the subject for my writing. Veldan is a character from Merlin’s game, Altaia, which I play in every other week.

Veldan’s History (Written as character narrative)

I am a half-orc. My mother was a half-orc. She bore four children by her first husband (not my father). He was a jeweler, and he died 5 years before I was born, during a robbery of his shop. After his death, my mother continue to work as a jeweler, but was not as good at it and her two oldest children also started working to support the family.

Some four years after the death of her first husband, my mother was later seduced by another half-orc, and died in childbirth while giving birth to me. After her death, my half-brother and three half-sisters packed up and moved across the water to New Providence.

My older brother was an engineer/architect and was known for his bad temper. My older sister owned a laundry business, and was uncommonly magic-resistant, to the point that she didn’t believe in magic and figured those who did were delusional.

At age 11, while helping to remodel the house, I found an ornate necklace, which turned out to be enchanted. We sold it and indulged ourselves on the extra gold for a year or so. Things got back to normal after that. Through most of my childhood, our family was middle-class, comfortable but not wealthy.

At age 17 I was a bit rebellious and began picking pockets. My crimes were too petty to be noticed by the thieves’ guild. One day I lifted a coin purse from a man in the marketplace, and he realized what I was doing. He grabbed me by the shirt, said something like “You are messing with the wrong guy,” then took back his coin purse and walked off. I was frightened by the experience enough to stop stealing.

At age 19 I took up playing the flute as a hobby. About this same time I became fascinated with elves and elven culture and I wanted to be around them, listen to their music, etc. One day while I was playing the flute on the street for tips, a passing elf magic user noticed that I had a magical gift, and took pity on me, by deciding to train me to use the gift. I worked as a household servant for him as well.

During the time I was studying and practicing magic, I fell in love with the daughter of my mentor (who was also studying magic with her father). We had a good-natured competitive relationship, and she was naturally better at everything, which inspired me to try even harder. I never confessed my feelings for her, as she didn’t seem to be interested in me, and her father probably would not have approved of my association with her if he had known.

My notable personality traits are:
Passive (accepting things without much resistance) – due to being youngest child
Frivolous (flighty, rarely serious) – money comes and goes, spend it on what you enjoy
Rash (impulsive, acts before thinking) – left over from teenage years, never heard of “measure twice, cut once”
Considerate (thinks of others feelings) – somewhat empathic, able to read others’ feelings, able to make money on tips despite not being a very good player
Enthusiastic (excited, eager to act) – able to pour myself into a hobby or pursuit

I value loyalty to friends and family very highly.

Physical description: Brown hair, brown eyes, ugly as any half-orc. Somewhat athletic, in shape but not bulky. Wears clothing that is cut in the Elven style.

The part of the background story that needs a bit more detail is this part: [At age 19] One day while I was playing the flute on the street for tips, a passing elf magic user noticed that I had a magical gift, and took pity on me, by deciding to train me to use the gift. I worked as a household servant for him as well. This could be quite an interesting story to tell.

Here are some unresolved issues:
I know very little about Altaia and New Providence. I will need to bug Merlin for maps and other source material.
I will need to generate more characters, at the very least I will need family members, the Elf mentor and his daughter.
Veldan’s personality has changed, and he is no longer Frivolous and Rash. He is still Passive, Considerate and Enthusiastic however. I need to resolve when and how his personality changed and why. Perhaps this story will be a good way to uncover that.

Still thinking about this…