Into the Shadows:

A Persona Profile for Morden Fellblade of the Crimson Circle

Name: Morden Fellblade
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Assassin
Level: 6th
Religion: Agnostic
Homeland:The Grotto of Dreams, Crimson Circle
Personality: Sardonic, Deceptive, Sharp
Skills: Dagger, Rapier, Spear, Shortsword, Longsword, Projectiles, Stealth, Reconaissance, Diplomacy, Escape, Poisoning, Theft, Florentine, Lockpicking, Traps & Commerce.

Friends/Allies: Jyotis, Orkin, Goron, Sarma and members of The Unseen.

Enemies: Has a deep-seated feud with Etros, an avatar of The Lord of Hate. A family of dark elves known as the Arabani still plague
Morden from time to time.

Favorite Experience: Theft of King Vetri's Crown, in the ancient times when few dared to relieve the Giant-Lords of their treasures.
If asked, he will relate the story.

General Information: Presently, Morden is a skilled assassin in the service of the Crimson Circle, and the mastermind of his erstwhile creation, The Unseen.

He fights in a flowing two handed style or ambidextrously with an enchanted elven longsword and a dagger of unknown origin. Morden styles himself to a more graceful form of combat and tends to favor a flowing and more refined variety of swordsmanship.

He has a penchant for defensive and subtle moves that tend to
leave his opposition physically and mentally disarmed. Elusive in the heat of combat, as many surviving witnesses can attest to, Morden seems to be possessed of a more then human point of spacial perception, able to move to the very edge and just out of his enemies range at the last instant, often to the dismay of those who would stand in his path.

He considers himself to be quite charming, and has a more than healthy respect for his own talents. He has a sharp tongue, but a diplomatic mind, and will typically be found attempting to keep the troops as informed and prepared as possible.

Background: Before the dawn of the Fifth Age, a mighty human Paladin lived. He was known far and wide for his intelligence and tactical mastery, although none would have said he was the most devout of his deity's servants. He opposed darkness with a fierce desire, and was said to have faced down a marauding giant in the plains
of forgotten lands completely unaided.

About thirty years before the Sundering, when the Gods walked the world, a council was held by a hero of old. The purpose: to debate the troubling rumors of increased activity and stirring action among the ranks of the dark elves. The Paladin was there, bored out of his mind as the humans chattered back and forth with their High Elven guests.

And then he saw her; Arista, cousin to Anacrya Thex herself, who was a daughter to the Elven Goddess of Life and considered sacrosanct. She too seemed bored with the politics, and he fell into a sort of rapture he hadn't experienced before. She was beautiful beyond the woman of his dreams. Without ever having spoken to her, he had become obsessed.

Almost a year had passed, and he dipped deep into madness, thinking about Arista at every moment, she was the only thing that consumed him. He had forgotten his God entirely. At last he could stand it no longer, and set off for the Tower of Dawn where she dwelt to swear himself to her service.

Arista was flattered, but told the human that she had no need of a servant or of a knight-champion at her side. In a flash, he changed from groveling to outright fury. He struck her down, and forced himself on her. Shortly thereafter, he fled the city in horror at his own actions. A short time later, Arista became pregnant.

Unable to steel herself toward any other action, she kept the child. He was a hybrid baby with pale skin, but dark eyes and hair. She named him Morden, which is similar to the elven word for bittersweet.

She was cast out of the elven citadel in complete disgrace, and lived as a hermit in the Deeping Woods, tended to by her devoted sister, and in secret, her cousin, Anacrya.

The mad Paladin heard of her exile, and of his son. His obsessive nature shifted slowly from Arista to the boy, and after only five short years of the child's life, the knight decided to take him away.

On a purple limned evening, shortly before winter's eve, the fallen knight strode up to Arista's small cottage deep in the heart of the Deeping, and kicked in the door. Arista rushed at him fearlessly with a fire poker, trying desperatly to save the life of her child, and with one smooth stroke, he cut her in half.

The young half-elf stared in abject terror at the blood-covered man as he licked his blade and laughed, like the final line in some dark poem. Finally, the towering figure noticed the boy, and slowly advanced on him. He stopped short however, hearing
something outside...

''Murderer, face the wrath of Thex!''

In clear tones, a female voice rang out. It was Anacrya, and the fallen Paladin spun about and charged her. Their battle drew out onto the cold earth and distant skies above, and the boy fled into the night. He crept through the shadows all the way to the docks at Mirrorlake, and stowed away on a ship bound for the distant frozen lands to the north.

Some years later, nobles of that city began to murmur of a young masked half-breed who preyed upon those of status in the dark alleys and shadows of harsh ice encrusted cities of the Frostlands. He was
reputed to move faster then most normal men, incredibly light on his feet and devastatingly proficient with many a bladed weapon.

The local thieves guild, suitably impressed with the young ones abilities, and operating under the front of the local coalition of trades-folk, known as The Circle of Unseen Hands, decided to take him under their protection and so dubbed him “Morden of the
Fell Blade”. It was with them that he learned the finer tricks of his fate-given trade. His work always done with a certain cavalier style, under the alias Fellblade.

Time's eventual passage has seen many changes for Morden. In time he split with the trades-folk and formed his own quiet band of brigands and mercenaries. In present terms, he has lived for a very long time indeed, few would guess at his actual age, and as a result of an illustrious and lengthy career that has only begun to uncover the tip of the proverbial iceberg, he considers himself to be the finest thief and assassin to ever dwell in the Frostlands. Due to such recklessness, he has many friends and as many enemies.

Since the days of his youth, he has dallied with politics, had more then a few fingers in numerous blackmail schemes, played dangerous games with dark elven houses, lifted priceless items from the hoards of dragons, beaten back an invasion of mind flayers in the sewers of the under-city, and committed some of the most infamous robberies the North has ever seen....but those, are stories for another time.

As the passage of time continues it's endless march, Morden has sought adventure and profit in the strange and mystical lands to the north east of the his former home. Along with six allies he has made the perilous journey, for unknown riches await and hidden dangers rest within the shadowed forests at every turn within the verdant lands of the Crimson Circle.

An ideal place as any he has found thus far, the Crimson Circle beckons to all with promises of arcane secrets long since buried, but not lost, for those with the will to seek them out.