1. What is your persona's name? Nicholas Se'rech (Se'rech is Elfish for "Kinslayer")

2. What land does he come from? What humanity calls the Arden or the Black Forest in Germany

3. What time period does he live in? The Dark Ages (1000-1100)

4. Where does his name come from? Nicholas from the East, Se'rech from his Past.

5. Who were his parents? Nicolai Strasha Valstorchi & E'lewenaa

6. What path does he walk? Adventurer, scholar, soldier, penitent

7. Why did your persona choose this path? His past.

8. Who was your persona's mentor, trainer or teacher? His parents,Uncles & cousins

9. What interesting things happened in his youth? Do to his sense of honor, he killed one of his uncles and his cousins.

11. How did he end up in the lands of Dragon Spyre? A quiet place to stop along the way.

12. What, if any, households, guilds or companies does she belong to? The Company of Strangers.

13. Why did he join them? I didn't. I founded them.

14. What are some things that make him unique? The Unique ability to piss off anybody, anywhere in the Barony or in the Lands of Amtgard, by uttering the words "That's Not What was agreed to.", "I don't believe that's legal in the state of Utah", "Let me think about it", or "No".

15. Who are his friends & what drew you together? Sorcha MacEnroigh (Seen her?, Met her? You still have to ask?), Troiya (The only Quarterstaff fighter who'd hang with me. Joined the Company almost from the start. Never shirks a task), William GreySkull The Questioning (exact opposites. He is an honorable, amazingly martial warrior. Kicks my butt on a weekly basis, that Nin-Gee guy however.), Demian of Valhalla (everyone should know, and befriend, a Necromancer!), Steadler and Sheila (wandered into Dragonspyre, stayed, and have put up with all the stuff that comes with being a Stranger) Rannen, Megan, (been around too long or not so long. They all love life and aren't afraid to celebrate it.)

16. Describe an event he liked & what effect it had on her: My elevation to Baronet. Totally unexpected, and in my mind unwarranted. It was something I'd never thought would happen for simply doing my job and shuffling paperwork. Totally blew me away.

17. What are your goals as a member of Dragon Spyre? At this point: to organize the first Company of Strangers Known World tour. Then to do more paperwork. Then to gain respect in our community and among our peers. Then to form a principality, crush ET, and show the other lands in Utah "the way it should be done"(Breog, Winter 2001). Then.retire.yeah.retire.un huh gonna go.yep. RIGHT!

18. Write a short tale about her that will help you & others better understand his drives & personality: All his life, Nicholas wanted nothing more than to walk the quiet path. Having neither his mother's affinity for allowing nature to work thru him, nor the savage fury, strength, and sword-skill of his father, Nicholas chose a quiet, scholarly path. His Uncles, Yuri and Gregori, both scouts of the Great forest, honed his survival skills. His combat skills were proven in mock battles with his cousins. His father taught him Honor, loyalty and Family.

As Nicholas grew older, his studies became arcane, and he studied more about the physical world, and ways to change it. He did not forsake his other training, and was granted entrance into the Great guild of Scouts. He also came to understand his father's religion, and professed a certain amount of belief, while holding on to his mother's older, traditional ways.

Then came the day Nicholas became Se'rech, or Kinslayer. He was patrolling the western leg of the Great forest, near the great river. He heard a scream and the sounds of a struggle. He approached and noted four ruffians accosting two women. Not wanting to kill them, Nicholas fired a flaming arrow over their heads, into the river. As the arrow sizzled, the four turned and ran. Nicholas went to check upon the ladies and discovered a medallion had been torn from the neck of one of the ruffians. The medallion was his own family crest, with his Uncle Yuri's coat of arms emblazoned. Nicholas saw the ladies quickly out of the forest and to the main road, swiftly on their way home, then set about his task. "Any man", his father had said, "who would attack the innocent, is to be punished". Nicholas, these words burning in his head, walked to his Uncle's home. As he entered the playground and battleground of his youth, Nicholas noted his cousins Michal and Georgi. In their eyes they knew that he knew that they were the ones. Michal drew his axe, and Georgi his throwing knife. No sounds were made as they circled. Then, with a loud cry, Georgi threw his blade as Michal closed to swing. Nicholas stretched forth his hand and turned Michal into a tree, finishing the spell as Georgi's blade lodged into his armor. Georgi, enraged at Nicholas shrieked, "He has the Secret Knowledge! Nicholas has the Secret knowledge!" As Georgi yelled his claim, he prepared another knife. Nicholas pulled an arrow from his quiver, and without hesitation, shot his cousin through the throat ending his cries and his life. Surveying the scene, Nicholas missed his other two cousins, Romani and Christov preparing their weapons to attack. Had it not been for their clumsy steps, Nicholas would surely be dead. Hearing them, Nicholas nocked, drew and fired, killing Romani with an arrow through his chest. Christov hesitated, watching his brother fall, and joined him as Nicholas pierced his lungs with his third arrow. Taking no time to consider his actions, Nicholas drew his forth arrow, ignited it, and shot it into the tree that was once his cousin Michal. The Tree blazed and wailed as Michal died. Nicholas stopped and looked at his cousins, his former friends and closest of companions. He walked away and went to his family home, alone in his thoughts, but not unnoticed.

The first thing he noticed upon entering his family home was his Uncle Yuri's horse, lathered and worn. Nicholas knew what to expect when the door opened and his Uncle, blood soaked and savage, closed on him with his sword arm raised.  "You killed your cousins! You're nothing but a half-breed murderer!"  Nicholas smiled, his features hardened by the violence of the day, "Why are you here? Your sons were common robbers, I know, I saw them." "Saw them! Saw Them!" Yuri bellowed, "You were to join them! To be a part of our family's tradition! You think this land you're on was come by honestly? HAH! Blood and violence! Your father won your "mother" on a bet! She was just a little pleasure punching doll!" Yuri was closing the distance with each taunt, a great strategy, unless you've been teaching it to your sons and nephew all their lives. Nicholas continued to smile as the words formed in his head, then on his lips. Lifting his empty hand at the completion of the incantation, his Uncle Yuri, the Great bear of the Wood, crumpled to the ground, as his left leg was struck by the force of arcane words.

"You forgot Yuri. You forgot what Georgi was yelling. You forgot who I am." "You are a Half-breed Mongrel, boy! ARRRRRGH! A nothing, a name that will never be remembered except as a curse! You have slain your blood kin. You spilled the blood of your father's brother's sons. AAAAAAGH!"  The pain was thick in Yuri's voice, "You are cursed among the forest, and you are KINSLAYER!" Yuri attempted to rise, but his sword failed him, and he fell onto the blood stained ground. "Kinslayer I may be but no common thief" Nicholas drew his axe, "No common robber or ruffian of women." Yuri's head snapped back, his teeth bare. "Come now, Uncle", Nicholas's voice quiet, a whisper above the forest sounds, "You thought me a thief? Like you? Like you taught my cousins to be? Tisk tisk Dear Uncle, Your sons died today, for attacking the innocent. You die today for having no Honor!" Nicholas's hand fell swiftly, landing the blade of his axe on his Uncle's neck, severing head from shoulders. Nicholas looked up to see his stern father, and horrified mother standing in the door of his childhood home. Nicholas knew what was to be said, and offered no protest or defense.

"Son, from this day forward you are to be gone from this place. Others will bring you harm, and bring harm to our house. What you did, you did for Honor, but what you did severed family. Go now, Nicholas." His father stumbled on the final words.

"Nicholas," his mother spoke quietly, taking his face in her hands, "your name is Se'rech, a name that will give you honest heritage. Use that, in the old tongue, it will honor your father, your dead kinsman, without betraying what happened." With those words, and a swift kiss, his mother was gone.

Nicholas gathered what he owned, his life and self shattered and left behind on that day and in that home, and found his way in his own world, and that world led to DragonSpyre, and the rest.? Another story, for another time.