Torben

Torben of Fluttershine, OBS, is a 24 year old man from the Embari county of Fluttershine, hailing from a village named Brightfield. Situated on one of the myriad southern trade routes along the Sweetsmile river, Brightfield is named for the its views toward the distant northern horizons of a flat, fertile plainsland that has been farmed for hundreds of years under vast, open skies.

An apprentice spellworker who is primarily self-taught, though ostensibly tutored in the magical arts by his adoptive father Oden Urvuld, Torben is always accompanied by his companion Neren; resembling a tall, slight woman with both humanoid and plant-like features, she claims descent from the deep southern forests themselves.

Early Life
Torben was born at some time in October to a woman named Lenna, a member of a merchant caravan that serves the southern counties of Emberglow. Neither Torben nor Lenna know the identity of his father, though Lenna says that she is certain that he is not one of the other members of the caravan. The roads of Emberglow are no place for an infant, particularly during the winter months, but at the same time Lenna had no wish to just abandon her son - in balance, she decided that he should, if possible, be taken in by one of the villages that was frequently visited along the caravan trade route. Torben was technically adopted by Oden Urvuld of Brightfield when the caravan passed through the village; it would, however, be more accurate to say that most of the village people played more of a part in his early upbringing than Oden himself. As an enthusiastic and cheerful child, he endeared himself to a lot of the inhabitants quickly, and as the caravan continued to pass through and trade with Brightfield for a few days every month or so, Lenna was easily able to spend time with her son - as such, Torben has a very good relationship with his mother.

There was always the assumption that Torben would one day join his mother as part of the caravan, or become a farmhand and help to tend the fields, but his adoptive father had other plans. Torben was named Oden's apprentice and was trained in spellcraft, thought in truth it was actually in spite of this training that he grew to become semi-capable in the art. From the day he started apprenticeship onward, Torben began to see magic as having two conflicting natures: on the one hand, his fascination with the magical world and the wonders that it held drove him to learn more and experiment with his abilities; but as time went on he developed a deep seated perception that magic fostered a certain cruelty, coldness and belief in one's own superiority above others, a mindset that he despised and has been unable to shake as he has matured. As a result, and in some contrast to certain events in his life that have suggested that magic may run deeper within him than even he might be aware of, he prefers to refer to himself simply as a "person who knows some magic", rather than an actual Wizard or Sorcerer.

Torben has travelled with his mother's caravan several times in the past, supposedly to help with lifting and transporting the caravan's wares between villages but in reality simply to see more of Emberglow. Most recently he accompanied it to the county of Sweetwater, this time intent on tracing his own path, and has since found himself pulled headfirst into a journey that promises to take him to places beyond even his wildest expectations.

Magical Training
As is the case for most people with arcane ability, Torben has recieved magical training - in his case, from his wizard adoptive father, though in reality he was a less than able student and a notable disappointment in the eyes of Oden. The majority of Torben's knowledge in the arcane arts is self-taught, with the aid of Oden's sizable library - as such, his understanding is broad but decidedly incomplete, with many gaps relating to topics that he didn't find interesting at the time. More recently he has returned to studying the specifics of spellcraft, at his own pace, but it is a slow process.

Torben's first real successful use of magic was, ironically and unwittingly, the direct result of Oden's own studies. After six months of struggle during which Torben had made little to no progress in understanding spell lore, he was instructed to assist in a summoning ritual that Oden was performing - the binding of a fire elemental for questioning about the nature of the Elemental Planes. Torben's task was to collect buckets of water with which he was to cover the floor, in order to keep the elemental uneasy while Oden bargained with it. Torben watched on, fascinated, as the bubbling flame quickly expanded into a raging tower of fire that was too bright to look at directly, hissing and spitting furiously. The old wizard made his demands, tossing different powders into a small crucible to create clouds of intensely coloured flames and harsh popping and clicking sounds to which the elemental, now with a crackling semblance of an enraged face, responded by morphing its own body.

The ritual captivated Torben, and the things he had read suddenly snapped into focus. Three weeks later, in the dead of night and without his father's knowledge, Torben finally succeeded, and a tiny mote of barely sentient living fire illuminated a forest clearing with its flickering, twisting light.

Appearance
Torben is tall, slender and has brilliant green eyes, though his posture and demeanor combined with a ubiqitous deep hood tend to disguise this. He tends to dress as simply as he can, eschewing unusual clothing and visible equipment that might make him stand out from the crowd - something of an irony considering Neren's unusual appearance and tendency to draw attention. His hood is attached to a thick, dark brown cloak that covers a fairly well worn set of commoner's clothing, including a jacket with long, baggy sleeves. He also wears a combined sash and belt that possess an array of pouches and pockets, as well as a large pack that is usually strapped to his horse Ellie.

Neren
Neren is Torben's constant companion, and Torben considers her a friend; Neren has accompanied Torben for almost five years and the two share a close bond. It's fairly common for Torben to seemingly inexplicably burst out laughing or Neren to give a knowing smile at random as they share their thoughts.

Her relationship with Torben is different to that of a wizard and a summoned creature. The connection is mutual and Neren may refuse to answer Torben's call if she so desires, though she never has, or return to her home at will, though she cannot remain on the Material Plane if Torben is not able or inclined to maintain the connection. Neither one of the pair can directly influence the other's actions through their link, in stark contrast to a wizard commanding a summoned thrall - nor would either ever seek to.

Oden Urvuld
Torben's adoptive father and a wizard of minor reknown, Oden is a reserved but intense man who has lived in Brightfield for almost fourty years. His greying hair, stooping posture and quiet, soft voice conceal a powerful intellect and almost fanatical thirst for knowledge that over the years have given him a somewhat superior and haughty aspect to his personality. In the past, Oden often acted as a freelance consult to the Wisdoms of the southern counties, exchanging his knowledge and skill in examining problems from every concievable position for access to libraries and collections of arcane knowledge, and occasionally for the tomes and scrolls themselves. Over time, Oden has built up a large library of his own; some volumes originals, bought, borrowed or stolen, though many that he has painstakingly copied out himself, often with major amendments derived from his own extensive knowledge.

What Oden saw in Torben to compel him to accept the infant as first an adoptive son, and later an apprentice, is unclear. Whatever his reasoning, Oden provided for all of Torben's material needs but rarely spoke to him, prefering to continue with his own intense studies. Oden would often leave Brightfield for weeks at a time, seeking out an old colleague or searching for a volume referred to in a crumbling scroll or arcane text, and it often fell to the people of Brightfield to care for the child's emotional needs. However, from an early age Torben considered most of the village as his extended family and was almost unfailingly cheerful regardless of his father's lack of consistent influence.

From the age of nine, Torben was promoted by Oden from Son to Apprentice, and Oden sought to pass on his knowledge and understanding to the child. Torben initially looked forward to his lessons in the arcane, meeting each challenge with great excitement, but it quickly became clear to Oden that Torben did not possess any inate magical aptitude or potential. As the lessons grew more difficult, the failures more common and Oden's moods ever more dark, Torben came to dread his magical training and would plan increasingly elaborate schemes to avoid the ever more intense curriculua that he was subjected to.

At night, and when Oden was away, Torben would work on his own "studies", though they could not be more different from his apprentice training. His father's teaching had crushed what little interest he had in basic magical theory but did nothing to reduce his fascination with the distant places of the world, the vast expanses of the Planes, and the myriad of spells that exists. Torben refuses discuss how his father reacted to this, but evidently Oden eventually found out and as a result for some unknown reason stopped forcing Torben to take part in the study of magical theory - uncharacteristic for a man who put regimented learning and knowledge above all else.

While Torben is grateful towards Oden for adopting and supporting him, as well as granting access to the library, and acknowledges that Oden was somewhat influential in allowing him to grow to be come the person he is today, they have never shared an emotional bond and Torben rarely speaks of him unless it is necessary. Oden's place in Torben's life has had more of an effect than he might recognise, however; his accepting and compassionate nature is at least in part a result of his distate towards the cold, analytical and exploitative tendencies that Oden has in droves and makes no attempt to conceal.

Oden still lives in Brightfield and continues in his studies. While Torben did tell Oden of his intention to leave Brightfield, Oden appears unaffected by his apprentice's absence - and some would say entirely uninterested. Torben had the option of taking Oden's last name upon being adopted, but chose not to.

Lenna
Torben is the son of Lenna, a tradeswoman belonging to a long-established mercantile caravan that navigates a winding path between villages and towns throughout the southern counties of Sweetwater, Shadygrove, and Fluttershine itself. Lenna, now in her fifties, holds a position of some respect within the caravan and uses her many years of experience as a travelling merchant to help guide her companions and protect them from the avoidable dangers on the Sweetsmile riverside roads. Her knowledge of plants, herbs and minerals, gleaned from many years of experimentation and the barter of information from alchemists met in her travels, allows her to support herself by selling salves and potions in the villages they pass through.

The caravan takes around a month to make a circuit of the southern counties, staying for a day or two in each village it passes through, and at Lenna's insistence Brightfield is always a part of that circuit. Torben would always look forward to his mother's arrival with great anticipation, and would revel in Lenna's stories of her travels in the forests and farmlands of the southern counties while eagerly sharing what he had learned from his magical studies in the month since she last visited. As he grew older she taught him some of the basics of potioncraft, which he took to much more quickly than the bizarre incantations and and obscure magical diagrams and charts that Oden had tried to drill into him.

When Torben was born, Lenna was acutely aware that the trade roads were not a safe place to raise an infant. She knew that any number of villages along the caravan's route would have taken him in, the caravan's long history and good reputation making it welcome almost everwhere, and so left him with the people of Brightfield with assurances that she would do her best to provide as much gold as she could to support him whenever the caravan passed through. Oden Urvuld, then a middle-aged wizard, immediately and inexplicably took an interest in the child and offered to house him at his residence, on the condition of recieving support from the people of Brightfield, and it was his house that Torben called home for his childhood.

Lenna still travels with the caravan, and since the age of 17 Torben has joined his mother for a circuit of the southern counties several times. It was with the caravan that Torben recently arrived in Sweetwater during the festival.

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The Party
Torben is usually somewhat apprehensive when meeting new people; having grown up in a small village where he had known almost everyone from an early age, he is not used to the bustle of large towns and being bombarded with the many faces that live within their walls. With that said, Torben finds people interesting and, once he feels more comfortable with a new acquaintance, quickly develops a certain loyalty and willingness to aid his new friend.

Torben is not very widely travelled and has rarely journeyed anywhere on his own, usually opting to join the trading caravan when he needs to visit other places. As such, he has rarely had to deal with people on anything but his own terms and with the backing of friends and family. Whether his first real journey alone quickly building into a far-reaching adventure will be a good or bad thing for Torben remains to be seen, and learning to trust in his new companions will be a major part of this.

Calamior
Torben's initial feelings towards Calamior were quickly swayed by the ranger's tendency towards theft and priority of self-interest, which were quite foreign concepts to Torben after his upbringing in Brightfield's close-knit community and with the influence of the caravan's experiences on the road, where the only choice was to pull together and support one another or fall prey to the dangers of Emberglow's wild places. However, during their own journey on the road to Snapdragon, Torben recognised those virtues in Calamior as the ranger faced adversity alongside the rest of the party and accompanied them through not inconsiderable trials all the way to their destination. After having a conversation with Calamior at the Snapdragon inn, Torben's recognises Calamior has a somewhat darker outlook on life than his own, which he grudgingly accepts may in a few ways be more realistic, and is starting to come to appreciate Calamior's more cynical sense of humour.

After learning more about Calamior, Torben is (possibly somewhat naively) confused as to why the ranger would abandon them on their journey so soon, his first assumption being that Calamior had been captured or kidnapped rather than just having left. However, after having slowly accepted that as being unlikely due to the protection afforded by Snapdragon's castle, Torben is perhaps beginning to doubt himself on the more positive impressions he developed on their journey together from Sweetwater.

Torben would be more likely to trust Calamior with his life in a fight than he would with any of his possessions.

Loras
Torben looks up to and respects Loras Justinian for his kind heart and his willingness to stand up to protect those who can't defend themselves, virtues that Torben values highly. He quickly came to view Loras as the leader of the party's quest, happily defering to his judgement and accepting his decisions as to the path they should take, as he knows that Loras will carefully consider how their actions will affect everyone around them before making a move. He considers it a compliment that Loras will ask for his opinions and outlook on things, and the fact that Loras has taken the time to speak to Neren and ask for her thoughts on occasion means a lot to Torben.

Loras' strong moral compass, and the fact that he really cares what happens to the party, give Torben faith in the journey that he has opted to become a part of; He knows that Loras will not willingly allow the group to take the wrong path if it can be prevented, though Torben does worry that Loras' obligation to do both the morally right thing and the society-established correct thing does make things difficult for him, a burden that Torben thinks a good person like Loras doesn't deserve to have to carry.

Though the two have disagreed on matters in the past, their friendship has endured all of the trials that the party's journey has forced them through. The young knight has never failed to protect Torben, and Loras' reassuring words are one of the few forces that give Torben the fortitude to withstand the relentless demands of their journey.

Though they have known each other for mere months, Torben has come to love Loras as a brother.