Kabriel Dreamraven

As a child, I was orphaned shortly after I was born on the streets of Landing. I was found in a basket under the leaking roof of a small hut in Shanty Town. I was taken in by an elderly couple, and although I cannot remember their faces, I do know they were kind to me. Or so the priests at Lorministra's temple told me. The old man was a fisherman and the wife weaved nets and sold fish in the local markets near town square. They died a year after they took me in, in an awful storm at sea. Both of them swallowed by the waves. I was in care of a neighbor at that point, and according to their wishes if anything happened to them, they asked that I be sent to the temple to be raised. I grew up around many priests and priestesses, as well as the good men and women who would pray in Lorministra's temple. As I grew older, I realized that I had an aptitude for understanding scripture. Grasping the fundamentals quickly, I was one of the youngest members of the clergy at age 10. Unfortunately, because of the frail nature of youthful minds, I soon found it corrupted by the silver tongue of an evil soul. A young man came into the temple one day and asked to speak with me. I had no idea why, but I has assumed to talk about his troubles. He spoke to me about his deity. About a mistress shrouded in secrecy and darkness. A beautiful goddess of the night who spun webs of pure silver and delighted in creating beautiful things. Tempted by these sights, I let this man take me under his "tutelage" after he had told me he was a holy hermit. Being young, I believed him easily. Perhaps I had become bored with my teachings. When you are young, you do not have the attention to detail that you may have as an adult. At any rate, he then took me to a dark cavern. I was scared. It was my first time away from town. It was near where the Coastal Cliffs are now near Landing. Suddenly I felt something hit me from behind and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I saw that I had been tied down to a stone slab. My shirt torn off me, and a strange sigil painted on my chest, another one on my arm...glowing. I remember screaming. Till my lungs ran short of air and my mouth dried from dehydration. Then the man appeared...I thought to help me. Instead he smiled...and I will never forget that empty and evil smile. He started chanting words...words that I later found out were prayers to the dark mistress Arachne. That is when I realized, all too late that this man was a liar. A hairy spider fell on my chest, crawling up along the web sigil painted on my chest...and then headed straight to the arm. I could feel the spider's jaw clamp down, the teeth sinking into flesh and I screamed again...this time a hoarse wrenching scream of anguish and despair. When I regained consciousness, the soreness in my chest was punctuated with a tattoo of a spider web. But nothing was as bad as the excruciating burning pain in my right arm, where the red glowing sigil was engraved into my skin.

It was inked with ichor, cursed by a priest of Arachne, carved by a kris knife on a pure child. No empath could remove it. The man came up to me smiling that same evil smile. I don't know what compelled me, but I took the kris knife that branded me and for the first time...I took a human life.

I found out later through a disturbing vision where I was visited by Arachne, that this was the way a priest would pass on his powers. The successor had to kill the mentor. I was trapped...and too ashamed to go back to the temple.

The first thing I did after this happened was try to remove the brand. The tattoo on my chest is now a completely different tattoo, for it was simply the evil cleric's desire that I show the web mark on my chest. I did not wish to hone my powers, but I studied hard in order to one day remove the tattoo from my arm. I have had many encounters in my life, some friendships, some loves, but all were doomed to fail because of the curse of Arachne's brand. I certainly could not go back to the people who I had known and loved, so I studied under some dark priests of Luukos. Please do not misunderstand, I have never taken a human life since the day I was branded, and I swear upon my current deity, Ronan that I did not swear allegiance to any of the dark gods. However to gain power and experience, I had to study under them. When I was not there, I strode to do Voln's work even while not being of Voln itself. They would not allow me into their fold because of the brand I wore. It was not till a year ago that I had finally mastered a way to get the evil brand off my arm. I spent most of my later years behind stacks and stacks of books in many places of holy worship, including all the way to the deepest catacombs of the Elven city known as Ta'Illistim where they had most of the old tomes and records from the days of when the gods themselves walked the earth. It took the help of an empath who had been a friend since my first days in Landing, and the blessings of some of the most benevolent gods of Liabo... Basically, the procedure required something to counteract every evil thing that was used to brand me. I took a holy dagger, and had a priest of Kai bless it twice. I coated the dagger's blade with the purest holy water from the temple of Charl. Lastly a drop of my blood mixed in with the holy water to seal my resolve. The dagger bit into my flesh, but the pain was not as excruciating as when I first recieved the brand. After I receieved a few blood staunching spells from my empath friend, she quickly regenerated my arm flesh back, and the cursed flesh no longer a part of me lay on the ground, seemingly with a life of its own, twitching on the ground. I raised the knife high above my head and dove it deep into my own flesh. I savored the irony as I saw my own skin skewered by my own hand. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so freely in my life. Over the next year, I found my life with Ronan. God of Night and Dreams, and Slumber, he gave me my life back. To this day, I atone for the one life I took...and till this day, I swear never to stray off my path again.

In more current events, I met a wonderful ranger named Delyth Danon who indeed changed my life for the greater. She was the first love I held after I changed deities. We met at a friend's wedding reception and when I finally managed to stir enough bravery to ask her to dance I was absolutely smitten. I am fortunate in the one respect that we order of priests do not have to take vows of absolute chastity, and forgive a gentleman for kissing and telling, but when our lips met for the first time it was simply perfect.

Unfortunately, twas not meant to be, for she had to depart for unchartered waters. But I still wish her the utmost happiness for she helped me amazingly in my recovery. I still love her and always will have a special place in my heart for her.

Also it should be noted that upon my induction to Onoir and as squire to at first, Lady Rawen, and then to Lady Kadesha, it had never occurred to me that perhaps I should once again try my best to join the order of Voln. Now by this point in my life, I had lived a substancial amount of years, and I had all but given up my hope to enter the hallowed Path of Enlightenment and gain favor with the gods. However, with the help of Lady Kadesha and Lord Paladin Morgiest, I attempted it once again. Now I realize that many of the orders of Lornon are allowed to pass through the gates of Voln after they were cleansed in the fountain, but they could simply not remove the tattoo from me, which branded me permanently. And because of the deep remenants of evil on me (which was not of my own personal doing), I could not enter Voln's pure gates. So at first, Lord Paladin Morgiest and Lady Kadesha took me to the priest in Lorministra's temple to see how much actual sin was on my soul. I was demanded to not let my filthy souls even touch the altar. That was when I made up my mind to leave the Council of the Bathers forever. The test that I had to endure in order to leave their ranks I will not divulge for even now there are watchful eyes on me. But know that I did beat the fear that was within myself, and therefore gained good graces in the eyes of the gods, for this time when I walked to the priest, he discovered that my soul was still intact. There was no true taint on my soul. And with that, I was able to be inducted into Voln...and surprisingly within two weeks had mastered the Path of Enlightenment. To all those who helped me get there...my most profound thanks.

And that is my life to date...I am now a full member of Onoir, a master of Voln, a high ranking priest of Ronan, and at the moment, trying to do my task to become a part of the Order of the Azure Hydra. I thank you for reading about my life, and may you forever walk in Ronan's protection.

-Kabriel Dreamraven - Cleric of Ronan