Throughout his life, Alavar was no stranger to death. His parents were gem merchants, a common enough sight in their native city of Gem, and it was almost expected of him to follow in the footsteps of his parents and trade in gems. Although he never excelled in being a merchant, he tried very hard to make his parents happy. When not occupied with being a merchant’s son, Alavar would practice the arts of fighting with whoever would teach him. Whether it was a caravan guard during one of his parent’s many mercantile journeys or one of his friends in the city guard, there was always someone ready to teach him to fight. At the age of seventeen, Alavar was accompanying his parents on a routine caravan to sell their gems when the caravan train was attacked by bandits. Alavar had always considered himself to be a decent fighter until he actually tried facing an opponent ready to kill him. After narrowly being saved by one of the caravan guards, Alavar watched as the remaining bandits were driven off. It was then that he noticed the looks of sympathy that the caravan guards were directing his way. Already fearing what had happened, Alavar raced to his parent’s wagon. As he gazed down at the lifeless bodies of his mother and father, Alavar suddenly realized that he was alone in the world. A burial was held in Gem and he soon tried to take over the business left by his parents. It became evident very quickly that he was nowhere near as good a gem merchant as his parents were and he contemplated what to do next. It was at this time, that he started to pay for formal instruction with some of the money from his parent’s fortune. He learned to fight and to live in the wild and he soon excelled at both when he was able to devote the time to learning them. However, it was during one of his outings in the wild, that he nearly lost his life once again. Because Alavar liked to test his newfound skills whenever he could, he would throw himself out into the wild with few provisions and try to hunt dangerous animals. While hunting, he one day found himself backed into a corner with a large Great Cat about to tear him to shreds. It was at this moment that Alavar was saved by a pack of wolves. The wolves, although smaller than the Great Cat, were able to kill it with their combined strength and their impressive speed. Never had a battle to the death seemed so beautiful to Alavar. He admired the wolves and soon became so enthralled by them that, from that day forward, he named himself Alavar Wolfbrother and would tolerate no one hunting or abusing any wolf ever again. After contemplating it for many months, Alavar decided to finally sell his parent’s business, a legacy that he never truly believed to have deserved, and he used the profits to start his own mercenary band. Calling themselves the Bloodwolves, the mercenary band Alavar had started soon grew in size and reputation. When he instilled his mercenary band with the tactics of the mighty wolves, they rarely saw defeat. Alavar soon gained more wealth than he ever would have received as a gem merchant, and his reputation as a skilled fighter and mercenary leader grew with each battle. It was during a battle with a group of bandits, the same kind of group that had orphaned him all those years ago, that his life truly changed. As he was fighting with the bandit leader, Alavar suddenly began to feel very odd. As this odd sensation settled over him, Alavar suddenly screamed and seemed to leap into the air and burst forth in pure radiance. When the spell passed and he fell to the ground, he looked in shock at the sudden quiet that had fallen over the battlefield. Instead of dozens of men fighting for their lives, there were now only ashes to signify that anything had ever been alive there, and so it was on this day that Alavar Wolfbrother became one of the Exalted.
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