Zane grew up in Vel Anir, he never knew his mother-she died giving birth to him. Growing up with his father was difficult; he was a distant and not a particularly loving man who was always busy. Zanes father Justin was a historian, he had access to rare books and scrolls. He would always be reading trying to learn about the history of the world, anytime he discovered anything new or interesting he would report it to one of the kings men, Zane never really knew what exactly they did with this information or if they did anything at all with it as the history of Arethil was only ever revealed in small pieces that didn’t really make sense unless the whole story was there, which of course it wasn’t and probably never would be.

Zane spent most of his time, like his father, reading. He would often find his thoughts wandering however, to vast world outside the city walls. The more he read about different races and cultures the more he wished to experience them firsthand rather than through his imagination, Justin always forbid Zane to leave the safety of their city, he didn’t really like it when he left the home for longer than an hour so trying to talk to him about the possibility of travelling the world was somewhat taboo in their home. Justin was paid well for his research and they could acquire nearly any luxury they needed so he never understood Zanes complaints about being crammed in such a small pocket of the world.

The highlight of Zanes childhood was whenever his aunt Tess would visit. She was Zanes mother’s sister and would always visit him whenever she was in the city. Tess was a traveler knowing no home except the open road, she would tell stories of her adventures to Zane each more outrageous and exciting than the last, she would give him souvenirs from foreign lands she explored. He would always ask her to take him with her every time she was about to leave but she would always reject him telling him he was too young and not ready. He did however convince her to teach him skills that would help him when he eventually left the city to see the world; he picked up combat skills very easily but despite Tess’s administration for his fighting prowess he was more eager to learn other skills such as, navigation, tracking, what to do when exploring dungeons, tombs and other dangerous places.

When Zane was 18 he finally decided to leave the Vel Anir, Justin was obviously not pleased but he didn’t put up much of a fight which only further cemented Zanes belief that he never really loved him, but that was okay as he never really loved Justin either. The first few months of his travels he was completely unprepared and overwhelmed by it, he was robbed of all his valuables not even a week outside the city but this didn’t get him down for long he was just too happy to be truly free for the first time in his life. The next few months were hard but rewarding as he finally got used to catching his own food and sleeping underneath the stars.

His most memorable and significant encounter of his travels was when he met a group of suspicious people during his exploration of some ruins, he tried to befriend the group as he usually does when he meets people on the road however they were obviously not looking for friends and they certainly didn’t want anyone knowing that they were there so they attacked almost immediately, all three of the strangers possessed magic; fire magic at that. Zane had always been jealous and incredibly fascinated with people who could wield magic but this was his first time experiencing magic directed at him and he was woefully unequipped to deal with it. When the fight was over Zane was left in a heap of rubble and blood; part of his face was covered in horrible burns, he was very lucky to escape with his life that day.

Despite all of this he still keeps his positive outlook on life and has no plans to return home whilst there is still so much to explore.