Owain Awbrey
Growing up in Vel Odren was like a dream come true, even if you were poor. Beautiful white-sand beaches and year-round perfect temperatures made lounging an option every day. The seas were filled with plenty of fish and clams and prawns so you ate every meal for free. The cherry on top was that every summer you’d get to flirt with pretty rich girls (and boys) coming ashore for lavish vacations. You could hustle the naive ones out of some coin too.
And sure, your mom died from the flux when you were little. Gave you some perspective on death at a young age. And, yeah, your dad roughed you up from time-to-time. All those bruises built character.
You still woke up to the sun and briny sea breeze every morning. It was an alright life for a few years until it wasn't. That mandatory military service reared its head and felt more like an escape than an obligation.
Skills and Abilities
Having spent nearly all of his life in the shantytown right along the coast of Vel Odren the impoverished Owain picked up a few key life skills. For one, he’s an excellent fisher. Give him a line or a net and you’ll have a meal before too long. Second, he’s decent enough at card games but he’s even better at rigging decks and getting away with cheating folks out of their coin.
But when he joined the Guard those skills were rarely all that helpful. He proved to be exactly average at everything else during his basic training. Swordplay? Average. Strength? Average. Speed? Average. Endurance? You get the picture.
As a result he often serves as a first spearman or plugs into other basic infantry positions for whatever it is his regiment needs.
Personality
Look, he’s kind of a dick.
Biography & Lore
Owain was born in Vel Odren to a family that had lived there for a few generations. One of his ancestors had supposedly been a footsoldier during the Anirian invasion three centuries prior and he chose to stay on the conquered isle after retirement. No one else who came before him had done much of anything though so he was poor before he even took his first steps.
Lots of folks in the shacks found occasional work in the vacationing periods. Washing dishes at restaurants, trying to sell whatever washed up on the shores to tourists, or whatever other little thing they could to get by.
Owain and his cousins learned how to cheat at cards though so between fishing during the offseason and swindling the wealthy Anirians in the summers they made an alright living. It took his eldest cousin getting caught and losing a finger to make Owain seriously reconsider the life he had before him.
As a result, he took up the call for mandatory service as soon as he could. Part of him has contemplated sticking with the Guard or maybe just settling elsewhere and starting a new life once his service ends.