The history of Thoran Farranger
Created | Updated May 8, 2004
Wolf. It is the one of the many names people have for him these days. Shadow Wolf, Lone Wolf, Prowling Wolf… any of those would he answer to. Only a few would connect him to his original name and of those who do they rarely speak of his past.
Born into wealth Thoran Farranger, for that was his original name, suffered a tragedy at the age of 14 when his father died. Thoran had often been regarded as being older than his years and his father recognised this treating him as an equal, seeing his younger self represented in his son. During those first 14 years Thoran was taught how to handle weapons and how to focus and clear the mind by his father, as well as many skills that a son of a wealthy merchant should have. Thoran never wondered why his father was so well aquianted with how to use weapons. All Thoran knew was that his father was a trader. By the age of 12 Thoran was often left at home with only his butler Martethin while his father personally oversaw trading deals. Yet such harmony could not last. It was on one such trip that Thoran’s father supposedly died when a freak storm sank his ship, a belief Thoran held for many years. With his father dead and his ship sunk at the bottom of the ocean Thoran had no way to re-start the family buisness.
Over the next few years Thoran grew closer and closer to Kethlin, his father’s best friend and also Thoran’s new tutor for weapons. This arrangement lasted for many years, with Thoran and Kethlin becoming as close friends as Thoran’s father had been with Kethlin. Then, one day when he was 18 Thoran dissapeared with Kethlin. Though he was only gone two days he came back a changed man. He now knew a secret that had been kept from him for years. For a while longer Thoran stayed in the town in which he had been born and raised. During this time there were some rumours that he was practising magic with Kethlin, magic that increased their ability to fight. Then, one day Thoran left and was not seen again. Martethin, his butler, kept his house in order, though no one was sure where the money came from. Kethlin was questioned by some of the town council, but from him they learnt little of Thoran’s whereabouts, nor why he had gone. Kethlin said only one thing to the council, a comment the meaning of which is still discussed when other gossip runs dry. That comment; “He is more like his father than you know”. Some presumed that meant that Thoran was dead, others that he had gone to try his hand at trading.
Sometimes traders who come to the town report having seen a man fitting Thoran’s description, though the reports come from so many places that many doubt the reliability of them and put them down to men spinning a story to gain an extra drink while sitting in the pub as others press for details. The stories speak of a man with thick black hair with perhaps a hint of dark grey, much like a wolf’s coat, pulled back into a warriors ponytail, piercing blue eyes and the strength of ten men and always with the word Wolf in his name. They tell stories of the man being a paladin of the people; saving convoys, fighting orcs and other foul vermin away from villages, destroying evil wherever he finds it yet never staying in the same place for long. Some stories also speak of a wolf being seen with the man, the wolf’s coat perfectly matching the hair of the man, though some more knowledgeable of the older people in the town always put that down to his being called Wolf, doubting any man would really associate with such an animal. More recent stories include some whispers of this man using magic in combat; enhancing his abilities, helping focus local militia and other such tricks, though many of the people who hear such rumours believe that they confirm that the mystery man cannot be Thoran. Still the stories make a good local legend to pass the time during the winter when there is little else to talk about and so people will still listen to such stories when a traveller has one to tell. Only one man really listens with interest in the welfare of the man, only one man believes that the stories are of the same man. And as he listens he is seen to grimace when the stories have pain in them, smile knowingly and proudly when he hears of the victories that always eventually come from such problems. Some say it is just because the man likes to believe that there are still noble fighters in the world. No one thinks it is because the man who always listens, Kethlin, knows that the man spoken of is really Thoran and that no matter what others might think Thoran is more like his father than others realise.
