Merric

Merric Avarasiil (av-air-uh-seal) was born on Bloomrise 6th, 678 AC in the prestigious
High Elf Enclave within The city of Caelmyra. His mother, Qwellena Avarasiil, was a
young High Elven Artificer that had given up adventuring to raise her child. Merric lived a very sheltered life with his mother, her aunt and uncle plus the occasional visits of a band of dwarven miners who came to trade with his mother two or three times a year. His mother loved these dwarves and actually laughed out loud in their company. The dwarves were always very friendly to him but his mother's aunt and uncle remained aloof. His aunt and uncle looked down upon the dwarves even more than Merric. Merric learned a lot from the dwarves and retains a special fondness for them to this day. Overall, life was good. Merric was introduced to the other full-elven children within the enclave at age 8 (to attend schooling) and was immediately the subject of prejudice, ridicule and condescension. Life, for Merric, was now very difficult away from his mother. After 5 years of school Merric had built a solid reputation as a troublemaker at school and an inferior intellectually. This reputation was the result of his many practical jokes on the so-called "superior" elves at his school. Merric employed many of the tricks the dwarves had taught him to be stealthy, sneaky and crafty. These pranks and his reputation soured his aunt and uncle even further. At age 13 one of his pranks went too far when he accidentally cast a cantrip, Booming
Blade, on a bully at school and injured the young elf. He was summarily expelled. Later
that night Merric overheard an argument between his mother and his aunt and uncle in
which he was described as the root of all her troubles and a dark shade on her otherwise
bright light. His uncle claimed that Merric was not only useless but the reason she had to
give up her promising vocation as an Artificer. He then told her she needed to give Merric
to a human family, which was where he belonged, or he would be forced to send her on
her way as they could no longer live with them in the enclave. Being young, impetuous and very immature, Merric decided to run away. This would save his mother any more humiliation and allow her to go back to her other life. He managed to join a caravan leaving Caelmyra the next day. He told the caravan master his name was Merric Darkshade. Unbeknownst to Merric, the caravan was run be a truly ruthless man named Fisk. He quickly realized that Merric was not an elf but a half-elf and much younger than he had led him to believe. He correctly surmised that he was a runaway and promptly began treating him more as a slave than an employee. The caravan travelled south to the coast and then by ship to the Crownwood Expanse. It travelled all across Valecar visiting Solgrim, Thornhollow, Spanwatch and thence to Heliorak. Over the course of this journey Fisk became ever more brutal to Merric. Merric slipped away from the caravan shortly after entering Heliorak. He thought his life in the caravan was hell. He was unprepared for the streets of Heliorak. After nearly starving, Merric fell in with a group of street children, urchins really, and learned to survive on the streets of Heliorak. For the first time in nearly six years he was accepted as an equal and life, even though hard, was good. He made a decent living for five years as he learned to employ some less than kosher talents to keep food in his mouth and coin in his purse. This is how he learned hit and run tactics. Unwittingly, and unknowingly, he and his group of friends (known amongst themselves as The Family) were employed occasionally by the Black Coin Syndicate. It was made clear to him that he would be expected to do more in the future than he was willing to do for them. This did not set well with Merric. Shortly after his 19th year, he decided to leave Heliorak, rather than follow the orders of the BCS. He joined a much more reputable caravan that made a route of travellingbetween the major cities of Valecar. He was hired as an archer and was primarily used as overwatch on the trips. But he was also utilized for his skills as a leather worker, a skill he had picked up from his mother. He learned to duel for bits of coin in the camps and cities of this trade route. He earned a bit of experience and cash in their employ for three years. During the Summer of 700 AC he decided to try his luck as an adventurer. He left the caravan on good terms and answered a handbill advertisement for Myrick Gloomvein in Blackreach Hold. The encounter was brief and not terribly profitable. But he met Bulger Cuttlefish and struck up a friendship. Together they managed to stay fed and paid. A year later he answered the call when his name was announced as a Champion of Valecar.