Character - Calunoth

Calunoth is Man of Sildara, thirty years old, but he carries a weight of experience greater than his years. He is five feet nine inches tall, about average for a Sildaran male. Calunoth has a medium skin complexion, and light brown hair that he keeps short in a military-style cut. He also keeps his face clean-shaven, though he tends to let it go for a day or two between shaves, leaving him with a stubble more often than not. He has light brown eyes that match his hair color, and expressive dark brows that he uses to good effect.

Calunoth has a sharp jawline and a quick smile, however it doesn’t often reach his eyes, which gives people the impression that he’s not happy very often, but merely acting the part. He has a smirk on his face much of the time, as if he’s silently mocking those with whom he associates, which tends to annoy many and drive them away from a closer friendship. His sharp wit has a similar effect, bringing laughs from outsiders and casual acquaintances, but preventing potential friends from getting too close.

Calunoth doesn’t talk of his family, but he does have a father still living somewhere in Sildara, from whom he ran away at an early age. He has no siblings, and his mother is dead. His reasons for running away were better than Balfrith’s, though they do have some similarities in their source: an abusive father. But in Calunoth’s case, it was much worse, for his father was a cruel drunk, and Calunoth still carries the scars of the punishments he suffered under his father’s hand - and his belt.

Since Calunoth ran away as a youth, little more than a boy, he was quickly taken advantage of by those who prey on the innocent for their own gain, and after several such experiences, he quickly became jaded and cynical. He spent several years living on the streets of different cities, stealing what he could not beg or earn, including food and occasional shelter.

Calunoth was on a path that would likely have led an early death, but he was caught breaking into the home of an army officer, who, rather than pressing charges, agreed to take him into custody as an indentured soldier. All he had to do was complete his ten-year term of service, and he would be a free man. This wasn’t all that uncommon, for youths who lived on the street were regularly caught by the city guard and turned over to the army in Sildara. It was a hard life, but certainly no worse than living on the streets, and better in many other ways: they were given regular meals, decent clothing, shelter from the elements, and military training that could be put to good use as a free-lancer, if they survived their term of service.

Calunoth not only survived his ten years of service, but he thrived as a soldier, and opted to enter the world as a free-lancer, like many others did. Army life didn’t change his attitude about men very much, for he saw some of the same injustices in the military that he had seen on the streets. He also saw men of honor, serving to the best of their ability, and it was because of this that his outlook slowly began to change. He was still a cynic, knowing that Men are far from perfect, and many are just plain selfish and wicked, but he no longer actively hated others as he had before.

Calunoth served in the free-lancers guild for several years before meeting Balfrith. He befriended Balfrith because he saw in the younger man a certain innocence that needed protection, something which he never received for himself, and so he decided, unconsciously, to adopt Balfrith as a little brother of sorts. Any optimism that Calunoth shows is largely due to the positive influence of Balfrith and his other companions, while in his darker moments, he remembers how hard it was growing up, and how wicked men can be, and returns to his old mentality.