Valein Cordell

Race: Half-Elf
Class: Ranger

Valein Cordell was born to the human Alora as she made her way towards
Fallcrest after her family disowned her for taking an elf as a lover.
She was attacked by kobolds the wild but managed to escape despite
being badly wounded. Alora managed to stumbled her way to a homestead
in Nentir Vale and gave birth to Valein. Shortly after giving birth,
she succumbed to her wounds. The old couple that lived in the birthing
homestead took Valein to an orphanage in Fallcrest as they were too
poor to take care of him.

Valein spent his first seven years in the orphanage. It was a
miserable time for him and as soon as he could, he ran away. For two
years after that he lived as a street urchin, stealing to survive. One
hot day, he drew the attention of a local group of thieves; they
demanded that he start paying them protection money if he was going to
keep operating in town. Valein had only ever stolen what he needed to
survive and had no coin, he realized the danger of staying in town and
fled to the countryside with no more than his clothes and a rusty
dagger.

The first year in the forest was brutal as Valein learned to live off
of the land. As winter approached, he found a ruined vineyard and the
partially burned down house the winemakers had lived in. In the cellar
he found some old hardtack rations rations and, more importantly,
several bottles of vintage wine. He remembered seeing these for sale
in town and realized their value. When spring came around again,
Valein collected these bottles and cautiously ventured back into
Fallcrest. He sold the wine to a local merchant and used the money to
buy a bow and to take basic lessons on it’s use (he was sick to death
of eating only berries and roots). The archery trainer, a retired
ranger, gave Valein a book about the goddess Melora and urged him to
pay her fealty if he truly was to make the woods his home.

Valein retreated back to the forests near the town and spent the next
several years learning the secrets of nature. Over time, he grew more
bold and began making semi-regular visits to town to sell hides and
meat; this allowed him to live more easily, especially over the cold
winter months. As time went on, his desire to know more about his
parents grew more and more intense. All he knows about his mother is
her name and the reason she had been forced to flee her homeland; he
knows nothing of his elven father.

Late in his 19th summer, Valein found a dead nobleman in the forest.
It looked as though he had gone hunting, gotten drunk and been gored
by a wild pig. Searching his body, Valein found a decent amount of
gold. He saw the opportunity afforded by this coin; no longer did he
have to live as he had. He vowed to explore the lands beyond the
comforts of his woods, to learn about his heritage and to find his
father.

Returning back to town for the first time in years, Valein seeks
companions to venture forth with…

Valein is quiet and intense. He harbors a deep anger towards those
that look down on cross-species relations. He stands at 5′8″ and is of
average weight with fair skin and startlingly green eyes. He keeps his
long, red-brown hair a long braid and sports a short beard and
mustache. Valein has closely followed the teachings of Melora. The
book he was given by the hunter is ragged and worn from use but is one
of his most prized possessions. Although not truly claustrophobic,
Valein is a lot more comfortable when outside; in confined places he
likes to close his eyes and meditate on nature when given the chance.