Caelen Sarafayan

Handle: TaeaDawn
Email: TaeaDawn@aol.com
== Description ==
Age: 32
Born: Far Madding
Parents: Mother Ileana, Father Corsic; they own a successful inn, The Golden Dream, near the Amhara Market.
Hair: Dirty blond
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'11"
Build: Athletic
Appearance and Clothing: He is usually dressed in something nice, though with little ostentation or decoration. Well cut cloth, but no real finery except for his Sunday best of course. 
== History ==
Born the son of an Innkeeper, Caelen was close to his mother and father and was the youngest of three children. Caelen had a happy childhood and was adored by his family. His father doted on his mother and she kept the house and Inn with a strong, competent hand. Their business was well run and popular. Merchants from outside tended to come back to them for repeat business because they were reasonably priced and kept a warm, familial atmosphere about the place. The children never really wanted for anything but his sister became restless and when she reached 16 she left, only telling her brothers that she wanted to go to the White Tower. A single letter sent back was all they received, saying that she had made it safely to Tar Valon, nothing more. By 17, Caelen and his brother were running the Inn mostly, their parents being older and not as nimble as they had been. Caelen was happy with that. He liked his life, was mostly happy in Far Madding and got along well with his brother. Trouble didn't rear it's head until his 19th year. A merchant had an accident, someone who had been visiting the Inn for as far back as Caelen could remember, and he wasn't expected to live long. He didn't want to die away from home though, so he asked if they would help him get back. Caelen and his brother discussed it and in the morning, packed for the two days journey and with a friend who knew where they were headed, Caelen began making his way out of the city for the first time. The old merchant seemed to be getting worse though and Caelen sat up all night with him, holding his hand, praying to the creator that he make it through another day. Just one more and he would be home with his family to die in their comfort. Exhaustion drained him, but he sat by the old man, until he felt cold to the core, like all the heat had been zapped out of him. He got up then, walked away to waken himself and ease the feeling out of him. His friend stirred then and told him to get some sleep, he'd stay up with the man. In the morning they were out as early as possible and had the old merchant on the road before he even woke up. They had been given a special tea for him to drink to keep him sleeping deeply until he got home. With all their rushing, they managed to get him back home still alive. His family had thanked them and they left the next morning to head home. A couple days later a message was delivered to Caelen and his brother that the old man was doing better and might make a recovery. They were ecstatic over the news and celebrated. A week later he was helping out at dinner and broke into a cold sweat. Fever broke out soon after and his brother and one of the serving girls took him to his room. They were told there was nothing to do for it, but wait out the fever. Strangely enough it had broken by morning, though he was feeling too weak to get up for most of the day.
It was his first experience with saidin. He wasn't conscious of having done it and living in Far Madding there was little chance of it happening again. His fever was taken as a response to being out of the city and traveling for the first time, too much excitement and a nervous reaction from getting the letter saying that the old man was still alive. His father passed away two years later and when his mother passed away the next year , he began going out into the world more. Still not often, but one or two times a year to see to things for the Inn. He began to have an odd sensation about going out of the city and when he was he had strange dreams. His behavior became a little odder over the years, though not enough that anyone would notice. He had an odd sense of humor about him and by the time he was 27 it was a common joke that he was afraid of his own reflection, not because he was thought a coward but because he didn't like to look at his own image. Sometimes when he wasn't careful, he thought he saw something else in his reflection and it had become something he avoided. 
His own thoughts turned out into the world and with all the talk, he began to think about his own situation. He had suppressed his own thoughts about his oddities long ago, but it was getting harder and harder to come back into the city after his journeys. And it was becoming harder not to think of reasons to leave again. He knew he wasn't entirely happy with his life, but he didn't have it in him to settle down just yet and he thought it was just a bit of the restlessness that had driven his sister out of Far Madding. 
When news of the Black Tower first reached his ears he laughed it off as a joke, thinking the merchant that spoke was taken with the wine, but the idea festered in his mind. Finally, he realized that he wasn't going to ever be truly happy unless he found out what was wrong with him. Whatever it was only bothered him inside the city, as much as he loved Far Madding. There was only one thing that made Far Madding any different than every other city really, and that was the Guardian. It was time to find out what was really happening to him. So he made his way to Tear to search out the Dragon Reborn and his amnesty for male channellers and see if that really was him. 
Strengths/Weaknesses: He's good in a fist fight or with a club, but not much with other weapons. Growing up in Far Madding there was little chance for sword play or learning weapons and he had little time for it anyway. He did learn to fight though breaking up other fights when they occasionally happened at the Inn. He's personable and warm, with a strange sense of humor and a self-deprecating personality. He genuinely likes other people. His laid back nature has always allowed him to take who he is with a grain of salt and just let himself be whatever he needed to be.
He's not always good at facing what he needs to and sometimes you have to ram the truth into him. He feels guilty at first, touching the source, because he has spent his whole life denying all the other times in his life when he had been doing it as well. He also has a natural deference to women that could cause trouble down the line.
 
Notes: With a character from Far Madding, I felt that the effects of saidin on Caelen would be lessened. Not that he feels it any less, but that he is less exposed to it. He is unaware of what happened after his visit out into the world at 19 and doesn't travel out of the protection of the Guardian for another 3 years. At 22 he travels maybe once or twice a year. By the time he's 25 he's probably only been out about 10 times. At that point it begins to wear on him and he feels like hes missing something in life, but can't put a finger on it. The Guardian is protecting him from a lot of it and the fact that he never learns to channel or consciously pulls for it means that the need to do so is less, the sense of loss is a dull ache instead of the monstrous thing most channelers experience. As for the taint, it's started to seep into him, but not in ways that anyone would have noticed. 
Also, I left the accident and healing vague since I don't know his OP score or where his talents will lie yet. It could have been a misdiagnosed injury and he barely did anything, or it could have been something major, it was just his own need to do something that got him to reach out and touch the source for the first time.
Category:Soldier Bios
Category:Black Tower Bios
Category:Biographies