Gaius Berrezan

Gaius originally lived in a small town, Ebenstone, at the edge of his lord’s domain in the middle of nowhere. It’s a town with no real strategic value. As a young man, he joined the army in order to provide for his then pregnant wife. It was a mostly uneventful career. He was involved in a few skirmishes here and there, nothing major. 6 years in and his family had grown. He had 3 children: his first child was a 6 year old girl, a four year old son, and an 8 months old baby girl. One day, he was called away to fight away from home. The fortnight long battle ended in victory, but upon his return finding Ebenstone had been attacked. A few of the townspeople explained that the enemy had killed so many people that they couldn’t give them all a proper burial without risking disease so they burned the dead in a large funeral pyre.

   With no place to mourn his wife and 3 children, he opted to get a set of tattoos, one for each of them in the shape of a sort of ring around his left forearm. He then swore vengeance on the upon the enemy army. Swearing to take 25 lives for each of his loved ones lost. For each person he killed in battle he would carve a tally mark in one of the ring tattoos starting at the ring nearest to his wrist, the ring for his wife. In the ensuing months he made an effort to fight in every battle. Gaius fought with reckless abandon making only 17 tally marks on the first ring, before the battle where he lost his arm. That battle was an ambush, a couple of men fell before anyone knew what happened. Gaius, with his fury blinding him, charged headfirst into battle and before he could kill anyone, an axe welding man attacked him as he stood against the first person he could find, and with one clean blow the axe-welder put his axe into Gaius’ shoulder and cutting through flesh and tendon. Before he knew it his arm was in the mud. Using the last of his consciousness he managed to kill the man, though he doesn’t remember doing so because of the pain and shock. Afterwards, he managed to get patched up, more or less, but without his arm. He was given a commendation and sent home. At this point, he realized what a failure he had been. In his mind, he failed at everything. Failed as a father to protect his family, failed as an avenger for not being able to exact justice, failed as a soldier for not keeping his cool, and failed as a man for losing his arm. And so he did the only thing he could think of, drink. With the stipend he received along with his award, he stayed at the pub. When he wasn’t at the pub, he was outside waiting for the pub to open. When his money dried up he resorted to begging. And so it was for the next 7 years.

   Until one day when the pub owner cut him off until he could pay his tab, a man claiming to be a merchant came to the pub and asked for someone to help escort him to the next town. Feeling a bit more motivated to get drunk, Gaius took the man up on his offer. After an uneventful escorting he found himself in a new town without the same faces filled with pity at the one armed loser. The merchant gave him a sum of money, and off Gaius went to find the pub. As he searched for a while he found himself with a rare smile on his face. He felt a small flicker of pride over a job well done, one that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Eventually, he found himself at the pub, but strangely enough he didn’t order a drink. Instead, he asked if there where any jobs available for a one armed man. Pub owner says “I can’t hire you full time, but it’s a pretty busy day. Think you could wash some mugs and plates?” Gaius agreed. Over the next 6 years, Gaius did several odd jobs and didn’t have a drop of alcohol. Eventually he had a dream that would lead him to join the Charismaniacs. Swearing on the souls of his family that never again would he feel sorry for himself like that again, and for their sake he would do his best to live as well as he could.