Aurane

Short and stunted, Aurane stands at 5’1” with a thin wiry frame, a life of meagre meals and poverty having left its mark on his physique. His skin is rather pale, although it is often difficult to tell through the layers of dirt and grime that mark his face and body, and his thick brown hair is tangled and matted into a thousand tiny knots.

## Biography

Aurane’s origin was certainly a common one, if not particularly glorious. He was born in 283AA, the son of a dockside whore from Duskendale and a passing sailor. His mother, unable to feed the extra mouth with her meagre earnings, made the choice to give the boy to a passing troupe of mummers shortly after his birth. As a consequence of this, Aurane has no memory of his parents, having lived his entire life with the band of actors, musicians, and jesters.

Given to the company dwarf, a woman by the name of Tansy, he was raised to entertain from a young age. Learning to climb and do handstands as soon as he was able to walk, sing bawdy ballads as soon as he could speak, and juggle as soon as he could throw a ball. He had a natural talent for juggling, which was aided by his ambidexterity, as well as for comedy, with a sharp tongue and a mind full of insults just waiting to be unleashed. At the age of six he began appearing in the companies shows during the opening act, as a juggler and an acrobat, with a much more important offstage role afterwards.

For the band didn’t just make money off their performances, but also off of stealing from those they performed for. Aurane, a poor pickpocket, instead had the job of covertly sneaking away after his role in the show was complete, and stealing from the saddlebags and carriages of the audience. Then, near the end of the show he would have to sneak back as if nothing had changed, hiding his ill-gotten gains all the while. His talent for stealth earned him a special place in the group and favouritism from the leader of the troupe, a Braavosi actor and former water dancer by the name of Brusco. Brusco grew to be something of a father figure to Aurane, sharpening his skills and teaching him to move silently.

At the age of eleven Aurane began learning to juggle and use daggers, learning how to fight with them from Brusco, who taught him to wield two blades at a time. He quickly became a practiced fighter, training with the party’s guards and the squires of hedges knights in the towns that they visited. Luckily he very rarely had to make use of his skill with the weapons.

The young Dusklander thrived amongst the mummers, loving the attention the audience gave him during shows and the admiration from his fellows that his skills as a thief. He was wild, sharp-tongued, quick to insult and even quicker to fight, habits that those around him only encouraged. Alas they would be his downfall when the band visited Yronwood to perform at the Feast of Stars in 297AA. The three shows that he took part in went marvelously, much to his pride. It would be during the closing feast a heavily intoxicated Aurane earned the ire of King Yoren after making a multitude of insulting jests about the King and attempting to steal a kiss from his youngest daughter, Ysilla.

For his impudence, Aurane summarily had his tongue cut out and was thrown into the dungeons to rot. There he lay for a month or so, slowly wasting away until salvation came in the form of a Wandering Crow circling back around through the Greenbelt after a full tour of Westeros stretching all the way to the Principality. He made the choice to take the black rather than starving to death in the darkness of his cell. The journey North was pleasant, if uneventful with their small party stopping at a number of holdfasts on the way to the Wall. Aurane quickly became familiar with the kinds of men who would be his sworn brothers. Murderers, rapers, and common criminals, and with his arrival at the Wall he now dreads taking his oaths.

## Timeline:

* 283AA: Aurane is born to a Dusklander whore and a sailor, quickly being given to a passing troupe of mummers.
* 289AA: Aurane began appearing in shows with the mummers as a juggler and acrobat.
* 294AA: Aurane learns to juggle and fight with daggers.
* 297AA: Aurane performs at the Feast of Stars before being muted and thrown in the dungeon by King Yoren Yronwood after attempting to kiss Princess Ysilla.
* 297AA: Aurane joins the party of a wandering crow, accompanying him on his journey back to the wall with a group of other recruits.
* 298AA: Aurane arrives at the Wall.