Krais Brewer
Played by Neil Simpson

Name: Krais Brewer
Date of Birth: 14 Deep Drift 199
Curent Age: 19 seasons
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 182 lbs
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Black

Character Summary

Middle child of Tarn and Salia Brewer, born on 14 Deep Drift 199. A tall, handsome and charming young man with a great talent with the sword and a greater friend. Krais is a moral person who sees the wrong in his father's activities but often finds himself going along with them out of a sense of obligation. In his youth, Krais was very close to his grandfather, Galen, and misses the old man even though he has been gone from the town for nine seasons. Krais has been romantically linked to the beautiful Kaleena Dyer although he maintains they are just friends. The friendship led to a very public falling out with his friend Utor Smith in recent times.

Original Character Background

This is the original character background provided by Neil in the run up to the Crucible of Youth campaign. It is not reproduced here in its entirety as some parts of it are not generally known by the villagers or the other player characters.

Krais was young when his mother, Salia, succumbed to the terrible wasting disease. His father, Tarn, was distraught at his wife's illness and even more so at his complete inability to do anything helpful. He became withdrawn and bitter, seeing his fellow villagers as things to be used since none of them could do anything to help his beloved. He vowed to make enough money so that one day he could leave the village and find a true healer, not the parlour tricksters of his home. When his father, Krais's grandfather, handed the family inn to Tarn, he used it to screw every penny he could from anyone foolish enough to stay at his inn, and since his inn is the only inn for miles and miles, that's quite a lot of foolish people.

Not content with 'cooking the books', Tarn has also founded a thieves guild, more a glorified gang really with Tarn de facto leader. Of course, being a small town, the guild's activities are known of, but no one has managed to prove anything.

Krais grew up a happy child despite his mother's withering illness and his father's increasing bitterness. He loves his grandfather who regales him with tales of adventuring. He doesn't know if the old man's stories are true or not, doesn't care, he just knows that he wants to become an adventurer, someone who has exciting escapes from imminent death, romances the beautiful princess, that sort of thing. Unfortunately for Krais he has been press ganged into his father's guild and become a thief in the night. Despite his reluctance and strapping size, Krais is actually surprisingly skilled at his work, but his innate goodness has caused him to hesitate too often and he has seen the inside of the town's jail more than once. The local militia know him well and he entertains them with the tales his grandfather has told him and they in turn teach him sword play and other weapon skills. Like everything else, he picks these lessons up quickly and practises them with remarkable ease. He has grown to love sword fighting, so much so that he has bought a sword of his own from the local blacksmith, and takes every opportunity he can to practise; he is often seen in the village green going through moves against imaginary opponents, and he relishes the time when he will get to put them to use.

Krais is an incredibly likeable young man, no one can resist his easy going nature for long, well, almost no one. He does have an enemy, a young man by the name of Utor, the son of the local blacksmith. Utor hates Krais's charm and seemingly effortless ability to learn new things. He is jealous of Krais's abilities but it isn't these that make him plot the death of the affable young man, no this is entirely due to Kaleena.

Kaleena is a beautiful young woman who has grown up with Krais and Utor. They were childhood friends and did everything together. Then, inevitably, puberty hit and the three suddenly discovered different feelings for each other. Krais was always laughing and joking with Kaleena and trying to include Utor but Utor was shyer, lacking in confidence and he steadily isolated himself more and more. Finally things came to a head when Utor confided in Krais his love for Kaleena and Krais, being such a nice, naïve chap, agreed to help his friend despite his own feelings. Things went wrong and Kaleena rejected Utor who blamed Krais for his failure. Kaleena, in floods of tears, told Krais Utor had tried to force himself onto her. For the first time Krais was angry and he took up his sword and smote Utor, giving him a large scar down his chest. Krais was appalled at his outburst ran into the nearby woods.

Utor rallied the villagers to help him smoke out the criminal but Kaleena found out what Utor was planning and told the whole village what Utor had done to her. The villagers sided with her and temporarily exiled Utor. Kaleena managed to persuade Krais to go back with her and he begged the forgiveness of Ras, Utor's father.

Now things are pretty much back to normal, Utor has returned, more bitter and twisted than ever and Krais is still refusing to give in to his feelings for Kaleena, despite her best efforts. He is terrified of the fury that he is capable of and doesn't want to risk 'losing it' and harming his best friend.

Final Character Background

With mutual consent, a few aspect of Krais's background were altered to create this definitive version. The changes were mainly due to the fact the inn and many NPCs connected with it were already part of my campaign background. In order to write Krais into the equation some accomodation had to be made. So here is the final background, again it is excised of a little of its content for plot purposes.

The community at Bear's Reach is extremely isolated. This means that although the Inn is called an Inn and technically has rooms to rent out, no-one ever stays there because no one ever comes to visit Bear's Reach. As a result the Inn functions basically as a local pub. It is also the largest building in the village and therefore it is used for village events and celebrations (such as weddings) and also for the weekly meetings of the village council. The owner of the inn has always held a position of great respect in the town, and has always chaired the council. This is because the inn has always been owned by a Thorn.

The Thorn family are able to trace their lineage back to Scarman Thorn, the man credited with the founding of the community about 654 seasons ago. The Thorns are the nearest thing Bear's Reach has ever had to a ruling family - and many members of that family have been deified by local historians. The Thorn line remained unbroken until the last generation when the last surviving man to carry the name (Krais's grandfather) was left a widower with only a daughter - Salia (Krais's mother).

Krais's background history properly begins with a history of his grandfather, Galen Thorn. Galen was actually the youngest of four sons. As a result he never expected to inherit the Inn and the responsibility of the Thorn name. In his youth, he decided to leave Bear's Reach and seek his fortune in the outside world. He was gone for many seasons, but returned to terrible news.

In his absence all his brothers had been killed when the fishing boat they were on was lost at sea. This happens from time to time in a fishing community, but it does not lessen the tragedy. Krais's grandfather swore to his father that he would take over the inn and continue the family tradition. He stayed in the village and eventually married Thora Chandar. Thora died in childbirth giving birth to Salia. Galen never married again and raised the child himself.

Eventually, Salia was old enough to marry which she did (to Tarn). After the marriage, the newly-weds moved into the tavern which was still run by Krais's grandfather at this point. Five children followed. In order of birth they were Barvin, Enid, Krais, Mab and Grint. Galen was still highly respected in the community, even though he enjoyed being a publican slightly less than his lumbago.

Krais's life was happy as a child. He loved his grandfather and listened to all the tales of adventuring that Galen spouted at the drop of a hat. Krais never knew if the old man's stories were true or not and doesn't care - he just knows that he wants to become an adventurer, someone who has exciting escapes from imminent death, romances the beautiful princess, that sort of thing. It therefore came as something of a shock to the young Kraid when Galen announced that he was leaving Bear's Reach. Galen turned the inn (the jewel in the Thorn crown) over to his son-in-law (women cannot own property in Norandor law) and he was off. That was nine seasons ago and he hasn't been seen since. Galen is widely thought to be dead. Krias, who was only ten seasons when he last saw Galen will never forget him.

Galen's departure marked a change in Krais's life and his parents. Tarn had always been slightly less popular than a rancid eel, but the ill-feeling against greatly increased after Galen's departure. There was a feeling that Tarn had somehow swindled Galen out of the inn - there could be no other explanation as to how a low-life pus bucket could have had such good fortune. Tarn now had a seat on the village council and a position of some respect. In practice (because every one knows what he's like) no-one gives him the respect he thinks he deserves, and no-one listens to him. This has made Tarn extremely bitter. He thinks that just because he doesn't have the "Thorn" name, everyone treats him like dirt. Of course, everyone treats him like dirt because he is dirt. This is all plays to Tarn's insecurities and his desire to "get even" at the rest of the town by fleecing them for everything they are worth.

Krais was fifteen seasons when his mother, Salia, succumbed to a terrible wasting disease. Tarn, was distraught at his wife's illness and even more so at his complete inability to do anything helpful. He became withdrawn and even more bitter, seeing his fellow villagers as things to be used since none of them could do anything to help his beloved - not even the local healer, Illyan. No longer content with 'cooking the books', Tarn has founded a thieves guild, more a glorified gang really with Tarn de facto leader. Of course, being a small town, the guild's activities are known of, but no one has managed to prove anything against Tarn. Krais has been unwilling subducted into being an agent for his father, and is continually caught b

Krais's dreams of following Galen on the road to adventure was cut short when he was press ganged into his father's guild and became a thief in the night. Despite his reluctance and strapping size, Krais is actually surprisingly skilled at his work, but his innate goodness has caused him to hesitate too often and he has seen the inside of the town's jail more than once. The local militia know him well, in fact the provost Vitor was an old friend of Galen's from his adventuring days. Krais entertains them with the tales his grandfather told him and they in turn teach him sword play and other weapon skills. Like everything else, he picks these lessons up quickly and practises them with remarkable ease. He has grown to love sword fighting, and Vitor even gave the youth one of his own longswords. Krais takes every opportunity he can to practise; he is often seen in the village green going through moves against imaginary opponents, and he relishes the time when he will get to put them to use.

Krais is an incredibly likeable young man, no one can resist his easy going nature for long, well, almost no one. He does have an enemy, a young man by the name of Utor, the son of the local blacksmith. Utor hates Krais's charm and seemingly effortless ability to learn new things. He is jealous of Krais's abilities but it isn't these that make him plot the death of the affable young man, no this is entirely due to Kaleena.

Kaleena is a beautiful young woman who has grown up with Krais and Utor. They were childhood friends and did everything together. Then, inevitably, puberty hit and the three suddenly discovered different feelings for each other. Krais was always laughing and joking with Kaleena and trying to include Utor but Utor was shyer, lacking in confidence and he steadily isolated himself more and more. Finally things came to a head when Utor confided in Krais his love for Kaleena and Krais, being such a nice, naïve chap, agreed to help his friend despite his own feelings. Things went wrong and Kaleena rejected Utor who blamed Krais for his failure. Kaleena, in floods of tears, told Krais Utor had tried to force himself onto her. For the first time Krais was angry and he took up his sword and smote Utor, giving him a large scar down his chest. Krais was appalled at his outburst ran into the nearby woods.

Utor rallied the villagers to help him smoke out the criminal but Kaleena found out what Utor was planning and told the whole village what Utor had done to her. The villagers sided with her and temporarily exiled Utor. Kaleena managed to persuade Krais to go back with her and he begged the forgiveness of Ras, Utor's father.

Now things are pretty much back to normal, Utor has returned, more bitter and twisted than ever and Krais is still refusing to give in to his feelings for Kaleena, despite her best efforts. He is terrified of the fury that he is capable of and doesn't want to risk 'losing it' and harming his best friend.

Recent Events

The following events can be considered of special significance to Krais since the beginning of the campaign:

Vítday, 29 Chillbone 204

Krais is "arrested" for stealing pies and spends the day practising his swordstrokes with Vitor Grushko.

See Also:

• Arax Chandar
• Illyan Snowmantle
• Kaylas Chiesa
• Thorn Njedelstrom
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