Dain Halwin

Biography — Writing History

Written By: Alex
Created: May 2010

Curriculum Vitae

  • Gender: M
  • Hometown: Lugard, Murandy

Channeling Information

  • Elemental Strengths (strong to weak): Air, Fire, Spirit, Water, Earth

Physical Description

Dain stands at a mere 5’6, though he stands almost painfully straight, seemingly trying to make the most of his short stature. He appears half-starved and somewhat feral, his charcoal hair wild atop his head. He peers at the word with distrusting and piercingly bright blue eyes. He sports a sparse version of the typical Murandian moustache, making him appear juvenile and all the more standoffish. Despite his emaciated build, there is the hint of muscle tone to his arms and his calloused hands seem to confirm a life of physical strain. His tanned skin is covered with scars and nicks that emphasize a life of hardship. His nose is a tad large for his face and his features are highly angular. If these harsh angles will fade with more regular sustenance has yet to be clear.

Biography

Dain grew up in the Murandian city of Mindea but lived there only during his very early life. His father, Daven, died in a duel against a fellow manual labourer and Dain’s family was reduce to only his mother (Celia) and paternal grandmother (Maura). This persisted for a few years before conflict arrived within Mindea. In one of the many street fights and conflict between the nobility of Murandy, the city was set partially alight and mobs roamed the streets. Dain and his mother fled the city after his grandmother cut down by a passing street tough. Fleeing to a countryside farm, Dain and his mother remained there with full intention to return to Mindea after things had settled down. After only a short time, however, Dain’s mother became very ill. She was gripped by a fierce sickness in the lungs that after only a few weeks killed her. Dain was only nine at the time and he fled the farm out of fear of being turned away by the farmer. Dain was young, afraid and grieving, unable to face the death of his last remaining family member. He wandered the countryside, too afraid to approach any of the farms or villages, before ending up in Lugard. The city was dirty and dangerous, but Dain found something he needed in its bustle. He began an endless fight for survival that granted him distance from the reality of his family’s destruction.

Work in Lugard was hard to come by and very quickly Dain learned that in order to survive he would have to steal for money. This was reinforced by the droves of thieves that practiced their craft up and down the streets of the filthy city. He learned quickly to pick pockets and avoid detection when work dried up and coin disappeared. During this learning period he pick pocketed a passing merchant woman’s book. This was easily the largest thing Dain had ever managed to steal and it was at first due to his pride in ascertaining it that Dain kept it. As he read it over, however, the book began to cast a spell on the young boy and he quickly found himself unable to sleep or fully relax without reading a few lines of the historical text. The book was called “The Tales and Times of Notable Amyrlin Seats” and it was written by Miranne Feltin. Dain used the woman’s words as a tonic for his nerves and took the woman’s writing as a supplement for absent maternal role of his life.

It was after many years of hard living that Dain first noticed strange occurrences in his life. He became luckier, better able to avoid detection. Dain at first took this to be merely a product of growing older and swifter but such assumptions ended when he first snatched something. Desperately hungry, Dain was reading over a few passages from Tales and Times. Heading out to try to steal for his meal, Dain approached a small stand selling loaves of bread. It was an immense shock when the bread flew silently and of its own accord to Dain as he inched forward. From that point onwards, Dain was occasionally able to snatch things through the air. Dain closely guarded this secret and refused to confront it. He reasoned that rather than being a male channeler, a tainted and twisted creature, he was instead gifted with some other strange and ancient power, from before the time of the first Amyrlin in Tales and Times.

Throughout all of this hard living, Dain did his best to guard and protect women who were often menaced by men. The death of his grandmother emphasized to him the need to defend women from those stronger than them. The dark underworld of Lugard was filled with those who meant harm to women. He stood up for women of every class and standing, leading him to get into many fights and conflicts. It was one of these many fights, the last fight, which convinced Dain to at last leave Lugard. He was standing up for a barmaid who had been manhandled into an alley by a patron. Often such activity was done by the drunk or infirm, but this fellow was strong and fully sober. The man was far too strong for Dain and beat him very badly. Even more regrettably the man beat the barmaid far worse than he likely would have without Dain’s interference. Ashamed and regretful, Dain decided to strike out into the wide world.

Without ever having formally admitted it to himself, Dain began to head north towards Tar Valon. The Tales and Times were the only window into another world beyond Murandy that Dain had and so this journey represented the only one he could fathom. Furthermore, rumours had begun among the populace that saidin was cleansed and that the White Tower was admitting men into its ranks. Although not fully convinced he is able to channel, Dain goes to the White Tower find out one way or the other. He is afraid of the answer but deep down knows he will have to find out eventually. Even deeper down, Dain wonders if the author of his beloved book is an Aes Sedai and if she still lives.


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Writing History

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