Gareth Mallory is your average student at the bard's college.  His grades are spectacular, his playing is nothing to sneeze at, and his love life is- well- complicated at worst.  And while none of this sounds remotely like "average", that is all he can manage to be seen as.  He hasn't spotted many other humans around whose hair grows in white, or who have white eyes.  He hasn't found many others who can move people to tears with a pluck of their strings, and yet, every time, he is met with little to no reaction.  His audience later approaches him, not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, but simply- well, whelmed.  He leads himself down infinite paths of thought with these, wondering what in the world to cause him to be such a failure.

The secret, however, is that it's hardly of this world at all.

Gareth's parents, wildly in love, were excited to start their family in a small town away from the hustle and bustle of the capitol.  However, to their horror, attempt after attempt lead them to watch as their beloved offspring either met a cruel fate or a horrid end.  One kidnapped by slavers, another being stabbed just as she was betrothed to her love, they were on their last hope.  Six children had disappeared from their lives, and yet, the mother found herself with child again.  Desperate for any source of help they might find to save this child, they made a long pilgrimage to the largest pantheon in the land, praying for days on end.  What came to them was not what it appeared to be.

A god, bathed in light smiled upon them, offering them his blessing for their child.  He promised them that the baby would have everything they needed to be successful, to live healthily and happily.  What the pair wasn't aware of, is that behind that light a goddess of trickery hid within mists, subtlely cursing the unborn as well.  He would still have all the magnificant traits.  Beauty, talent, intelligence... but she doomed him to a life of insignificance.  No matter how much he succeeded, he would be regarded as little more than lucky.  As Gareth Mallory was born into the world, his parents saw the touch of the gods in his appearance, a seemingly ethereal beauty with white hair and eyes to match.  As he grew, however, they discovered the curse.  For some reason, when they tried to speak of it, they suddenly forgot what they were talking about.  As the goddess of lies and illusion watches her plaything struggle and stumble over his own self esteem, Gareth Mallory searches the world for a calling.  For a destiny.