"Dullahan" is both the name of a family and the term for a race, which are one and the same. The Dullahans have cursed bloodline whose origin has been lost over the ages. Though the name itself is cursed, to possess it is an honor. Dullahans are noble, with an overwhelming amount of political power. Their fingers are dipped into everyone's slice of pie, so to speak.

Those born of Dullahan blood are gifted with longevity and cursed with detached heads. The connection between head and body is purely magical. They still need to eat -- not for survival, but for energy. The longer a dullahan goes without without eating, the weaker the connection between head and body becomes. As this connection fades, the body slowly gets more sluggish, until it reaches a point where the dullahan can no longer feel any connection whatsoever.

Additionally, it is disorienting for a dullahan to have his or her body out of sight or too far away. This makes them especially prone to injury if one is not careful enough. Normally, a Dullahan will have a servant carry their head for them while their body walks ahead.

Paeris is an illegitimate child, born out of an affair between Mr. Dullahan and a servant. Upon finding that the child was born with the Dullahan curse, Mr. Dullahan commanded the mistress to dispose of the newborn child, as knowledge of his existence would taint the family name. However, she couldn't bring herself to give him up. She begged Mr. Dullahan to reconsider, but he was adamant that the child needed to go.

Thankfully, a fellow servant offered to house Paeris in secret, as he lived and worked in a secluded part of the family's manor and could easily hide him. The two agreed to raise the child together in order to save his life.

For over a decade, Paeris was kept in hiding. He was raised believing his caretakers were his parents and told not to trust the Dullahans or let anyone see him without his head attached. Anybody who asked him who he was was to be told that he was just a servant boy. Paeris didn't quite understand the meaning of their secrecy, but he obeyed.

Paeris' existence wouldn't be kept secret forever, however. Eventually, rumors spread, and those rumors landed upon Mr. Dullahan's ears. Enraged and worried for his reputation, he sought to rid himself of the boy and punish the servants who disobeyed him. To Paeris, it all happened so suddenly. He was shaken awake at some odd hour by his frightened father and told to gather his things and run. "Run. Get far away from here, and don't look back." He was forced out the door and, with nothing else to do, he ran like his father told him to.

When Mr. Dullahan discovered that the boy was gone, he did everything in his power to mark the runaway as a fugitive. He claimed that Paeris was an enemy spy and placed a high bounty on his head for his retrieval -- dead or alive. Now homeless and considered an enemy to the public, Paeris survives in the wilderness, with the help of a strange companion.