Early Life

/// notes. /general goal is to incite chaos, but ultimate goal is to plunge faerun into void-like darkness as a show of love for shar. wants to bring the underdark to the surface, as well, and ultimately leave Faerûn behind in favor for the Plane of Shadows. //lured in by shar during their teenage years when they ran away from home and hid in a cave for shelter, manipulated by her. Birch died in a cave collapse in the underdark (figure out how they got there) and shar resurrected them since they were there doing smth for her. This was after they left tenacity
Birch grew up on the streets of Scornubel, an orphan since they could remember. They know next to nothing about their “real” origins, and can only assume they were cast out when their birth parent realized they’d given birth to a shapechanger. The in-and-out nature of Scornubel (which is a major trade stop for caravans, even known as the Caravan City) provided good cover for Birch because they could swipe what they needed from unsuspecting traders or merchants without being noticed often. They could easily blend in or disappear as they pleased amongst people, so they hardly scraped and scrounged, though, of course, it was still hard to grow up as they did. When Birch was noticed, they were hardly scorned – doppelgangers and things of the sort were tolerated in Scornubel, luckily for them. All things considered, they would personally say that they had an “easy” childhood. The places they would stay, hideout at, or rest near were often around popular taverns, such as the Dusty Hoof, which doubled as an inn and tavern and was known for being of moderate to good quality of a place. It was run by a tiefling and dwarf couple named Cheer and Thelnur, aka the Visse family, who also had a young tiefling son named Crevari. Whenever Birch hung around, Crevari always seemed to spot them despite their efforts to often remain invisible – and he would always approach Birch, seemingly out of curiosity more than anything else. While wary of him at first, Birch would eventually start talking to Crevari and get to know the other kid. Crevari was more the sensitive and nervous type, they gathered, as the more the two interacted the more he would bring Birch food from the tavern to share. Since they had never shared explicitly that they had no home, they could only assume Crevari deduced it himself and took pity on them. Birch was willing to take it without question though – one less thing they had to worry about, after all. Recurring visits to the inn and hanging out with Crevari went from a relationship of convenience to one of legitimate friendship pretty quickly, though. Birch had never had a friend before and, from what they could gather, Crevari wasn’t all that social, himself; so their bond was unique and important to both of them. Birch would encourage him to get out of the inn more and into the roads of the city to actually explore, and Crevari would teach Birch things like woodcarving and fun facts about plants, even if Birch never really caught on to the latter very well.
Eventually, Crevari would invite Birch into the inn when they were around 8, saying his parents said it would be fine, and they would come inside and be offered lodging from the family. He and Crevari shared a room. While Cheer and Thelnur were not actually all that friendly (and they were quite loud, often fighting with each other), Birch could not deny their hospitality and was grateful enough for it. They put them to work around the tavern, though, of course, which Birch tried to get out of any way they could. Crevari really seemed to enjoy having them in their space with him, as he especially was nervous whenever his parents would fight – and Birch’s presence gave him something comforting to focus on instead. And if just being there wasn’t enough to distract him, Birch would just take him on an adventure elsewhere outside. Regardless, having definitive shelter now and a steady source of food did not change Birch’s affinity for stealing. They would especially continue swiping from the more wealthy merchants that passed through, as they felt they could do without some things since they were already rich. The Visses did not pay attention to Birch much, if at all, so they had no idea of this. Crevari quickly caught on though, especially since Birch would show him things they’d taken or even share them with/give them to him at times. Worried Birch would get caught one day, he warned them to be careful, though didn’t tell them to stop. They were good at what they did, though, so they had no concerns.

Moving Away

Of course, all good things must come to an end – so, inevitably, they did get caught once. Now, getting caught stealing one time is not always enough to be a catalyst for disaster or a worst-case scenario, but for Birch, it was. The merchant they stole from was quite wealthy, and a previous noble from up north. They did make off with the amulet they were trying to swipe from the merchant – a silver linked chain with a golden hand holding onto a dark purple disc with a black center; something that intrigued them. 10 at the time, the merchant had ordered the thief to be killed by his hired help in order to retrieve the item. They chased Birch through the city on his orders, with such determination that Birch chose to leave the city entirely to steer them off their trail. They went and hunkered down in the nearby Reaching Woods for the night, feeling they could navigate a little farther into the woods to better hide with little issue – they were good at finding their way around without getting lost, even if that was mostly in the city. Settling down and having safely lost their pursuers, they took some time to admire the item they’d gotten that put them in this situation, to begin with, and didn’t really regret it. The necklace was fascinating; it pulsed with the faintest magical energy, they could tell, and staring into it almost made them zone out a little. They went to sleep. In the night, they were greeted by something. At first, they thought they were dreaming – waking up in a dark cavern, the only sound around them the steady drip of water from a stalactite onto the ground below. Slightly panicked, they looked around frantically and saw darkness and more cave. Emptiness, mostly. As they stood up, something came out of the shadows – a creature with a long, seemingly boneless body that stretched into the blackness, obscured. Its face was slightly rounded, with a pale, near-white face and dark markings down over its forehead, cheeks, and through its eyes, which were less than human-looking – pitch-black discs bordered with a deep purple, eerily like the symbol on the necklace Birch had swiped. Its hair was dark and dragged along the ground with its head as it moved, and it bore multiple long limbs that bent and moved in ways that they shouldn’t, with long clawed hands covered in dust, soot, and ash, it seemed. Its mouth was shut tight in a wry smile. Its most interesting feature had to be the long crooked antlers atop its head, which glowed and shone out of the darkness, catching Birch’s eye long before the rest of it, captivating, distracting from the horror before them. It crept forward towards them in the cavern. Birch froze up, at the mercy of whatever was about to happen. Instead of attacking, it greeted him. “I am Shar,” it said blatantly, and it held weight. However, it wasn’t a name that Birch knew. “I am the Mother of Darkness. You wield my symbol. You walk my path. Tell not another soul. Fortnight, gaze upon my symbol again and allow the void into your heart. You will return to me, and I will welcome you with open arms. I can see the potential within you. You will become my Flame.” With that, she skittered back into the darkness, leaving Birch standing there, still stunned for a moment. Quickly, they were overcome with exhaustion again and collapsed and slept for the remainder of the night. When they woke again, assuming they had a nightmare, they found themself still laying in the cave. They scrambled to their feet and began searching for a way out which, after some searching, they did find. The cavern opened back up and out into the wood, so they made their way out and tried to gather their bearings. It proved a little difficult to figure out their way out of the woods, however, since they’d been taken off their path – and was only made easier by Crevari showing up to search for them. He told Birch that they’d been missing for a couple of days, and he had tracked their trail to here. Birch was relieved to see a familiar face after whatever the hell that was but was also pleasantly surprised to see that Crevari had come so far out to find them since he didn’t often venture on his own. Crevari helped them back to the city, where he ushered them back to the tavern so as to not get them seen and turned in. The merchant was still in town and still demanded Birch to be found. Crevari’s parents were, of course, livid about this and ultimately told Birch they would not be allowed to stay there if it put them in danger, and their actions showed a complete lack of disregard for others. Birch was told to leave by the evening of that day. They did, but not without Crevari following, unbeknownst to his parents. He told Birch he was happy to leave, as his home life was not good, to begin with, but without Birch, it was harder to bear. Initially, Birch wasn’t going to leave the city, but it seemed the best thing to do once realizing this merchant wasn’t going to give it up for a while – and they weren’t opposed to an adventure. The two of them decided to leave and ventured out onto the open road.
Birch kept the strange necklace of “Shar” out of nothing but curiosity. Perhaps they could get more answers while on their travels. Though they wanted to tell Crevari about their strange interaction with “her”, they didn’t out of concern for her words to not tell another soul. After the 2 week period, she’d said to wait for, they did in fact pull the symbol back out in the night and “gaze upon it”, which put them into another dreamlike state (though not away from where they’d been that night) face to face with her. She spoke a lot of darkness and void and shadow, and of gods and the moon and destruction. Birch understood very little of it but the way she wove around them when she spoke, the light of her antlers, and the gaze of her eyes were mesmerizing in a terrifying kind of way, and they found themself lulled into listening to whatever she had to say and being inclined to agree to whatever she asked. She may have even said angry things about “corrupt organizations” if they’d recalled correctly, and hells, they’d agree with her on that front even out of this weird state. From there, while on the road with Tenacity, these dreams would continue, sometimes with no speaking from Shar, simply them staring at one another. At times, Birch themself would be able to talk and ask her things. They could gather that she was some sort of otherworldly being and that she needed their help, but that was about the extent of it at the time. Other than this, they and Crevari were finding it much harder to live on the open road or wilderness than in the bustling trading spot they’d called home. There were few fellow adventurers/travelers on foot that Birch swiped from, and they even taught Tenacity a few pointers, but this didn’t do too much to aid them since those people typically traveled light, themselves. They hit a stroke of luck when they encountered a cart on the road, driven by a seemingly middle-aged dwarven man. The cart held nothing they could really use, but it was worth it to try and hitch a ride to civilization – so they clambered in. Of course, they were hitching a ride for not very long when the man noticed them inside his cart and yelled at the children; when they tried to hop out and flee, he caught onto Crevari and pulled him back. Birch went back to try and pull Crevari away from him but ended up also getting grabbed and held. Seeing how young they were, the dwarf relaxed somewhat and demanded to know what in the hells they were trying to do in his cart. Crevari earnestly admitted that they were just trying to hitch a ride to the next town – which the dwarf could gather was the truth by just looking at him. He let go of the kids and ushered them back into the cart, grumbling that they should just ask a guy next time instead of just taking it upon themselves. He spoke to them for most of the ride back to his town, which was a few days. His name was Bharrom Thrazzeln, a bowsman and hunter from Triel. He’d been out on a hunt just before, and a few days back had been in Scornubel to pick up some things. Birch admitted that that’s where they came from, and he’d asked why a couple of youngins were out this far and looking to get away. Birch lied that they were orphans and it was too busy and rough for them there. Bharrom asked their names. Birch was honest about theirs since they’d chosen it to begin with and no one really knew it to start, but Crevari panicked and told him his name was Cargo. Bharrom had laughed at him and called it ironic to be found in the back of a cart, then – a self-fulfilled prophecy, almost. Cargo – a name which he would go on to legitimately go by for some time – laughed and agreed. Bharrom would take them back to the village that was Triel and end up taking the two children in as his own, taking care of and even mentoring them, in Cargo’s case, mostly. Birch still preferred to slack off and explore, though they did give up on swiping things – mainly since Triel did not offer nearly a variety of wealthy to steal interesting goods from. Cargo’s life would be strikingly normal for the proceeding 7 years, but Birch’s would grow stranger by the day. They often spent their nights going outside of the village to the Fields of the Dead and meditating in hopes Shar would greet them, or just to send their thoughts out towards her, in a way. Her presence in their life was something they found strange but extremely interesting, and they didn’t want to lose something like that, even if they didn’t understand it. They had to see whatever this was to the end. And, frankly, the idea that someone was interested in them; saw something in them was a little thrilling. Personally, even if she was strange and even ill-intentioned, they really didn’t care all that much – what was the worst she could do to them? And overall, this at least gave them something to do in a pretty boring village.

Moving Away - The Sequel

Things once again changed for Birch and Tenacity when Birch got a bit reckless with their amulet. At one point, they left it out in the house (which they lived in with Bharrom) when they went to deliver something across the village with Tenacity. Bharrom had found it. When they got home, he was angry, demanding to know why one of them had such a horrible thing on them – which shocked Birch, because they had no idea that the dwarf would even have any clue of who Shar was, let alone what her symbol looked like. Regardless, this was bad, because it was meant to stay a secret. As neither of them answered, staring on in confusion and shock, Bharrom became angrier, saying that no children of his would worship such a horrific force. He tossed it on the ground towards them, and before Birch could do anything, Tenacity took the blame while picking up the amulet. He told Bharrom that it was his, and he was sorry, he didn’t really understand what it was or what it did – whatever Bharrom was saying, he didn’t know what he was talking about. Bharrom’s eyes bore into him, analyzing his words, before turning on Birch and sneering at him that it was really theirs, wasn’t it? Birch admitted to this with a nod, and Bharrom spat at them, telling them to get lost, and for Tenacity to go with them for lying. They knew what that amulet was, and Bharrom didn’t want their dark dealings anywhere near him. Effectively, he kicked the two of them out and told them to skip town. They did it because they had no other choice. Tenacity was much more torn up about the whole thing than Birch, having been closer with Bharrom. He was angry with Birch and confused; what was this thing, how was it so bad that it had gotten them kicked out? Birch was wary about being truthful but admitted that it was a symbol of a being of power that they were quite interested in. Tenacity became angrier. Was it really dangerous? Was Birch toying with something they didn’t understand? Why? Birch became defensive, saying they could do whatever they wanted and they would stop if they were really worried about what would happen. Tenacity said he didn’t want to travel with someone who would stupidly get them both hurt due to “curiosity” and left on his own, to Birch’s dismay and hurt. They moved on, without Tenacity. This period of time was quite difficult for Birch, being completely alone again. The first week or so of being on their own, they felt it would be fine. (WIP)

• Crackhead energy but like for real.
• Cuts their own hair spontaneously, which is why it's always so frayed/jagged at the ends.
• They've never bothered to adopt a divergent persona as many/most changelings do.
• Their voice claim is wip!!!.