Age: 71 Gender: Male Species: Drow Height: 4' 8" Weight: Approx. 95ibs Hair: White Eyes: Crimson Skin: Ebony with purplish tint Per storyline: Drow Sign Language (not Elven... he never met a surface elf before Caerarfon)

History

T'rissrak was born into house Torvalduis under Matron Solmur'ssidil, in the city Oussund, beneath the Cambrian Mountains in northern Wales. His mother, Nalithraryn, was a grand-niece of the Matron Mother, priestess of Lloth, and accomplished potioneer (especially poisons). His father, Kel'vayas, was a commoner, sword-dancer and general entertainer favored by the Matron Mother. Kept as part of the house, Kel'vayas was elevated by her patronage and children sired with members of the house were considered full blood. Details of Drow family life are violent, disturbing to outsiders and mostly unnecessary to share. In general, T'riss' relationships with his siblings were not much different than with other members of Torvalduis or he did not interact with them at all, so listing all eleven full and half would be pointless. Drow are reared by the entire house, not just their nuclear family, and large age differences between siblings are common. During his youngest years, T'riss could usually seek the protection of his mother unless it was from her own frustrations or someone of higher status. However, as he grew older, he was expected to rely on his own cunning not to draw ill attention in the first place. Self-reliance, obscurity, obedience and swiftness of body and mind were lessons mastered in order to stay alive. To earn his keep, T'riss learned his father's arts: making music with voice and instruments, tricks and dances involving blade work, and simple magic. When he was skilled enough to add to his father's performances, they enjoyed renewed popularity - partly because of the perverse desire to see Kel'vayas accidently impale his son. T'riss' own talents earned him notice and he was eventually claimed and kept by Alaunyl, a low ranking priestess of the house in his thirty seventh year. With her, he sired Phyrriina, when he was forty one. Both Alaunyl and Phyrriina were killed as the result of Alaunyl's plots to gain higher standing among the priestesses when he was forty nine. Chal'xae, a highly ranked priestess, took T'riss as a spoil of victory but not as a consort, which she already had. When Chal'xae bore a son two years later, she blamed T'riss though it may not have actually been his and ordered him to kill the infant. T'riss named the boy Barroos (Child of Fate), though never shared the name, and did as he was told. Although he had never fully embraced the Drow way, it was all he knew and he made the best of it. It was the infant's blood on his hands that made him bold enough to wonder if there was a better life. Seeking one was dangerous and even though he suspected his father was not as black hearted as he should be, it took time and subtle conversations for each to be sure of the other. And even then there was little either could do but commiserate. Chal'xae's consort was killed in a fight with another house and she elevated her claim on T'riss to consort when she bore Jysafae three years later, in T'riss' sixtieth year, to improve her daughter's standing. In T'riss' sixty second year, house Torvalduis was torn into chaos by Umraeuit, first daughter of the Matron's second daughter (deceased). By blackest and most admirable plots she succeeded in slaying Matron Solmur'ssidil and then seized power while slaughtering the Matron's eldest daughter, Vier'kacha, and all her line, including Nalithraryn, to assure her place as the new Matron. Priestesses and others drawn into Umraeuit's plots then fell into chaos as they fought for the rewards and power they were promised. T'riss never knew if Chal'xae had been involved in Umraeuit's plots, but she was in the middle of the chaotic aftermath. Chal'xae allowed T'riss to take their daughter in order to protect her and, in the confusion, he fled the house entirely. He went to Do'Tathtel, the merchant clan to which his father had belonged before Torvalduis. There, Jhaelae sheltered them. His half-sister and elder by thirty two years, he had seen her infrequently when Torvalduis did business with Do'Tathtel but enough to know she was of the same mind as their father and himself. She claimed Jysafae as her own to try to hide her should Chal'xae or anyone of Torvalduis come looking. Do'Tathtel welcomed T'riss and he joined other entertainers who were used to ingratiate the clan to noble houses and outsiders alike. Jhaelae and others introduced T'riss to the cult of Eilistraee and he felt peace in the Dark Maiden's grace as never before. Do'Tathtel traded with humans and other surface-dwellers primarily, bringing foodstuff, cloth, lumber and other desired commodities into Oussund. Somehow, word of the cult of Eilistraee within Do'Tathtel reached the temple of Lloth nine years after T'riss joined Do'Tathtel. It would have been short-sighted for them to take indiscriminate action against a clan performing a service no one else wanted and yet was vital to the city. And so they devised traps and tests to weed out the Dark Maiden's followers. T'riss was out of the city with a group working deals on neutral ground when it began. A warning got to them on the way back by one of the small bands that patrolled their route. The wizard leading their group was aware of T'riss' deviant allegiance and that he was likely to fail whatever test he was given. Although not in the cult himself, the wizard was not without mercy. He gave T'riss a choice - to come back with them and likely be sacrificed to Lloth or not. T'riss chose the latter and so the wizard slit his throat in front of the others, claiming that it would harm them all if T'riss perversion was discovered, and left him for dead. T'riss survived by the wizard's design, he was certain, for the man would not have made such a careless mistake.

Goals

To find a place where he can live in peace; to become an accomplished and well-loved preformer; to honor Eilistraee