There is a legend among the Dark Elves of the Iskandarian Catacombs, it says that Iskandar Lorinc broke the chains binding the reputation and heritage of Drowage by forging out of the subterranean homeland of his ancestors only to find the blinding sun witness to his persecution. Brethren from the forests, the lakes, streams and rivers, and the higher nobility of elves outcast him, branding him evil for his blackened eyes and pale flesh. Throughout the remainder of his adventure beyond the caves, he brought to his name a warmth of the tongue, a good Drow? Stranger things have happened. Upon his death at the venerable age of 1002, his body was taken back to the caves of his youth and the elders of the clan encrypted his body in a stone coffin, burying it deep within the earth and forever more referring to their territory as The Catacombs of Iskandar.
Paved with Good Intentions, the Ascension and Descension of Pieter Imrick
Born the fourth child and only son to a family of miners, Pieter's thirst and hunger for knowledge quickly outweighed any interest he may have garnered for chipping away at the catacomb walls. With limited resources to feed his mind, he fled the sanctuary within his mountain walled home and found himself in the light of the same blinding sun Iskander Lorinc had. With no cause to be either good or evil, he wandered a jagged line of neutrality until he travels brought him to a sanctuary deep in the confines of a forest canopy. The monastary was home to an elaborate library, something Pieter immediately found interest in, and settled into the fortress under the ever watchful eye of the Grand Master. The only elf among fifteen humans, he was silently scrutinized, his every move accounted for until gaining the trust of fellows.
Time passed quickly. He learned, he grew and he thrived. The solitary nature of his new lifestyle suited him until the time came for a challenge. Monks, upon reaching a certain level of knowledge, take their places accordingly, defeating the student just above them on the ladder to the grand master in order to remain in the monestary. To win meant remaining, learning, to lose meant death. Defeating his older brother was a simple task, the man was merely no match for him and, accordingly, he took his brother's place. It was at this time when the thirst for knowledge beyond that which the books could teach him took hold. He wanted more, he needed more, he needed...to know how beings worked, how they moved, how they spoke, thought, listened-how they survived. In his room he developed a method of closer examination, a box which he would keep a vital organ from some creature in until it had been disected and catalogued accordingly, then disposed of. The darker nature of his inner self was beginning to show, he yearned for more. To know, to see how everything worked had become an obsession and he'd finally stumbled over the lawful line of neutrality he'd fought to walk.
Thriving on knowledge, Pieter easily overcame each of his older brethren to take their place on the chain, and he was equally becoming feared by both those older, and those younger than he. The time would come when they would have to either face him in ritual combat, or leave the monestary with what knowledge they'd obtained; but it wasn't only his brethren who were beginning to fear him. While holding to the monk's code where law and order were sacred, Pieter's passion for knowledge left him with little care for life, beauty, truth or freedom, these were things he simply wished to unravel the meaning of and his dark nature had not gone unnoticed by the grand master, for he too would some day have to face his student. When that day came, the elder simply fled, abandoning the monestary, leaving Pieter as his successor, and Pieter needed no followers...
Pieter is a man driven by an obsession for knowledge, he has an insatiable appitite to know how the world works, therefore he gives little regard to life, beauty, freedom, and, to an extent, even truth. He does follow the monk's code of respect for law and order, seeing these things as a driving force for his unquenchable thirst for information. Though dark and displaying evil tendencies, Pieter walks a very jagged line between lawful evil and lawful neutrality. His obsession for knowledge has made him relatively neurotic, and glimpses of insanity are outwardly present on him.
Though most monks prefer open handed combat, Pieter prefers the use of a slim bo staff made of Ash. It's surface has been engraved with varying symbols, some of which mean nothing to anyone but Pieter, as most are actually notes carved into the wood when he ran out of paper on a trek through the forest surrounding his monestary stronghold. He is exceptionally curious of nature and is not beyond thievery, generally stealing books or chemicals from various villages and cities.
