Description

Personality

Kerix tends to keep to himself and is rather quiet. He comes across as a compassionate and kind man who enjoys traveling and exploration, however his soul is far more dark. He has no compassion and will take what he needs and kill whoever needs to be killed. He is a survivalist to the core who recognizes that sometimes survival requires wearing a "nice guy" mask. He is very secretive about his actual profession and will kill anyone who he feels could expose him.

Equipment

Kerix is usually seen in dark brown boots and wears a slightly loose fitting pair of dark gray slacks and light brown shirt with a brown coat that is not quite as long as a trench coat. Underneath the coat, and usually out of view, he wears a leather harness with a sheath for a pair of knives very similar to a modern day combat knife in the small of his back. Also he carries four smaller throwing knives (two on either side under his armpits). This is his only equipment he is seen to have.

History

Lathan was born to a meager family of farmers that lived in a small village of a distant country. When he was 10, the village was set upon by raiders and everyone was killed as the village was looted and burned to the ground. Lathan managed to survive by hiding underneath the dead bodies of the neighboring couple and only left his hiding spot two days after the attack had occured. With no family and no direction, Lathan became a survivalist, learning to live off the land, steal, and, more importantly, kill. He made no distinction in who he took from because of what was taken from him. Whether he stole from a traveling family or soldiers did not matter to him. By the time that he was 15, Lathan had learned how to silently creep among those too busy to pay attention and had taken a score of lives.

On one particular raid against a small band of what he determined to be bandits, a dark destiny reached out and grabbed Lathan by the throat. He snuck from tent to tent, silently assassinating each member of the band while assessing the items that would be worth taking with him. When he had killed all but one of the bandits, he returned to one of the other tents, proud to let someone live to tell the horrible story. He did not expect to see the last surviving bandit, who was the leader of the motley crew, waiting for him. The large man could have easily killed Lathan, but instead complemented him on his skill and offered him an opportunity to develop his talents more fully. Having no connections in the world, Lathan threw in with the man and spent several years training and conducting various jobs of robbery and even assassination.

By the time Lathan had reached 20 his tutor had decided to retire, having become very rich from their endeavors. Lathan's thirst for violence had not yet been satiated and he continued to leave a trail of blood across the countryside, having developed a signature of removing the eyes from his victims. When he had arrived in the kingdom of Volya, Lathan immediately began working for the local criminal element as a spy and assassin under the moniker of "Shade". Having pushed the level his activity as far as he safely dared, Lathan departed having spent several years there, and ultimately found a new home in the Kingdom of Baile working for those who know more about his reputation than the actual man.

It is because of this reputation for heartless savagery that Lathan was contacted by messengers of King Lawrence, sought out to join a band of "heroes" to rescue his daughter. Lathan has accepted the request, which demanded a lofty sum, under the name of Kerix and the pretense of being a scout for the group. The king alone knows the skills he brings to the table, and has vowed to keep Lathan's secret in exchange for his daughter's safe return.