bio of ren the undead

my name is ren.

i am a citizen of Patraeia and was born approximately 23 years ago. i was born with the sole purpose of being used as a test subject and plaything to the church of phaedron. i was given no name, i had no parents and i knew no other life than pain. the man that performed demonstrations on me was as ruthless as he was smart. i was often used to show assassins the weaknesses of the human body and i have been killed and brought back more times that i could count. after approximately 15 years of torture i had finally worn down the brick that my chain was bracketed to, all i had to do was wait for the right time to strike. one night, when my capture collared and locked me to the wall, i ripped the brick out and swung it round his neck, and killed him with the chain he trusted to keep him safe.

after escaping the phaedron prison, i fled east for 19 suns and moons until i succumb to starvation and passed out. when i awoke, i found myself being tended to by a beautiful lady named cosma. she taught me to speak, read and write and in exchange i helped the villagers however i could. eventually, she asked about my past but i couldn't tell her. how could you tell the person you love about something that messed up? anyway i had also made a friend named atlas, he was an excellent blacksmith and a very just warrior. he forged me an axe and in return, i began clearing forest, chopping wood and started building roads leading to the nearby villages.

after a few years, cosma, atlas and i were drinking in the local tavern, having a good time and to celebrate my 7th year as a resident, they decided to name me. many names were thrown around but they settled on ren (a nod to a local legend). the village chief and elders delegated me as a justiciar and i also led a team that governed the building of infrastructure within the town. as a personal favour, atlas and the town alchemist forged me a weapon fitting my justiciar role, Chonky Dave, a supposedly cursed executioner weapon said to not only destroy a body, but annihilate the soul too. as time went by, i finally asked cosma if she wanted to marry me and she said yes. the town became very prosperous and cosma was with child.

however not long after i discovered she was pregnant, a sect bandit group known as "renegades of the broken cross", disgraced worshippers of phadroen, had plundered our town overnight. the town was looted, entire families went missing and our town was left burning. after regrouping, i had learned that cosma was among the missing people. scouts returned several days later with the location of the renegades hideout so i gathered a handful of the most capable warriors in town and set about a search and rescue mission. atlas was among the infiltration group.

4 days later we had reached the abandoned fortress of creysos. the infiltrators had found a way in and the assault team followed them into the prison. atlas and i went in search of the prisoners but we came into some resistance, 3 assassins. atlas threw his battle axe at the assassin that tried to alert the others and i used my chain to kill the last 2. i recognised one of them as a student of the torturer and i made extra sure that he was completely dead, using Chonky Dave to obliterate his soul. after half an hour of searching, we noticed the putrid stench of rotting flesh and discovered that the renegades of the broken cross had raped, tortured and killed many of the villagers. men, women and children alike were left to rot after enduring such a terrible fate. after a few prayers to legaros, i had moved on to the next group of the dead.

among the dead i... i found cosma, covered in blood and her stomach cut open. she was alive but fatally wounded. atlas knelt down beside me and suggested that i gave her a quick death but cosma whispered "thank you...for being here".
she died in my arms
i felt consumed with rage and atlas knew what was about to happen. he handed me Chonky Dave, stood me up and we made our way to the bell tower, killing everything in our way. the search and rescue quickly became a flat out massacre.

by the end of the battle, very few of us remained. i had killed 12 renegades and obliterated 10 of their souls, atlas cut down neigh on 20 men and the others cleared up the rest. we had decided to take back the wealth they stole from our town and used their wagon to bring massive wealth home. however, along the way we were ambushed and atlas took an arrow to the throat. our vanguard quickly dispatched the thieves and i treated atlas's wound but by the time we got to town, atlas had fallen.

after a year of rebuilding the town i had decided that there was nothing left for me there, i lost my lover, my child and my best friend. as a reward to building the town, rebuilding the town and killing the renegades of the broken cross, the village chief gave me a sizeable reward and told me of a newly discovered frontier island. with the reward money, i was able to buy a spot on the boat and had enough money to stay in an inn for a couple months plus enough left over for some basic armour and food.

i hope to help build this frontier just as i did in the town of vi.
maybe this time it wont go up in smoke.