<strong>Kieran Terell - Human Blademaster</strong><br/><br/><hr/><br/>The arching dive through the air was silent grace as Kieran leapt from the edge of the Harbor Street Bridge and arced into the air above the dark, swirling waters below.  Behind him he could hear booted feet racing along the cobblestones, and the shouts of anger.  “You’ll pay for your insolence, Terell!!” a voice hollered from behind, bringing a smile to Kieran’s face as his hands touched the surface of the water.<br/><br/>He entered the water gracefully, kicking his soft leather boots and propelling himself quickly through the cold ocean currents of the central waterway.  It was not until he was fifty feet up the channel that he surfaced, inhaling deeply as his head popped above water.<br/><br/>“Terell!!!” the man shouted again, and Kieran looked back up the channel at him where he stood shaking a fist from the bridge.  He was flanked by three toughs, all dressed in the clothes of house servants.  “You’ll pay for sullying the honor of my sister, you have my word on it!”<br/><br/>“Your sister’s honor was sullied long ago,” he shouted with a laugh as he began to backstroke into the deeper waters of the bay.  “and by more men than I.  Perhaps you should have discussions with them first, and when you get to me you’ll be less inclined to fight!”<br/><br/>A stream of noxious curses poured from the man as he picked up rocks from the edge of the road, hurling them furiously at Kieran as the man turned and kicked through the water gracefully, arms pulling him through the waves with ease.  With one look back at the four men, Kieran dove underneath the surface and kicked away, leaving the pursuers with no trail to follow.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>When Kieran surfaced again, nearly three minutes had passed and more than a hundred yards separated him from the spot he had disappeared from.  He knew that none of the four could match his swimming skill, not to mention his swordsmanship, but he had no desire to kill any of the men simply because the young lord’s sister was a bit too free handing out the kisses.  Nonetheless, it was always better to retreat and gain a better vantage point than enter a conflict outnumbered and possibly let a lucky shot score through.<br/><br/>Skill was one thing, he knew.  But skill couldn’t beat luck – and you never knew how lucky a man was going to be until it was too late.  He reached up into the cargo netting of the ship he’d surfaced next to and pulled himself up, briny water streaming from his hair and clothes as he hauled himself up and onto the deck.<br/><br/>The ship was a cargo schooner, and the wide-beamed vessel was abustle with movement, sailors going about their duties quickly and busily with only a few giving him even a moment’s glance.  There were always strangers moving about in the Azure District, and today was no different.  Strangers abounded in a district devoted to trade and commerce, and none gave it a moment’s thought beyond the next sale or purchase, the next trade or barter.  Kieran didn’t bother to stay on the schooner long, however, as he shook the excess water from his sleeves and wrung what he could out of his loose pants.<br/><br/>Moving quickly to a run, Kieran leapt up and bounded off of the wide port rail, arcing back into the air and somersaulting to the deck of a smaller ship, a fishing vessel of some sort.  He didn’t bother stopping here, running across the deck and leaping with grace to the next ship in the row.  Within moments he bounded all the way to the stout wooden pier, his booted feet landing softly on the wide creosoted planks.<br/><br/>“Kieran Terell?” the woman’s voice spoke, and Kieran pulled up short, spinning cautiously in her direction.  Looking down, he appraised the matronly Halfling woman standing before him, a rolled missive of some sort held aloft in her small hand.<br/><br/>“This letter is for you, Master Terell,” the woman said quietly, pressing the rolled scroll into his palm.  Intrigued more than anything else, Kieran broke the Hippogriff-emblazoned wax seal and unrolled it, scanning the text with his bright green eyes.<br/><br/><strong><em>Greetings, and I trust this missive finds you in good health!<br/><br/>My name is Lavinia Vanderboren and I humbly request your attendance at a dinner at my estate on Festival Street and Blue Skink Lane tomorrow evening. I think that I can present you with an opportunity uniquely suited to your skills. Please inform the carrier of this letter of your response to this invitation, and I hope to be speaking to you soon!<br/><br/>Lavinia Vanderboren</em></strong><br/><br/>Arching an eyebrow at the invitation, and then at the Halfling, he addressed the woman.  “Are you sure this is for me, good lady?”<br/><br/>“You are Kieran Terell,” she stated without a question in her voice.  “And the invitation is for you.”<br/><br/>With that, the woman turned and walked away, her dark skirts swirling in the sea breeze.  Kieran chuckled as he stuffed the note into the back of his sword-belt and rested his hands onto the hilts of his twin scimitars.  This was turning out to be an interesting day, he thought.  An interesting day indeed.<br/><br/><hr/><hr/><br/>Kieran’s life as a youth in the Azure District was as colorful as most, with him spending countless hours swimming in the ocean and traveling on the many ships that call Sasserine their homeport.  His father owned a whaling company, yet the two seemed to constantly clash on the direction of Kieran’s life.  Subsequently, the youth made sure whatever work he found was far from his father’s small fleet of whaling ships.<br/><br/>The job he became best at was pearl-diving – By the time he was a teenager, Kieran was one of the most skilled pearl-divers in Sasserine, holding a high position in the Pearldivers’ Guild.  Some remarked that he could hold his breath for near ten minutes, though no one reputable had ever backed the claim.<br/><br/>Despite his notable association with the Guild, however, Kieran quickly established a less than stellar reputation as a scoundrel and a bit of a cheat, not to mention being known for his casual way with the ladies of Sasserine.  It was not uncommon to see him running through the city, avoiding this person or that on the way to his next adventure.<br/><br/>During his time at the guild, Kieran met and subsequently became fast friends with the legendary swordsman Galoc Swiftblade.  Galoc had come to the guild wishing to purchase pearls for a decorative piece he wished to commission for a lady friend.  During the visit, he met with Kieran – a young and brash pearldiver with far too much energy for one youth to manage properly.<br/><br/>Galoc set about teaching the lad how to use a sword, and after many years of practice, Kieran became a swordsman in his own right.  He took what Galoc taught him and modified it for his own style, complimenting his gift of ambidexterity.  He chose to use two swords rather than one,  and since his father had gifted to him a finely wrought scimitar when he was only a lad, Kieran chose to use two dangerously curved scimitars.<br/><br/>His style, although lacking the power and offensive capabilities of Galoc’s original, had a grace and speed to it that was akin to a dancer’s – quick and agile, and unpredictable.  It was unlikely he’d be able to down a foe with one blow, but in the span of one man’s single blow, Kieran could land six and leave his opponent bleeding from more wounds than he had fingers.<br/><br/>Shortly after Kieran’s Twenty-fourth Name-Day, his father was killed in an accident aboard his flagship, and without his father’s leadership the company soon began to collapse.  Kieran tried to step in and fill the void left by his father, but he didn’t have the patience for hunting that his father had.  Subsequently, it was inevitable that the company would fail if Kieran continued on as the owner.<br/><br/>Eventually he agreed to sell the controlling interest in the company to another local family of whalers, and the gold earned by the sale he split between himself, his mother and his three younger sisters, Lia, Kari and Gwendylon.<br/><br/>Unfortunately for Kieran, however, his money management skills were little better than his whaling skills.  In a matter of months he had gambled and drank away the majority of his money, leaving him once again on the street to fend for himself.  He was too proud by nature to return to his mother and sisters, begging for handouts, so he found himself traveling the streets of Sasserine, plying his skills to earn enough for the next day’s meal, or entertaining the ladies with enough charm to earn himself a warm bed and a cuddle for the night.<br/>