History

The first few years of Sunan's life were spent peacefully in Estraude, where they all lived with their father's large extended family. Their parents eventually split, however, when they were still a child, and their mother took them and their older sister to Belport. There, they lived much more sparsely while their mother pursued dreams of being a performer with increasing single-mindedness.

Sunan's sister, Sukhon, took up work as an accountant the moment she was old enough and became the family's primary support. Sunan, who had never done well academically, became a server at a local tavern instead and did their best to supplement their income. Although both siblings worked hard, their mother's irresponsible spending made it a struggle to get by, and this only worsened with the years. On some advice from their workmates, Sunan found an extra job in the red light district to take some pressure off Sukhon, only to be met with her disgust upon finding out. Stung, Sunan started to distance themselves from her while continuing for the sake of the money.

Without their sister's softening influence, Sunan's resentment and intolerance towards their mother grew sharply. After realising one day that she had always criticised their performing art hobbies because she was insecure about Sunan becoming better than her, Sunan spitefully auditioned for a role she wanted and ousted her from it. This sparked a huge fight between them, in which Sunan was ultimately thrown out of the house. Consumed with bitterness towards their family, Sunan bypassed Sukhon's efforts to look for them and ran away from Belport entirely.

They took the first ship out and ended up in Amedra. With very little on them, it only took a few days for them to fall into the sketchier parts of the city to survive. Their unbridled anger lent them a savagery and, after seeing them break someone's face with a chair, a local gang picked them up casually. Sunan learned names, places, quick ways to cheat money and easy ways to never feel sober. Their first gang didn't last long so they jumped ship to a different one, then another, and another, as endless cycles of petty drama and back-stabbing destroyed each one. They stopped thinking too hard about life and lived purely on fleeting gratifications and whims.

Sunan grew into a fairly fearsome brawler but was still no match for the larger and more organised gang that their friends eventually crossed. Instead of being beaten and locked up with the others though, they were offered a place in that gang, where they would be groomed into a proper lackey fighter. Ever ready to take the easy way out, Sunan accepted. They were treated surprisingly well in this new gang and for a time things went smoothly, but they ended up falling into an ill-considered affair with the boss's wife. The boss was, naturally, livid when he found out, and Sunan fled before he could kill them.

They left Amedra on foot, travelling through the countryside with no aim except to get away from their old boss. They tried to keep a low profile but resorted to theft to get by and were eventually caught by a military patrol. On the way back to Miras city, the patrol was called out for an emergency mission nearby and Sunan was left at small church of Therras until they got back. The head priest, Isko, was a former soldier and old friend of the patrol leader's, and he easily contained Sunan's attempts to escape. While brooding after their last failure, Sunan came across the Estran rope course that Isko used to stay fit and, remembering how they used to play on this kind of thing as a child, they tried it out. They weren't very good but Isko noticed and ended up showing them how to do it. Sunan became absorbed in this activity over the next few days - unconsciously because it recaptured the happier days of their childhood and was soothing. When the patrol returned, Isko asked his friend to let Sunan stay at the church and she conceded, on the condition that she would check on them regularly.

It was here that Sunan finally relearned how it felt to genuinely like something, and that it was alright - pleasant, even - to care again. They mastered the rope course and, grudgingly and gradually, took up the peaceful routine of church life as well. Isko taught them basic housekeeping, better habits and his own martial arts technique. Sunan learned steadily and slowly began to realise that they maybe weren't, in fact, such a complete disaster. They were capable of living a decent life.

As they grew more comfortable, they started to get restless, looking for purpose of some sort. The patrol leader, who still visited regularly, suggested they join the military, so they did - and against their own expectations, Sunan flourished there. Life as a soldier had the right amount of simplicity, challenge and stability that Sunan needed, and their excess of willpower was finally channelled somewhere productive. They found comrades who wouldn't abandon them and became more good-humoured and well-socialised. Sunan served in the Legion for many years before their diligence got them promoted to a Royal Guard. There, they gained the notice and favour of King Leon, and ascended to the highest rank of Adamas about 50 years ago.