Kelsier Renoux

Background
Kelsier grew up in what many outsiders would consider a good home. His parents were prominent and respected members of their community, and so he grew up with all his needs met and many comforts. Despite this seeming happy setting, he cannot ever remember being happy there. His sharp and inquistive mind showed promise and his parents expected him to become a great cleric in the Erathian religion, and thus demanded excellence in everything he did. His failures were met with harsh criticism and punishments no matter how minor, while his successes were viewed as barely acceptable. As he grew older, he found that he simply didn't believe that strongly in the tenets of Erathian religion, and decided he could not bring himself to devote his life to the religion. When he told his parents it set off the biggest argument they had ever had. Afterwords, they began making plans to confine him and force him to study nothing but Erathian texts. Before they could move too far in their plans, however, Kelsier packed up a few things and ran away to begin his first real journey. (At least this is what he reluctantly tells everyone those who ask.)

As he started his journey, he found a sense of exhilaration like he had never felt before, and turned his back on the place that his parents called home. For the first few weeks, things went well, but it wasn’t long before his funds and supplies began to run low. It perhaps would have lasted longer, but he had not learned many skills as a child for living on his own. By the time he learned how to haggle, and had identified those things that served his needs, he was almost out of money. He wasn’t sure how to find work, and his pride kept him from begging until he was truly starving. Fortune, however, eventually smiled on him, and he managed to join a group of wagoners shipping supplies. His life became not as comfortable as it was before his journey, but he was happy. Then it happened, they were attacked by a viscous group of bandits that quickly overpowered their group. During the attack, Kelsier tried to fight, but was brutally beaten, gaining several serious wounds that would leave him horribly scarred. He would’ve died that day, but a man came down the road as the bandits were rifling through the cargo. He unleashed powerful attacks bathed in light, and fought all the bandits at once. Despite the numbers difference, the fight was even. In the end the cleric defeated the last of the bandits, but was left severely wounded and barely hanging on. Kelsier, who had barely been conscious enough to see the beginning of the clerics fight, drifted off as the cleric stumbled over to him.

When Kelsier awoke, he found his wounds closed, and much of the pain gone. The cleric was kneeling next to him, smiling. He placed a palm-sized medallion on Kelsier’s lap and collapsed. Kelsier tried to wake him, but there was nothing he could do. Looking at the Medallion, he saw the image of the sun, it was the cleric’s holy symbol.

From there, Kelsier began a new journey, trying to discover the man’s identity. He found few clues and eventually joined the monastery the Heliosolis of Pelor, hoping that by learning of the religion of the Sun god, he might come closer to the man who saved his life.