• None Supplied

Norrin is the only son of a minor lord among the Northmen of the Moonshae Isles, and his mother was a young maiden from among the Ffolk. Thorrin Axeswinger and Kyla Nevermoor lived in a village on the northern shore of Gwynneth. Thorrin co-ruled the village with Kyla's father, Oram.

It was not unheard of for Northmen and Ffolk to live in harmony, and marriages among the two peoples was common. And this was the case with Thorrin and Kyla, with Oram's blessing. A great gala followed the ceremony, in which both the Druid of the Earthmother and the Warpriest of Tempus presiding. Afterward, Thorrin and Kyla retired to their new home.

When they awoke in the morning, they discovered that a Northman raiding fleet was heading towards the village on a plundering mission. Most of the people were unconcerned, since this has happened before, and the raiding Northmen usually take only valuables and livestock, and no one gets hurt.

This time was different. As soon as the raiders landed, mayhem ensued. Many villagers were killed and buildings were burned. The village was razed to the ground.

Trying to protect his young wife, Thorrin put her into a boat and climbed in himself, with the intent of going to the next village to seek help. The raiding Northmen were hot upon their heels. After a long chase, the two eventually got away from the Moonshaes. Unfortunatly, they were separated, and Kyla found herself standing at the gates of Waterdeep, with nothing but the tattered clothes on her back and a few small gems that Thorrin had pressed into her hand at the last minute.

Kyla managed to get a job as a chambermaid for a kindly innkeeper and his wife, and this, along with the few gems she had, managed to give her enough security to eventually give birth to a healthy baby boy, whom she named Norrin. Because of her deep love for Thorrin, she taught her young son the ways of the Northmen, but also of the ways of the Ffolk. She made sure he received the best upbringing she could give him and made sure he that he learned, above all, about honor.

Norrin had a happy childhood growing up in Waterdeep and the surrounding countryside, and was fascinated by the taproom storytellers; he loved to hear about far-off Shadowdale, the shining knights of Cormyr, the pirates of the Inner Sea, and dragons.

Unfortunately, when in his late teens, his mother caught a dreadful disease from which she never recovered, and she died, leaving Norrin to fend for himself. Remembering his mother's stories about his strong, powerful Northman father, and how they were separated before he was born, Norrin decided to seek out his father, if he was still alive. Gathering his mother's few belongings and her meager savings, Norrin purchased what little equipment he could, and set off to discover the world...