Jarod Nightingale
Parents
Jarod Nightingale was born the only son of Ilana Nightingale and Hai Chenglei. His mother, a native of Derry, was the beautiful daughter of a skilled healer, and in addition to picking up some of her father's skills, she became a weaver and an herbalist. She was well-liked among the people of her small town and could have had her pick of suitors, but in the end she surprised everyone by eloping with an exotic travelor from the far East and running away to live with him in a small but well-built and homey cabin in an isolated part of the Sikasoon Mountains. This, of course, was Jarod's father. Chenglei was the first-born son of an Eastern noble family, and would have inherited rulership over his family's province but for the fact that he despised court life, both for its hypocrisy and what he saw as the restrictiveness of an indoor lifestyle. Chenglei had developed a close relationship with his grandmother, a Sarkan (a tribe of bastet, or werecats, native to the Northeastern mountains and closely related to snow leopards) elder who took him under her wing once it became clear that he too had inherited the gift, and when she died he simply saw no more reason to remain at home, so at the age of 20 he set off traveling. His journey eventually led him to Amasynia, and Derry, and of course Ilana.
Early Childhood
Six months after moving into the mountains, Jarod was born. During his early years, Jarod was doted on by both of his parents, who adored him beyond measure. Those were happy times for the young boy, but sadly they would not last long. A rumor had begun to spread through neighboring towns and villages that the family in the mountains were dangerous witches. It was not normal, they thought, to live so isolated, and in such inhospitable terrain. Whispers were made about a man who could turn into a white leopard, and soon these rumors reached the general of a band of crusaders who had been traveling through the area. No one really knows why the crusaders altered their course to pay visit to Jarod's family, or if they had intended to slaughter them, or simply put the fear of God into them (so to speak). Not even Jarod knows, for he had gone to collect herbs for his mother and was not present to witness the deaths of his parents. When he returned home, the ground was covered in blood and the lifeless bodies of a handful of soldiers... as well as those of his mother and father. Jarod was ten years old.
Jarod did the best a little boy could at giving his parents something resembling a proper cremation. At least, what he understood a proper cremation to be. The whole process took about two days, and afterwards he decided he had to get as far away from his home as he could, to run away from the nightmare which had become of his family. His father had taught him well how to survive in the wilderness, but he was only a child and winter was fast approaching, so he did not fare well during the month he spent wandering about on his own. When a slave caravan found him in a small cave off the side of an ill-used road, he was half-starved and in no condition to put up much of a fight. This was how he came to be captured and taken to a city very far from home, and everything he had known of the world until then.
The Golden City was capitol to one of the wealthiest provinces in the world. Located on the Southernmost tip of the continent, their major source of income was a tremendous gold mine which gave the city its namesake. Slaves were particularly popular in this region, as most of the citizens could afford at least one or two, and the wealthier townsfolk regularly made use of child servants (some for menial tasks, some for less savory ones). Jarod and the rest of the adults and children in the caravan were put on display at a market in the center of town and sold to the highest bidder. Had things turned out differently at this point, Jarod may have had a very different life. As things turned out, however, a buyer for Castus Auratus, the King himself, was there that day, and he spotted Jarod almost immediately. It was commonly known that the King liked to surround himself with beautiful boys, and Jarod was, even at that age, uncommonly beautiful, so he was selected along with a handful of others to be taken to the palace.
Late Childhood
Many would later tell Jarod that luck was shining on him the day he was brought to the King's palace, but that rather depended upon your view of things. At any rate, the moment Castus set his eyes upon Jarod he knew he had to have him, and he wasted no time in doing so. For his part, Jarod dealt with the shattering of his innocence with as much strength and dignity as any child could manage, but not without more than a few adverse effects to his emotional well-being. For the next four years, he remained the King's favorite past-time, and was frequently required to accompany him wherever he went. Of course, he also enjoyed an otherwise luxurious lifestyle, complete with the finest tutors to educate him in all manor of subjects, from academics to etiquette.
At the age of fourteen, Castus decided it was time to officially begin Jarod's training to become a palace courtesan, so he turned him over to Delila, a woman whose task it was to teach Jarod everything he would need to know to entertain both men and women. She did her job well, and Jarod was a particularly adept pupil, so he became very popular at banquets and parties. One of the perks of his new position was the lessening of Castus' personal interest in him (though he certainly delighted in showing him off to his guests). Another was the fact that he could now earn gold to keep towards the eventual purchase of his freedom (which every slave in the Golden City had the option of doing). It wasn't long before Jarod had acquired a sizable savings, and with popularity and experience he also gained the freedom to do as he pleased within the castle walls (so long as what he pleased did not displease the King). He was even allowed out into the city on numerous occasions, but only under guard.
Jarod was sixteen when he first discovered that he had inherited his father's feline bloodline. It was an exceptional stroke of luck that his first traumatic shift from human to cat happened while he was alone in the King's vast garden. The damage he unintentionally inflicted was blamed on an escaped lion from the palace zoo, and Jarod was able to keep his secret safe for the time being. Unfortunately, no one was around to help him understand how to master his new abilities, so he dealt with his situation the best he could on his own. The physical aspect of it he got under control relatively quickly, but he missed out on a great many things he ought to have been taught, and therefor never developed a connection to the mystical world or his own kind (at least, not during his formative years).
A few months later, another major event in Jarod's life ocurred: he met the first person he ever fell in love with, Wesley Voralia. Wesley was a prince from a neighboring province. His kingdom was larger and of more political importance (not to mention their superior army), but did not have the wealth that Castus possesed, so the Voralia family had decided it would be pertinent to develop a friendly relationship with their neighbor, and one that would be mutually beneficial. So it was that Wesley (then 17) and his older sister Celeste were sent to stay in the Golden City for six months as special guests of the King. At first Wesley was reticent and aloof, generally prefering to spend his free time alone, but an uneasy friendship slowly developed between him and Jarod, both of whom felt trapped by their position and responsibilities. This friendship quickly turned into a passionate love affair, but when time drew near for Wesley to return home, the foreign prince told Jarod that he was to be married soon, and could never acknowledge any sort of affection for a courtesan (least of all a male one). This came as no real surprise, but was still extremely painful for Jarod to deal with. He had spent so many years building up a resistance to emotions, and now he was practically drowning in them. The night before Wesley and Celeste's departure, Celeste summoned Jarod to her room to talk. She too was upset, and a little drunk, and the two of them ended up sleeping together out of a desperate need for mutual comfort.
A few months later, Wesley returned to the Golden City, this time accompanied by his father. This visit was only a short one, but while the two were there a rumor began to circulate that Celeste was pregnant with Jarod's child (which, in fact, she was). When Castus found out, he had Jarod beaten severely to appease the neighboring King. Both he and Wesley were present for it, and the prince never once attempted to defend his former lover. Of course, Jarod could have defended himself, but he did not ever lift a finger to do so.
Physically, he recovered from the beating surprisingly quickly (so quickly in fact that had anyone in court known better, they might have suspected he were not human), and he returned to his former life as if nothing had ever happened. At least it seemed that way on the surface. In reality he was more determined than ever to buy his freedom and leave the Golden City (and all of its memories) behind. One day he heard that Celeste had had a miscairrage, and though this news was painful for him, he buried it deep under an icy veneer. His last two years in the palace were spent in near-total numbness, until finally he had saved enough gold to free himself from Castus' whims.
Of course, things would not be so easy as they had been promised. Despite the law requiring that slaves be freed if they met their buyer's price, Castus refused to let Jarod go. He was cruel and stubborn, and saw Jarod as one of his most prized possesions. He wasn't about to simply let a commodity like him just walk out the door. That night, while alone with Castus in his bedroom, Jarod snapped. Losing his temper, he shifted without realizing it and tore the King to pieces. Quickly realizing the danger he was in, Jarod managed to slip away silently out the bedroom window and scale down the castle wall to disappear into the city. He was lucky in one respect: that no one ever thought to suspect him in the King's murder, for clearly no human being could cause that sort of damage. This was probably the reason he managed to make it out of the city with relative ease and escape into the wilderness beyond. (It is often rumored to this day that Castus Auratus was punished by a demon for his sinful ways, and in fact not long after his death a civil war broke out in the city between the monarchy and a quickly-growing religious sect.) This was the eve of his eighteenth birthday.
(This page still under heavy construction... more to come soon.)
