Dread Dreddigan

Bercilak Gawain grew up in a small village in the foothills of the Northern Rise along the edge of the Northrise Forest with his parents and sister, Davira. His childhood was rather uneventful for the region, growing up with a family conducting menial labor and odd jobs to make ends meet. Not the most glamorous, but satisfying nonetheless. However, with the continual migration of the Frost Headed Giant Worm into the area surrounding his home, conflict was bound to arise. It came to head when worms were attacked past the point of population sustainability, and they retaliated, working in tandem to assault the village and destroy most of it. Watching the destruction of his village, he and his sister were ambushed by one, with Davira becoming seriously injured, losing an arm, before a passing by Mercenary saved them. With the village destroyed and their parents nowhere to be seen amongst the rubble, the Mercenary, introducing himself as Guilt, invited the two to join him and remain in his care until they reached adulthood. Davira reluctantly was willing, seeing as their parents were nowhere to be seen amongst the debris that was their village, while Bercilak remained conflicted and unsure. Guilt, seeing Bercilak's inner torment from failing to protect his sister and his family, told him that he could either remain in place with that apprehension and fear weighing him down or, as he himself had long ago, use it as the reason to push forward and do better. Bercilak eventually calmed down, and as they set off, Guilt told him he would be called Dread going forward, the embodiment of the pain pushing him to do better.

Taking on small jobs as they moved south east through the Illistrian Empire, working to escape the fallout of the Korseph Rebellion, eventually entering the Lenurian March and the city of Bridgerest the day before Dread's 13th Birthday and a few months after Davira's 11th. Old enough to begin working under the watch of another, Dread begun to officially follow in Guilt's footsteps as a member of the Traveler's Association, the Ironshield League. Davira was forced to remain at home, focusing on housework and her personal pursuit of education, the study of beasts and monsters like those that destroyed their home 3 years back. The end of his official mentorship came fast, having learned most of what was required for completion already from traveling with Guilt. This however, did not make him immune to overzealousness, eventually requiring him to be saved yet again by Guilt, who coined the surname "Dreddigan", telling Dread that it is okay to return to the places we push ourselves from so long as we don't let it halt our progress forward. Following Dread's rapid completion of his mentorship and obtaining his Mercenary identification only a handful of months after reaching the city, Davira gifted him a mouse, whom he named Stuart, that she had found and tamed to act as a friend and familiar for him on his various future jobs, ensuring that he always had someone at his side. Taking on jobs from the city, Dread and Stuart, now mostly on their own with the occasional help from Guilt as he came and went, spent 9 long years working the in countryside surrounding the Karkan Peaks on the western Hargean Peninsula, aiding in the reconstruction following the Cinderfall and taking down monsters that posed threats to the dotted villages in the region. Most of the money they earned was sent back to Bridgerest for Davira to continue her studies and support herself, ensuring that they kept a home in the city for the times when Dread would be able to return and visit.

During one of these visits, Dread caught wind of a military unit being moved to the small village of Solano in the south; knowing that the Lenurian Army rarely left the border, he sensed that something was going on in the region and followed them along with the call to adventure.