Born two centuries ago into a small, solitary Shield Dwarf clan in the Earthfast Mountains of Impiltur, Clan Glintseeker, Thuzin was one of only a few born that year in the time before the Thunder Blessing. The Glintseekers scraped together a proud and traditional, but brutal, life in mountains infested by goblins, orcs, giantkin and worse beneath and above the surface, their toil traded reluctantly with others in the Dwarven mountain city of Earthfast. Thuzin, who was destined to work the quarries like his father Guzin and his father's father before him, took to using the sparse time and coin he himself could scrape together to purchase tomes of Dwarven lore and storytelling, reading and learning all he could outside of his father's eye. As he aged and wizened, he came to see that his clan was doomed, their generations dwindling and their enemies too many, he could not convince his parents to change their ways and seek refuge in Earthfast, itself constantly threatened but as yet enduring. When the wider clan heard his pleas and forecasts of doom, they accused him of violating tradition, stripping him of his clan name and all but the clothes on his back and banishing him to the mountains to surely die. It was only due to the maps he had studied and drawn of the mountains, and even then a lucky stumbling upon a trade caravan, that Thuzin survived an exile's journey to Earthfast.
For almost a score, Thuzin worked to acquire wealth and trust enough to be seen as more than an exile from his clan kin, working first the quarries and then eventually in the city's administration, before his reputation for sharp mind and quick tongue found him apprenticed to one of the few Dwarven wizards within Earthfast, Mugdrin mac Gundrin. Adopting the moniker Glintstaff in lieu of his clan name, Thuzin joined a cadre of other apprentices at a desperate time when goblins had been besieging the city for months, a trial by fire that saw many of his fellow apprentices killed by goblin arrow and blade while casting protection spells and runes upon the walls and gates. Between the horns of battle and the singing of steel, always Thuzin returned to his tomes, voracious for whatever his master would give them, whether passed down from a fallen apprentice or simply forgotten, they would always seem to fall into his lap. By the time the siege broke, only Thuzin and one other of Mugdrin's apprentices yet lived. The ironlord of Earthfast ordered Mugdrin to take more apprentices to replenish their ranks of magic wielders for future incursions, but the venerable old wizard argued that he be allowed to properly train those who had survived instead, that in matters of the Art "quality far surpassed quantity." The ironlord was reluctantly persuaded, and Mugdrin set about the true education of Thuzin and his other apprentice until his natural death a half century later.
Upon Mugdrin mac Gundrin's death, there was some debate as to whether Thuzin or the other apprentice would succeed his responsibilities to the city, but before a true contest broke out, Thuzin received word through a trade caravan that the Glintseekers had requested aid. Details were vague, but Thuzin reckoned that a threat dire enough for his clan to put aside their pride and ask for aid was worthy of investigation, and set out as one of only a few to do so. The small group arrived to find Glintseeker hold empty, meals left half-eaten, buckets and tools dropped where Dwarves once had stood, with no soul to be found through mundane or magical means. Thuzin felt sorrow for his blood and clan kin for the first time since his exile, for his prediction had come true: Clan Glintseeker was no more. Though some claimed they had surely fled and would be found soon enough, Thuzin knew the truth in his bones, that nothing short of cataclysm would have pried them from their hold, and a dark one at that to do so bloodlessly. He left only silence and stillness behind in the trip back to Earthfast, where he gathered his tomes and quit the city, his ties to the land like ash in the wind.
From then on he travelled from hold to hold, city to city across the world for a near century as a hedge wizard until the Longest Year robbed him of his powers in the vicinity of Amn at a venerable age, his hair white and sight fading, with only the midnight blue robes and inert arcane staff that helps him hobble along to hint at his former status. Now, without the Weave to help fight his aging, he struggles to regain what power he can as it trickles back to him.
For almost a score, Thuzin worked to acquire wealth and trust enough to be seen as more than an exile from his clan kin, working first the quarries and then eventually in the city's administration, before his reputation for sharp mind and quick tongue found him apprenticed to one of the few Dwarven wizards within Earthfast, Mugdrin mac Gundrin. Adopting the moniker Glintstaff in lieu of his clan name, Thuzin joined a cadre of other apprentices at a desperate time when goblins had been besieging the city for months, a trial by fire that saw many of his fellow apprentices killed by goblin arrow and blade while casting protection spells and runes upon the walls and gates. Between the horns of battle and the singing of steel, always Thuzin returned to his tomes, voracious for whatever his master would give them, whether passed down from a fallen apprentice or simply forgotten, they would always seem to fall into his lap. By the time the siege broke, only Thuzin and one other of Mugdrin's apprentices yet lived. The ironlord of Earthfast ordered Mugdrin to take more apprentices to replenish their ranks of magic wielders for future incursions, but the venerable old wizard argued that he be allowed to properly train those who had survived instead, that in matters of the Art "quality far surpassed quantity." The ironlord was reluctantly persuaded, and Mugdrin set about the true education of Thuzin and his other apprentice until his natural death a half century later.
Upon Mugdrin mac Gundrin's death, there was some debate as to whether Thuzin or the other apprentice would succeed his responsibilities to the city, but before a true contest broke out, Thuzin received word through a trade caravan that the Glintseekers had requested aid. Details were vague, but Thuzin reckoned that a threat dire enough for his clan to put aside their pride and ask for aid was worthy of investigation, and set out as one of only a few to do so. The small group arrived to find Glintseeker hold empty, meals left half-eaten, buckets and tools dropped where Dwarves once had stood, with no soul to be found through mundane or magical means. Thuzin felt sorrow for his blood and clan kin for the first time since his exile, for his prediction had come true: Clan Glintseeker was no more. Though some claimed they had surely fled and would be found soon enough, Thuzin knew the truth in his bones, that nothing short of cataclysm would have pried them from their hold, and a dark one at that to do so bloodlessly. He left only silence and stillness behind in the trip back to Earthfast, where he gathered his tomes and quit the city, his ties to the land like ash in the wind.
From then on he travelled from hold to hold, city to city across the world for a near century as a hedge wizard until the Longest Year robbed him of his powers in the vicinity of Amn at a venerable age, his hair white and sight fading, with only the midnight blue robes and inert arcane staff that helps him hobble along to hint at his former status. Now, without the Weave to help fight his aging, he struggles to regain what power he can as it trickles back to him.