Daylar de'Otaros
Daylar@Beggarsfeast.org

Daylar, born musician and mage-trained son of a pirate king. Magic is his heritage, but music his love. His mother, a dryad, died at his birth. Thus, Daylar grew up without the love of a mother and traveled the seas with his father, Vestril. He bore witness to unspeakable acts and sensed the evil that lurked behind his father's gaze. Vestril expected his son to assume the mantle of pirate king after him and continue to ravage those who would travel the seas. As Daylar grew older, an incompatible sensitivity and the responsibilities of a future pirate king hounded him to turmoil. He began to spend more time ashore in his homeland and learn the art of music. As he reached manhood, Daylar knew he could not follow in the footsteps of his father and instead sought to heighten his musical skills.

Then one winter day, as Daylar was returning from a long trip that carried him deep into the mountains, he came across a stranded wagon. Approaching the wagon, he saw a man with white hair and short beard with a bow strapped to his back. Daylar helped the man pull his wagon out of the snowbank. The man introduced himself as Iolo, a traveler from the land of Britannia - which lay far across time and space. Iolo invited Daylar to join him by the fire, as dusk was rapidly approaching. Daylar began working to start a fire when he noticed Iolo helping a woman out of the wagon. Daylar hadn't noticed anyone in the wagon and cursed himself for his lack of awareness. Daylar straightened as Iolo brought the woman over to the now burning fire. Daylar pulled his cloak around him to stay warm and watched as the woman slowly pushed her hood back to reveal auburn, shoulder length hair that framed a face that sent his heart racing. As he gazed into her green eyes, he knew that while appearing the maiden, this woman was not to be trifled with. Iolo, noticing Daylar's reaction, smiled as he introduced his niece Charlana.

As they sat by the fire, Iolo pulled out a wondrous lute, the likes Daylar had never seen. With amazement in his eyes, Daylar watched as Iolo began a ballad depicting the battles waged by Lord British, ruler of Britannia. Daylar could sense the inherent magic in Iolo's lute. To Iolo's surprise, Daylar pulled out his own lute and began to accompany Iolo. As they played, Charlana gazed from Iolo to Daylar in wonder at the beauty of the ballad. As the ballad ended, the final chord seemed to hang in the air. The night air was ghostly quiet as even the usual noises of the forest seemed to stop and listen. It was then that Daylar knew his future.

The remaining two months of his journey home to Eldenwein was a pleasant one. For it appeared that Iolo and Charlana were travelling to his port city for their return trip to Britannia through the mysterious moongate. Daylar was glad to have the company as he learned much in that time of the ways of the Bard. More importantly, however, his heart began to go out to Charlana. He longed for the times he could take her hand as he helped her into the wagon or the sweetness of her scent carried by the wind as they sat by the fire. By the look in her eyes, he knew she felt the same. By the time they arrived in the city, Daylar knew he belonged with her. Since her father had passed away, Daylar asked Iolo for the hand of his niece. With a wry grin, Iolo told Daylar that he had better ask Charlana else she would have his hide.

Daylar found Charlana sitting in the woods overlooking the city. As he joined her on the blanket, she reached into her pack and pulled out a flower. Not any ordinary flower, this was a beautiful white rose with tiny pink spots throughout it's petals. Daylar could sense the magic it contained. Her eyes passed from the rose to his. Before Daylar could speak, she said she knew why he had come and that she wished her heart to be his. She said that the magic of the rose is based on eternal love and devotion. For the fragrance of the rose, when held by two people in love, would link their souls until the end of time. With his hand gently over hers, she raised the rose to her nose, closed her eyes and inhaled. A faint white glow enveloped her body. Looking in her eyes, Daylar also took in the magic of the rose and could feel the love she felt flowing through it into his soul. It was a rapture like none he had ever experienced. They spent the rest of the evening there on the hillside, lost in each other's embrace.

So it was, that Daylar and Charlana were to be wed. Shortly thereafter, Vestril returned to the city. Daylar told him that he was to wed Charlana and that he would continue to learn under the Master Bard Iolo. Vestril became enraged, and in an effort to turn Daylar's heart, he hired a band of thieves to abduct Charlana. The abduction went awry, however, and Charlana was brutally murdered. Daylar was devastated and upon learning of his father's involvement in the plot, knew that his father expected him to seek to avenge his beloved. While powerful in the ways of magic, Daylar was still no match for Vestril who was able to touch the powerful but tainted side of the magic that was his birthright. The Honor of his beloved, however, compelled Daylar to confront his evil father.

As Daylar entered the antechamber of the pirate king, Vestril spun a web of dark magic that blocked Daylar from the source of his magic. With a grin of satisfaction, Vestril watched Daylar calmly approach the dais, sit beside him and pull out a wonderfully carved lute. With the image of Charlana in his mind, Daylar began a soft tune, a heartfelt ballad known as "Charlana's Song". Vestril's grin slowly turned sour as Daylar played with all the passion and longing that filled his broken heart. Daylar sang of the Compassion and Love that filled the heart and soul of his beloved, and how she now stood on the dias of Heaven above. Daylar let the final note fade in the distance and gently wiped the tear from his own cheek. Daylar then looked up at Vestril, who had taken a seat in his throne. Vestril's eyes were clouded and he simply said to leave and never return. With a hollow satisfaction, Daylar left the room knowing that this is how Charlana would have wanted him to avenge her. For the ballad, played on the magic lute of the Master Bard and accompanied by the words from a broken heart would burn in the soul of Vestril for the rest of his days.

Daylar left his homeland of Avashire to pursue his love of music with Iolo. He has spent the next few years travelling the lands of Britannia, which he called home. Iolo shortly thereafter got news that his beloved, Gwenno, had disappeared. Iolo left to search for his beloved but, before leaving, passed on his magic lute to Daylar saying that he was to assume the role of Master Bard. Daylar left his good friend and traveled to the city of Yew. On his journey, he was summoned by his old friend Ca'arn Olandi to return to the Abeey in Avashire. Ca'arn commissioned him to return through the moongate with a small band of loyal follower. Upon his return to Britannia and arrival at Yew, he knew the course of action he was being called to take and his heart burned with a passion for it. It was then and there that he formed the Burning Heart Guild.

Daylar led the Crusaders of the Burning Heart for many years in Britannia before he felt called to the realm of Norrath. Yet the decision to leave Britannia was one he would regret the rest of his days. He was eventually torn away from the guild he founded - and away from his new wife, Arella Desdemona.

None but Daylar know of the true reasons he left the guild and his wife the way he did. Rumors abound that he was a pawn in some grand plot of Vestril's, yet the only facts known for sure are that he turned on the guild, and walked away from Arella all in a single night. Perhaps someday, after enough ale is in his blood, he shall share the truth about what transpired that fateful night in the town of Rivervale. All that remains of his time in Norrath, at least what is visible, is some graying hair, a red scar along the side of his left cheek and a look in his eyes that implies he was as deeply hurt as those he hurt...

Returned now to Avashire, an older and wiser Bard, he is called yet again to venture into the moongates. His devotion to his friends and his cause has given him new hope - new life. Yet some scars wound deeper than the eyes can see.

After many a long days of battle and prayer, Daylar can be found weaving tales and tunes in the Beggar's Feast. It is rumored, that in his reflective moments, he can be seen taking a spotted white rose out of his pack, closing his eyes and raising it to take in it's scent. Those who have heard him in the taverns say that many of the ballads he sings are in tribute to his eternal love, Charlana. He simply says they are tales of long ago..........

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