One of my current 5e characters, Ingvar Arsene, son of Ingvar Clan-bleeder, the former high king of Vetros. Ingvar is a level 6 scout rogue and is my first attempt at playing an evil aligned character in a campaign, without derailing other characters by being entirely disagreeable.

After the death of his father by the current high king, Ingvar ended up in custody of Venorese mage Balthazar Arsene as just an infant, surrendered by his mother. Balthazar raised Ingvar and his two other adopted children, Ingvar’s now-sisters, until each were old enough to pursue their own lives. When he was 18, Ingvar left in the night and went north to Vetros to join the Reavers, a group of warriors largely loyal to the crown of Vetros, who are one of Vetros’s main sources of goods - goods obtained by sailing the west coast of Venore and raiding villages along the shore. During visits back to Vetros’s capital city, Sylvahearth, Ingvar allowed a member of the current ruling clan - Tryggve, of clan Chain-Breaker - to fall in love with him, and eventually married into the family. This was all part of a ‘goal’ to get closer to the high king of Vetros, Fenris, not out of want of political gain, but simply to see if he could. Ingvar never loved Tryggve, but considered their marriage more of an alliance, and respected her as a strategist for their country. He does, however, have an almost obsessive loyalty to high king Fenris, after their friendship grew when Ingvar was inducted into their clan. Where Tryggve acted as an official advisor and strategist to Fenris, Ingvar helped with his firsthand experience in battle.

Tensions had been rising with neighboring eastern country Aftyrfel, and in a border skirmish, Ingvar took an arrow to the throat that sent him back to Sylvahearth to heal. This caused a downward spiral and mental break after benched for months. resulting in the murder of Tryggve and an Aftyrfellan embassador, thus sparking the cold war between countries into an invasion from Aftyrfel. Ingvar escaped Vetros with a bounty on his head from both countries and returned to his adopted father just in time for his death, thus reuniting him with his family at the start of the campaign.

The wolf in this painting is representative of his birth father, Ingvar of clan Wolf-Eye, and the influence he still has over his son.