The Velaio family were sail makers in the Port City of Pulon
for 10 generations. Family legend says that their first Velaio sail maker was
the second child of a sea captain and a sea spirit (Selke or Merfolk). It is
from their sea spirit parent that the Velaio family acquired their sea foam
green eyes (which have bred true to every generation). As their bloodline
blended more and more with humans, the sea magic diminished and focused into a
family affinity for chance magics and family magic specific to sailing and the
making of sea tools (ship building, etc.).
The Velaio family became known for making sails and rigging
that was stronger, lighter, and able to catch the wind better than anyone else.
The talent for this familial magic craft always bred to the eldest child, who
would inherit the business. The second child was nearly always magically gifted
in ways distinct from his/her elder, and would be apprenticed away. The third
child always entered the service of Avandra, maintaining the family’s tie to
the good goddess.
The most recent generation of Velaio are Vandras, Alarec,
and Beletha. Their generation looked to be blessed greater than any before, all
having strong magical talents. Vandras was, perhaps, not as talented as his
younger siblings, but he had the family magic craft and a bright future in the
family business. Alarec was apprenticed to a mage and Beletha would enter the
service of Avandra when she entered womanhood under the matronage of their
godmother Perella.
Sadly, fortune is not always beneficent. When Alarec was 11,
their father Angelo was murdered, and their home/business was destroyed.
Homeless with their ailing mother, Taria, Vandras (16 at the time) left to
“return soon” and was never seen by his family again. Alarec took to the
streets, stealing what he could to care for his mother and sister, but Taria
died not six months after her husband. Left to care for his little sister,
Alarec turned to their godmother, asking her to take in Beletha as an acolyte
young so that she would be safe.
Alarec spent the next decade living on the streets, learning
to survive through skill and guile. He visited Beletha when he could,
entertaining her with sleight of hand tricks. He has never explained that their
elder brother abandoned them, or that their father’s murderer is an influential
merchant lord who intends to end the line of Velaio. Even so, recently
Beletha’s visions became too insistent to ignore. They had to leave Pulon. So,
with nothing else to lose, brother and sister put their faith in Avandra’s
blessings and hit the road for Dragonspire to make their own luck.
