Birth

Kane was born in a remote, unhallowed coven in the Whispering Woods in Ustalav. His mother, Eliza, was a human, who was ensnared by his vampire father. Eliza was largely regarded as a concubine and treated with little to no respect by her vampire captor. She despised both her captor and the unborn child within her for their perceived roles in her tragic fate. When Kane was born, the birth itself weakened Eliza and only served to embolden Voss's apathy towards his dhampir offspring. Kane was relegated to the lowest echelons of the coven hierarchy, left to fend for himself in a secluded cage away from the opulent chambers of the coven.
 

Early Life

When Kane was barely a century old, a night of reckoning came to his life. A group of skilled vampire hunters, led by a hardened veteran named Samuel Krait, infiltrated the coven. Their holy incantations and enchanted weapons tore through the vampire ranks, leaving a smattering of ashes and staked corpses in their wake. Kane was found in his miserable cage, and initially, Krait considered putting him to rest like the others. But upon a closer look, Samuel saw something in Kane—a glimmer of conflict, perhaps even humanity. Instead, he left Kane in his cage, condemning him to a seemingly endless solitude.
 
Over time, the decay of the coven, and the destruction wrought by the hunters weakened Kane’s cage. One fateful night, during a storm that lashed against his prison, Kane managed to break free, his primal, bloodrager instincts propelling him out of his cage and into the world.

Wandering

Kane wandered through Ustalav and the River Kingdoms, perpetually shunned by wary villagers who sensed his uncanny aura. He lived in the shadows, haunted by both his past and his insatiable thirst. Kane made it a point never to kill when he fed, always leaving his unwitting benefactors alive but weakened, disappearing before they awoke.
 
During his wanderings, he encountered an old hermit named Gillian, who had once studied the arcane. Gillian was a wizened old hermit, his face etched with the wrinkles of both age and hard-won wisdom. His eyes were a translucent shade of blue, as if mimicking a clear sky, and they held an otherworldly glint that betrayed his arcane insights. Once a practitioner at the Esoteric Order in Absalom, he specialized in transmutation and enchantment magic. However, Gillian became disenchanted with the increasingly bureaucratic and political climate of the Order, viewing it as a corrupt institution that lost sight of the pursuit of pure magical knowledge.
 
When Kane stumbled upon Gillian's secluded cottage deep within the Fangwood in Nirmathas, he found it protected by an array of magical wards and glyphs. Intrigued by this wandering dhampir, Gillian recognized not only Kane's raw magical potential but also the burdensome yoke of his vampiric heritage. In the months that followed, Gillian took Kane under his wing, teaching him the basic fundamentals of arcane spellcraft.
 
The lessons weren't just of magical theory; Gillian also taught Kane to focus his primal urges, his inner chaos, and meld it with his newfound magical abilities. Together, they would meditate under the moonlight, allowing Kane to become familiar with the energies that coursed through his veins. In addition, Gillian imparted his knowledge of transmutation by teaching Kane how to utilize the simplest of spells for practical purposes, like transmuting small objects and elemental manipulation.
 
However, Gillian's cottage was far from an idyllic haven. It attracted various forms of attention, both mundane and mystical. Gillian explained to Kane that he was searching for a way to transcend his physical body to achieve a form of arcane enlightenment. Despite the bond they'd formed, Kane understood that Gillian's path was far removed from his own journey. During one of their conversations, Gillian pointed out that Kane's struggle with his identity and heritage was a lifelong battle, one that he would need to confront head-on.
 
After many months, Kane began to feel a restlessness, a sense that his destiny was not to be found in the comforting isolation of a hermit's dwelling. Gillian sensed this and understood, gifting Kane with a talisman, a blood-red gemstone set in twisted black iron. "This will keep a part of me with you," Gillian told him, "and should you find yourself in dire straits, it may just tip the balance in your favor."
 
Gillian also confessed that his experiments in arcane enlightenment had reached a critical phase, and he would need to undertake a dangerous ritual that would either elevate him to a new level of existence or annihilate him utterly. Although Kane offered to stay and help, Gillian declined, stating that this was a trial he had to face alone.
 
Thus, with mixed emotions, Kane took his leave of Gillian's cottage. He felt a sense of loss but also understood that he had received invaluable skills and wisdom, which would aid him in whatever path he was to tread next.
 

Meredith

Kane eventually found his way to a remote, ramshackle settlement named Saltspire within the tempestuous archipelago of the Shackles. Known for its jagged coastal cliffs and a sizable salt marsh from which it derived its name, Saltspire was a community far removed from the cutthroat politics and relentless piracy typical of the region. Instead, it had a reputation as a sanctuary for those with unsavory pasts or peculiar conditions, governed more by a communal sense of survival than any strict laws.
 
Kane initially entered Saltspire under the alias "Kael" to avoid attention, donning a hooded cloak to obscure his more distinguishing features. He was planning to stay just long enough to find sustenance—until he met Dr. Meredith. Meredith was the village's physician, healer, and alchemist—a woman of many skills, often the go-to person for everything from herbal remedies to setting broken bones. She was known for her unorthodox approaches to medicine and her insatiable curiosity for the mysteries of biology and metaphysics alike. Her makeshift clinic was filled with a miscellany of oddities, from rare herbs to mysterious contraptions that seemed to blur the line between science and magic.
 
Kane encountered Meredith when he was called upon to move some heavy crates at her clinic. Upon lifting one of the crates, he accidentally cut his hand, causing his dhampiric blood to be exposed. Most would have recoiled in horror or suspicion upon seeing his unique blood characteristics, but Meredith was fascinated. She offered him a deal; she would give him a tincture she had been working on that could temporarily suppress his bloodlust in exchange for a blood sample.
 
The serum worked better than Kane had ever hoped, granting him respite from his incessant blood cravings for the first time in what felt like ages. That initial interaction marked a turning point for him. Here was someone who did not meet him with revulsion or judgment, but with scientific curiosity and empathy. Meredith saw him as a living, breathing enigma, a puzzle that could push the boundaries of her understanding of life, death, and the myriad spaces in between.
 
Over time, as Kane worked more odd jobs around her clinic—sometimes as a porter, occasionally as a test subject for her less risky concoctions—the relationship deepened. Meredith offered him not just respite from his condition but intellectual companionship, treating him with a respect and dignity he'd never before experienced.
 
In Meredith, Kane found the first person to not only tolerate his complex nature but to embrace it, to see it as something worth understanding rather than something to be feared or destroyed. He finally felt a sense of home and a kinship he had never known; these were the ties that bound him to Saltspire and to Meredith, compelling him to stay and explore this newfound sense of belonging.
 
In their mutual outsider statuses—her as a scientific pariah with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and him as a cursed dhampir seeking acceptance—they found a shared purpose. And so, Kane decided to stay in Saltspire, working under pseudonyms to keep a low profile while aiding Meredith in her studies and projects, forging a life that, for the first time, felt as though it had meaning beyond mere survival.

Travel to Port Peril

Meredith had recently completed the prototype of a revolutionary medical device she referred to as the "Sanguine Conduit"—a contraption designed to rapidly transfuse blood and other vital fluids between patients. If successful, it could save countless lives on the battlefield or in emergency medical situations. However, the ethical conundrum of testing such a risky invention on human subjects made progress difficult.
 
When news of the escalating skirmishes in the waters of the Shackles reached Saltspire, Meredith recognized the chance to carry out real-world testing of her invention. Pirates, often living on the fringe of morality themselves, would be less discerning about the means used to patch them up, willing or unwilling. She also hypothesized that the different species and races among pirate crews could provide a unique opportunity to test the device's versatility.
 
Meanwhile, Kane felt an increasing restlessness, an almost magnetic pull towards Port Peril that he couldn't explain. His Buccaneer's Blood trait seemed to stir within him like a latent instinct awakening. Dreams haunted him—visions of sea battles, hidden treasure, and a spectral figure that resembled him, but older and commanding a pirate ship with an ethereal presence. The dreams left him with an almost palpable sense of destiny and a yearning to discover the roots of his lineage. Although he had never considered piracy as a vocation, the visions and emotional pull became too strong to ignore.
 
Confronting their individual yet converging ambitions, Meredith and Kane held a frank discussion about their future. Realizing that both their paths seemed to be leading them to Port Peril, they agreed to set out together. Meredith would have the opportunity to test her Sanguine Conduit, potentially revolutionizing battlefield medicine and earning herself a place in the annals of science. Kane would have the chance to delve into his mysterious heritage, to discover why his blood seemed to call out for the sea, and to perhaps find a destiny that had long eluded him.

Formidably Maid

Meredith and Kane went to the Formidably Maid in hopes of making contact with pirates interested in Meredith’s medical innovations. Kane was also subconsciously pulled there by the legacy of his pirate lineage. However, their plans came to an abrupt halt. A charismatic corsair, perhaps sensing Kane’s uncharted potential, managed to outwit the duo. After a night filled with tales of high seas and treasure, they were poisoned, ambushed, knocked unconscious, and taken as captives.