1ST OF YMIDEN, 689
Vaughn is born to Malcolm and Vanessa Krome in their manor in Burhan. His mother is a baroness, which makes him a lord. However, he is the second son after his older brother Marcus, and so only in the event of family tradegy will he ever recieve a title.
689 - 701
The arcs pass and Vaughn is a mischief maker. His brother is the good one, older and responsible like their father, and Vaughn has learned to embrace his role as second-best. His mother prizes him above everything and so he has an easy childhood, except for the trials he steps a little too hard on his brother's or father's toes. Mostly he gets to do what he wants when he wants. He annoys his family to no end, but he is well-loved too. He is very close with his brother and they do everything together.
During this time, Vaughn earns a few scars, some on his arms from he and his brother's swordfighting, some from unruly animals (mostly cats), and one from a knife he accidentally cuts into his finger with.
691
When Vaughn is 3, Marcus (age 7) falls into an old well out behind their house in the woods. Their mother Vanessa discovers that Marcus is missing but cannot find him. Vaughn only has vague memories of this event, but he remembers standing by the house and listening. His mother's screams are enough to call home his father who had been away (truly it was Malcolm's Mortalborn abilities which called him so quickly back). While they are seaching, Vaughn wanders off into the woods after his parents and is nearly lost himself. When he's older he thinks he must have been looking for his brother as he wandered between the trees. This vague memory leaves a lasting impression about what it means to be family.
698
Vaughn brings home an old mutt who his parents refuse to let in the house. He sneaks the dog in during the nights and out in the mornings, especially when it's cold. The dog he names Briney, though he sometimes calls him Scraps. He's not a particularly dutiful owner, however, and the dog takes to Marcus and Malcolm as much as it ever did Vaughn.
701 - 707
During the next few arcs his father becomes absent performing his duties for the military. Marcus has joined U'frek's Sailors, and so he's gone some too. Vaughn's relationship with his mother strengthens and she continues to dote on him. He gets away with everything because his father and brother aren't there to keep him in check, but it's a lonely period of his life and he sometimes blames his father for taking his brother and going away.
He fills his days with exploration and a handful of girls that catch his eye. However, if his mother shows too much interest in anything he does he quickly abandons it. He finds that unlike most noble children he does not want a special talent to make him stand out, nor does he particularly want to be recognized or titled.
He knows his father isn't from a noble bloodline but rather from an immortal called Vri and that Malcolm himself was a dreamer in his youth. Vaughn has struggled periodically with the idea of responsibility, knowing that from his father he should have inherited Devotion, as his brother certainly did. But Vaughn shies away from duties and expectations of all types.
706
Briney dies and Vaughn seems to be the only one who misses the old dog. His mother offers him a new pet and Vaughn says he wants a wolf, even though he doesn't really want one. Needless to say, he doesn't get a wolf.
Around this time Vaughn starts shaving, mostly to mess around with blades he's otherwise been prohibited to use, and accidentally nicks himself deeply behind one ear, leaving a scar.
707 - 712
At age 18, Vaughn decides enough is enough and does some traveling through Rynmere, though at his mother's request he always comes home. He knows he should be finding a girl and getting a house and a respectable job, and by complete accident he does find a girl who happens to be of noble birth. He neglects to tell his mother. By this time Vanessa has begun trying to set him up with a couple different girls of wealth and he rejects them all. He also rejects an offer to join the military and follow in his father's and brother's footsteps.
He knows enough of himself to know he doesn't want what other people want for him. It does hurt him to upset his mother, especially when she begins to get sick, and for a short while he reigns in his behavior and sticks closer to home. His mother thinks this is a sign of maturity when in truth Vaughn still struggles with responsibility. But he does it for her, to make her happy.
712
Malcolm comes home and this time he takes Vanessa away to Andaris. Vaughn feels so betrayed by his father for this that he remains in Burhan to 'take care of the manor' even though he really stays behind to spite Malcolm. He lets the house fall into some disrepair despite having promised his mother that he would keep it in prime shape for her eventual return. He knows his mother is very sick and it's only his pride that makes him remain away from her, which later causes him some regret as her condition worsens.
713
Vaughn's girl turns 18 and secretly leaves Burhan to sail. He has mixed feelings of lonesomeness, longing, happiness, and jealousy for her having left him behind. He decides to head to the open sea himself, but something unnameable holds him back. It's perhaps the first time in his life he has willingly deprived himself of anything. Instead, he takes a job as a blacksmith in Burhan, though close enough to the manor and Lake Krome to safeguard his home and watch the ships as they sail in and out.
713 - 716
Vaughn works as a blacksmith in Burhan for a time, earning a burn on the back of his hand for a mistake with a piece of hot metal. He stops blacksmithing when the work becomes repetitive, and instead tends bar, til that becomes repetitive too. He goes through a series of odd jobs, mostly manual labor until he finally ends up hauling net on a fishing boat outside of Krome. He visits his parents in Andaris when he can but never stays for long.
During this time, resistance to the crown slowly grows, though Vaughn keeps well away from it all. He knows little of war.
ASHAN, 716
His mother leaves Andaris to live in her home region of Krome and she calls Vaughn to her. She and his father have separated but she won't speak of it, dwelling on memories of the past instead, and so Vaughn lets her reminisce in what turns out to be her final arc of life. Instead of upsetting her with questions, he picks up a new smithing job in Krome so he can be near her. His brother Marcus comes to visit and then his father. Malcolm signs over his right as baron to his boys, but Vaughn doesn't protest as it seems to make his mother happy. He learns from Marcus that his father has been unfaithful with the lady Elyna, a woman younger than Vaughn who he had once been set to date.
Something happens that night which neither his father, mother, nor brother will talk about, and all three of them disperse to different sides of a war.
YMIDEN, 716
In Ymiden, Vaughn recieves a letter from his father saying that Malcolm will be wed to Elyna Burhan. The letter also reveals that Malcolm suspects Marcus of poisoning him. But surely if Malcolm had been poisoned he would have been killed? Seeking answers, Vaughn shows the letter to his mother when he sees her next. He is expressly forbidden to write back or contact his father in any way.
SAUN, 716
In Saun the civil war comes to fruition. Having moved closer to the manor, Vaughn refuses to smith arms for either side and focuses on mundane work instead. An army passes through Burhan towards Andaris and his mother and brother are with them. Vaughn wants no part of this but his mother begs him, and so he feels he has no choice. He is taken into a war camp. There he meets an unpleasant, dangerous man named Yoreth Blackwood.
Later there is news of jacadon raining white fire on the rebels, the seige of Andaris, and an assassination of a political figure.
In the confusion, Marcus and Vanessa tell Vaughn that they need to travel again, and this time fast. Vaughn unwillingly remains with a group of the rebels, called the Qe'Dreki, because his mother and brother are with them. They flee Andaris.
VHALAR, 716
The Iron Hand comes after the Qe'Dreki, and the rebels run to the Burning Mountains. Vaughn argues with his brother daily about anything and everything because it seems he is not allowed to leave. The stress of it all is bad for Vanessa's health and in early Vhalar they are forced to leave her behind. Vaughn is infuriated, knowing his mother will die. After this, he becomes even more unruly and unmaneagable, but Marcus still won't let him go. With every passing day he is more and more a prisoner.
This time he is forced to move as part of a scouting party towards the Eastern Settlement.
ZI'DA, 716
By the time the Iron Hand find the Qe'Dreki, Vaughn is gone. His brother is no longer able to control him, which means as an outsider to the Qe'Dreki he is no longer protected from Yoreth's wrath. Vaughn is set to be executed. He is taken from the Qe'Dreki camp by way of jacadon towards Raptor's Rest where he will meet his fate, but along the way the jacadon is wounded and felled in an ambush by a group of bandits called Faction VII. The jacadon's rider is slain but Vaughn survives. He is taken hostage by Faction VII and transported to their base called Fort VII.
CYLUS - ASHAN, 717
Over the next 60-some days, Vaughn is kept prisoner at Fort VII. At first he is kept locked in a cage, but he attempts to gain the faction's favor. Time passes and he is allowed some priveleges, but the people there do not yet trust him. Nobody knows who he really is. Mostly he keeps to himself.
He does what he can to outlast his imprisonment. He tries to make himself strong enough to one day escape.
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