They say that to tell a good story about a Hero you need to have the important element of Loss. Usually Bards tell the story of the loss loved ones, driving the hero to seek revenge, or more commonly, the loss of innocence that drives them to protect others. In Caele Carpenter's case it was the loss of a Hammer.
Caele was bron, unsurprisingly with a last name of Carpenter, to Samuele and Crysta Carpenter, who were Caprenters by trade in some of the out lying villages of Rikton. He grew up wielding a hammer and leanring how to build a structure, what supplies would be needed, how many men, what tools. he actually enjoyed it, and working beside his parents and brothers and sisters (He has six siblings. Two older, four younger) had always appealed to him. What didn't appeal to him was being in one place all the time.
As far back as Caele could remember, and as far backa s the tales form his parents go, he has always loved to travel. He would scamper away to explore the wilderness, and invent stories of how the animals there were in need of a Hero, and he, wielding his mighty hammer (A simply Carpenter's hammer) would drive the forces of the Dark One back into the abyss, or by fire be purged!
This last part alarmed Caele's parent's but they were put to ease when he explained that no actual Fire was used. It was just a Passage the Local Priest liked to use.
It was while he was exploring one day at the age of fourteen that he lost his hammer. He was exploring in the woods, and though he had givne up making up the stories of his youth, he always carried the carpenter hammer with him. He was however, surprised when he came upon a wolf eating a deer. He froze, both in awe and wonder at being so close to such a frightening and awe inspiring animal. He tried to move closer, when he stepped on a branch, the branch SNAPPING loudly and startling the wolf.
With a growl and flurry of motion the animal was atop him, he swung his hammer hard, colliding with the beast's temple and sending it sprawling. It hit the ground and rolled and came up….
Human. The man snarled and lifted the boy wiht one hand by the neck and screamed into his face, asking questions and demaning to know where the Hunter was. Caele had no idea. He had no idea what was even happening. The man threw him to the ground and drew a long, curved hunting knife and knelt on the boy, slowly begining to insert the blade into his stomach.
Caele screamed and screamed, knowing he was going to die, the man describing how he was going to gut him, then let the wolf feast on his insides. Caele screamed out, "ONE! LET ME LIVE! I'LL BE THE HERO OF MY STORIES!"
The man paused and looked at Caele like he was insane, which was when the silver arrows pierced his throat and chest. He fell over dead, and Caele, in pain, and shock over having been heard, passed right out.
He awoke to a crackling fire, and a young girl sitting beside his bed. She called out to a man who entered, sending the girl off, and who knelt beside Caele. Explaining that he had been passed out for a week. The Stomach wound had been infected, but he had managed to bring the fever down. He explained who he was, a Paladin of the Knights Relient who had jsut happened to be passing by. Caele asked about what he saw, the silver arrows, the man wolf thing. The man just smiled and said calmly, "Fever Dreams. The man was a killer I was hunting. You were lucky, or perhaps the One heard your prayer." He smiled, and asked Caele why he was in the woods. He explained about his exploration and "travels", and the Knight smiled. He asked if Caele would be interested in coming with him, not knowing that the Knight had orders from Rikton to watch the boy and make sure he had not been "Tainted" by his exposure.
Caele did of course. Travel with a Kngiht? Yes Please! It was an adventure. The parents, having been told by the Holy Mother Church that Caele had been chosen to serve the Relient relented without protest. It was the Church, and God's will. Thus, Caele, having lost his hamemr in the woods of his youth, went with the Knight, Sir Gavin Saltez, his Daughter and Squire, and a few Horses and priests to travel Aequor, healing the sick. For a Wasting illness spread through Aequor's Eastern province that year, and the Knight's Relient were needed.
It was quickly determined the boy was not tainted, and so far from home, Gavin decided to take the boy on as a Squire. It was not common for a Relient to have TWO Squires, but nor was it unheard of. He learned the Knightly arts, never taking to Lance or blade, but doing well with mace and hammer and shield. The Priests with Sir Gavin saw to his education in the One, and between thema nd the Knight made a fair healer out of the boy.
Caele learned, and also never forgot what had happened. Independent study when they came across a library eventually led him to knowledge, and a fair bit of book knowledge besides, of what had happened to him. He confronted Gavin on his twentieth year, and the Knight nodded. Saying he has been under orders to assure that the boy had not become "One of them." He asked all sort of questions but Gavin only shook his head. Giving him a scroll, that he said the boy could read for night, then it would be taken back. It was from that scroll, that Cael learned, and confirmed what he had discovered. He had, by awful chance come into contact wiht a Werewolf.
The next morning he handed the scroll back to Gavin and nodded once in understanding, and asked permission to go back home for a time. With reluctance Gavin agreed, and Caele headed home, careful to skirt the hot areas of Galenthia that had broken out into Civil War. He skirted these edges, doing what he could to help the sick and injured as he passed, as he had been taught. When he returned home he spent time with his family, having missed them. Helped his father build a barn for a new settler, and then returned to the site.
There he saw that nature had overgrown the area where his life had changed. He found the deer's skull, but no sign of the man, and then he remembered. He had lost his hammer. He spent three days at that location jsut looking. Eventually he found it. His old companion, his old friend who had been the bane agianst evil in his youth. He bowed his head and prayed, "Oh Mighty God. I made a promise. I know that I have been learning, and I know now why you spared me. By your will, I shall see the servants of the Kingdom fo the Sun served. I will protect them. I will heal where I can. In your name, I so swear." He made the sign of the One and left.
He met with Gavin in a small vilalge inside Galenthia that had surrered illness due to the war. He was taken inside the chapel and there, he was left for his vigil. In the morning he was Knighted. The Order gave him a Horse, some money, and orders. They were simple orders. "Heal the sick. Defend the Weak. Go forth Paladin, and do good in the name of the One our God."
He has been following those orders for Nine years. He travels from village to village, allowing the One to guide him. He heals. He fights. Villagers who have met him call him simply "Paladin." He calls himself a Knight sworn to all, for God.