Sandor Information
From Ars Magica
As a boy, the man now known as Sandor was talkative and outspoken. While of average intelligence, he always had an opinion on everything, and made sure everyone knew about it. Being the burly sort, when other boys disagreed with his oft-misguided opinions, they were quickly, forcefully subdued into acquiescing with his assertions.
Mark Ellis, an Englishman of low birth, murdered the Welsh lord who governed the borderland which contained Sandor's village. In gratitude, the English crown rose that man to the nobility, and granted him the now-ungoverned Welsh land. Late one night in the streets, Sandor loudly derided the usurper, claiming that he was no true noble, not fit to lick the boots of Rhys ap Gwynyr (the old Welsh lord). Those were the last words he ever spoke; it was to Sandor's great misfortune that one of the boys who argued this assertion with him, was son to the Englishman himself. The boy, Edward, returned home, bruised and bloodied. That night, Sandor was dragged from his bed, and carried to the manor in a sack. He was bound, gagged, and tortured throughout the night. It was a mercy that he lost consciousness early on. He was only eight years old.
He woke in the woods, covered with blood and mud. He tried to return home, but regretted doing so... the villagers he'd known all his life looked on him with fear and distrust, skirting widely around him as he made his way down the muddy paths. He found his parents' bodies were hanging from a tree just outside his house. It seemed that Lord Mark's men believed his own damning words to be the product of his upbringing, that such opinions in a child could only be learned from his parents. Sandor immediately blamed himself for their death, and could see no reason to live any longer. He took his father's hunting knife from his home, and ventured out into the woods... headed straight for the forbidden forest that the villagers all knew was inhabited by demons. He was determined to die bravely, in the hopes that his parents might forgive him, after death.
Of course, the forbidden forest was in fact, the entrance to a faerie regio. The demons who inhabited it were the dark winter faeries. When a vicious band of redcaps found the intruder, they easily disarmed him and attempted to finish the job started by Lord Mark's men, biting and tearing his flesh. Again, Sandor lost consciousness.
He woke upon a bed of moss, beside a bubbling brook. His wounds had been tended, and he was feeling oddly at peace. Eirlys granted her protection, and offered Sandor safe passage out when he recovered, should he but tug her arm twice to let her know when he felt recovered enough to travel. He vowed to himself then, that he would never speak again, as atonement for the death of his parents, and set himself to building a life among the fey.
His perpetual silence did not hinder his interactions with the fey, who could read his face and mind without much effort. Sandor's dark nature earned kinship among the unseelie, and he grew to adulthood there. He never did tug Eirlys' arm, though... not until she packed her possessions and travelled off to become a mage's apprentice.
