Reed's Backstory

Height: 4'0"

Weight: 81 lbs.

Age: 17

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Black

Skin Color: Reddish White

Body Build: Athletic

Distinguishing Feature(s): Bronze rings in hair creating a series of six "tails"; small gold rings in ear piercings; tattoo of a black half of a crest depicting the bottom of a tree on left upper arm; affixes a white half of a crest depicting the top of the same tree to the left breast of his armor; carries a loaded six-sided die marked on all sides with the 3-line symbol of Avandra

Reed Halfcrest was born in the town of Kinderwood, several years after the downfall of House Halfcrest. The son of Ferrel Halfcrest and his late wife Darella, Reed was not taught of his family history until his 13th year. It was then that his uncle Merric, leader of the Underwood Thieves' Guild, came to visit. With Darella's recent passing, Ferrel felt unable to care for his son in his state of grief, and agreed to allow Merric to take care of Reed for a time. 

For the next 3 years, Reed lived with Merric and the Underwood thieves, learning the trade and learning of his family's complex and dubious history. He learned how Ferrel and Merric had ended up on different sides of the civil war which destroyed the house, and how they had only returned to speaking terms recently. He learned of the family's history as the representative of all halflings in Titanian affairs, and he learned of their distinct symbol - the black and white halves of a crest depicting a tree, held by the two eldest males of the family. 

Himself a bachelor, Merric took to raising Reed as his own son. Reed came to admire his uncle greatly, and took after the man's roguish ways, even as Merric sent him back to Ferrel shortly before his 16th birthday. Having tasted the excitement and allure of the thieving life, Reed became quite a handful for Ferrel. Now a man in the eyes of halfling society at 16, Reed rarely engaged in the sedentary lifestyle his father had taken on, and became known throughout Kinderwood as a "thieving scoundrel of a boy". 

Unable to control his son, Ferrel instead sought to imbue him with some qualities to counteract those Merric had imprinted upon him. To that end, Ferrel passed down the White Half-crest - his half of the legendary symbol of House Halfcrest. Despite his penchant for skirting the word of law, Reed could not help but be grateful for this - he always wears the half-crest upon his armor as a symbol of his pride in his heritage.

Reed is very much a child of two worlds, unlike most halflings. After the fall of House Halfcrest and the end of the civil war, nearly every halfling took one of two available paths - they either settled down into a trader's lifestyle in Kinderwood, or took up the mantle of a thief's lifestyle in Underwood. Reed sees roots in both communities, and he dreams of uniting the halflings once more and restoring the honor of the Halfcrest name - if he can find time between thieving and chasing skirts, that is...