Hi all, here's the current backstory for Winston Lightbringer, paladin.

Spoiler: Backstory
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In his earliest memories, Winny lived in the miserable Hiram Oglethorpe Orphanage, where the meals were meager and the supervision was mostly absent—but alarmingly harsh if you were caught misbehaving. Winny was often misbehaving, but he quickly learned to misbehave away from the orphanage. As a young boy, he loved hearing stories of heroes and adventure. The idea of going off on adventures sounded so much better than the life Winny knew, and when he would steal scraps to eat, he imagined he was liberating treasures from horrible monsters.

As he grew into a teenager, he continued to misbehave, but he started to get caught more often—usually by shopkeepers and the like. He managed to avoid too many run-ins with the city watch, but he realized they were starting to watch him more closely. One day, a couple of travelers caught sight of Winny trying to nab a loaf of bread, and they approached him with a proposition. They'd have better luck with numbers, they said, and there was a group of them in the woods who looked out for each other. To young Winny's ears, the idea of joining the bandits sounded too good to be true—a full belly, a family, and a life of adventure! Sure, they were no heroes, but those heroes from the old stories didn't seem so realistic in the harsh world young Winny knew.

So Winny became a bandit for a time, working in tandem with cutthroats and thieves to deprive merchants of their wares and travelers of their valuables. He was well-fed, and enjoyed the lifestyle, feeling only occasionally uneasy at how quickly some of his companions were ready to fire their crossbows. But there was something more sinister going on, which he only saw hints of... stealing livestock which seemed to just disappear, strange sounds at night, occasional disappearances, and mostly the strictly controlled access to the deeper caverns where only the bosses were ever allowed.

Winny wasn't the only one to grow suspicious, and eventually a powerful paladin, Sir Gregory Whiteheart, challenged the bandits and fought his way into the caverns. The bosses unleashed demons to fight the paladin, whose undaunted courage impressed young Winny. Sir Gregory defeated the demons and routed the cultist bandits, then offered a path of redemption to the younger bandits who had erred in their ways. In this way, Winston found a new calling, becoming a squire to Sir Gregory, a hero straight out of the old tales.

Winston saw the light, and worked to make amends for his misdeeds. He had barely noticed the guilt he'd been feeling, as it had accumulated so slowly, but all became clear when he finally encountered a champion of good. Winston dedicated himself to a greater purpose, to bringing the light of good and justice to the dark places where it is needed. He hopes to show young miscreants like himself that there really is a better path, and he's finally ready to be one of those heroes from the stories, embarking on a life of great adventure.

Now that his oaths are sworn, Winston, dubbed Lightbringer, is setting out into the darkness of the Ashenwood, aiming to shed the light of hope into the terrifying darkness.


His exact reason for choosing this heading can be easily shaped to fit. Whether he's following a lead, answering a call for aid, or even sent that way by a seer's words.