Name: Dinaden Gahalantine
Race: Barbarian
Class: Warrior
Sex: Male
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 282 lbs
Eyes: Black, 1 eye patch
Hair: Black
Age: 33

Skills:
Dinaden is master of many combat skills, and it particularly adept at 2 handed slashing and dodging. A master blacksmith, Dinaden has now largely abandoned his family's occupation (but more on that later). A veteran of the pub as well as the field of battle, Dinaden always runs to the nearest source of Honey mead and makes sure to max out the essential skill of alcohol tolerance to celebrate the acquisition of each successive level of experience. He has recently tried his hand at archery, the brewing of fine beers, and binding the wounds of injured adventurers, but he has far to go on these paths before he will reach an acceptably high level of expertise.

Appearance, mannerisms, equipment:
Dinaden is in many ways a typical barbarian in appearance--tall, muscular, long hair braided in the back; yet he also has a quiet grace about his movements, and a relatively neat appearance that hints at a past rooted in pursuits other than brawling and barbarous culture. Dinaden's hair is not as light as many of his Northern brothers, nor as wild and unkempt. He has a neatly trimmed goatee and a simple hair braid that he keeps tucked up in his helm most of the time. Although he enjoys the rough company of the road and the tavern, Dinaden is suspiciously vain about his hair for a barbarian, constantly adjusting it after every battle and maintaining its jet black shine with oils and potions gathered in his wide travels across Norrath.

Dinaden is a couple inches shorter than the average barbarian and quite a bit more nimble (or at least he likes to think so). Even so, Dinaden towers over most of the other smaller adventurers he comes across, and finds many human and elven merchants rather apprehensive of his large size (although this fear is somewhat ameliorated by his fame as a monster slayer and all around nice guy). In his early adventuring days, Dinaden favored a leather kilt and traditional polar bear cap in the manner of his homeland, the Northlands, but has now come around to the necessity of placing skillfully wrought pieces of steel (go go Crafted armor) between him and the harsh world we call Norrath. From an early age, Dinaden was exposed to a wide variety of jewelry in the shamanistic style so prevalent in the Northlands, and since his wide journeys in the last few years, Dinaden has gained an appreciation for the various gold and silver trinkets of the various peoples of Norrath, and is regularly seen wearing both bone and string necklaces interspersed with goblin teeth as well as simple onyx ear studs and, of late, a short, intricate necklace of silver adorned with a single, glowing black pearl.

Throughout his adventuring days, Dinaden has favored axes, though also acknowledges the keen efficiency of a decent sword, as introduced to him by Caedyien, a gruff but generous dwarf who gave him his first sword, a 2 handed blade that was sized for barbarians. His first weapon was a small, rusty old battle-axe, which the young Dinaden affectionately cared for until finding the rather clumsy axes of the Minotaurs. After these, he turned to the 2 handed sword Caedyien had given him, a weapon of the finest steel. Soon after, Dinaden took to the road with the skillfully wrought and rather shiny golden colored halberd, given him on his induction into Lord Hrothgoomba's Knights of the Crimson Poodle, an order of men who had done service to Hrothgoomba. Presently, Dinaden's beloved Langesaxe of the Wolves, given him as reward for tracking down the infamous criminal Paglan, splits swing time with his Silvery 2 handed War Axe, which he is quite attached to and is currently pondering an appropriate moniker (maybe "Gobbo," since it came from Perma Gobs).

In the recent past, Dinaden has taken several day long layovers in Freeport or Rivervale, bolstered by the essential honey mead, and has been seen to participate in decidedly un-barbarian activities such as reading the Freeport City News as well as scholarly treatises on the latest magical and scientific research being conducted in Felwithe and Erudin. Although he comprehends little of the complex mathematics involved, a natural curiosity intrigues Dinaden into the inner workings of the Universe. Some younger adventuring friends speculate that Dinaden is growing tired of the harsh life of adventuring and, having accumulated enough wealth to retire on, is showing signs of slowing down, maybe retiring in another year or two. Dinaden vehemently denies such rumors, claiming "I'm gonna chop till I drop," which, while being a rather trite barbarian clich', is also probably true.

Life History, Short Version:
The Gahalantine family has been a family of craftsmen and artisans for as many generations as anyone in the Northlands can remember. When Dinaden was but a lad of 10, Dinaden's parents left Halas to travel Norrath in hopes of bettering the family business. In recent years, Halas had become glutted with young smiths, and Bandin, Dinaden's father, stubbornly made up his mind that business would improve in lands less cluttered with fellow smiths. For the next few years, the Gahalantine's traveled to all parts of Antonica, selling their high quality wears and generally enjoying life.

When Dinaden was 19 and Bandin was advanced in years, Dinaden struck out on his own, traveling Norrath and selling his own version of the family's heritage. One day, riding upon the path on his trusty horse Ni(!), he happened upon a man lying broken and bleeding at the side of the road. Dinaden jumped off Ni to see if anything could be done to save the man's life. Seeing Dinaden's approach, the man gestured weakly toward his throat. Horrified, Dinaden saw that the man's throat had been torn and slashed by some vicious beast. The man's breath came ragged and shallow, and blood was steadily streaming out of his many wounds. Dinaden desperately dove into his backpack, dug out an armor buffing cloth, and pressed it to the man's throat. Miraculously, the bleeding soon subsided and the man drifted off to unconsciousness, breathing somewhat easier.

After nursing the man back to health, the man introduced himself as Betrand. Betrand was an adventurer, a man who traveled the world seeking fame and fortune through his wits and his sword. Dinaden was entranced by Betrand's stories of adventure, beautiful maidens, and gold coins spilling like water out of an overflowing purse. After restoring Betrand to full health and repairing his armor, Dinaden bid Betrand a wistful farewell, as Betrand had grown restless and sought to return to his wanderings. Dinaden now considered which way his life would lead. The once sturdy market for Dinaden's banded armor had, truth to tell, dried up, and so Dinaden decided that day that he, like Betrand, would take up sword and travel Norrath to seek his fortune.

The next day, having forgot to purchase a weapon, Dinaden strode eagerly away from the familiar gates of Freeport and promptly got lost. Fifteen minutes after this, he was attacked by a skeleton. Somehow, Dinaden was not surprised by this, for was this not what "adventuring" was all about? Luckily for Dinaden, he was carrying his smithing hammer, which he thought he would skillfully used to smash the skeleton to pieces. The skeleton had other ideas. Attacking soundlessly, the skeleton leaped upon Dinaden with surprising speed. Out of the corner of his eye, Dinaden saw the glint of a weapon, then - agony. The skeleton had swung the axe directly into the right side of Dinaden's head. Screaming with fury, Dinaden proceeded to smash the skel to pieces with his smithing hammer. If Dinaden had been thinking clearly at the time, he would have reflected that he should have done this initially and skipped in intervening step of combat. However, at the time, Dinaden was not thinking clearly but rather bleeding profusely. He managed to stagger back to Freeport, where a kindly passing cleric healed his wounds. Dinaden bought an eyepatch. The shopkeeper was rather insulted as Dinaden slammed down the coins in payment and broke the display case, but wisely he said nothing but "um, thank you, come again."

Since those early days, Dinaden has traveled the length and breadth of Norrath, from Erudin to Felwithe, From Permafrost to Cazic Thule. He met many fine friends, and joined the band of adventurers known as the Norrath War College. Sadly, due to the incessant squabbling of the NWC leadership, the NWC permanently parted ways, and Dinaden was once again on his own. After a banquet honoring the famous paladin Cloudx Mistwraever at Highkeep one night, (to which Dinaden was invited on account of his being "friends" with Princess Lenya) Dinaden met a cleric named Ozwyn. Impressed by Ozwyn's knowledge of healing and the local political scene, Dinaden soon fought at Ozwyn's side at the behest of the Lord of Highkeep, who admonished all willing adventurers to "clean out those damned pickclaw goblins once and for all from my cellar." In Ozwyn, Dinaden found a new friend, and one day, after a particularly nasty battle, Dinaden noticed the tattoo that Ozwyn sported. Explaining that it was a mark of his band of adventurers, Scarab, Ozwyn described Scarab to Dinaden. Dinaden had heard of Scarab, and knew of their honorable reputation. Dinaden thought them a likely group with which he could share his future journeys.

Soon after, Dinaden met Borgu, a bard of Scarab. Borgu sang of Scarab's exploits and code of honor, and Dinaden was impressed, for not every adventurer Dinaden had met had bothered to look at Norrath and their place in it in such an honest and vituous manner. Dinaden if he might join the Scarabs in their adventures, and was told to seek out Jayfoot, a reclusive halfling. Traveling to Rivervale, Dinaden found Jayfoot and asked of joining Scarab. Jayfoot was impressed by Dinaden's appearance, but he knew that a fine appearance could hide an evil or immature nature. Stroking his chin, Jayfoot suggested seeking out other members of Scarab. Dinaden did so, meeting Lord Hawke and his wife LadyHawke and many other Scarab members, first in the frenzied battle against the pickclaw hordes in the cellar of Highkeep, and later at a more relaxed yet enthusiastic Scarab party in the Ocean of Tears. And so, Dinaden's story goes on to today as he seeks the open road, fine adventures, and stout companions to share them with.

Read more of Dinaden's writings