DnD Characters

Menannben "Ben"

All Ben ever knew was the sea. He was born in it, fell from his birthing pod straight into the water and had to learn to swim or drown. He never knew his parents since he was left, implanted into a coral reef and left to his own devices. All he was ever given was a name. Implanted into his memories was a name, the only thing that wasn't there because of him. "Menannben". Even when he swam to the surface and learnt from a pitying human how to walk and talk, he stuck to the comfort of the sea, sailing on ships with his new adopted father, learning the tricks of the trade incredibly quickly considering he was the equivalent age of a 2-year-old. 

He became the ship's mascot, darting across the deck helping out where he can, learning new skills as he went. It's with the ship's crew that Ben learnt how to be a sailor. By the time Ben was 18, he would have classed himself as good a sailor as someone who had been doing the job all their life. His adoptive father helped him sign up to a registry specifically for sailors looking work from contractors, whether that be merchants selling their wares across the ocean, or private navies wanting bodyguards on their crews. Because of his build, Ben was more often than not hired to be muscle on more... sketchy jobs but he always surprised his employers with his skills on a ship, being able to work his way around the rigging and his people.    

Fellow crew member learnt very quickly that Ben was an ally to have, whether you were a new recruit and needed some advice or a veteran that needed help with a bit more of the politics side of being on a ship. Ben got a reputation for being a hard worker and a discreet employee to the point where people were head hunting him to be a part of their company. He also got a reputation for developing a temper. Explosive anger that didn't come out often but if someone questioned his knowledge or was disrespectful to someone that was senior in rank to them, he would become threatening, drawing up to his full height of 7 feet, becoming an intimidating creature that even his superiors respected. Over the years, Ben grew to be a giant of a man with the skills to back up his resume with a small stash of gold hidden away at the only home he'd ever known. Something to keep his mother and father safe if anything should happen to him overseas.

It was while Ben was on leave that the fire started. They started in the forest, a dry summer and a miskept fire started a blaze that quickly spread throughout the Northern Forest, just beyond the borders of the city. It spread south, engulfing the border houses before spreading into the city itself. Refugees began to flee inland, moving away from the coast as quickly as they could carry all their belongings. Ben's natural response was to head in the opposite direction. He ran off towards the sea, trying to escape on a ship instead of crossing by land. Pushing past people was a strong suit, but he couldn't push past thousands. By the time Ben got to the docks, all ships had left the harbour, leaving without him. He could have swum the distance easily enough but with the weight, he was carrying he would have been swimming for too long. Turning around, Ben headed back to the house, hoping to get there before the fire claimed the building. Unfortunately, the sector of the city had been cornered off to contain the blaze. His life savings, all of his work was in the house and now he had nothing...

Frustrated with himself, Ben moulded into the crowd, following the flow of the stampede, becoming one of the refugees he was trying to avoid. Eventually, Ben managed to peel off, leaving the herd of stumbling people to make his own way through the continent. Buying equipment along the way, Ben readied himself for a life on land instead of on the water, knowing he was going to need everything he'd learnt to survive and just a little bit of anger.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ben is a Dragonborn, a lizard humanoid that descended from dragons many years ago. But in this particular universe, dragons are more insectoid than the stereotypical reptilian image, meaning Dragonborns do too. Ben looks like a hybrid of an axolotl and Randal Boggs, the villain in 'Monsters Inc.'