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Name: Sten
Race: Nord
Age During Gameplay: Early-Mid 20's
Fighting Style: Ranger

Sten was born in Skyrim, and he lived in Solitude with his mother and father, who worked for a small caravan that delivered goods back and forth from Skyrim to northern Cyrodil. Sten always followed with them on the long and hard routes, as while they were by no means poor, his parents were not wealthy enough to afford a nanny. When Sten was six years old, his parents received a job to deliver a rush shipment to Bruma, giving them no choice but to take a seldom patrolled and bandit-ridden path through the Jerall's. Soon after they crossed the border into Cyrodil, the caravan was intercepted by a group of drunken Orc marauders. They cut down Sten's father almost immediately then proceeded to violently [censored] his mother right infront of him, after which they killed her, took all of the valuables from the caravan and left Sten to die alone in the frigid cold mountains. For the rest of his life, Sten would carry with him seething hatred for the Orc race.

The next morning, by a nearly impossible odds, a group of Imperial solders happened to be on patrol in the area, and found Sten half dead, tears frozen on his cheeks, desperately clinging onto the bodies of his dead parents. They took him to an orphanage in Bravil, where he spent years being bullied and teased by the other children. Sten suffered from severe trauma and stress disorder due to witnessing his parents murder and thus lacked self esteem to stand up for himself. The only person who didn't bully him was an Imperial girl of about the same age. She and Sten were best friends in their young childhood years, coping with the sadness of the orphanage only because of their friendship and bond. When Sten was 12, she was adopted and left for good. Sten became severely angry and depressed, and when one of the children tried to tease him about his "girlfriend" leaving, Sten uncharacteristically beat him up severely, being a Nord he was big even for a 12 year old. For his act of violence, he was thrown out of the orphanage onto the street, alone again just as he was left alone 6 years ago.

With nobody to confide in or turn to for help, the young Sten survived the only way he could figure out how, by stealing food from market stalls and sleeping in the rat-infested sewers in the slums of Bravil. He quickly learned how to pick pockets, and after many successful attempts he spotted a Dunmer teenager of only 17 in the market carrying a coin purse with what looked like atleast 500 gold in it. The Dunmer was a member of a gang of thieves and skooma smugglers from the Imperial City, and was in Bravil only to pick up a shipment of Skooma. He had around the block enough to be able to spot a pickpocket. Sten's arm hadn't even reached the coin purse before he had a dagger pointed at his throat. The Dunmer (by the name of Brand-Fae) put the dagger away however, for he could tell by the look of Sten that he was barely alive and was living through hell. It is possible that Sten reminded Brand-Fae of himself. So instead of killing Sten, Brand-Fae took him to an inn in Bravil and fed him and during that time he listened to Sten tell his story. Unsurprisingly, Sten was quick to open up to Brand-Fae, as he had nobody else in the world that cared about him.

Brand-Fae took Sten under his care and they left for the Imperial City together. For years Sten stayed with Brand-Fae as a sort of younger brother and protege, and Sten quickly learned the ways of criminal life as he worked with Brand-Fae and the gang. Peddling Skooma, robbing caravans and extorting shop keepers became the norm for him. Before long, the young Sten enjoyed luxuries he hadn't had in years, and as a young boy with no other influence he quickly developed a ruthless and dangerous personality. 5 years later, when Sten was almost 18, he and his gang decided to rob an Imperial treasury, which they thought was relatively unguarded. Unknown to Sten's gang however, their plan was overheard while being discussed at an inn and the Imperial Legion was tipped off. As soon as they tried to hold up the workers at the treasury, nearly everyone in the gang was cut down by Archers, except for Sten and Brand-Fae, who had the job of lookout and weren't standing with the rest of the group. The pair escaped on a horse, but the Legion followed close behind. Brand Fae steered the horse into a pond and threw Sten off in order to save his life, then he charged the horse directly at the oncoming Legion Soldiers, he was killed nearly instantly. Sten's plunge into the pond went unnoticed, and the Legion soldiers left.

The loss of Sten's only mentor devastated him, and he wandered aimlessly, heavily abusing skooma. Some days later, after a near lethal dosage, he wandered off of the road and passed out in the woods. The next morning he woke up, laying on a cot in a small farmhouse. A nearby hunter from a small and nearly unknown village had spotted him, and taken him home. The generousity of the hunter, and the simple and quiet lives of the villagers humbled Sten, and instead of continuing his path of evil, he stayed in the village for a long time, earning his stay by chopping firewood and hunting deer. Years of this taught Sten important lessons that he should have learned as a young boy, but never had the chance to. He turned from a dangerous criminal to a humble farmer, learning the values of hard work and respect, and also nearly mastering the art of the bow. After about 4 years, Sten, now 22 was walking the forests hunting deer for the village when he came across a very old and weathered shrine of Talos. Somehow, the Shrine had managed to remain unnoticed by the Thalmor during the years of war. Sten approached the statue, and immediately felt a powerful connection with it, almost magical. It felt to him as if Talos was trying to tell him something, but he had no idea what. After returning to the village, Sten told the hunter that had saved his life years ago (also the village elder) about his experience at the shrine, and was given the advice that he should go and seek the knowledge that he must, but that he was always welcome back to the village should he ever decide to return. He was told by the hunter that he should consider going to Skyrim and searching there for the answer.

Sten was hesitant at first to return to his home province, and spent a while longer in the village before he made up his mind. He knew that the Gods wanted something from him, and he needed to find out what. It wouldn't be until much, much later that Sten would realize he was the Dragonborn. Until then, he would experience a lot in the land of Skyrim, from being arrested when he crossed the border, to becoming a member of the companions and much more. It is unknown to me whether or not the hunter that saved Sten was simply a mere villager or if he was Talos himself, in human form waiting for the point in time when he knew the Dragonborn was ready to fulfill his destiny. You can decide for yourself as the reader if you read this far that is =)