Background :
A woman of a noble house had some sort of affair with an Elf servant and got pregnant as a result. The tales are split slightly towards it being an unwilling interaction on the woman's part, but the results were the same either way. The servant was disposed of (a term the offspring which was produced, once he's heard of the tale, hoped meant simply being fired) and the child was sent to distant relatives of the noble family who had never produced children of their own, but had fostered several.
Of course, if the woman's family knew that those relatives lived for their arcane research to such an extent as to experiment on their wards, perhaps they wouldn't have sent the child that way. Then again, as it was "merely" a Half-Elf, perhaps they would have.
At first, the experiments were rather mundane, but had surprising effects upon the child. When they tied his wrists and ankles to the bed-frame and cast light upon the bridge of the child's nose, only releasing the bonds after the magic was firmly in place, he was found a few hours later to still be blinking and trying to catch the balls of light which were dancing behind his eyes. This was not surprising, but by the next morning he had learnt to call forth those same Dancing Lights. They decided to name him Ado, a word which meant "Magic" in the Elven tongue, and continue with the experiments.
Over time, the child learnt to detect poisons and to react a little more quickly to some dangers than one might expect of a child, and with no access to their magical tomes, the child continued to produce the most basic of magical effects without any sign of consistency or true control. The experimentation lessened, but still the magical power continued to build in the child, finding new ways to express itself.
Finally, Ado's guardians--angered by these apparently signs of defiance from the boy who was barely a toddler and never was heard to cry or fuss--had a collar constructed of a metal which absorbed magical energies. They could no longer experiment on that ward, but the strange effects did end, and the lesson retaught each time the other children saw Ado with welts on his back after yet another attempt to remove the circle of black metal which encircled his neck more than made up for that scholarly sacrifice.
By the time he was entering his teenaged years (as a Half-Elf, still little more than a child), Ado has learnt not to attempt to remove the anti-magic collar--as one of his guardians was always near enough to see, and to punish--though he still dreamt of the Dancing Lights which continued to visit him in his dreams.
When he neared his second decade, he was sold to a merchant, as were all the wards when they came of age, but not before his right cheek was was tattooed with a brown ruin to show his new station in life, and not before a certain enhancement was made to the collar around the youth's neck. While the anti-magical effect was still in place, they also added a pair of bracelets to his wrists. If he attempted to touch the collar for more than a few seconds at a time, he would feel an electric shock pass through his body. The merchant was given the means to remove the restraints, but was warned that the child's name had been a warning to all that, should he ever go free, his Magics would strike out at all those near him.
He spent about six years working for the merchant, sorting wares and learning Balok, the merchant's tongue. Then, just when he might have been striking out on his own, in another lifetime, Ado was wagered in a game of Three-Dragon Ante and found himself in the employ of a Dwarven family who ran an inn. His old master left, and Ado took to his life as well as he was able. There was no way for him to escape, after all, and he's nearly died twice while trying to bear the shocks and remove the collar when he'd first gone to the merchant. It had been made clear that he would suffer much worse than shocks if he tried it again, and he was given an object lesson to speed along his understanding.
He didn't know if the innkeepers were better or worse than the merchant, and would likely have never know if not for a day sometime near his thirtieth summer when he was clearing tables near the end of the night and a group of Halflings came in and demanded money, threatening the remaining clientele as well as the Dwarven innkeeper's young son and daughter. Money was given, and yet the Halflings wanted more. They grabbed the daughter, locked a pair of shackles about her wrists and started to drag the child from the inn, her father facing a pair of dagger held by the two stockier Halflings that stayed behind to oversee their retreat.
Ado didn't move from the time they entered to the time they started to take the girl. But she had never does anything wrong to Ado. She called him by his name, insisted they set a birthing day for him and celebrate when he reached another year of life... She didn't deserve to be treated that way.
But Ado, thanks to his collar and bracelets was quite helpless to help. Instead, when he let out an unconscious exclamation in Elven, one of the patrons--a tall Elf in a flowing robe and holding a wooden staff in his hand--stood quickly and with surprising speed and grace managed to knock both the Halflings watching the father to the ground. Then the Elf and the Dwarf moved to the exit, while some of the other patrons moved on the the Thieves.
Ado heard a high-pitched yell and rushed to the door, seeing the Elf strike the last Halfling in the back of the neck, causing the small form to crumple to the ground. Unfortunately, the Dwarven daughter was also on the ground, and the Half-Elf could see the stream of blood escaping between her father's fingers as he tried to put pressure on the wound.
"I can help," he stated, surprising even himself and getting two sets of rather authoritative eyes locked on him. Swallowing back his uncertainty at calling attention to himself, Ado repeated himself nevertheless, "I can help Miss Gitehi, Sir. Please... Let me try. Take off my collar, Sir, let me try."
Ado had been moving slowly closer as he spoke, his voice pleading and his palms open, showing that he meant no harm.
The backhand to the fact his Master responded with couldn't have come as more of a surprise as a result. "You cursed half-blood!" he snarled, "I know enough not to fall for your trick, Ado; Ado whose name is a warning!" He kicked the felled Half-Elf and Ado curled in on himself, closing his eyes and calling to mind the Dancing Lights that still lived in his dreams. And around them he could feel, somehow, very faintly, that he could help the girl. And he could make his Master stop hurting him... if but for the collar which had been robbing him of his birthright for so long that it made him light-headed and fearful just to think upon it.
Then the beating stopped and Ado shivered on the ground, awaiting the blows to begin anew, but instead heard only words.
"If he can save your daughter, this Half-Elf named after a very powerful force indeed, then should you not give him the chance?"
"If that thing gets free and harms anyone, I'll be the one held responsible."
"Is that all?" the robed Elf--for it was he who was speaking to Ado's Master--asked mildly. "I believe I will be able to stop any harm coming to others. I shall purchase the Half-Elf from you, so long as you advise me how to remove his restraints."
"I, I--" his Master stuttered.
"I would decide swiftly, if it were my child who were dying," the Elf offered, a certain edge to his voice.
With a cry the innkeeper nodded his head and mentioned some price that sounded much too low to Ado's ear. His son who had been listening at the door dashed off and returned, quite out of breath, with a single, small key, covered with glowing runes. This was handed to his father, who exchanged it for the pouch of coins the Elf held out.
Within seconds his new Master took both his wrists in one hand and, with a pair of swift turns of the key, sent then clattering to the ground. He then put his hand on the back of Ado's neck and removed the collar which had been there, somehow growing a hair's width from his skin for over two-dozen years.
Ado felt a surge of power that nearly made him faint, such joy and rightness did their return bring, and then his eyes settled on the innkeeper and, eyes blazing, the Half-Elf pointed at him and shouted a single word: "Sit!"
The Dwarven man fell to his rump, unable to resist the magic which compelled him to do so, and his son stood nearby, too frightened to act, though no magic had been brought to bear against him. The Elf gripped his staff, ready to bring the Half-Elf in line when Ado's ear caught the sound of a gurgling breath to his left and turned to see the daughter slump completely to the ground, unconscious from bloodloss.
"Miss Gitehi!" he cried, rushing past his new Master and kneeling beside the girl. He felt it then, that same certainty that he could help the girl, and with a deep breath and a murmured prayer to whatever force might listen to one such as he, Ado gently lay a hand on the girl's shoulder. His own gasp was no more surprised than that of his old Master, who had risen to his feet and now stood behind him, or the Dwarf's son who was a step behind.
As for the Elf, he just looked to Ado, arched an eyebrow and said simply, "I do not yet see Miss Gitehi as well as you had implied, Ado. Are you only to heal her wounds and leave her laying there in the streets?"
Ado blinked and looked up at the Elf, meeting his unreadable, silver eyes for just a moment before looking away. "No, Sir," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "I am not."
Summoning the same energies to him, Ado performed the same magic two more times, meeting the young Dwarf's eyes for a moment as he offered a slightly smile and helped her to her feet. He turned to see his new Master pick up the collar and bracelets from where they had fallen on the ground. Though the Half-Elf tensed, years of conditioning left Ado without even a thought to flee, or harm one who was his Master.
But the items were not placed once more on the Slave, but simple slipped into the Elf's robe.
The Elf did not stay the night at the inn, and that was the last that Ado had seen of the Dwarven family who had been his second set of Masters since he had become a Slave.
Three days later, when he had recovered from the feeling of several decades worth of magical energy rushing through his body, Adofaer (who still thought of himself as Ado, despite the fact that he now had a new, adult name, given to him by his new Master) was walking near the edge of a nearby village with the Elf who he had learnt was named Thominaion.
"So you see... Adofaer, he of the Peaceful Magic, though I believe you do hold great power within you, I do not believe it is intended for harm. More evil was done to you than you shall ever do in kind, and that is why we shall part ways."
Ado blinked, "What do you mean, Mast--"
He didn't finish the thought, flinching away as the Elf's hand moved towards him. But the blow never came. Instead, when he opened his eyes, Adofaer saw that the Elf held out a scroll. "Those papers prove to the world--and much more importantly, to yourself, Adofaer--that you are no one's property. You are freed."
The Elf motioned to a nearby tree, where a wooden staff was leaning against a tree beside a pack. "I have procured you some supplies. Do not betray the trust I have placed in you, Adofaer. Never take a life, and only do harm to another as a last resort. Your Magic will respond to your will--as it did when you wanted to see the innkeeper taking orders for once, I suspect--" Ado hung his head as the gentle reprimand in the voice "and you are not one who is filled with malice and any of its forms."
And with that, Ado was freed, and left to sort out his newly unlocked potential very much on his own.
Personality :
Adofaer is a gentle soul who has had a rather hard life.
True to his position as personal property, he was respectful and fearful of authority all of his life and finds it difficult to set out on his own now that the Elven Monk Thominaion has purchased him, then set him free.
His Magics reflect this gentle nature, and the most he can do with them is to weaken or incapacitate a foe. He also never seeks to kill, but only to subdue with his quarterstaff; a mindset which may yet leave him with many living foes to mark his trail.
Physical Description :
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Adofaer, behind a Half-Elf, has pointed ears, as most of his kind does. Both eyes and hair are a gentle brown and his skin holds the barest of hints that, someday, it might decide it wouldn't mind tanning. His right cheek bears a tattoo composed of three jagged lines, marking him as a Slave; while the pouch at his waist always contains a metal scroll tube which holds the papers which prove that he has been freed, a Slave no more.
He wears adventurer's garb in the form of brown and while clothing along with a fur-lined cloak as well as a pair of gloves which always allow his fingers free access to any he might be attempting to heal, or subdue, with his Magics.
In his hand, or closely nearby, he always carried a wooden staff, a last line of defence, should Magics fail.