Characters:Dun Barethsol:Andare dunVelain

Andare is a Human male of thirty-five years. He was born in Erinsford. Few there know that he is a native son of the town. He left for the wilds at the age of fifteen and did not pass the gates again until he was twenty-five. What passed during those ten years is a closely guarded secret. The people of Erinsford call him 'Forrester' with disdain. It is almost a synonym for 'mountebank.' The people of Waste's Edge call him 'Ranger.' Technically, neither appellation is correct. His true name, in keeping with Forestkeepers tradition, is Andare dunVelain.

Andare's training, like the training of all other rangers, was long and difficult. He went alone, with a partner, or with a small band, to each of the sites of the Towers of Guard. He could tell many exciting or harrowing stories of his fifteen years as a Ranger, but he does not tell stories to the casual listener. He sometimes entertains children with the legends he has heard or the reason why his horse is named Cow, but he says nothing of those legends which he has seen or investigated personally. In Waste's Edge, Andare entrusts Cirades Rymon which what he sees and hears. Of those in Waste's Edge, only Rymon, Solmanus, and Turvale are in the confidence of the rangers.

Andare is seldom in Waste's Edge, though he and a few other rangers use the Inn as a meeting place. They are more often spotted in nearby Arynsval. He professes to spend a great deal of time moving down the Elenstroem toward Erinsford, and then to Cirdanth or Elgilad, and finally back toward Waste's Edge, though it is much more true to say that his journeys and patrols trace the old roads between the Towers of Telron, Velain, and Lothond. Sometimes his work is simply patrolling the wilds, but he also works as a tracker of brigands and criminals. His order also keeps watch on certain sites which are spoken of in legend, but the nearest of these has been hidden of late.

Andare is decidedly Half-Elven in his outlook, behavior, and bearing. He moves silently when he wants to do so, prefers the wilds to "civilization," and has senses most Humans do not possess. While he cannot control magick, he can feel it if it is old, strong, or concentrated. Human rangers are trained by their Half-Elven teachers and leaders to sense the uncanny. As a result, Andare can sense the magick in places like Dun Telron or Dun Barethsol. He does not know their full and tragic history, however, beyond what is passed down by the better histories. Andare, because of his long association with the wild and the wyrd, has an uncanny capacity to sense the identity and history of magickal or imbued artifacts.

He speaks Half-Elvish fluently and can speak Dwarvish and Elvish at need. He also seems to communicate with birds and beasts, but he does not often do this in the sight of uninitiated Humans. He was taught such things by the Half-Elves and so has a Half-Elf's unwillingness to use those skills in the sight of Humans. He also knows more about the Yetins than Frostbloom will probably say, if one can convince him to talk. The co-operation between the Rangers and the Yetin Monks is of long standing, so he knows quite a bit. Still, he can be maddeningly tight-lipped about what really goes on in the wild places of the world.