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It is far from easy for an orphan to grow up amidst the poverty of the Lower Boroughs of Arx, but for a prodigal to survive it requires a powerful will to survive. 'Prodigals', the exceedingly rare handful of barbarous Abandoned who have returned to the civilization of the Compact of Arvum, are not well cared for by society at the best of times, and Alistair's situation was a far cry from that. Born among the Gray Forest Howlers has seen first hand the kind of brutal savagery embraced by the most terrifying tribes of the Abandoned, watching as a child as the Howlers preyed upon travelers daring to penetrate the depths of the Gray Forest. Even as a child, he felt the murderous savagery was wrong, but when the chieftain declared after a fruitless raid that their dark gods needed a blood sacrifice and selected Alistair as the offering, the life threatening predicament added an extra incentive for the young man to make his escape from the tribe as barely a teenager. He eventually wound up in Arx still as a teenager. Life in Arx was harsh and unforgiving, though he was able to survive partly by hiring himself out as a tracker and hunter to the city folk as well as begging in the streets. Despite his miserable existence, he still remembered the face of evil he'd witnessed as a child and was determined to grow up and make a difference, somehow. That drive to combat the demons of his past pushed him to a very unlikely calling- the Inquisition. Of course, Alistair learned very quickly that he might be one of the very few 'true believers' inside the entire Inquisition. He rapidly learned as a confessor, the grunts that aid inquisitors in their bloody work, that very few members of the Inquisition think something like 'demons' exist and are quite comfortable being members of a political organization. On one occasion, Alistair enraged his superiors by declaring a rich merchant innocent of all charges of witchcraft, after discovering the merchant's only crime seemed to be possessing no political patron or allies that could protect him while hurting the business interests of some powerful lords. Alistair was given poor assignments afterwards for a time, assigned as a liaison to the Iron Guard in their investigations who famously have contempt for the corrupt Inquisition. If their goal was to have Alistair have an accident, though, it might have backfired. He has one of the rarest reputations- that of a conscientious, honest inquisitor. It might not really be the life Alistair was looking for, but it's the one he has, and at least his reputation is judged useful by his organization.

The young Inquisitor with an old soul and old mind, Alistair has a strength to him that comes from the hardest of lives. He doesn't have the bulk of a knight, or the lithe grace of an athlete. His is the strength that comes from life in the wilderness, practical and innate. His dark, intense eyes seem cold to the unfamiliar, but never cruel for cruelty's sake. He keeps his dark hair cut short, close to his head, never allowing it to grow more than a shadow. His beard is kept extremely neat and accentuates the sharp lines of his strangely handsome face. When he speaks, he speaks quietly, but with such intensity he can cow the most rowdy mob.

Alistair possesses the solemn bearing of a man who refuses to have his path dictated by fickle passions, however deeply felt. His quiet, stern intensity holds little room for joy or despair, having given himself to a fervently pricinpled pursuit of justice to banish the ghosts of his past. The Prodigal has seen the true face of darkness as only one who has lived among the Abandoned could, and it has made him determined to the point of quiet fanaticism. His control over his emotions is beyond masterful. His position in the inquisition causes him face terrible situations, and he is painfully aware that all but a handful of his fellows care little for justice, forcing him to pragmatically attempt to do the best he can with a terribly flawed situation. He can show compassion, when it is right in the sight of the gods, and will do so despite orders if necessary? and especially then. His faith is less an evangelical calling, and more simply so pervasive in his life and mind, that he doesn't need to preach. Every word and deed is a prayer, an offering to the gods that have brought him to Arx, and he squanders neither on proselytizing.