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Arthen Dayne's life was always going to be a thing of stories, whether he was telling them, or part of them, or chasing them into the wild forever of the great unknown. Even his origins were a mysterious thing, brimming with potential for tales. Quite simply, he showed up at the front door of an orphanage in Arx, swaddled in wool and furs, with a small pouch of silver and a short note that was light on helpful information and a bit thick about pleading to the establishment that he should be taken care of. And so he was. Mostly. At least until he could get around on his own. Arthen grew into a child full of questions, held captive by the wonder of the world around him. No rock ever went unturned, even if the better of some of those rocks ended up in his pocket for the sake of mischief or self-defense. It can be hard being half-raised by the streets, and harder still when your natural inclination is to get into anything you shouldn't. As much as curiosity was a part of his life, so too was trouble. Even so, while the ruffian's want for answers would carry him across the width and breadth of Arx, it would carry him also into books, and those books would carry him across the rest of Arvum, in time. Though a young Arthen Dayne loved daring stories of adventure, it was the histories that really set him on his path. Or rather, the realization that they didn't just lie in dusty old tomes, but happened out in - and as part of - the world, and so many of those histories were unfinished, forgotten, or just plain wrong. If there were things yet left to be discovered or corrected, Dayne decided he would be the one to do it. His intentions were entirely altruistic and for the sake of knowledge, no matter what some rumors said or how many times he might have secretly fenced off an importart part of cultural history to a private collector for considerable sums of silver. A man has to eat, after all. Years before those with an exploratory bent were formalized into an actual society, Arthen's tenacious hunger for glory and uncovering the lost past brought him to all corners of Arvum, mostly working independently for the highest bidder so he could afford to also work on his own personal projects. Eventually a chance encounter and some shared stories with Darren Redrain would land the lifelong adventurer a place in Redrain's fealty as a personal historian and acquisitions specialist for the north's Greatest House. During the Siege of Arx, Dayne disappeared without a word, presumed dead, and remaining as such until the Winter of 1009 AR, when he returned more full of tales than ever. Though he looked a bit older, and life had roughed him up a little, that was all that had changed. No danger was still too great for him, no mystery too small, and he carried a thirst to uncover them all. To the last.

Arthen Dayne is lean and tall, with a rangy sort of way about his subtle strength. It's easy for the eye to mark him as someone who has been around and seen more than a few things. Still, though he isn't without lines of care to mark the occasional furrow of his brow and the determined set of his mouth and jaw, his even and masculine features retain most of the grace of his not-so-distant youth. His skin is fair, but warmed by the weathering of the sun and the wind. His chestnut brown hair is clipped neat and short but for the curling wisps of his bangs, and his baby blue eyes carry a shade of intensity from above his bold nose and the softer set of his mouth. Most often he's a man dedicated to a clean shave, but not so dedicated that he's above a five-o'-clock shadow some days.

Insatiably curious. Unshakeably brave. Questionably moral. Dayne is a creature who divides opinion. People seem to either love him or hate him, and this is usually colored by whether or not he is on their side. He's a man who covers his doubts and fears with wit and sarcasm, often creates his own rules when the actual rules don't suit him, and never gives up even when the stakes get high enough to turn most back. The line between courage and foolishness is a fine one, but it's one he strives to straddle, and it's far from the only fine line he walks for the sake of his profession.