Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Found by goat herders in a tar pit in the snowy wastelands of the Crown of the World, Tardar’s earliest memory is that of getting bitten by a goat. Believing him to be a baby yeti, the goat herders showed him off as a curiosity to fellow tribesmen before leaving him at the Temple of Azure Wind. The monks of that temple took him in and raised him. In time he learned the ways of the monks, struggling along in the training but making progress by sheer persistence. He was eventually accepted into the order (as opposed to being sent back to the tribe that left him there) and was assigned the duties of an assistant cook. He was actually happy there, cooking for his brethren, training with them, discussing philosophy and learning the esoteric mysteries of the martial arts.
It came as quite a shock to Tardar when the temple grandmaster suddenly asked him to join the annual martial arts competitions that were the traditional basis for advancement in the Azure Wind Order. He joined half-heartedly but somehow performed well enough to advance one rank and earn an Azure Wind Temple Sash. Within days of this event, the grandmaster arranged for Tardar to become his apprentice. While this was supposed to be a great honor, it earned Tardar the scorn of several other temple residents who had been trying to get the Grandmaster’s attention for decades. Training under the grandmaster wasn’t all that fun either as it entailed spending mornings running up and down the mountain range, mid-days sparring with the master, afternoons of recovering from injuries and being subjected to experimental medicinal treatments, and nights meditating in the freezing cold.
At some point in Tardar’s now miserable existence the grandmaster fell mortally ill. Upon his deathbed, the possibly delirious grandmaster assigned Tardar a quest to seek enlightenment in the flight of a tern (a common bird in the region) and afterwards found a new monk school among his own people. There was a quiet ceremony wherein he was given the grandmaster’s own Mountain Deity Bracers and a small pouch to open only after “the tern’s last lesson”. Soon enough, Tardar was sent out of the only home he knew to wander the mountains in search of a tern. He found one almost immediately.
The bird led Tardar on a harrowing, season long trek across the Crown of the World before it was eaten by a fox and eventually pooped out onto the snow. Feeling this was the Tern’s last lesson, he opened the mysterious pouch to find that in it was the Medallion of Wisdom, a sacred heirloom kept by every Azure Wind grandmaster since the order’s founding. Seeing that returning with it would probably throw the temple into chaos (and not to mention involve Tardar in order succession politics) Tardar opted to continue the quest that the grandmaster gave him. His wanderings eventually led him to Avistan. He guessed that the larger population density there would make his search easier.
Upon arriving in Avistan, Tardar sought the nearest temple of Iro-shu. He had difficulty in this matter since Iro-shu was knows as Irori in these parts. After some misadventures involving the clerics of Cayden Cailean, he eventually did find shelter with the clerics of Irori. They taught him what he needed to know about the land and its people while he taught them the basic principles of the martial arts. When he was finally ready, he regretfully left their company to continue his assigned quest. While journeying about as a travelling food vendor, Tardar was accosted by almost every knight or adventuring party he happened to meet, mostly to be given an impromptu interrogation with regards to who and what he is. He finally did find some Catfolk, but not any that would be suitable material for the founding of a monk school. The first Catfolk he met was a professional thief from a tribe of thieves. That meeting was brief and mostly cordial. The second was some sort of crazed berserker that tried to kill him. The third set sail in search of treasure within days of their meeting.
For a time, Tardar resided in the Rusty Dragon Inn in Sandpoint and makes a living running a food cart. He’s something of a curiosity there and several of the younger members of the guild of carpenters have started making likenesses of his amusingly grumpy countenance in secret.
After many “horrible” adventures, he’s finally figured out that “his people” doesn’t have to mean Catfolk. More likely, his master wanted him to make a temple that would take in those who have a hard time finding a place in society because they are perceived as different by others. He’s also managed to find a place to make into a monastery and to gather the resources to start a “Varisian church of Iro-shu”.
He’s resolved though that if anyone from the Temple of Azure Wind does come for his master’s heirloom, he would set that person on a quest to prove that he or she is worthy of it, very probably involving this aspiring grandmaster in Tardar’s own quest at whatever stage it is currently on.
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