Darel Tannen was born the only son to a merchant family. From an early age he expressed a great interest in books and learning, and was more often seen in the company of old texts than his peers. While his father was disappointed that his son didn't express interest in carrying on the family business, he supported his son's interest and bought him whatever random books he might come across while out on business. Bored with hours of research of such silly subjects as the movement of stars and ancient history, Darel decided to research a much more interesting topic, the magical arts. After aquiring a few cantrip scrolls from the same travelling merchant he recieved his history books from, Darel began his study of magic, which was abruptly halted after an unfortunate incident with an Electric Jolt spell burned down his cabin, including all his old textbooks. After his neighbors told him in no uncertain terms that further escapades of the sort would result in rather intense retribution, Darel decided to pick up (what was left) of his belongings and continue his research out on the road, and with a great deal of luck, eventually find a place where he doesn't have to worry about burning an entire village down trying to read in the dark. His want of a home, however, is second to his love of knowledge, and will travel halfway across(or into, if need be) the world to find a simple scroll or old book. He is also not above using, shall we say, underhanded techniques for the procurement of knowledge. Darel normally dislikes talking to people unless he needs to, however, to those posessing his same love for learning he can be very sociable and is known to talk to someone for hours about simple spells and there effects on mundane objects, such as rocks. Darel can also get highly irate and occiasionally even hostile when people interrupt his study for unimportant reason. Darel is a mostly peaceful man, not wishing to fight if it can be avoided. For defense he only carries staff and occaisionally a crossbow if crossing dangerous areas. When forced into combat, Darel will prefer to use whatever spells might be handy as opposed to swinging away with his staff, a method of fighting which he considers uncouth. This doesn't mean he won't let others get their hands dirty, however.