High Mage Van Houten - Gnome Arcane Wizard

Graduating from the University of Canos many years ago, Van Houten had initially hoped to find his work in the tedium and sanctity of a noble’s court, as most mages content with mediocrity might also hope for. Mediocrity was never his calling, though after years of burnout in his studies, pushing himself beyond his limits, it was something he desired. The King would not see it so. Initially, Van Houten was hand-selected to serve the royal court, though not to enjoy the peace and sanctity of the realm, but to act as its eyes and ears: he was to be a spy, within the courts of Formen. The Formeni had great love of gnomes and halflings, and would be slow to suspect him within the court of their king. This ultimately led to Van Houten being one of Formen’s battlemages during the Duskweave Campaign, seeing the ultimate horrors of undead unleashed upon the armies of the living. He was not prepared. By chance was his life saved by another magus, the High Mage of a Mercenary company that was contracted to fight on the isle: Banimal. The High Mage that saved his life, Iporath, also a gnome, perished for his actions, drawing the ire of the undead that he struck to defend Van Houten. The surviving gnome felt wracked with grief for the mage’s death, pledging to repay it any way he can. Sabre, the Guildmaster of Banimal, saw the altercation take place, and offered Van Houten a place within the guild, to make amends. Cautiously, the gnome accepted, an inkling of intuition telling him it would see his life spared from whatever future wars he might be embroiled in with his place spying for Draksborne. When the Liturium War broke out five years later, he realised he had made the right decision. Quickly, his aptitude proved invaluable to the guild in place of their slain High Mage, with the incumbent replacement of Iporath proving themselves grossly incompetent. Sabre was quick to dismiss the replacement from his ranks, citing him as chaff that long needed to be cut, and instated Van Houten as the High Mage of Banimal. Whilst he has enjoyed the prestige that has come with the position, he has seen more bloodshed now than he ever wished, and with the nigh-annihilation Draksborne faced to Dragonblight, Van Houten no longer has a place to return. All he can hope for now is a way to one day slip away from the ranks of the mercenary organisation, or stage his death, for he does not have the heart to resign to Sabre, feeling he still owes it to him and Iporath over a decade later.