Kulan, who became known to the party as Dernwyn, the somewhat taciturn Ship's Navigator of the
Ocean Queen, was born in
Tashal in 1094 to Reet parents who owned a corn merchant business. Tashal has a small
monastery of the
Order of the Golden Light and Kulan and one of his brothers were enrolled to study there in there late teens. His brother eventually became a monk of the Order
but after two years Dernwyn left having become enthused by the martial arts but not the philosophy of the order.
1n 1113 Kulan joined the
Tammarik joined the army and having impressed his instructors with his eagerness to
learn martial and other skills was handpicked in 1117 by recruiters for the
Hyenas, the Wazir's secret police. When the Wazir sought to deal with the
Cult of the Long Night Kulan became involved as a go between
carrying secret messages between the two groups. Kulan himself did not really understand the nature of the Cult
and assumed he was dealing with a group of freelance assassins or a branch of the
Thieves Guild. The Cult subtly worked to undermine his loyalty to the
Hyenas by reminding him of some of the more indefensible plots and assassinations his organisation had done
in the past. In 1126 they began making explicit offers to him which including a Malkorean Ring although
the Cult did not disclose its real nature.
At first Kulan resisted the Cult's overtures but as chance would have it his loyalty to the Hyenas was to be
tested soon afterwards. He was ordered to give the name of a Pelorean cleric who he had known and admired in
his youth to the Cult 'to be disposed of'. Instead he warned the man to flee and knowing his actions would
be found out accepted the offer of the Ring from the Cult, hoping the powers it would give him would protect
him from his former colleagues.
The Ring indeed gave him impressive powers but it also overrode his own humanity and turned him into a
ruthless killer for the Cult. He gradually rose through the Cult's hierarchy and when
Duvan (Lomelinde)
became head of the Cult was made responsible for the Cult's religious activities. He was also put in
charge of the excavations that Duvan ordered be carried out in the lowest level of the tower which uncovered
the ancient teleportation circle. How Duvan knew of its existence he did not know but it greatly increased
the ease with which the Cult carried out their work.