CHILDHOOD

Puck was not born in a traditional sense. He and his twin Iago were created from a drop of Bhaal’s own gore, which he split in half to form them. As infants, the twins were found on the doorstep of the old, reclusive witch Lavinia. She was an apt guardian for a pair of Bhaalspawn, for she was malicious and cruel, and would have taught them hatred from an early age. However, deciding she had already done her time child-rearing, Lavinia discarded the twins on her own daughter’s doorstep instead.Rosalind Darlington, and her husband, Charmian, were not the guardians whom Bhaal had in mind for his children. Followers of Ilmater, they were devoted, loving parents who raised the twins in as happy and healthy an environment as possible. As a result, the twins grew to be sweet and as gentle as they could be, both towards those around them and especially to one another. They did not make friends easily, primarily having only each other. Though opposite in every way, the twins were inseparable and loved each other more than anything.For the first several years of his life, Puck rarely spoke verbally, relying on Iago to translate, for they always knew what he wanted to say. When he did talk aloud, he was soft-spoken and incredibly shy. His first word was "Sledgehammer." At this time in their lives, Puck was Iago’s ‘little’ brother in a literal sense. He was much shorter and much smaller than they were. He would often be found trailing behind them, his hand tightly clutched in theirs.Though timid and well-meaning, Puck had a history of committing cruel acts without remembering he'd done so. He would often retaliate against bullies who picked on his twin (though never against those who picked on him), each retaliation increasingly more violent than the last. When scolded, Puck would become confused and feel deeply guilty about his lack of control and his poor memory. This violence extended even to those Puck cared for immensely. He was an innately curious creature who loved animals. However, he often needed to be watched when around them, for he tended to wound them by accident. He learned to become wary of cats due to an unfortunate accident in which he killed the family cat, and he felt safest when around large dogs.Once, when the twins were very little, Puck caught and tortured the pixie Birdie, who was spying on Iago for Bhaal. Puck mistook her for a moth, bending her limbs past their limits and biting into her wings. He discarded her in the street only to forget about her entirely upon turning around. Bhaal had a spy for Puck as well. The imp Sceleritas Fel watched Puck from the shadows. He mostly kept his presence a secret, but every-so-often he would whisper sweet words of praise and violence into the boy's ears when no one else was around.As a child, Puck was often referred to as a girl as well as a boy. His parents went back and forth on which to call him, for he was born with both male and female genitalia and his outward appearance was androgynous. One day, he attempted to cut his own hair during a meltdown, screaming that he was only a boy. His father restrained him to prevent injury and cut his hair for him. This was the first time Puck had spoken a full sentence out loud. He was referred to as exclusively male from then on.Unlike his twin, who seemed uncommonly prone to cuts and bruises, Puck rarely got injured. When he did, his wounds healed quickly and never scarred. None of his injuries were ever permanent. Furthermore, he only ever fell ill once during the entirety of his adolescence. With a high fever and full-body aches, Puck was bedridden and barely conscious during this time. However, the source of his ailment was not a disease but their divine father Bhaal claiming Puck as his Chosen. In doing so, Puck would transform into The Slayer and slaughter both his adoptive parents and his twin.Worried for their brother's wellbeing, Iago attempted to heal him with magic they had learned from their cleric mother. Their attempt backfired, resulting in a Wild Magic Surge. Instead of healing their brother, Iago's magic accelerated the transformation only to stunt it in an in-between state between boy and monster. His height skyrocketed, and he grew claws, fangs, and a tail. His physical prowess increased far beyond mortal limits as well. The Slayer, though cut off from possessing him, now slumbered within his body. He could often feel it slithering in his bones.Though inadvertently delaying their family's slaughter, Iago's magic could not keep Bhaal at bay forever. Eventually, he came to claim Puck a second time, directly possessing his body himself. At the age of twelve, Puck murdered his parents with one of the knives in their kitchen. He nearly killed Iago as well, but they snapped him out of his bloodthirsty haze before he could commit. In their panic, Iago had accidentally caught the house on fire with another Wild Magic Surge, so they took their brother and fled as their childhood burned to ash. Puck could not remember what happened during this event at all. Afterwards, Iago lied to him in order to protect him from the truth, telling him that their parents died in the fire.Having lost their home, Puck and Iago sought shelter at their aunt Viola's house. After Puck went to bed, Iago confessed to their aunt what really happened to their parents. Afraid for both Iago and her own household, Viola stated that Iago was welcome to stay for their own safety, but Puck would need to be turned in to the authorities. Horrified by their aunt's response, Iago lost control of themselves and nearly killed her with their magic, leaving her with severe psychic damage. Iago refused to abandon Puck, so the pair ran away in the middle of the night and began to live on the streets.They lived on the streets for most of their teenaged years. During this time, Puck's Dark Urges became more apparent, manifesting in an insatiable, uncontrollable hunger that could only be satisfied with the flesh of his own kills. He was especially tempted to attack Iago, more than anyone else. Puck resisted these Urges for as long as he could, but the longer he withheld the hungrier he became. Disgusted by his own thoughts and desires, he starved both himself and his Urges. He rarely ate, giving what little food he had to Iago. He would also frequently black out and forget large portions of the day. Eventually, he would spiral out of control and regain clear clarity only after spilling another's blood on his hands.Sceleritas Fel became a permanent fixture in the boy's life. Sceleritas claimed himself to be Puck's butler and that Puck himself was destined for greatness. He manipulated the boy at every turn, punishing him for his gentler characteristics while encouraging his heavily-suppressed sadistic impulses. He pushed Puck's limits for violence until they were non-existent.One day, Sceleritas used Puck's hunger as a means to drive him to murder more eagerly, convincing the boy to eat the flesh of one of his kills. Doing so satisfied both of his hungers and became a breaking point. Puck began to kill and consume others with less resistance in secret, attempting to hide his violence from Iago. He found that the more he killed others, the less he yearned to kill his twin, and so he chose what he believed to be the lesser of two evils.Iago, however, knew there was something dark and uncontrollable within their brother, so they did what they could to help him. They got the pair of them jobs in the Guild, Puck becoming a sword for hire. This became most of their teenaged years, and they were infamous in the Undercity, known as the Bloodhound and his Handler. But Puck's Urges only intensified, and with Sceleritas Fel in his ear, so did his temper and ego. At this point, he had given up on resisting his Urges and, instead, bided his time--waiting for his butler's promises of greatness to come to fruition. On his final mission for the Guild, Puck slayed both enemy and Guild member alike, slaughtering them all. He made his exit from the Guild without further bloodshed only due to Iago's sway within the organization.After this, Puck took on the role of an unassuming busboy at Sharess' Caress by day and killed in secret by night. This lasted until the twins' 18th birthday.