Jo Noir is a man of mystery. No one knows much about him, even Jo himself wonders about his past. He can trace his past to the point, where his adopted mother found him. One day an Altene maiden was washing her families clothes. She walked to that familiar spot and knelt down by the stream. As she brushed away leaves and twigs she noticed a small bundle. She picked it up and noticed that inside was a small baby. She could tell by his complexion that this child was not of Altene. She took the child in and because she was a caring loving woman she raised him as her own. All that was in his bundle with him was a razor sharp gladius with the name "Jo Noir" inscribed on it. Jo grew up in Altene where he learned the ways of Altene warriors. When Jo was about 15 there was talk of a group of raiders in the area. On many occasions Jo and Thinman, Jo's adopted brother and their friends went into the forest to scout for this group. One day while out in the forest with some friends an arrow poison tipped arrow flew past his face and into the neck of his best friend Gortumus. Of course Jo scanned the area but finding no trace of anyone ran to Gortumus' side. Jo tried to ease his friends pain but it was little use. His friend could not speak. Jo sat with his friend dying in his arms. Thinman looked around. They both just sat there listening to the gurgle coming out of our friends neck. Gorts eyes looked pleadingly at Jo, for he knew that he was about to die and you could see the fear in his eyes. After a time those eyes glazed over and Gort died. Jo and Thinman took Gort back to the village. At the funeral Jo's mother went over to Jo and handed him the sword. She said to him that she felt it was time that he had the only possession he had from his past. She told him to always use it for good and that honor is more important then anything else. Jo took the sword which felt incredibly comfortable in his hand. Wiping away the tears Jo went off to the forest with Thinman. There they waited for a few weeks, scouting for the archer. Jo learned to handle his sword rather well. After weeks of fruitless search a pillar of smoke rose from the area of their village. They returned to find the village destroyed. Joining in a few small frays with the raiders Jo used his sword to slash through one after another. An arrow flew past Jo's head and into the back of a raider. Jo looked around and saw an archer in the forests edge. Jo ran over to him. As Jo was running to the archer the raider took the opportunity to thunk three arrows into Jo. With his waist and both thighs bleeding, he walked on. He advanced the archer. Jo swung his sword into the archers neck, causeing the front of it to fly off. With a deep sense of release he watched as raider slumped to the ground gurgling. Jo looked around at his broken village, the wounded were being healed and the remaining raiders were retreating into the forest. Jo slipped into unconsciousness. When he awoke he found although his family survived everything was destroyed. The family tried to find work but none was available and food was getting short for the village. Instead of letting the village that had embraced Jo starve, Jo sold his sword to a caravan for enough food to last them a few months. With nothing left for him in the village, Jo went off to the legendary Iridine to look for those raiders that killed his friend and burned his village. So that was what led Jo to Iridine and that was how his adventures began...