Thane

 was priest of Mortaebius. He participated in clandestine activities of the Church of Mortaebius, and as such sometimes used the disguise and name of Kroz. Once promoted in the secretive higher ranks of the church, he was initiated as Mortancer Ashe.

In 722, he was a middle-aged man, neither hideous nor handsome: rather plain. Thane would not have looked out of place behind the counter of a library, but for the intense look in his dark eyes, ... that marked him as a man of great cunning and intellect. He was of average height and build, only an inch or two taller than Brianna Barter. He was partly bald, but had hair on the sides of his head. His left hand was animated bone.

The Hand
Earlier in life, Thane, presumably a Mortician, was protecting a graveyard in City of Rosehaven from a gang of thugs, and got a deep knife wound in his hand:

I do not know whad came over me. There were still four of them when my brother priest fell. I had already used what useful spells I had, and my brother priesd was just a mortician. He had never acquired priestly spells at all and had no interest in magic. I am not quite sure how I managed it. At first I was sure my modest training in the staff would prevail over a band of untrained street thugs, but the street provides its own training. I was lucky. I kept yelling about the wrath of Mortaebius and brained their leader. My wound may have saved me. My hand was bleeding profusely, and every time I swung my staff, blood flew everywhere. I think it scared the two that were left and they ran.

The leech thad saw me was not so good, or the knife the thug stabbed me with was exceptionally filthy. Whatever the case, the wound developed gangrene and the leech said he would have to amputate. I knew something of necromancy even then. It was a hobby of mine to search the church library for references to it. Imangine this, I was a priest of the god of the dead and I did not even know if he could grant the power to animate the dead. Magicians could cast the spell of animation, as could clerics of certain gods. I was all I knew.

I prayed for the power to animate just on the off chance - and Mortaebius answered my prayer and I knew I could cast the spell as a priest. I purchased the strongest spirits I could find and made a tourniquet that I could crank with a stick. I drank some spirits, and soaked my hand in the rest, then just kept cranking. It hurt. It hurt terribly. I carved the flesh away from the bone just behind the wrist.

There was a crow, half tame that I sometimes threw scraps to. He... helped me remove the rest of the flesh. It was a grisly chore. I could not sleep. I was up for a night and a day and a night. I cast the animation spell before the second dawn... It worked, as you see, but," Thane's lip quivered. "It had horrible consequences. My wife to be was revolted and called off the wedding. She was just an ordinary woman, not something out of a man's fantasy." Thane looked at Rapina. "Yet I loved her, and she, she turned on me because of my hand. She told... *everyone*. The church had to hide me because of what I had 'become.'" The necromancer sobbed for several minutes, before he continued.

Rapina pulled the necromancer close and he sobbed against her.

"The, The Order of the Shroud heard of my heroism, and of the way I had treated the wound the leech had given up on. They hid me. They inducted me into the order shortly thereafter. For years, the church has been my only family. Every member of the order has his own story to tell. Most of us have distinguished ourselves in combat or faced bitter enemies of Mortaebius in one way or another."

Growth in the Church
At one point, Thane was a Mortician, one of several priests in a city on the river. Because he had an inclination towards study of Necromancy, and because of the incident concerning his hand, he was allowed to join the Order of the Shroud.

In summer 722, a band of pirates commanded by Red Jack attacked Graveston Isle which was guarded by Thane, who, using necromancy and commanding undead fighters, destroyed most of the band, capturing Red Jack and Brianna Barter.

At the time, Thane was a Guardian of the Mortaebian Order of Death's Peace.

Later that summer, and largely because of additional reputation and funds gained by the victory, Thane became a Mortancer.

Feeling sympathy towards his prisoner Brianna, Thane agreed to take her on as an apprentice. That started her on a more formal study of magic.