Eshal Talan was born Haring 30th of 9:18 Dragon outside of Treviso, Antiva. His mother Rethkari died in labor, his twin sister Naëva died just after their first birthday, and his father Kataraas died when Eshal was still a toddler; therefore, Eshal has almost no firsthand knowledge of his birth family.
He was taken in by a Chantry-run orphanage that planned to sell him to a branch of the Crows once he was old enough to fetch a decent price, but one of the other orphans had her magic manifest suddenly, burning the entire Chantry complex down. Eshal and his newfound best friend quickly decided to make use of the chaos and ran away together into the wilderness towards the Antivan-Rivaini border.
The two children were found by a travelling circus troupe that took them in. Fajraz immediately became fascinated with the sleight-of-hand hand tricks and divination games that the troupe’s fake seer would ploy on patrons and quickly volunteered to become her assistant. Eshal, meanwhile, was entrusted to the troupe’s knife-thrower, a man called Robin Blind, as his performance target. Rob gave him the stage name ‘Estevan Toloni’ and had Eshal’s horns papier-mâchéd over to convince audiences he was merely a human boy convincingly disguised as a qunari. The ruse was surprisingly easy to maintain and lasted for several years until a growth spurt finally ended its effectiveness.
The two of them became jacks-of-all-trades as everyone in the circus clamored to teach the children what they had to offer. Eshal took to narrating acts and singing jaunty tunes with far more grace than to his previous role as an impalement artist’s assistant, but Fajraz grew increasingly dissatisfied with their mobile lifestyle. She eventually tired of Madame Zaina’s cheap ploys and left the troupe to train under a real Rivaini seer in Afsaana.
Without the presence of his closest childhood friend to tether him, Eshal also bid the circus his goodbyes and left to seek his fortunes elsewhere. Having romantic notions of a pirate’s life on the high seas, a teenaged Eshal stowed away aboard the ship of Felicisima Armada Captain Arlandro in the hopes that he would somehow impress his way into the crew. Instead, Eshal’s violent seasickness drew the immediate attention of Arlandro’s First Mate who took pity on him and tossed him back overboard. He managed to swim back to shore in his weakened state and grudgingly acknowledged to himself that becoming a Raider was not in his destiny.
Eshal eventually made his way down to Seleny where he found postings for auditions at the city’s opera house. The opera’s director, a retired merchant named Marciano Garrastazu, had initially refused to grant him an audition until his daughter Crescencia asked him to indulge her curiosity. Eshal’s charm and unique looks won over the director, who tasked his current production’s male lead with looking out for him. Unbeknownst to Marciano, Eshal and Crescencia began a passionate love affair at this time. It all came to a head when Marciano’s business sense got the best of him and he wandered backstage to access the opera’s stock of costumes and props only to find Eshal and his beloved daughter in a compromising position. Eshal’s hasty retreat from the opera house, Marciano hotly in pursuit, became the main topic of local gossip for months afterwards.
Seeking a fast ticket out of the city and away from Marciano’s wrath, Eshal joined a band of mercenaries called the Dappled Wyverns. The pay was lousy and the humans refused to engage in conversation with the few vashoth band members. Eshal has a brief romance with fellow Wyvern named Timoteo but it ended poorly after only a few months. Fed up with their treatment, Eshal left the Wyverns alongside former kithmates Naish Adaar and Hannane to join the vashoth-run Valo-Kas Mercenary Band, in whose company he continues to serve besides into the 9:40s.
