Physical Traits:
Torbane is a man of variety. Often he is on the field of battle or the hunt, and in these times he may go for weeks without worrying about his appearance or cleanliness. His blond hair grows wild and loose, his beard thick and disheveled. His simple clothing fill with holes and stain with mud and blood. Less often he is within the bounds of civilized lands, surrounded by other people. Here his hair is close-cropped or bound tightly to his scalp, beard trimmed and coiffed. His clothing is clean and fresh, though not ever in the height fashion.
Regardless of where he is found though, a few features are always present. His spear, a standard weapon of no great craftsmanship, is always with him. His teeth are always clean and white. His eyes, a striking azure, are always open and observant, containing a mix of fury and mirth that might sometimes be unsettling.


Attire:
When prepared for battle Torbane wears an set of strange looking scale maile made from the scales of marsh lizards. His spear, which he calls "Snow's Blaze", hangs from from a strap across his back. His short sword, referred to as "Stifle", hangs from his hip. His bow and arrows are also present, and though he does not call the bow by a given name, it is perhaps the most valuable and well cared for possession he carries.

In downtime his garb is purely practical. It covers his body, does not agitate his skin, and allows for a full range of movement. A faded, moss green hood and cloak is usually draped across his shoulders. A necklace hangs from him, a crude silver spiral hanging from a sturdy leather tong.





Personality:
Torbane is often grinning and laughing, though it's rare for his mirth to be good natured unless you've somehow earned his respect. He is sarcastic, arrogant, cynical, and blunt. If one knew his history as the bastard son of Brodin Reed it would be difficult to hold it against him, but since Torbane is sworn to keep his peace about the subject there are very few folk who understand his behavior.
Despite often looking like a wildling barbarian or a mad crannogman, Torbane spent his youth alongside noble born children, learning all the house sigils, forms of address, reading, writing, manners, etc etc. Then, as he was on the cusp of becoming a man, he was essentially banished from his home, sent in to the bog of the Neck, and forced to thrive or die. So thrive he did, growing hard, rugged, and resentful. The combination of lifestyles created an intelligent, independent, witty, and sometimes cruel warrior. He'd be an excellent vassal if any noble was capable of taming his wild nature.
To the small folk, Torbane is less sharp and dismissive. He understands the difficulty of being low born. However, he sometimes sees particularly subservient small folk as weak or cowardly, too afraid of what the nobles might do with their "power" to speak for themselves or defend what is theirs. Spending 10 years wandering the north alone forced him to choose survival and strength over the weakness dependence on other people.






Skills/Education:
Torbane is an oddity to be sure. He is aware of the house sigils, their blood lines, and their mottos. He can read, and write, and has a basic understanding of numbers. These he learned while growing up in proximity to House Reed's children.
When he was no longer welcome there, Torbane was forced to hone other skills. these days his talent with a spear is a sight to behold, and his bowmanship is a close second. His ability to hunt and track man and beast through the wild, varied lands of the North has proven the end of many of each. His  athleticism and endurance are next to none.
Unfortunately he is a simpleton in the healing arts, so much so that he would rather bleed than attempt to bandage a wound.




History:
Torbane began his life as a commoner born to the handmaid of a noble Lady. The handmaiden, Sophy Voss, explained her condition as indiscretion with a passing Stark soldier, but in reality She'd had an affair with Lord Brodin Reed. Lord Reed and Sophy agreed to keep the true cause of the pregnancy a secret, allowing Lord Reed to maintain his reputation and ensuring a decent life for the child. Lady Kina Reed, the kind hearted wife of Brodin, understood Sophy's lapse in judgment, and graciously allowed the woman to stay on as a handmaid. Kina was pregnant herself, with her first born son, and she enjoyed the company in the experience of pregnancy. Lady Kina gave birth first, naming the new heir of the Reed line Seldane. A few weeks later Sophy gave birth to a young boy and named him Torbane.

At birth Torbane was exposed to the excesses of nobility. He was never really treated as a family member, but he nursed and grew in the same world as Seldane Reed and the other Reed children who came along after. His proximity made it inevitable that he would befriend the lot of them, and he often sat in on their classes and trainings while his mother worked. Young Lord Seldane became his closest friend, and the other Reed siblings; Braeden, Rayna, Croll, Trevyr, and Caryssa; all admired and loved Torbane (and he them). Lady Kina treated him warmly. Like her children, she enjoyed Torbane's growing wit, cheerful disposition, and commitment to House Reed. As a child she once presided over a makeshift ceremony the children put on, in which Torbane swore his sword in service to Seldane and the rest of House Reed. She thought it delightful, and the children all seemed to take it very seriously.

Lord Brodin was not so entertained. He was the only one that knew the truth of Torbane's birth. He had sworn to allow the boy a stable lifestyle within his house, but as Torbane grew he became more and more a symbol of Brodin's long secreted sin. The boy was a regular reminder of Brodin's adulterous failing, as well as his weakness in refusing to take responsibility for the boy. Lord Reed managed to refrain from any physical cruelty, but Brodin treated young Torbane with cold resentment and jagged dismissal.

Unfortunately, Torbane was committed to serving the House Reed, feeling the children to be his own siblings, and Lady Kina to be as good as his own beloved mother. So, he determined that he would earn Lord Brodin's respect. Torbane knew that though he might love the Reeds dearly, the only way for a small folk to gain a noble Lord's respect was through martial service, and so Torbane took up the arms of the Crannogman, practicing to become the greatest bannerman the frigid Lord could hope for.

Seeing Torbane's devotion to the ways of combat, Lord Seldane took up arms alongside his friend, and the two trained together happily. Though the rest of the Reed brood joined in when necessary for their basic skills, Seldane and Torbane swiftly became talented warriors. It was during this time that the eldest daughter, Rayna Reed, began to find herself attracted to Torbane Voss. She watched her brother spar with her friend each day, and praised Torbane's unwillingness to speak deceit or cruelty. She admired his commitment to her family. Not least of all she appreciated the notes of his own returned affections, hidden barely as much as propriety demanded of the common boy walking among nobility.

Eventually it came time for Torbane to swear his oath of fealty to Lord Brodin Reed. The trainers of Brodin's men thought the boy more than ready. Seldane himself extolled Torbane's strength and skill, though staunchly denied any suggestions that the commoner might be better than he. However, when Torbane made to swear himself, Lord Brodin could not contain his animosity for his bastard son. Brodin refused Torbane's service, scolding him for thinking himself worthy of fealty to a Reed. The family and servants of the house could not believe that Brodin would allow his long held dislike of Torbane to stop him from accepting the sword of the young servant boy.

Torbane, for his part, maintained his temper long enough to stand, turn around, walk calmly from the hall, and find himself an empty room to break down in. Rayna found him, having set off to look for him and console him. She told him that she had feelings for him, and that even if her father would not take his service, it was already pledged to her brother and his dearest friend. When Seldane was head of the house he would accept Torbane's sword formally without hesitation. Torbane admitted his own affections openly in return, and the pair shared a kiss, after which Torbane swore he would serve Rayna above all others.

The pair went their separate ways, and Torbane went home for the evening, content to be masterless until the day the house passed to his friend Seldane. But his new found satisfaction was short lived. That very night Torbane and his mother were awoken by Lords Brodin, Seldane, and Braeden, pounding on the door to their quarters. Lit by torches and rage, the Reeds barged in to the rooms. Seldane and Braeden, though reluctant, held Torbane at sword point, while Brodin took Sophy in to a back room, demanding a conversation. For a long while the three eldest sons of Lord Brodin Reed stood in uncomfortable silence, unable to hear a word of the hushed conversation in the next room.

When Lord Brodin and Sophy finally emerged, the handmaid was downcast and subdued. Brodin cursed Torbane with only a glance, and then ushered his legitimate children out of the rooms behind him. Torbane and Sophy sat down, and finally Sophy told her son the truth of his birth, from how she first caught the eyes of Lord Reed all the way to the present day. Then she explained to the boy that Rayna had gone to her father to plead that he accept Torbane's service. In her solicitation she revealed that she had feelings for the young warrior, and that they had shared a kiss of true love. Suddenly Lord Brodin, who had weathered his daughts urging apathetically, suddenly flew in to a rage, gathered his two oldest sons, took up arms, and stormed over to the haindmaiden's rooms.

Torbane's world was shattered. His entire life had been a lie. His friends had always been siblings more loved by the father. Worse yet, the woman he felt he loved was his own half sister, and though he now knew the truth he could not close off his feelings. He knew it could never be between them, no matter how they felt. He asked his mother how he would be able to stay now, knowing what he did. She explained that he could not stay even if he wanted to.

Brodin had maintained the secret of Torbane's birth, even from the sons brought to aid in Torbane's subjugation. However, Brodin swore to Sophy that if Torbane remained, or ever contacted any of the Reed children again, he would be put to death. Brodin promised that Sophy herself would be run out of Greywater Watch, and the Voss name would be declared traitors to the Reed house, ensuring no Northern House would accept her services. The ultimatum was cruel, but Torbane suddenly understood that he had no choice in the matter. If he defied and remained in his home he would be killed, his mother would be made destitute, his best friends would have to see him executed, his young love would learn of her unwitting sin, and his name would be scorned forever.

So he left, taking only his weapons and what food his mother could spare.

For the next three years Torbane dwelt in the swamp marsh of the Neck, following Greywater Watch from afar as it moved from place to place. He became an animal, draping himself in poorly made furs, eating wretched vegetables and carrion meat. As he did so, unable to think of anywhere else he aught to go, he quickly learned  the skills necessary to survive in such inhospitable ground. He slayed many swamp lizards, boar, snakes, and worse. He learned to move unhindered by knee deep bog and mud, and to sprint like mad across open ground. His spear, bow, and short sword ended many creatures of the land, and even bandits or raiders in the bog.

Rumors began to circulate among the Crannogmen of a creature between man and beast, roaming the Neck and killing any living thing across it's path. Then one day he failed to conceal himself from a hunting party, which happened to include
the Reed children, lead on a casual hunt by an aging retainer. At first the party failed to recognize their old friend, and he instinctually with arms. Braeden, Trevyr, and Caryssa all moved to defend their family, but as battle was about to be joined Rayna recognized the stained and grimey creature as Torbane Voss. She immediatly rushed over and threw her arms around Torbane. For a moment Torbane was overcome by the sensation of a comforting touch from another human being, and then he was seperated from the growing woman by the hand of Seldane Reed.

Seldane's eyes burned with an indescribable heat. He glared at his one time friend, and without a word Torbane knew that Brodin Reed had told is eldest son about the circumstances of his half brother's birth.  Brodin had even kept secret the reason for Torbane's departure, and the younger children were all told that their childhood friend had simply gone mad and fled to the marsh to live as a wild man. Some believed this story more than others, but it seemed that Seldane had learned the truth. Rayna begged for Torbane to stay, but Torbane was reminded once final time of the cruelty of nobility and the twists of fate that thrust some folk to grace and shoved the rest in to torment.

For another year Torbane remained in the loose vicinity of Greywater Watch, never once answering when Lady Rayna Reed snuck out in to the marsh shouting his name. As much as he craved human warmth, he still could not risk harming his mother's security, nor expect Rayna to look past their relation. He wasn't even sure he could accept the fact. Then eventually he moved further and further away from Greywater Watch, leaving the Neck, planning on roaming the whole of the North. He looked to gain money, fame, and pleasures unlike he had experienced as either a youth or a wild thing.

Torbane found that he enjoyed sex, money, alcohol, food, and fighting, and the thrill of proving his own superiority over other men was addicting to his pent up fury. Everywhere he went he was thought of as a powerful fighter incapable of paying respects to the local Lords or elders. A hint of the exhuberant boy he'd once been returned to the barbaric visage of Torbane Voss. He moved further and further afield, and so further from the minds of any who might have known him once. Then eventually he claimed the last name "Snow". It did him no good, and gained him no notice from the Reed family, who he expected had moved on from him. In fact, his usage of the name Snow might likely infuriate Brodin and Seldane, a hint that perhaps Lord Reed had been indiscreet.

Torbane took pleasure in the snide resentment of nobility and even of some common folk. He reveled in their disdain, especially when given the chance to prove them wrong. Even those nobles most distrusting of bastards would find themselves hard pressed to speak ill of Torbane's skills, though even the most accomodating ones could not argue his difficulty during the execution of those skills. Now Torbane wanders the North, perhaps eventually even in to the southern lands, speaking ill of bloodlines and fate, selling his sword for crumbs, and getting in fights just and unjust alike.