Cillian Kilpatrick was born in Greenshire, and for the first several years of his life…it was good. Cillian's father was a smith, and passed those skills on to his son starting at a very young age. When needed, Cillian also helped his extended family with various tasks, such as carpentry (since he was a big strong lad he was suited to the work), trapping small game when times were a bit leaner, and even a bit of fishing to supplement the family's food stores. He also picked up the hobby of woodcarving in his spare time. The Kilpatricks were the most prominent family of the small village they lived in, his father running quite a successful business (some of that savvy which he managed to pass down to his son) which occupied an area right on the southernmost edge of the Barony of Blackforge. The villagers had always considered themselves to fall under the sway of the Kerrigans, but the Baron of Riverwynd had other ideas. Cillian never knew if it was by chance or design that the Baron and his men came through the village, but by the time they left, Cillian's father, mother, and younger brother were dead, and he and his younger sister Gavenia were "employees" of the Baron.
Gavenia had always been the baby of the family, and sadly she had not inherited the robust constitution that most of his family enjoyed. Frail and often sickly, she was leveraged against Cillian's skills as a weaponsmith, and so Cillian worked himself to exhaustion day after day, either working the forge, or building and repairing furnishings, or occasionally the slight respite of carving trinkets and toys for the children of those nobles loyal to Fallon Riverwynd. Cillian then spent much of the evenings trying to protect his sister from the unwholesome attentions of captors and fellow "employees" alike. Being among the largest and strongest of those unfortunate souls, and better-fed due to the valuable skills he possessed, Cillian managed to effectively protect Gavenia from those predations…usually with his fists. He also came to know another female "guest" of the Riverwynds by the name of Gwenifer…a Bowyer who had been a captive of the castle for considerably longer. Before long, she too fell under his protection, which really just about doubled the amount of fights he found himself. But between all that experience and his strength and size, he did an adequate job of it, until some of the scum got smart, and sent a couple of men to threaten Gavenia while their fellow "spent some time" with Gwenifer. While he became even more fiercely protective of Gwen after that, things soon got worse….
Gavenia fell victim to a foe that Cillian couldn't overpower with any amount of muscle: Disease. A powerful fever claimed her life, and the nearly inconsolable Cillian was forcibly crippled…the achilles' tendon of his left leg cut to prevent him from running. Gwenifer's attentions managed to keep the wound from festering, but he would limp for the rest of his days. Indeed, Gwenifer became his sole reason for living for the next few years, as he continued pounding out weapons of increasingly good quality for the Baron's men, often spending time in-between patching armor and doing other simple blacksmith work. Eventually, though, Baron Fallon Riverwynd met his fate, even if he perhaps did not suffer enough for his crimes. Relief was not quick in coming, though, as the Baron perished in Darfield, and it was over a month before word that the Baroness Wenna Riverwynd had released the Baron's prisoners arrived.
Finally, though, a faint bit of good fortune finally entered Cillian's life…Lord Rinder Kerrigan soon arrived in Blackforge, bearing food and medicines for those the Baron had mistreated. Lord Kerrigan listened intently to the stories of those that had been "guests" of Blackforge, and was moved to tears by many of them. In the span of just a day, Cillian found himself commissioned to create a sword for Lord Rinder, and saw the man who had attacked Gwenifer all those years ago swinging from a noose (along with several others who had committed similar crimes in the past several years). Upon completing the sword for Lord Rinder, Rinder granted him a most generous amount of coin (far beyond the worth of the blade) and bade him build a better life for himself. He joined his coin with Gwenifer's (who had received a similar gift after equipping several of the Lord's men with new longbows), and together they resolved to travel far from Blackforge, as neither of them had any family left to keep them in Greenshire.
As they travelled, Gwenifer and Cillian were wed, knowing how deeply they had come to depend on one another, and that few would ever understand what they had endured. It may well have been the first moment of true happiness Cillian had felt in nearly ten years. It was soon accompanied by something else that he had long since forgotten…hope for a brighter future.