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Cleph Baradel was born in a town in the human-dominated region of Savamaras (small area somewhere northwest of the Grasslands, not too close to the mountains). Savamaras held an Aileist temple called Sol Althba, which, for generations, had served people in the area with its famed tradition of training skilled magical healers. The clerics of Sol Althba ensured the good health of travellers and residents alike, until one day Savamaras was overcome with a plague that resisted the white arts. From whence had it came? The priests blamed slovenliness and immorality, perhaps brought to them by the neighbouring Lamia, perhaps a product of the changing times. People died, young and old alike, suffering in pain and bearing marks of their illness — as more died, so more and more turned to the religion of Sol Althba, now made more fanatic thanks to fear.

Cleph was less than six years old when his talent for magic was divined by the priests, at which point he was taken from his family and cloistered in the temple along with other students. By this time, the plague had been tearing through the region for almost a year, and Cleph was one of the lucky few who'd escaped affliction. It is because your faith in the Goddess is strong, the priests told the young boy, and as long as you maintain your devotion, She will protect you. Not wanting to develop symptoms of the plague and get thrown out of the temple (which sometimes happened to the students), Cleph threw himself into the gruelling process of becoming a cleric. Sol Althba's priests continued to fight the plague, only managing to prolong lives at best, never a full cure.

Upon reaching the Savamaran age of manhood, thirteen-year-old Cleph sought an alternate route: he would venture out into the world, where surely the solution to their suffering was hidden. Success seemed inevitable — after all, hadn't the Goddess protected him up until now, when so many others had fallen ill? Fortune was with him. The boy swore an oath to not return home until he found the way to save his people.

Luckily for Cleph, many people had a use for a well-trained healer, even one who was so young and unwise. Good luck was on the boy's side, as he mostly fell in with decent individuals who didn't take complete advantage of his naïveté. For his part, Cleph discovered a previously unknown passion for travel and adventure, and became sidetracked from his mission as he got caught up in the lifestyle.

Guilt over his lack of progress naturally built up as the years flew by, but Cleph still made the effort to learn new healing techniques and searched for a cure to the Savamaran plague. Unfortunately, while he improved as a white mage and fighter, his quest never got far, and seemed all for naught when one of his adventures took him close to home. It was here that he discovered that much of the region had been abandoned, and most importantly, the temple and village of Sol Althba had been razed to the ground.

If the kid had guilt and self-condemnation before, it only increased tenfold from there (regardless of the fact that blaming himself wasn't completely rational). At sixteen, Cleph pledged a new quest: a journey for penance. This actually was much of the same stuff he was doing before, except with more rescuing of orphans and pontification and self-righteous asceticism. Laico Siegmyrth, one of the adventurers Cleph had befriended during his travels, invited the young white mage to join the Asterion League once he reached sixteen. Cleph rejected the offer, not wanting to be distracted from his "pilgrimage," but did occasionally provide support on League hunts for old time's sake.

+ Runs into an old friend much, much later and finds out that everyone from Sol Althba just set up shop somewhere else. They're psyched: "Cleph?! We thought you were dead!" "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD." "OMG NO. And guess what? The plague is gone!" "Praise the gods!"
+ He heads for a visit to New Sol Althba, and everything is peachy until he finds out that not only was Old Sol Althba burnt to ashes, so were the plague-ridden citizens. The village elder's like "Let's give thanks to the brave people who voluntarily gave their lives to rid the world of evil (as per our directions)" and Cleph is like "SAY WHAT" and he leaves his not-home for the last time, terribly jaded now.
+ One of his old adventurer buddies is like "well, if you're no longer whipping yourself, how 'bout you finally join our guild for some sweet monies?" So Cleph does, and having permanently lost his faith, the guild becomes his life.
+ His reputation as a healer leads him to be called upon for bigger things than monster hunts, like joining human militaries on their campaigns. Hates the politics involved with war, especially when religion comes into play. Soon pisses off his own kind by insisting on being a neutral healer. Finds self-fulfilment in travelling war-torn areas and helping both sides of the battle, plus the many innocent bystanders.
+ MORE STUFF HAPPENS. DX

common knowledge Cleph Baradel has been a presence around the guild for roughly twenty years, officially joining at the age of twenty-three (~15 years ago). Before then, Cleph was a bit of an Aileist zealot; veteran members might remember being subjected to religious prattle while on the field. (He spoke a lot about crimes, atonement and purification, and the gossips in the guild might know general details of what occurred in his hometown.) After he joined the League, Cleph became far more serious and cynical in nature, although those who know him well would say he's not entirely the "gruff old man" he claims to be. Cleph was made Head of Support Magic seven years ago. He has always been very single-minded and dedicated to the Asterion League, which is why some were surprised when he had a seemingly whirlwind romance with an Ejderha newcomer, Piraya. They married a couple of years ago, and she also became a guild leader in that time.