-Childhood-

Alistar was born the son of a traveling scholar. He had only one younger sister named Sophia who had, unfortunately, ended the life of her mother in childbirth. With no body else to look after them, and their father constantly traveling, they had no choice but to live life on the road. It was not a bad life. As children of a scholar, they had plenty of books to read, and the knowledge of the man himself was invaluable to a growing child's mind. The two children learned much from their father, reading, writing, basic mathematics. The were even schooled in the more elegant fields of etiquette and strategy, the latter through games.Together, they were a happy family. 

Unfortunately, nothing good lasts forever. One night they were making camp just outside the village of Combe when bandits descended down upon them. The father sprang into action and tried to protect his two young children.However, he was no warrior and was struck dead by a bandit's blade. Guardsmen of Bree arrived not long after that and drove the bandits back into the nearby woods, but it was too late. Alistar was 12 years old at that time and his sister was just 9. Therefore, they were placed in a group home for orphans within the town of Combe.

-Teenage Years-

Alistar quickly realized that he would need something to occupy his time. He looked around for work and eventually found himself cleaning up scraps at the local crafting hall. The work itself was boring, dirty and demeaning. However, it allowed him to meet the traveling smiths that occasionally passed though the small village. He was fascinated by the weapon smiths in particular. He was astounded by the way they took raw metal and turned it into a useful instrument. He would hound them for a lesson every time one of them passed through. Some of them would dismiss him but other would give him some small pointer in the art. It wasn't long before the young boy was dreaming of being a smith.

By the time Alistar reached his 15th birthday, he was apprenticed to an old smith who had retired from his travels to live a peaceful life in Combe. This man, Phillip, insisted that a true weapon smith must be able to use his weapons. After all, he theorized, how can one know a perfect weapon if one does not know how battle works? So Alistar worked on is combat skills, quickly discovering that if he were to wield a weapon, it would be an axe. While he was merely proficient in combat, he had a natural talent for the forge. Before long the young lad was filling minor orders in town for things like pitchforks and horseshoes. This same year, Sophia met a young farm boy by the name of Roderick and the two fell fast in love. This led to Alistar meeting Roderick's brother Townsend, who would become the boys best friend.

Townsend's farm was consistently under attack and Alistar was the one repairing the weapons to be used in its defense. Roderick, Townsend, and Alistar quickly became an inseparable trio. The boys would play little war games and pretend to be soldiers in some grand army. The bandits were playing the role of the invading army, not that they were ever aware of this. Of course, Roderick would often be off with Sophia, leaving only the other two boys to do things on their own. When they were not playing soldier or busy with work, the two boys would simply relax together. They would talk, play pranks on their sisters, and explore the nearby countryside. The kinds of things young boys do when they have the whole world spread out before them.

However, it wasn't long before Townsend's fame spread and he began making trips into Bree, helping out with one thing or another with his mighty throwing arm. As it turned out, there were plenty of people who needed bandits driven off on occasion and not enough Watchmen to do the job. These trips came more and more often until they reached a point where the boys rarely saw each other. Then Phillip passed on in the night and Alistar discovered that, his sister and Roderick preoccupied by each other, there was nothing to hold him in Combe. So he moved to Bree-Town, hoping to find his own place within the city.

-The Bree-Town Watch-

Alistar was a young man of only 19 when he took up his residence in Bree-town. He managed to find himself a job working under a local smith for whom the primary employer was The Bree Watch. He would spend his days forging weapons and chatting with local watchmen as they awaited repairs. Occasionally he would help one talk through a particularly difficult case. In fact, he did this so often that higher ranking members began to take notice. Alistar, as it turned out, had an amazing attention to detail which sometimes allowed him to piece things together in a way which others could not. This was what made him such a natural smith and, as it turned out, it was quite helpful to men of the watch as well. Between Townsend's reputation for bandit wrangling and Alistar's attention to detail, it wasn't long before both men were asked to join the watch. So, at the age of 21, Alistar took up his first post, with Townsend as his partner. They celebrated Roderick and Sophia's wedding not long after and everything seemed right in the world. Alistar had a family and a career, both of which he loved immensely. 

As we learned earlier in the story, nothing good lasts forever. Alistar spent two years as a Watchman before he got the case that would change his life. Some sick creep was going around killing children and leaving their bodies out for the wildlife beyond the gate. He had gotten away with it 6 times before they handed the clues to Alistar. Often times, when the case needed to be solved quickly, Alistar would be consulted. This time was no different. They handed the clues to him and within 48 hours he had an idea of how the killer was working. They just needed him to attack one more time. Alistar had a plan though.

The plan was to stake out the area where the killer chose his victims. Then, simply stop him when he came to collect one. Clean and easy. Or it would have been, had he kept his secret mission a secret like he was supposed to. Instead, he told the rookie serving under him all about it while getting drinks at the Pony the night before the stake out. He was certain that the plan was fool proof, no matter who knew of it. After all, Alistar had never been outsmarted by a crook and that wasn't about to change now. So, come morning, perhaps half a dozen men knew about his secret operation. 

As it turned out, none of that would matter much. When Alistar arrived the next morning to scope the scene, he was surprised to find that the rookie was there before him. He thought nothing of this however, showering his recruit with praise for such forward thinking. Unfortunately, when he turned away to look at the street, his world went black. The young recruit had knocked him out with a pipe.

-The Big Moment (May be Disturbing)-

Alistar would awake to find himself tied to a tree, just outside of Bree. It was night time and there were other people there. Across from him, was another tree with a little girl tied to it. In between the two was the rookie who was free to move. This seemed like good news to Alistar, until he saw the assortment of instruments the rookie carried with him. He had been played. I will not force you to hear what Alistar heard that night. I will simply say that the little girl was killed in front of him and it took hours. One can imagine what this did to Alistar without being subjected to such things. 

By them time the killer turned towards him, Alistar was a wreck. The man had plans for Alistar as well, and it seemed that his death would come no quicker. The first thing that was done, was a large incision on his face, carefully avoiding the eye. "I want you to see everything..." the man would say. Now, if there is one man you can count on in a pinch, it is Townsend. As Alistar lay there, blood pouring from his face and the body of an innocent child splayed out before him, he became certain that he was going to die. However, it was at this exact moment that the killers throat exploded, a javelin carving neatly through him.

The last thing Alistar would remember from that night would be the voice of his closest friend speaking. "Yer 'gon be alright buddy!" After that, there was only nightmare.

-The Long Journey-

After the incident in outside Bree, Welstan was a mess. He could not even look at his uniform each day as the guilt and fear which gripped him were too much to handle. His superiors found him innocent of any wrong doing since the young recruit would have been with him no matter what he said in the bar, yet the guilt was still there. Unable to face his life any longer, he handed in his resignation and set out for ....anywhere.

Eventually. he ended up in Falathlorn where he would live for the next two years. It was here among the elves that he learned to speak Sindarin. He watched the elves carefully, giving himself over to their way of life, hoping to escape his past. This failed of course. But the focus kept him alive and time is the ultimate healer. He began to think about Bree less and less. Eventually, only his nightmares would remind him. The nightmares would never stop.

A funny thing happened next. As the crippling fear and guilt began to subside, they were replaced with a feeling of longing. Alistar was becoming homesick. So, one day, he decided that it was time to go home. He would return to his post and face whatever demons lay in wait for him at home. He packed his things, and headed back to Bree. He would not understand until later, just how different he was than the man who had arrived in Ered Luin just two years prior.

-Present Day-

Alistar made his way back to Bree and ran into Townsend on his first night back. As it turned out, Townsend had also left town for a few years was now back in town, hoping to take his post back. Together they went to the captain and were granted a full reinstatement. They would patrol the Stone quarter, hoping to catch the bandits that have been prowling there lately. Meanwhile, Alistar was trying to reconnect with his sister and Roderick, having not given them much notice before he took off.

Still a lover of the forge, Alistar reconnected with the crafting hall in Bree. In his free time, he can still be found pounding out minor orders for this or that adventurer. 

Shortly after taking his job back within the watch, Alistar came to a grim conclusion. The watch was not the place he remembered it. Officers treated the good people of Bree as though they were subjects and the people of the city did not trust the men of the watch. So, after the events involving Samantha Wakeman (http://laurelinarchives.org/node/33938) he left the watch to find a way to help the people on his own. This led to the formation of the "Defenders of Innocence", a group founded by Townsend and himself. The group dedicated themselves to only one goal, defending the men and women of the free lands without getting caught up in politics. Together, he and Townsend would remind people what it meant to be a protector of the people.