Taran

Taran was the smith of Alva Village when Erik and Rugrat arrived. Taran spent a lot of his time around his smithy smoking his pipe as he had accepted that he had reached his peak as a Blacksmith, caring only for farmers tools with nothing to make him push his skills as they would have no use in the village. Taran was aware that somethings were off and were only confirmed upon meeting Erik.

Erik was the first to be introduced to Taran and requested that the man start producing Crossbow mechanisms as after discussing the situation it would be easier for Taran to make the complex components and other villagers create the simple stocks and bows.

It was meeting and working alongside Rugrat that really changed Taran. Taran introduced Rugrat to blacksmithing and showed the large man the basics of the trade. Rugrat picked things up quickly and then started to develop new concepts to improve upon the crossbows that Taran had been creating. Over time the two started to create better and stronger crossbows and these new thoughts and methods started to grow Taran as a Blacksmith. Rugrat also provided Taran with Blacksmith books and blueprints that allowed the mans development to increase even faster.

After the beast attack on the village and the move to Alva Dungeon Taran and Rugrat proceeded to improve their skills further utilizing the advanced resources left behind by the Gnomes. The two would produce weapons, armour and anything else the dungeon needed and began to develop a form of rivalry now that Rugrat had developed his skills to a point that there was very little difference between the two.

When Erik and Rugrat left to explore The Second Realm, Taran stayed to support the dungeon. Taran continued to improve his skills day by day while training the apprentices and carry out any tasks for the academy he could not shrug off on Egbert. This was as opposed to Rugrat who would often make sudden leaps on his journey by making new pieces of equipment.

Taran was filled with excitement upon the arrival of Tan Xue who could create Mortal Grade Iron and proceeded to beg her to train him in the creation process and declared that he would give everything he had to learn and further his skills. Upset that Rugrat had already learned the secret Taran vowed that although it took Rugrat seven days to learn the techniques he would achieve the same feat in three. A Vow he would follow through on and become capable of creating Mortal Grade Iron.

Over time Taran would hand over the role of Blacksmith Department Head to Tan Xue but continued to train the apprentice smiths. Taran was overjoyed when Rugrat returned as he brought many blacksmithing resources with him. Even crying a little though he would likely throw a hammer at any who said so. Taran also has a habit of holding new Blacksmith blueprints close to his chest like precious children.

Tarans competitive relationship with Rugrat had each of them doing all in their power to one up the other. Similar to Qin and Julilah's relationship but rather different in its own way as neither Rugrat nor Taran take losing as well.