Soren grew up in a commune of individuals that follow a very particular spiritual order. Led by his parents, who claim to commune with a pantheon of greater celestial beings. They proclaim any mortal can ascend through the ranks of angels.

Soren was their only child, and had a particular role in the cult. His birth was said to be divine conception, and his aptitude for magic was presented as proof. He was revered as an oracle, a divine body that would herald a great age of prosperity and enlightenment. Soren grew up with his every need cared for, but was isolated and kept away from the other children, so as not to be tainted by their earthly spirits.

Despite this, Soren eventually made her first friend. An energetic and stubborn boy named Marcus, who was the son of the choir head. Despite Soren’s trepidation, Marcus was determined to become friends with the chosen one. They saw each other more and more frequently, and over the years grew closer. Soren declared Marcus his dearest disciple to the cult, allowing them private time away from the prying eyes and ears of their parents. In secret, Marcus would tell her he thought the whole cult was a sham, and they would daydream about running away together.

Unfortunately when Soren was 15, things took a drastic turn. Marcus overheard his father talking to Soren's parents about their plans. Soren was to be ritually sacrificed on his 18th birthday as part of a plan to have him "ascend" to his new divine body, as a harbinger of the end times and to lead the ascension of his people. Aware of their new time limit, the two hatched a plan. Less than a month after their discovery, they ran away from the cult, stealing food and enough money to pay for a wagon out of their homeland of Domini into Dema, a neutral country where Marcus told Soren they would be safe.

They sang on the street for money, and found a community of local musicians who took them under their wing. Soren played a dulcimer he took from home and enjoyed it well enough, but his attention was more so on the people. Aside from Marcus, he had never been able to interact with people he considered his peers before. While Marcus focused on music, Soren was going to parties, drinking and kissing and exploring new ways to navigate the world.

It was at one of these parties he met Diela, an intense and sharp-witted tiefling with few friends due to her abrasive and guarded nature. They hit it off instantly, and after a couple weeks of not-so-subtle flirting, began a relationship. Soren was worried it would make things weird with his best friend, but Diela slipped into their dynamic perfectly, being the straight man to Marcus’ spontaneous humour, and helping push Soren to pursue music seriously. After leaving the cult Soren had clung to Marcus as his only tie to home, but now he had another person he could feel comfortable confiding in. They played music together, and got Marcus to agree to starting a band. They traveled as a group for a while, touring around villages and cities. Everything finally seemed perfect.

After five years of playing in a band together the group became quite comfortable with travel around Dema, and grew reckless in their guards. While camping on the road one night, a group of bandits attacked them. Marcus was killed almost instantly, an arrow straight through the head. They held Diela captive as they began raiding the camp, and Soren ran as fast as he could, leaving Diela for dead. Soren’s dream life was swiftly brought to an end.

He managed to make his way to a small nearby village, where he wallowed in depression for several months. He drank the days away and spent his nights unable to sleep in fear the bandits would come to finish him off. He mourned Diela and Marcus selfishly, filled with self-pity. Eventually a travelling Ranger group encountered him, and concerned for his well-being offered to give him a ride to the city of Pemmald, where he might be able to seek more opportunities.

There, he learned Diela was still alive! Apparently in the months since that awful night she had started up her own adventurers guild. She seemed driven in a way Soren had never seen her, and she clearly held a grudge for his abandoning her. He begged her to let him join her party, and she agreed, albeit with a cold dismissal Soren found chilling. As long as he made himself useful, she said. In his role as a party healer she kept him at arms length and treated him like a servant. He hated it. He found himself wishing she had died that night so he wouldn’t have to be guilty anymore, he could simply mourn her. Still, he couldn't bring himself to leave, as that would be akin to a second betrayal. Despite everything, he saw her as the only stable thing in his life that remained.

A couple months after joining Diela’s crew he happened to be on the ferry when a rift suddenly opened and sucked the boat inside. In this liminal dimension, the passengers discovered a crash-landed space vessel containing a strange robotic man who spoke a language no one recognized. Upon finding a means of escape, the ferry passengers (and their new intergalactic companion) were required to attend the local Ranger’s office to make a statement about the incident. This is how Chroma first met! After a few run-ins with other portals around the city, they were hired by the Rangers to adventure together and investigate rifts that had begun opening all across the continent. Though Soren attempted to maintain his position in Diela’s party, an act of terrorism landed her in prison, and she denounced his membership of the group when confronted by authorities. Soren was finally entirely cut off from his old life, with a new adventure awaiting.