Traeth was born the second son to a very minor noble family in Aramaelle. His father was a country nobleman, who spent almost as much time doing manual labor as his subjects. As a youth Traeth was sent to the military, and trained as a forward scout. For several years he was considered something of a coward, due to his fear of riding horses. Who ever heard of a Borderlander who was afraid of horses? But eventually he earned the respect of his peers and commanders due to his success as a scout and uncanny ability to find bands of trollocs. When he was about 18, Tandem was out with a group performing a routine patrol some ways out from their outpost. Somehow, they got ambushed by trollocs, and all of his fellow scouts were hacked apart by the monstrosities. But Traeth survived. When he got back to the outpost his commanders asked him what happened. He told them about the ambush and that he wasn't entirely sure how he managed to escape at all, but that was a lie. In a moment of pure unadulterated horror at the sight of his comrades being savaged Traeth suddenly felt a terrifying surge of energy, accompanied by a gut-wrenching sensation, and he knew what he was. The One Power saved Traeth that night, but he knew what the cost would inevitably be.
After his return the other soldiers started talking, some even accusing him of cowardice right to his face. Who could blame them? He wouldn't discuss any details of the ambush, and everyone assumed he had simply fled. Soon enough the rumors caused enough people to question him, that Tandem was discharged and told to go back to his family's manor. Instead, he spent years wandering the wilderness alone, and it was not until recently that he returned to civilization. He re-enlisted into the guard under the name Tandem, his appearance changed enough due to his use of the Power and his time in the wilderness that he could claim to be a distant cousin from Manetheren. Now Tandem continues his work as an exceptional scout, augmenting his abilities with Saidin during only the most desperate of missions, though he avoids utilizing his true Talents at all costs.
