Russel was born and raised in the Ruswold Valley. His mother and father were poor freemen with a small plot of land on the edge of the Brecilian Forest and he was an only child. When he was but nine, a strange fever took several of the homesteaders in the south of Ruswold Valley and his mother and father died of the affliction. Unable to work the land on his own, but well muscled even as young boy, Russel was given an apprenticeship as a lumberjack with the local logger camp. He worked his way through most of his childhood and was a fairly accomplished lumberjack looking for a wife when disaster struck and a large rotten tree fell over him, crippling his left arm and shattering his shoulder. He was rescued by his fellow lumberjacks who fully expected him to die but one had the idea to take him to a Dalish healer in the nearby caravan. Russel was nursed back to health by the Dalish who helped him, despite not liking his ilk, but by the time he was healed he had started to grow fond of the Elves that he, like others, mistrusted before. He could even call one or two of the elves friends by the time he left.
Unable to properly swing the two-handed axe anymore Russel could not work as a logger and soon fell on hard times. With one arm almost crippled he couldn’t properly work the land alone either but he caught a big break when Bann Krole announced that he was recruiting new men-at-arms in order to tackle the bandits plaguing the valley. Built like a bear, Russel was a shoe-in despite his injury and over the next few years he was trained in the use of weapons and shields. During a bandit battle, the Bann was injured and lost a leg to rot but the cutthroats were broken and scattered. He managed to hold onto the title of Bann narrowly but he started relying on his men more and more, Russel amongst them.

When Arl Neruda, the bann’s brother-in-law, and the man who had lent the bann the money he needed to pay his men during the bandit raids, asked for help fighting darkspawn, Bann Krole sent his best men. When he asked again, he sent more men and dispatched a caravan of grain to Denerim in order to raise money to help the Arl pay more troops in his battle with the Darkspawn.

Russel was in charge of getting the money to the Arl as well as bringing a (cheap) physician back in order to take a look at the Bann’s pained leg.

Russel has relatives in Amaranthine and Redcliffe.

The Ilashan elves of the Brecilian Forest have given him the title of vhenallin or ‘friend of the People.’

The people of Vintiver call him ‘Horrorbane’ after he slew the abomination tormenting the village.

He was knighted after besting Bann Trumhall in a trial by combat. Trumhall’s dog seems to have taken to him quite well since the duel.