Tieh was abandoned as a month-old infant on the steps of Dawnpeak Sanctuary, a religious retreat in the midlands mountains. The priests there surmised that his mother was probably a young farmgirl who grew unnerved when the offspring of her fling with a half-elf proved to have mismatched eyes; the region was badly damaged by a war between powerful rival mages a few generations back, and the common folk still feared the effects of residual magic from their battles.

Raised by the wildly diverse group of clerics who made up the Santuary, it was only natural that young Tieh became an acolyte himself. His primary teacher, however, believed that the young man should go out into the wider world and experience more of life than he could learn within Dawnpeak's walls.

When bandits planned a devious ambush for the caravan he was traveling with Tieh encountered Max Bauersen, a human fighter working as a guard for the merchant-train. The two worked together to thwart the attack, and quickly became friends... and then more than friends.