Absent is a mysterious fellow, a pale, silver-haired gentleman of an indeterminate age. He’s extremely tall for a human, standing at 6 foot 8 inches, painfully thin, immaculately dressed at all times. Some call him the Albino, or the Fancy Man, or the Long Fella – but never to his face.
He avoids the sun at all costs. When seen by the light of the sun, he is revealed to be a wizened high elf, centuries old, with greying skin and a dour, self-loathing grimace on his face. More information has recently come to light – Absent was part of a cabal of mages who had a plan to capture the Tarrasque, trap it under a mountain on an island, and then planeshift that island to the plane of ice, where the Tarrasque would forever be trapped. But that would involve the mages travelling with the island and being stuck there forever.
Absent lost his nerve at the last moment. He teleported away during the complicated ritual, causing a tear in the space time continuum and causing unforeseen catastrophe. He doesn’t know what happened, but suddenly it seemed that everyone in the multiverse was screaming for his head.
Absent called on Mystra, the goddess of magic. He made a bargain with the goddess. In exchange for freedom from his enemies, he would give up his name and forsake all magic powers. Mystra accepted, and sent him to the Sword Coast looking like a human.
That was 187 years ago. The only other person who knows his secret is the halfling, Faith Greymouse.
And now so do you.