Like all other Mer, the very beginning of Garner's life was a fight for survival, having to fend off his countless brethren, all vying for food, turning to each other when none was left. The weak died, the stronger managing to break free of the chaos and live. Garner was one of the survivors, and was raised by the Minisink tribe. The Mer child quickly took to finding food the sate the hunger that mostly drove him. As his mind developed he bore witness to the great Sallura carrying her spoils overhead. Awestruck by the sight, Garner became determined to follow in her footsteps, developing a keen eye which he put to use by finding trinkets and other such shiny things, ferreting them away in secret. The first of these treasures was a simple necklace, upon which hung several gilded shark teeth, a necklace that bears great sentiment because of its meaning, being the beginning of his collection.
As Garner grew up, he took his place in the tribe, joining the hunters in search of food, his trained eye helping with his job. He took a shine to the trident, using it in conjunction with the venom in his tail to subdue and kill his prey. However, he would always keep at least one eye out for any treasure that had sunk to the seabed, always slightly distracted. These distractions often meant prey would escape, or a member of the hunting party would get injured, forcing him to tend to their wounds as recompense. The frequency of these mishaps meant he picked up the basics of healing over time, eventually becoming something of a surgeon for the hunters, even after he managed to temper his eye for treasure.
The longing to hoard was still there, however, and the amount of trinkets the Mer could find on the ocean floor were infuriatingly few and far between. But the sea had its own treasure, in a way, and Garner began to make his own treasures from coral, teeth, whatever was lying around. His works were hardly masterpieces - they were hardly more than trinkets threaded onto a kelp string - but he found it immensely satisfying, being able to make beauty of his own. Occasionally, he would give them to people, usually due to a close friendship or in exchange for something he desired.
