My life story, no matter how much I loathe it, begins with my family. My great grandfather was a lesser commander of the Tar Valon army. He led many great battles, but never got credit because of the general stealing his thunder. Nevertheless, my great grandfather's fame got him connections, more specifically, connections to the merchant guilds. So, after retiring he formed one of the most successful mining organizations in the known world. Needless to say, my father was born into incredible wealth, the same as I.
As a boy, I was sent to finishing school to "refine my etiquette," and not to fraternize with those below me in social standing. This was NOT something I wanted. I always got in trouble in school, and put forth as little effort as possible. I always had a knack for talking my way out of a lot of the trouble I got in, and was very good at charming my female teachers. The janitor, Lathan, noticed my talents. He helped me to hone my subterfuge skills and to "grease" people; make then believe whatever you tell them. He taught me to pick locks, pick pockets, and pick easy targets for my grifting. He helped me to read other people, make other people read me the way I wanted to be read, taught me how to captivate an audience with a good story, and helped me or cursed me, to the life of a gambler. With Lathan's lessons I also learned my favorite lesson; the art, and I stress THE ART of disguise. Anyone can act like somebody else, but I've learned how to act and look like somebody else.
From that point on I took my skills to the street. I was in school very little, but with a little greasing of the teachers and headmasters, I was able to keep my parents at unawares. Lathan would take me out and we would do grifts of people. Although we worked together, he always stressed to me the importance of working alone... NEVER fully trust anyone. How right he was... Anyway, we were on a mission to steal something important from a notorious merchant named Casar Fultien at one of his warehouses. The reputation for this guy scares people into killing themselves instead of being caught after crossing him. A real crooked guy. Anyway, we were running a scam on some of Fultien's less-than-intelligent guys and almost had our hands on the prize. Then the man himself, Fultien, walks in on us. I happened to be the first in his view, and when I turned to my "mentor" to see what to do, he was nowhere to be found. I took the rap for the whole thing. Needless to say this didn't make my father happy.
My dad really clamped down on me to go to school, and said if I didn't shape up, he'd disown me. I think he knew I wouldn't, and I just HAD to push the odds. This is where it got complicated. On my way home one day I was jumped by three thugs. I quickly realized that one was one of Fultien's men from the warehouse. I managed to defend myself and knock out two and I had to kill the third. COMPLETELY SELF-DEFENSE. Like I said, Fultien carried a lot of sway and tried to pin a murder charge on me. If not for my father it might have worked. But he told me that was it; he was done "bailing" me out. So, from there I left. But before I did I made sure old mom was still on my side. See, although dad's in control of the company, my mom actually does everything; a complete role reversal. So, she told me that wherever I'd go that had a merchant guild connected to our business, I could always pick up some cash.
So I took off on my own with quite a few marks in my purse and my wit as my companion (so I have a great companion). I try not to draw a terrible amount of attention to myself and stay at inns by keeping an audience captivated with heroic tales while the barkeep drains them of their money. It's a nice system.