Leothas (platinum)
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Leothas Orbryn Nalfein is a rogue originally hailing from Ta'Nalfein.
"Orbryn" is a name that might be known to those familiar with prominent families involved in Ta'Nalfein's sea trade. While the eldest families of the noble elite might deride them as commoners playing at nobility, among the tradesman and merchant classes they stand as a shining example of the status one might achieve through hard work and wise dealings. Being born a bastard, however, that status is something that Talthas Orbryn's firstborn son was never afforded. Leothas had heard the story from his mother when he was still quite young. How his father had cast her out while he was still in the womb, forcing her to fend for herself. How, in the end, she had to resort to taking residence at the brothel where she was put to work in what some call the oldest profession in the lands. When it was time for her to ply her trade she would send him off, and Leothas came to know the streets and docks of Nielira Harbor better than most.
One of the few pleasures Leothas had as a boy was sneaking away to the beachside and swimming in the Bay of Black Pearls. He and some other urchins would plunge to the bottom, looking for oysters and the hopeful chance at a pearl. He often dreamed of what he would do if he found one; trade it for cakes and cookies, spend a night away from the brothel in a clean inn with a soft bed, or give it to his mother as an investment in buying them a new life. He never found a pearl, but one of the other boys did. A silly, careless urchin who lived with his grandfather on the docks who raved about how much chocolate he would buy with it. Leothas was surprised how easy it was to reach into the shabby pocket of his coat and take it. He was also surprised at the lack of remorse he felt when he saw the boy crying about its loss. He took the precious jewel and traded it for what he knew was much too little at one of the seaside stores. He used the coin to buy himself a decent knife and a kit of shimmering black paint--if he could not find pearls, he would make them. When no adults fell for his ruse he began to prey on the rich children as they walked outside the grounds of the finishing schools. They traded him all sorts of things for the pearls. And whenever he got a piece or bar of chocolate, it somehow ended up on the door of the silly, careless urchin who lived with his grandfather. It did not make him grow into what most would call "a good man," but it did instill in him an appreciation for poetic justice. And watching the rich children, with their spoiled lifestyles being led by the hands of their silk-swathed and jewel-festooned mothers, made him hate his father increasingly more.
Unlike the other elven houses, the Nalfein take no formal Patrons as official. Beings of such power must be trafficked with care; to honor one over another might prove strategically unwise. But the inquisitive Leothas learned of them from a certain cleric, and the Huntress and the concept of revenge came to fascinate him. Years passed, the boy became a man, and his patroness inspired his unconventional brand of mercenary work: for the right price, his sword and dagger would be the instruments of revenge for those who could not seize it for themselves. The urchins with whom he surrounded himself grew into a loose and loyal brotherhood, contacts with whom information could be exchanged to further that cause as well as his own private revenge: preying upon the Orbryn family's mercantile business.