Acillio Nazzaro was born in a hamlet a days ride from Elbion. At the time of his birth a terrible plague had swept the local farmlands. His parents were impoverished farmers and did not have the coin to relocate. When a magician by the name of Angron Salim arrived some hope was kindled. The magician believed he could ward off the plague from those who could pay. The Nazzaro family were able to scrape coins together to pay the magician enough that Acillio could be supposedly vaccinated from the plague.
Angron Salim was right, but coin was not the only price that Acillio Nazzaro paid that day. For three nights Acillio was kept awake, exhausted and on the brink of collapse, the young boy was placed through torturous rituals. The magic employed was able to protect him from the localised plague but by the time the magician had completed the last spell, Acillio was a nightmare to look upon. His once soft blue eyes were now glowing gold with thin slits for pupils. Many townsfolk believed he had been cursed rather than saved.
As the town fell to sickness Acillio was taken from the hamlet and led to Elbion by the magician. He was placed into the service of a blacksmith in the Port District. City citizens were slow to trust the strange boy. Street gossip informed him of the devastation of his birthplace and the likely death of his family. Very few had overcome the sickness that gripped the farmlands in that region.
As Acillio grew he gained local attention for his strange eyes and attention in the guard was drawn to him. He was recruited in his adolescent years and trained in the town watch, later rising to become a swordsman in the Merchant Guard of Elbion and further, Officer of the Merchant Guard. His quickness with the blade had become
legendary among his colleagues.
Acillio the Cat.
By the age of thirty he had served as an officer for two years in the Merchant Guard. He routinely met with the Merchant Council and watched over their meetings and dinners, sometimes being invited to partake in feasts. On the eve of his thirty-first birthday he witnessed a discreet meeting late at night among a council member and an unknown individual. Acillio himself was spotted by the council member and thrown out from the guard under false allegations he had been stealing from the council and mild reports of seducing the wives of other council members. Named a thief and a scoundrel, he was tossed from the city.
Acillio was able to squirm his way back into the city, returning to the Port District and living a life of a guard for trading caravans leaving by road and cargo guards leaving by ship. With the high population density in the Port District he has remained undisturbed in his new life and the few guards that spot him give him a free pass to continue roaming the city. In their eyes he may be a thief and a scoundrel but he was once their officer.
