Rafael
Born in the Cortosian Free City of Feiara, Rafael came up as the son of a local Baron.
Though his father had title and his family held some acclaim, the wealth they held had been supremely depleted by the time Rafael was born. Though far from destitute, the families titles meant very little within the walls of Feiara, and in truth they were more ordinary citizens than any sort of nobility.
No sense of bitterness clung to either Rafael or his family because of this however. They embraced their lives and the city they lived in. Using what was left of their meager wealth to operate a large tavern in the center of the city. Popular among the locals and foreigners, it was here that Rafael met his first real soldier.
Becoming enamored with the idea almost immediately, Raf signed up to join one of the Free Companies as soon as he turned eighteen.
For the next ten years Rafael campaigned with one Mercenary Band or another. Joining the likes of the Sacred Star, Faen El, The Blazing Lions, and even the Crimson Wrath. He bound from one group to another, never staying for more than a season of campaigning before moving on.
Sometimes it was at a simple whim, though towards the latter half of the decade it became clear that something else drove him. Almost as if he were leery of spending too much time in any one place with the same people, and sometimes even leaving in the middle of the night.
Open, gregarious, and happy, Rafael was always well liked in whatever company he joined. Only darkening when someone asked him of his time with the Bloody Crows. Never speaking on what occurred during his tenure there.
It was during his time with the Blazing Lions that Rafael found himself on the borders of Anirian Territory. There, after an utterly vicious campaign, the young man was captured by the Army of the North. Quickly after he was sent to a prisoner of war camp in the southern reaches of Anirian territory.
It was here that Rafael found his now beloved companion Tulio.
After spending nearly five months in the camp with relatively decent treatment, Rafael was set free. Granted Amnesty by the new Republic, the young Cortosian immediately set about getting back to work as a Mercenary. A task which he found brutally difficult.
With no work to find, and passage back to Cortos expensive, Rafael resorted to thievery. Both to live and to stem the tide of his curse.
Though a exceptionally careful, his tenure as a petty criminal eventually came to an end when he was captured by the local Guardsmen. Not for an accusation of theft, but for the murder. A crime which Rafael vehemently denies.
Infected during his time warring in Cortos, Rafael is what is known as a Chirathrope, or put more simply; a 
Found on the outer extents of an Anirian Prisoner of War Camp, Tulio is Rafael's loyal companion and best friend. A pup of unknown origins, Raf has spent the last year training this little hound to be the best and most loyal companion a man could wish for.