The Hanged Man
Born into a slice of Anirian life that most would prefer to ignore, Aleric has lived his entire life fighting.
Abandoned by his mother and with an unknown father, Aleric was one of the hundreds of orphan children who made their living on the outskirts of Vel Anir. Having no way to survive save for the support of others, Aleric like many others, ended up in a life of violence and gangs.
Joining his first gang at the age of only six, Aleric's early life was held in the hands of a man known only as The Graverobber. A scoundrel of a human being, and merchant of death who made his living just as his name implied; robbing graves. Using young children as lookouts and older boys as labor, the Graverobber and his gang would set upon the cemeteries of the rich. Plucking jewels from the newly lost and digging up what wealth he could find.
The wealth accrued through these ventures was almost always hoarded at the top, with the Graverobber holding most of it and spoiling the older boys and girls who kept the younger in line.
Beatings were common place, starvation almost constant, and crypt in which the gang slept was nearly always freezing.
Nevertheless, the Graverobber was better than death, and thus Aleric stayed.
Throughout his time in the gang, the young boy proved himself to be exceptionally clever. More than once it was he who devised a strategy to enter a well guarded graveyard or open a lockbox that had been buried with a fine lady. Again and again he proved himself above the rest, though received hardly any reward. Instead continuously put in his place to keep him down.
This was all until the age of eleven, when finally the young man was pushed to breaking. In protection of another young girl he whom he had come to care for dearly, Aleric lashed out and somehow managed to overpower one of the older boys. The teenagers head was smashed into a wall, and blood on his hands Aleric was forced to flee.
Now hounded by his former Master as well as the authorities, Aleric scrounged his living in the sewers.
The following years were not any more kind, though eventually he managed to build up his own gang of miscreants. The small pack was barely able to scrape by until they were presented with an opportunity; A fine Gala to be held mere miles away from Vel Anir, whispered of in a tavern by a servant and overheard by one of the girls in the gang.
With great planning and care, the gang disguised themselves as servants, attending the Gala and quietly stealing as much as they could. Picking pockets, nabbing necklaces, and swiping all the silver they could find.
It was only when the Graverobber appeared that things went awry.
Through a whispered word, or perhaps a planned betrayal. Aleric's old master caught wind of the Gala, and just as the small gang was to leave made his appearance. A standoff ensued, the Graverobber demanding his cut, and when it wasn't given, shouted to alert the guards.
The Gang quickly split, rushing to whatever they could and in the end it was only Aleric who was caught.
Swift retribution came down from the hands of the Nobility, and the young boy only fifteen at the time was sentenced to twenty years for his crimes.
It was in the confines of Harrowgate prison that a hard life became even harder. Though he did not starve, Aleric quickly learned that the Guards surrounding him cared little for the prisoners within. Abuse sometimes turned to outright torture, and those locked up tended to turn on one another more often than even those who looked over them.
Harrowgate was a hell of it's own making, and one that Aleric found himself thriving in.
In the fires of the prison Aleric learned that wit was not enough, and sometimes violence was the only solution to be taken. Over the years the young boy became strong. Fighting on a near constant basis, outwitting his opponents and maneuvering himself through the brutal politics until eventually he became a central figure within Harrowgate.
It was this first taste of true power that brought on a spurt of overconfidence, and shortly before the Revolution Aleric attempted to begin a prison riot. Though the plan was well made, and might have succeeded in the end, the young man was once again betrayed. The Guards caught wind of his plot, and before it could ever be carried out he was dragged in chains and pulled to the gallows.
Standing atop the platform, rope around his neck, Aleric did not cry or beg. He stared at the Guards before him, hard and broken by years of a system he had never had a choice in. He watched them as they pulled the lever, his eyes never changing as the rope snapped taught around his neck...and then the walls around him exploded.
The Chaos of the Revolution Struck Vel Anir, and with it Harrowgate.
When the dust cleared the gallows lay broken and shattered, and the man who had been hanging from them seemingly gone.
A year passed by, the Republic did it's best to find those prisoners who had escaped. Dreadlords and Guards both sent out to hunt murderers and killers of the sort Aleric had been. Though they found a great many, some were simply lost, thought either dead or fled.
It was only after nearly another year that rumors began to float through the slums of Vel Anir. Rumors of a hanged man, who never hid his scars. Who wanted more than what was given to him.