Appearance

Physical Description

Eli has a lithe, svelte frame. His body is honed from a childhood spent ducking from authorities, moving quickly through shadows, and dancing as his mother once did.

Facial Features

He has a strong semblence to his mother, so his facial features are almost androgynous. Eli has a rounded jawline, small nose, slighty long eye lashes, and a smooth complexion. A little illusion magic, and he could easily pass for a woman if necessary. The courtesians his mother worked with have given Eli a few lessons in how to do just that, but it requires no small amount of acting on his part.

Identifying Characteristics

A scar remains on his right shoulder where the man that killed Eli's brother and friends slashed him with a sword. The wound wasn't deep enough to cause any severe damage, but it did leave a lasting reminder of Eli's failure to protect the only family he had.

Mentality

Personal history

The orphaned son of a courtesan and noble, Eli grew up in the city slums with his little brother and a tight group of friends. As children without parents, they scavenged, panhandled, and stole to survive. Even in the dilapidated ghettos, they had no place of their own, so the boys had to make do with wherever they could find to squat and take shelter. Outsiders pitted them, but the adults that knew better distrusted them and either ignored the boys outright or chased them off at first sight. Eli in particular was probably the root cause of this. He had developed a reputation as a hoodlum and filled a leadership role among the boys. His brother, Kellum, had the brains to put together surprisingly intricate plans for heists and pranks, but he lacked his brother's charisma to motivate the others into following along.

For a while, even without blood relatives and a warm hearth, the boys were a happy family, content with their lot in life, so long as they had each other. But that all changed one day when Kel's latest grand scheme went horribly wrong. It wasn't the younger brother's fault though. Eli blames himself for what happened...

When a high-ranking foreign diplomat visited the city, Kel devised a plan for lifting a valuable jeweled broach from around the man's neck in broad daylight. The boys would do it in plain sight but get away scot-free and without anyone noticing before it was too late, or at least, that was the aim. But they couldn't account for the diplomat's incredibly perceptive bodyguard, who must have felt something off the moment his employer and their entourage entered the market, where the small gang of orphan boys was hiding among the crowd. As soon as the man saw one of the kids rapidly close in, he drew a dagger and interpreted the move as hostile. He thrust the blade into the boy's stomach, acting in defense of his master.

Eli panicked when he saw what happened. Kel froze up. The others scattered. Blinded by rage, Eli dashed forward and lept over the bodyguard, simultaneously kicking the man in the face to daze him. Seeing his friend was already too far gone to save, he snatched the broach from the diplomat's neck and ran as fast as he could. He was sure he had lost any pursuers...

But Eli and Kel were betrayed by one of their own. The city guard had arrested one of the boys in the gang and beat him to a pulp until the boy gave up every hiding place where the brothers could be lying low. It didn't take long before the two were flushed out and cornered... like rats. A melee broke out in the sewers, but Kel wasn't a fighter like his older brother. The boy was cut down by the very same bastard that killed their friend in the market. Eli, consumed by emotion and grief, tried to stand against the man. During the clash, Eli suffered a cut to his right shoulder when he tried to dodge a swing from the bodyguard's sword, leaving a permanent scar. To his credit, Eli didn't once back down or try to run, but the fight wore him out until he could no longer stand on his own two feet. All the while, the murderous bodyguard found enjoyment in the boy's resistance.

The man took his master's prized broach back, struck Eli with the broad side of his blade to incapacitate him, and then threw the boy into the putrid rushing waste-waters of the storm drains. Eli awoke sometime later on the bank of a river outside the city walls. He was dragged ashore by a stranger, an apothecary named Tamilda, who nursed his wounds and stopped an infection from settling too deep into the wound on his shoulder.

Today, several years later, still grieving at the loss of his friends and little brother, and harboring a deep hatred for the diplomat and his whoreson bodyguard, Eli desires retribution... seeking means for revenge. In the interim, he works as an errand boy for Tamilda, the kind woman that saved his life. She is always concerned about him, knowing the young man holds fast to a darkness that is slowly eating away at him from the inside, something all her medicines and potions can't heal.

Whenever Tamilda lacks any tasks for Eli, Lucius, an underworld contact from Eli's days running with the orphan gang, usually has a few jobs for him which keeps the boy's skills as a thief up to par. However, Lucius has refrained from giving Eli anything too difficult or risky out of concern akin to Tamilda's. Regardless, Lucius is keeping his ear to the ground and using his vast network of contacts and connections to the city's thieves guild to keep tabs on the target of Eli's hatred. He knows quite a bit already, but he's hesitant to offer more than bread crumbs to the tortured boy.

Education

Eli and Kel were taught a lot of what they know from members of the Thieves Guild and Lucius. Kel picked up on how to read and write, but Eli was more focused on learning physically demanding talents like acrobatics and self-defense.

Eli took after his mother the most, in both looks and grace. She was a courtesan that catered to many clients of the aristracy. Kel was too young to know her before she died, but Eli remembers her well. She was admired and respected, even among her clients. Inspite of his gender, Eli wanted to be like her. He supposes that's why he uses chakrams as his weapon of choice, rather than swords.

Employment

Runs errands and performs daily tasks for Tamilda at her apothecary. Whenever Tamilda has nothing for Eli to do, he'll see if he can pick up a job utilizing his thieving talents from Lucius or a contact at the Guild.

Though they would pay the most, very rarely will he rely on his courtesan training to take escort jobs. This talent is best reserved as a means to an end and he would rather it not become the job itself. He also knows that he's just not very good at it...

Courtesans are, after all, the most sophisticated and educated escorts. They can hold a deeply intelligent conversation about politics and philosophy, but Eli is incapable of that. His mother's colleagues taught him how to dance and hang off someone's arm, but they couldn't provide him with a full and proper education.

Morality & Philosophy

--Freedom. Chains are meant to be broken, as are those who would forge them. (Chaotic)

person.sexuality

Questioning

person.gender_identity

Bigender: He / Him , They / Them

Explanation

Known Languages

Speaks Common, but he can barely read or write (something his brother, Kel, was able to pick up and learn easily).

Personality

Motivation

--People. I’m loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, and everyone else can take a trip down the Styx for all I care. (Neutral)

--Someone I loved died because of a mistake I made. That will never happen again.

--Something important was taken from me, and I aim to steal it back.

Likes & Dislikes

--I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy.

--The best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it.

--Dancing is my passion and the best way by which I can express my feelings.

--I've stolen so that my friends can survive, but I don't steal if I know it will cause more harm than good.

Vices & Personality flaws

--I allow emotions to overrule logic when things look bad.

Social

Birthplace

Pavicele

Current Residence

Tabitha's Tonics, a small apothecary's shop outside Pavicele.

Contacts & Relations

--Tamilda, the apothecary that saved Eli several years ago after finding him on the river bank after his confrontation with the Unnamed Bodyguard.

--Lucius, Eli's old contact when he ran with his gang of fellow orphans in his home city. Lucius was one of the few adult friends the boys had, a smuggler in his heyday, he is now a respected informant for the criminal underground. Friend to thieves, tricksters, and assassins alike.

--The Thieves Guild, who, as proxies of Lucius, helped take care of Eli and Kel. The boys were taught how to fight, move with the shadows, and understand Thieves' Cant.

--The Courtesans, who knew and worked with Eli's mother. The thieves taught him how to fight, but the courtesans taught him how to do so with grace.

Religious Views

--Agnostic

Social Aptitude

Eli is definitely not the reserved shy type, but he's not all that vocal, either, unless he's singing a cappella. For the most part, Eli allows his movements to say what's on his mind.
 
Part of being a dancing bard means he's had to learn to embrace his emotions and make them apart of who he is. His only social detriment is a lack of a learned vocabulary, but he makes up for this through his dancing. Bold steps can convey his anger; a flurry of combinations, his excitement; a somber pose, his sadness.

Mannerisms

Complimenting the above, Eli rarely sits still. In fact, he would prefer not to sit at all, if he can help it. If he's forced to wait, he'll prefer to sit on a ledge, so that he can freely swing his legs and feet--otherwise, he's tapping a foot and bobbing a knee.
 
Eli is often lost in contemplation, thinking of new moves for his dancing, or songs that would express something he needs to let out.

Speech

--Uncouth, naturally, mainly due to a lack of any formal education and having grown up in the slums.

--Can fake a believable "received pronunciation" if he's acting, backed by his courtesan training. He knows how to speak to nobles and the aristocracy, getting them to let their guard down. But he has his determintal tells: his lack of vocabulary as well as knowledge of politics and philosophy. These are tools that a true courtesan would have, but all Eli has are his looks, voice, and dancing.