Rugzito Kivuyl

Rugzito was born into poverty in the slums of Khezvaros, where he turned to crime at an early age, eventually joining the Black Knives gang. Although Rugzito was not particularly adept at thieving or violence, he was clever and charismatic, which allowed him to work his way up in the organization. His life of crime ended when a robbery he was involved in led to the death of guard in the employ of a merchant with enough influence to demand and be awarded a hefty Corpse Price. Since Rugzito was unable to pay the corpse price, he was indentured to the merchant, who chose to collect on the contract personally, putting Rugzito to work on one of his caravans. By the time Rugzito's term of servitude ended, he was a valuable enough member of the merchant's staff to be offered a paid position. Over the years, he became the merchant's apprentice and confidante. When the merchant died, he left Rugzito enough gold to fund a small caravan of his own, which eventually became the humble but thriving business Rugzito operates today.
That's the story Rugzito tells those he wants to impress or do legitimate business with, but anyone who knows Rugzito or is privy to his less-publicized dealings knows better. The broad strokes of the story are true, but Rugzito's claims of becoming an honest merchant are hardly accurate. He never severed his connection to the Black Knives and the caravans he operates today are simply covers for his criminal activities. Many believe this to be a continuation and expansion of the smuggling he conducted while a member of the merchant's caravans, an it's widely suspected that this was the real source of the seed money he used to go into business for himself after the merchant's death. Others believe he did receive an inheritance from the merchant's estate, but credit it to a forgery rather than friendship.
To the city's less upstanding element, Rugzito is known as "The Shadow Merchant" or simply "The Emissary." In addition to smuggling every kind of contraband into the city and controlling the Black Knives gang, Rugzito has dealings with nearly every criminal organization in the city. He's used the influence and obligations generated by these relationships to gain considerable power in the Khezvaran underworld.
Rugzito operates from a fortified estate on the northern end of Slab Hill just outside of the Old Town walls. The estate previously belonged to the Hegedus family, who were stripped of their lands and titles during the Peace Tribunals. Control of the estate went to the empire, who let it fall to ruin as a grim reminder of the fate of those who stood against the Eternal Empress. By the time Rugzito obtained the property, only the stone central building and a few sections of wall were still salvageable. It's unclear why the Empire agreed to sell the property to Rugzito after letting it rot for 300 years. The most popular theory is that Rugzito obtained the estate by blackmailing some imperial official. Others believe that he won the deed from Governor Hursit in a game of chance. Less likely is the rumor that Rugzito is one of Hursit's bastards and the estate was given to him by the governor as both inheritance and hush money.

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Michael Imperioli