Evangeline
Evangeline of Dunethel
Evangeline is a young elven rogue on the run from her past.
Born in 738 SE, Evangeline was a foundling raised in an orphanage in Dunethel. Her earliest memories are of starvation, beatings and cold stone floors, as the Lumerian Brothers who ran the orphanage seemed to loathe children, and where only interested in the alms they could collect on behalf of the orphans, which they would then spend most of on wine and gambling. The only person she liked at the orphanage was a Ronceauxian sister of the Liaran faith, who was kind and gentle. Her name was Celine, and she told Evangeline that she was the one who had found her on the steps of the Pantheon, and had named her Evangeline, after a Ronceauxian folk hero that her mother used to tell her stories about.
But Celine only took care of the small children, and when Evangeline turned 6, she was moved to the bigger children's ward, where there were only cruel and distant Brothers and mean boys. So after just a few months she ran away into the city, and became a street urchin, surviving by begging and pick pocketing. She would hang around the 'Lasciva Lepus' ("The Playful Rabbit" in Dunorian), a notorious brothel that always had many rich, drunk men walking in and out, ripe for picking. The whores took a liking to her, and eventually offered her a bed in the attic, in exchange for Evangeline not pick-pocketing in front of the brothel, as it was bad for business. She was happy to sleep in a bed every night, instead of on the dirty streets, and she had already become so adept at thievery that she could graduate from pick-pocketing to breaking and entering, using her lock-picking skills to steal from rich merchants and citizens all over the city.
This activity soon brought her into contact with the biggest thieves' guild in Dunethel, the 'Servi Umbrae' ("The Servants of Shadow" in Dunorian), and throughout her teenage years she worked for them. During this time she saw the cruelty with which the prostitutes of 'the Rabbit' where treated, and the sisterhood they had, always relying on eachother and helping those who where in trouble. At the same time she grew more and more bitter at the calousness and cruelty with which the 'Servants of Shadow' acted, never caring from whom they stole, or who suffered from their actions.
When a rich Patrician named Salvius Rhonus beat a young girl one night at the brothel, madam Danica, who ran the brothel, threw him out and bared him from ever returning. While this was her legal right, and she would be backed up by the city guard, the Patrician was furious, and standing in front of the brothel in his underwear, he vowed to have Madam Danica killed, one way or another. A few days later Evangeline learned that the 'Servants of Shadow' had been hired by some Patrician master to assassinate Madam Danica. Knowing that it would cost her her relationship with the 'Servants', and their guildmaster, the notorious 'Magnus the Magpie', she did not hesitate to warn Danica and the whores, and when the assassin came (a mean cutthroat called Hamsa, that Evangeline knew well) they were ready, and they caught him before he could get to Danica.
Knowing that 'The Magpie' would be furious at her for not keeping the guild's secrets, one of the most important things to a thieves' guild, she decided to leave town, before she found out what he might do to her. But before leaving there was one more thing that had to be done. While the guild had no quarrel with Danica, they would keep going after her until she was dead, as long as they were getting paid for it. They had a reputation to uphold after all. And Salvius Rhonus was a petty and stubborn man who would never back down from the threat he had made. So there was only one way to keep Danica safe...
One winter night in 757 SE, Evangeline packed up her meager belongings, kissed the girls of the brothel goodbye, and snuck out over the rooftops to the rich part of the city, as she had done so many times before. In the dead of night, she picked the lock of Salvius Rhonus' manor, snuck into the courtyard and past the guards, and climbed up to the window of his bedchamber. She snuck in, drew her dagger, and, while he lay sleeping next to his wife, she cut the throat of Salvius Rhonus, the first person she ever killed. While Salvius' wife slept soundly, Evangeline quitly snuck out of the window and disappeared into the night. When morning came, and the scream of Salvius' wife was heard all over the district, as she woke up covered in blood, Evangeline was already halfway across Lake Garaga, hiding in the cargo-hold of a caravel bound for Sarkara.
Background:
Born in 738 SE, Evangeline was a foundling raised in an orphanage in Dunethel. Her earliest memories are of starvation, beatings and cold stone floors, as the Lumerian Brothers who ran the orphanage seemed to loathe children, and where only interested in the alms they could collect on behalf of the orphans, which they would then spend most of on wine and gambling. The only person she liked at the orphanage was a Ronceauxian sister of the Liaran faith, who was kind and gentle. Her name was Celine, and she told Evangeline that she was the one who had found her on the steps of the Pantheon, and had named her Evangeline, after a Ronceauxian folk hero that her mother used to tell her stories about.
But Celine only took care of the small children, and when Evangeline turned 6, she was moved to the bigger children's ward, where there were only cruel and distant Brothers and mean boys. So after just a few months she ran away into the city, and became a street urchin, surviving by begging and pick pocketing. She would hang around the 'Lasciva Lepus' ("The Playful Rabbit" in Dunorian), a notorious brothel that always had many rich, drunk men walking in and out, ripe for picking. The whores took a liking to her, and eventually offered her a bed in the attic, in exchange for Evangeline not pick-pocketing in front of the brothel, as it was bad for business. She was happy to sleep in a bed every night, instead of on the dirty streets, and she had already become so adept at thievery that she could graduate from pick-pocketing to breaking and entering, using her lock-picking skills to steal from rich merchants and citizens all over the city.
This activity soon brought her into contact with the biggest thieves' guild in Dunethel, the 'Servi Umbrae' ("The Servants of Shadow" in Dunorian), and throughout her teenage years she worked for them. During this time she saw the cruelty with which the prostitutes of 'the Rabbit' where treated, and the sisterhood they had, always relying on eachother and helping those who where in trouble. At the same time she grew more and more bitter at the calousness and cruelty with which the 'Servants of Shadow' acted, never caring from whom they stole, or who suffered from their actions.
When a rich Patrician named Salvius Rhonus beat a young girl one night at the brothel, madam Danica, who ran the brothel, threw him out and bared him from ever returning. While this was her legal right, and she would be backed up by the city guard, the Patrician was furious, and standing in front of the brothel in his underwear, he vowed to have Madam Danica killed, one way or another. A few days later Evangeline learned that the 'Servants of Shadow' had been hired by some Patrician master to assassinate Madam Danica. Knowing that it would cost her her relationship with the 'Servants', and their guildmaster, the notorious 'Magnus the Magpie', she did not hesitate to warn Danica and the whores, and when the assassin came (a mean cutthroat called Hamsa, that Evangeline knew well) they were ready, and they caught him before he could get to Danica.
Knowing that 'The Magpie' would be furious at her for not keeping the guild's secrets, one of the most important things to a thieves' guild, she decided to leave town, before she found out what he might do to her. But before leaving there was one more thing that had to be done. While the guild had no quarrel with Danica, they would keep going after her until she was dead, as long as they were getting paid for it. They had a reputation to uphold after all. And Salvius Rhonus was a petty and stubborn man who would never back down from the threat he had made. So there was only one way to keep Danica safe...
One winter night in 757 SE, Evangeline packed up her meager belongings, kissed the girls of the brothel goodbye, and snuck out over the rooftops to the rich part of the city, as she had done so many times before. In the dead of night, she picked the lock of Salvius Rhonus' manor, snuck into the courtyard and past the guards, and climbed up to the window of his bedchamber. She snuck in, drew her dagger, and, while he lay sleeping next to his wife, she cut the throat of Salvius Rhonus, the first person she ever killed. While Salvius' wife slept soundly, Evangeline quitly snuck out of the window and disappeared into the night. When morning came, and the scream of Salvius' wife was heard all over the district, as she woke up covered in blood, Evangeline was already halfway across Lake Garaga, hiding in the cargo-hold of a caravel bound for Sarkara.
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