For as long as Rupert could remember, his father told him of the stars, and he took great joy from playing in the snows and crisp leaves of Autumn; for many, his childhood would be seen as idyllic, but as a child of the region of Skjoldier, and a child of outsiders to the region (after his parents fled due to infighting among the burghers of the Orin empire during the War of the Two Emperors, they wound up here as refugees before Rupert was born), this proved to make life incredibly difficult for him. His parents did their best to act as merchants and traders, ostracized from their homeland due to their well-known greed and disregard for all but money; however, trying to be merchants within a commune proved to be a fruitless task, and at the age of six, Rupert (named after his father) was almost forced upon the commune family, who have raised him since.
Rupert has, from this, subconsciously developed traits similar to those of his parents; greed, desire for wealth, skill in stewardship and conniving, however these were mostly suppressed in his new ‘family’, due to their beliefs in commune and faith (of which Rupert did not see the benefit). He showed compliance, but did not identify with these values, and instead used them as a springboard to develop skill in intrigue and diplomacy, while studying tirelessly in the arts of statesmanship, trade, mercantilism, and craftsmanship. By the age of 12, a productive mix of diligence and curiosity, as well as desire for money, manifested itself into Rupert seeking out work in the mines; what he mined was not relevant to him, but it was not uncommon for him to... ‘redistribute’ the more precious materials he dug up; he would, however, take great effort to never get caught, and so never was.
Rupert’s parents were not the only ones to ever take up temporary residence on areas of secluded coastline, and opportunities to offload his meager quantities of goods were hardly rare; though, his activities were cut short when some of his friends from within the commune confronted him for his, in their views, misdeeds. Though he could have used this as an opportunity to become sneakier, and did consider it at length, he decided the debt he owed to his family for taking him in after his parents abandoned him outweighed his desire for money; not that that would put an end to his actions altogether.
At seventeen, he left for Morsgrad, after hearing his parents had taken up permanent residence there from his various contacts. Shortly after, he learned they had already moved on, to god-knows-where, and he found himself without residence, friends, or companionship.
Ronan Parente found a hungry, shabbily-dressed Rupert taking a wizz on the back wall of his family home during the middle of the night. After a short-lived chase, which concluded with Rupert face down in the snow, with his britches between his ankles, Ronan dragged him inside, fed him, clothed him, and would not allow Rupert to leave his chair until he explained his story, and how it related to the yellow against the brickwork.
Ronan decided to put the scruffy boy before him to work, cleaning his house and getting him a job at the local mines. This is where Rupert remains; now almost a fully recognised member of the Parente family, the other members came to first tolerate and then accept his presence, before welcoming his as a brother. His future, he hopes, holds much higher heights – and he certainly has the skills to try to achieve it.
