Ansel’s parents were both travelling merchants, which meant that nearly all of his early life was spent travelling back and forth across the many settlements within Oren. Because of the constant travel, Ansel never had time to make friends with other children. Every so often he and his parents would stay a couple weeks in a settlement, which gave him time to play with the local kids, but it was never long enough for him to make lasting friendships. Without other kids around to pass the time with, Ansel became very attached to his parents. His mother, Luise, was a kind and generous woman. Even if it set her back, she was quick to help those in need. On the other hand, Ansel’s father, Grayson, was stern and always planning how he could make more mina from sales. However, rather than cause conflict, Grayson and Luise’s different personalities balanced each other out. Ansel came to admire both of his parents and, when he was old enough to help with sales, did his best to emulate their behavior.
When Ansel was 24, life began to take a turn for the worse. Luise fell ill and, despite the best efforts of Ansel and Grayson, passed away. Her loss devastated the both of them, but eventually they had to carry on. Without Luise around to keep his more greedy plans in check, Grayson started making larger and larger financial risks in the hopes of maximizing profit. Ansel did his best to reign in his father, but he was usually ignored. For a while, Grayson’s high-risk, high-reward strategies were paying off and brought in more money at once than previous sale, but it was not to last. After hearing rumors, on good authority, that the Empire was once again preparing for war and blinded by his past success, Grayson sunk his profits into buying up arms and armor, expecting the demand for them to skyrocket once the fighting began. To his dismay, the fighting never came. Grayson and Ansel were now stuck with weapons and armor no one wished to buy and barely any money left. Crushed by his tremendous loss, Grayson despaired and began to spend what little he had left on drink. Having not yet given up all hope, Ansel continued to search for some way to lessen the losses. Eventually he found a buyer, but the equipment sold for a mere fraction of what it had been purchased for. It was no where near enough to pull Grayson out of the state he was in. He was convinced that his life was over and nothing Ansel said or did worked to change his mind. The once intelligent and hard working man that was Ansel’s father was gone, and left in his place was a drunken self-pitying mess. Nearly two months after the incident, Grayson seemed to lose the will to go on and dropped dead.
Ansel did not grieve much for his father’s passing. In his eyes, he had died months ago. With nothing left chaining him down, Ansel set out to make a living for himself. He had heard of the nation of Sutica and how it was abundant with trade, so it became his destination.
