Birthed into a poor family Heartlander peasants, Mercier was the eldest out of 4 children. Childhood was a struggle for the poor, and even more of a struggle considering that Mercier's family adhered to the faith of the Red God, descended from Norlanders as they were, and had kept the faith of their forefathers. When Mercier was 14, life was harsh, he was eking out a living for the di Lupercalia family in whatever way he could until one day, a furious sermon from the local priests from the church against apostates and their evil way sent the population of Oren on a minor witch hunt, in which his parents and siblings were imprisoned and carted off to places unknown, and with Mercier only narrowly escaping due to being pretending to be bedridden in order to skip out on helping his family in the markets and burning his house down in a moment of genius, in order to distract the mob that was searching for him. He ran to the harbors and stowed away in the nearest ship he could. Since then he has escaped to Talon's port, where the captain of the ship he stowed away on keep him on as a sailor when he was found. Upon his age of majority, he split way from the ship with some money and a sword, deciding to see the world as an adventurer and mercenary for hire. This goes to a great start when the night after Mercier starts his adventure, he gets drunk in the tavern in mid-day and then takes the wrong ship, which instead of heading to the exotic south, it brings Mercier somewhere more familiar, it brings him home, it brings him back to the Empire.
