Zephen Hammerleaf was born and raised in the Kingdom of Haense, in a family of 7 kids. He was the 4th child, having 3 older siblings and 3 younger siblings, 5 sisters, and 1 younger brother, in a small home shared by 9 people. From the time he was an infant to the time he was 13, he never left the city, stuck with his impoverished family. He sometimes helped his father with his unsuccessful merchant business. He hated the cold, but his bedroom provided little insulation, so he was constantly freezing. Any opportunity he could, he was out of the house. he would wander the city, and dreamt of one day leaving the city, moving as far away as possible, and exploring the vast kingdoms he had heard about from townsfolk. When he was 13, he finally ventured out of the city with his father, on one of his father's business excursions, to the Holy Orenian Empire. He was fascinated by the new surroundings, and the change in scenery from the city he had grown up in. It was on this trip that he rode his first horse, and started his affinity with horses and speed, and grew his desire to explore the world. His family dynamic grew tougher, as his father forced the 2 brothers into manual labor to help support the family, and taxed their personal money they did manage to earn, causing Zephen to store a secret stash of cash under his floorboards that his family didn't know about. When he was 16, he reached his breaking point, as his mother became pregnant with the 10th member of the family, and his father increased the workload even more to support yet another child they couldn't afford. Late at night when his parents were asleep, he retrieved his stash of money, gathered his blanket and mattress, and fled his home. He was able to get a ride from a kind stranger who took him by horseback to the Holy Orenian Empire, and he stayed there for 7 years. He was able to buy a relatively small house, and get a job at a local weapons shop, and bought a race horse. His life finally started to take a turn for the better, that is, until one day, when he was 24, he came back from work to find his house completely incinerated. All of his belongings, and the entirety of his house, completely burned to the ground, and his horse had fled. Frustrated, and beside himself, he stormed out of the city, determined to get as far out from it all as possible. And so, with nothing but the clothes on his back and his head on his shoulders, he ventured out into the world, ready to start a new life and explore the far-out lands...
