Elyon Mattiel
An elf raised in the city of Aerilon, Elyon Mattiel was never used to money. Growing up poor was tough, especially as an orphan, nobody really seemed to care. Always treated as an inconvenience and 'under people's feet' Elyon soon learned to fend for himself and was bless with a sharp mind and quick wit. However hard life treated him though he always seemed to care about the wellbeing of others, perhaps due to a desire for others to not go through the things he had to endure.
This would shine through on one particularly wet, cold and grim day when he happened upon a human girl, filthy head to toe, seemingly not had a wash in days, this girl was Janie Lyrradel. She had been in and out of various homes, an orphan just like Elyon, and had been kicked out on the streets a week before. She looked deathly pale, frozen to the core and so starved she was just skin and bone. he simply took one look at her, smiled and said "it's going to be ok, do not worry" and with an outstretched hand raised her up out of the mire of the gutter and took her to a small abandoned house on a backstreet. He found what rags he could and a bucket of water and started to care for her. Once she had cleaned herself up and dried herself off Elyon slipped out of the house to go to the market just round the corner. He used his skills learned from growing up on the streets to acquire some fruit and a few scraps of other food totally unnoticed and took this back to Janie.
He did this over the course of some days, gently nursing her back to health, something she was incredibly grateful for. This had been the first time in her life that anyone had ever shown any concern for her, let alone took the time to care for her. They became firm friends from this point on and they both grew to care about each other greatly and eventually became lovers. They continue living by their wits for some time and this, up to this point, the best time of Elyon's and Janie's life, they both had each other and nothing in the world could bring them down. Sure they had to beg, steal and borrow to survive but as long as they were together life was good.
During this time they both started to learn the many ways in and out of the city that nobody else would ever notice, to get around Aerilon unseen and learned how to slip into the shadows at a moment's notice. They began to get acquainted with many others in a similar position and also one or two of the more charitable residents of the area that would occasionally give them food. Some times if they were lucky people would take pity on them even give them a hot bath and clean their clothes. Although this may have been more due to their smell than pity, but no matter, it was taken with gratitude nonetheless.
This knowledge of the city would come in useful five years later during the Great Siege, when the city was cut off from supplies and to the point of starvation. Elyon once more saw Janie reach almost the state in which they first met, something that disturbed him greatly as he cared for her so much. So he started to do something about it. There was next to no food in the city that he could steal but, there was an enemy camp just outside the walls that was well stocked with supplies. He knew all the routes in and out, even some little drains and tunnels that were almost forgotten, and he knew how to remain unseen. This he would put to good use running in and out to steal food from the besiegers, an endeavour that went on for some weeks and gradually people learned what he was doing, what started with a desire to just feed Janie and himself grew to feeding others in need. This expanded to other essential supplies and Elyon reached the point where he needed help carrying the loot so one or two others joined him in his efforts. Over time they became an established group with Elyon as their leader, Janie also, once her physical state had recovered a bit, became his 'right hand' so to speak. Everyone looked to them for help, they were asked for food, medical supplies and all sorts of other much needed items. They did the best they could but not everything was able to be retrieved. Once or twice the enemy managed to spot them and chase them off but Elyon always stayed unseen. Once a crossbow bolt struck it's target and one of the raiders was killed and this hit the group hard but losses were a risk of stealing from an enemy laying siege to the city.
After almost two months of the siege reinforcements were able to reach them and drive off the opposing army and as Aerilon was free once more, Elyon, Janie and his group were hailed as heroes. Without them many more would surely have died and Aerilon, capital of Eblary may have even been surrendered. As a reward for their actions during the conflict the couple were given the house they had been staying in as their now official home and the city paid for it to be renovated. All those involved in the raids on the supplies were given medals of bravery as recognition for their achievements. But the city was not quite out of the woods yet. Much damage had been done by enemy siege engines such as catapults and trebuchet and things needed to be re-built. People had lost their homes and the problem of homeless people had increased. So ever the one to put the needs of others first, Elyon got his group together once more and started helping to get supplies to those who needed it the most, this time being officially sanctioned by the city authorities. For this they were paid well but things started to change for some of the group as time went on. One or two of them started getting greedy and certain items were going missing. This was barely enough to be noticed but as is the way with greed, this started to get worse. Also corruption started setting in and those greedy ones started taking money on the side to drop off supplies to those who paid enough coin first. Elyon was oblivious to this to start with but questions and rumours soon began spreading. When news of this corruption reached Elyon and Janie they were both furious and extremely upset, insulted that their charitable work had been tainted in such a way. But he did not have proof who was dirty and who was clean so he had to be cautious. Some were still loyal to the original charitable cause and wanted to help bring these thieves and extortionists to justice and began laying certain little traps to catch these people out. This didn't take long and Elyon soon had a list of names he could take to the authorities to expose those involved and have them arrested.
Once he had he list of names Elyon decided to sleep on it, being late and needing sleep, then go to the castle in the morning and put his case forward. As he left his house all was quite, a little too quiet. Yet right outside his front door were five faces he recognised, these all worked for the Mattiel Syndicate, as the group had become known, and all were on his list. The men had swords drawn ready, just waiting for him to step outside his door. Elyon was barely able to utter a word before he was brutally cut down and left helpless on the ground, while the men then entered the house. Moments later as Elyon was breathing his very last breaths they came back out, dragging with them his wife, the love of his life, poor Janie with them. They made him watch helplessly as they drove a sword through her throat and left them both there to die. From this moment on the charitable work that had created the Syndicate ended, and the organisation took a much darker turn.
Species
Circumstances of Death
Murder
Children
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Blonde
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale
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