Stex (Nobody)
The Story of Stex
The Orphanage:
Stex never knew where he was born who his real parents were. In the lower class of Unity, Stex was found taken in, at the age of 1, to a foster home, where he lived for the majority of his youth. He was raised by two human adults, James and Christina Agastine. Amongst the foster family as well, were seven other children who were also taken in by the foster parents. Other children have been here before but were taken in by other families.
The Agastine parents had more responsibilities than a foster home. They were also members of the thieves guild. The parents were tasked in not only to collect a large sum of wealth from around the city, but they were also tasked to raising new members for the purpose of joining the thieves guild. While many of the children were taken in by other families, those families were also part of the thieves guild. The city is not aware that the foster home is connected to the thieves guild, so in order to keep the recruitment a secret, members have to come in as parents coming in to adopt children, but only if they qualify to become fully part of the thieves guild. In order to be recruited into the thieves guild, the Agastine parents are also tasked to training the children, so when the other members do come to recruit, the selected children are ready to begin assignments.
Being raised by the Agastine was very difficult. They were constantly stressed by the thieves guild’s expectations to collect a large portion of wealth. Because of this, the children were forced to go out and perform various tasks whether it was by pickpocketing or by selling fake trinkets, and various other means. The children almost always just barely got enough. Some managed to get more than others. Those who do not get enough, get severely punished, whether by whipped with a belt, or locked up in a dark basement, whatever the parents can think of to punish the children for doing a poor job.
Stex was punished more times than any other child in the home. Both James and Christina were prejudice towards elves; for they were jealous of their longer lifespan and did not approve of how elves looked. They never appreciated Stex’s work. There was almost never enough wealth that satisfied the Agastines, thus Stex was constantly punished. Even when Stex brought in more wealth than the rest of the children, the Agastines would think of reasons why Stex did a poor job. And Stex could never talk back to them, in fact he was barely aloud to speak at all, for the Agastines took offence to his voice. Stex even did more work than the rest of the children. He was responsible for more chores and harder chores as well around the house. If the parents were not satisfied with the task, Stex would get punished. “Nobody!” the parents would call him. Always putting Stex down.
Some of the children followed suit, while they were not prejudice towards elves, they did want to please the Agastines. Often they would steal some of Stex’s share of the stolen wealth or say Stex took some of their share whenever they did not get enough of their own. Torcar, a Dwarf, was the worst to Stex. Constantly, giving Stex a hard time and even bullying Stex. Pushing him down and kicking him, pulling on his pointy ears, calling him names. Torcar influenced other children to follow suit. Naturally, he was also the Agastine’s favorite out of the others. Always trying to impress them and praising them for being such great masters of the household.
Stex did have a few friends. Amanda, a female human and Grendor, a male halfling. They were always trying to comfort Stex, helping him during his chores, giving him a bit more food which was originally not very much compared to what other children were given. They were always there for Stex and he did his best to be there for them when he could. At night, the three would always go up to the roof of the house, where they had a secret hideout, which was a mostly just a a couple blankets, a few candles and some toys which they manage to find around the city. It was they’re “castle”.
Eventually the Agastines found out about their hideout, thanks to Torcar. Torcar found Stex up on the roof and tattled to the Agastines. They were furious with Stex, claiming he was hoarding a stash for himself. As the Agastines attempted to grab him, he managed to evade and escape through the house. “Get out of here!” his friends told him. Hesitant to go for he feared he would never see his friends again. Eventually, he ran out of the house though before he shut the door, he looked back to his siblings, “Family”, he said and he fled. As he ran from the house, he could hear behind him James yelling, “You will never be free! We will find you! You are nobody out there! NOBODY!” Stex rushed to the gates of the city. He knew he wasn’t safe inside and needed to get out. Not knowing anything about the outside world, he didn’t care. Anywhere was better than staying near the Agastines. At the edge of the gate, he found a large wagon, driven by a mysterious person Stex was not able to recognize. Stex managed to sneak into the wagon and hide behind a couple barrels stored inside. Stex was out of Unity.
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