Hanio

Raised in the shadowed alleys of the Capital of Grym, you never knew the comfort of a true family. Instead, your childhood belonged to the Claw Noir, a notorious thieves’ guild that operated beneath the city’s glittering facade. The guild’s leader, Hal, took you in as a child and raised you as if you were his own son. He taught you how to survive in a world that showed little mercy, but he also instilled a single rule that outweighed all others: never reveal who you truly are.

The only clue to your origins was a name: Crow. Hal insisted that it remain a secret, warning that knowledge of your lineage could bring dangers neither of you fully understood. As the years passed, you learned to bury your identity beneath a growing collection of aliases. Across the continent, countless faces and names have been yours. To some, you are a skilled burglar who slips through locked doors like a ghost. To others, a hired blade whose work leaves no witnesses. Deception became second nature; lies are not merely tools in your arsenal — they are the language in which you are most fluent.

Despite leading a life of crime, Hal was neither cruel nor neglectful. He was a patient mentor, protective and surprisingly compassionate. He believed that society itself was broken beyond repair and that those cast into its darkness had no choice but to carve out their own place within it. Under his guidance, you learned loyalty, resourcefulness, and the importance of looking after those who stand beside you.

The philosophy of the Claw Noir shaped your view of the world. Wealth and privilege were marks of guilt until proven otherwise, and the powerful were seen as deserving targets rather than untouchable elites. The unjust were little more than obstacles to be removed, while every person, noble or beggar, represented an opportunity waiting to be exploited. You were taught that influence, secrets, favors, and fear are currencies just as valuable as gold — and that everyone has a price, a weakness, or a use.

Today, the truth of your bloodline remains a mystery. You carry the name Crow in secret, hidden beneath layers of false identities and fabricated histories. Whether it is a curse, a legacy, or the key to understanding who you truly are, you do not know. What you do know is how to survive, how to deceive, and how to thrive in the spaces between truth and lies—a child of shadows searching for answers while ensuring no one discovers the questions.

For most of your life, the Claw Noir seemed untouchable. Hidden beneath the streets and corruption of the Capital of Grym, the guild thrived by preying upon the wealthy, exposing the wicked, and performing the kinds of tasks that powerful people publicly condemned while secretly commissioning. You spent years building a reputation under countless false names, believing that the shadows would always protect those who knew how to navigate them.

That illusion shattered two years ago.

The downfall began when the Emperor appointed a mysterious new advisor: Selena, a woman affiliated with the Occult Seeing Eye. Shortly afterward, a ruthless campaign was launched against criminal organizations throughout the empire. Officially, it was a crusade for justice—a long-overdue cleansing of Grym’s underworld. Yet those who had lived within that world knew the truth was far more complicated. Many of the crimes used to justify the purge had been tolerated, encouraged, or even commissioned by members of the imperial family themselves. The sudden shift made little sense.

Something larger was unfolding behind the scenes.

You never learned what it was.

On the night the Claw Noir fell, chaos consumed the guild. Safehouses burned, informants vanished, and city guards moved with a level of coordination that suggested years of preparation. As the walls closed in, Hal found you one final time. There were no grand speeches or emotional farewells. He handed you a final guild notice, ordered you to run, and told you to leave without looking back.

For the first time in your life, you obeyed without question.

You never saw him again.

In the years since, the Claw Noir has become little more than a whispered memory. Its members met grim fates — some were imprisoned, some vanished without a trace, and others were found dead in alleyways or hanging from gallows. Whether Hal survived remains a question that haunts you. Part of you believes he died protecting his people. Another part refuses to accept that possibility.

As if the loss of your family was not enough, strange afflictions began to plague you after the guild’s destruction. Violent migraines strike without warning, leaving you disoriented and vulnerable. Even more unsettling are the voices.

When drunk, exhausted, or distracted, they fade into the background. But when your mind is clear and sober, you sometimes hear whispers all around you. They emerge from crowded streets, empty rooms, and silent nights alike. Some sound distant and unintelligible, while others seem to speak directly to you. They overlap, argue, murmur, and occasionally shout, making it difficult to focus on the world around you.

You have never discovered whether these voices are the result of trauma, madness, magic, or something far more sinister.

What remains certain is that you are one of the last surviving children of the Claw Noir. The guild that raised you is gone. Your mentor is missing. Your true family remains a mystery. The name Crow is still hidden beneath layers of lies and false identities.

And somewhere within the chaos that destroyed your old life lies a truth that powerful people wanted buried. Whether that truth is connected to the Occult Seeing Eye, Selena, your mysterious lineage, or the voices that haunt your mind, you do not yet know.

But you intend to find out.

Since the fall of the Claw Noir, you have drifted across the continent beneath an endless succession of false names, never staying in one place long enough to grow roots. The destruction of the guild left you with more questions than answers, and every lead you pursued seemed to dissolve into rumor, dead ends, or carefully hidden truths.

Then, while drinking away another forgettable night in Interia, the bustling commercial heart of the western continent, you received a message that changed everything.

A rumor had surfaced: someone connected to the Claw Noir was hiding in Mornir.

For most people, such information would have demanded caution and careful planning. For you, it inspired a far less reasonable idea.

You decided to enroll in Mornir as a student.

Behind a freshly crafted identity, forged documents, and yet another fabricated history, you arrived in the city determined to uncover the truth. Officially, you are simply another aspiring scholar seeking education and opportunity. Unofficially, you are conducting your own investigation into the mysteries that have haunted you since the night the guild fell.

Your search has three goals.

First, to discover whether the rumors are true and find the surviving member of the Claw Noir. If anyone knows what really happened during the purge, it may be one of the few who escaped it.

Second, to uncover the truth behind the guild's destruction. The official story has never satisfied you. Too many powerful figures benefited from the Claw Noir's downfall, and too many questions remain unanswered about Selena, the Occult Seeing Eye, and the Emperor's sudden change in policy.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you seek answers about yourself. The name Crow is the only inheritance you possess, and the secrets surrounding it have followed you your entire life. Whether your family was noble, criminal, forgotten, or something else entirely, you intend to learn the truth.

For now, patience is your greatest weapon. No one in Mornir knows who you really are. To your classmates and teachers, you are simply another student. They do not know of the countless aliases you've worn, the jobs you've performed in the shadows, the guild that raised you, or the voices that whisper at the edges of your mind.

And you intend to keep it that way.

Until you learn who can be trusted, every smile is a disguise, every conversation an opportunity, and every secret a potential key to the answers you have spent your entire life searching for. Beneath your student persona lies the same survivor the Claw Noir forged years ago—a liar, a thief, and a seeker of truths hidden where others fear to look.

The Claw Noir was never merely a guild to you—it was your family. The thieves, spies, fences, and killers who operated beneath Grym's streets were the only people you ever truly belonged to. Though many of them are gone, imprisoned, or missing, you still carry their teachings and traditions wherever you go. If even a single member of the guild remains alive, you would risk everything to find them.

Your feelings toward the Empire of Grym are far less affectionate. To the public, the Empire claims to uphold justice and order, but you have seen the hypocrisy hidden behind noble titles and imperial decrees. The same nobles who condemned criminals often profited from their services, and the same rulers who preached law and virtue turned against the very people who had quietly served their interests. In your eyes, the Empire is built on lies, betrayal, and convenient morality. Whether the destruction of the Claw Noir was an act of justice or a calculated purge remains unanswered, but you are convinced that the official story is false.

Among the stories told in guild hideouts and taverns, one legend has always fascinated you: Lokythar. Supposedly a secret brotherhood of master thieves, spies, and tricksters, they exist somewhere between history and myth. Some claim they are merely fairy tales meant to inspire young criminals. Others swear they are real and still operate from the shadows, pulling strings across the continent. Whether the tales are true or not, you keep your ears open for any mention of them. If Lokythar truly exists, they may possess knowledge, resources, or connections capable of helping you uncover the truth about your guild and your family.

No one has shaped your life more than Hal. Mentor, father figure, teacher, and protector, he raised you from childhood and taught you everything you know about survival. His lessons extend beyond thievery and deception; he taught you loyalty, patience, and the importance of choosing your own path in a cruel world. Though two years have passed since the fall of the Claw Noir, you still measure your actions against the standards he set. Whether he is dead or alive, you refuse to let his memory disappear.

Yet not every relationship from your past was built on admiration.

There was another thief within the underworld — an exceptionally talented woman who always seemed one step ahead of everyone else, including you. What began as professional competition evolved into a rivalry that pushed both of you to greater heights. You crossed paths repeatedly, each trying to outsmart the other, and although neither of you would admit it, there was a certain mutual respect beneath the competition. Then she vanished.

No farewell. No clues. No body.

Recently, rumors have begun spreading through criminal circles about a mysterious thief responsible for impossible heists and daring infiltrations. Many have started referring to this figure as the next great legend of the age. Deep down, you suspect it is her.

Part of you wants to find her to settle the rivalry once and for all.

Another part wonders whether her disappearance and the destruction of the Claw Noir are connected.

And if they are, she may know truths that could change everything you thought you knew about your past, your family, and the forces moving in the shadows of Grym.

Growing up in the streets of Grym taught you one lesson above all others: money and power rule the world. Kings, nobles, and merchants may speak of honor and justice, but in the end, those with wealth and influence make the rules. To you, money means freedom, and power means survival.

You view the Empire of Grym as an ever-expanding machine driven by greed and ambition. It constantly seeks new lands, resources, and knowledge while the powerful grow richer from its successes. The destruction of the Claw Noir only reinforced your belief that the Empire's justice is often a mask for political interests.

Rather than fight the system openly, you prefer to work from within it. Every institution has weaknesses, every powerful person has secrets, and every system can be manipulated by someone clever enough. Your time in Mornir is not just about finding answers—it's about gaining the knowledge, influence, and connections needed to one day turn the Empire's own game against those who believe themselves untouchable.