Count Thomas Fergus Zithembe; Catfolk; Rogue 5 [On Hold: 2 Chapters Deep]

"This? This is my big challenge?" You think looking over your new assignment from the Queen of Lore. You had been slightly unclear on why exactly you were not about to perform the hempen fandango after you were caught trying to fence 5 gigantic diamonds stolen from the royal treasury, but now you understood. To take a thief who could rob one of the treasury's diamond vaults and set him to stealing the fruit of the Tree of Life? That made PERFECT SENSE! The bit about making you a Count, not so much; but you assumed that was being done for form's sake, and also possibly because you HAD turned over the diamonds and come quietly when they caught you.

You are a card carrying member of the Truthanaw Thieves Guild, and have of course alerted them that Arron Rankin, the fence who you tried to sell the diamonds too, has been turned to the law and can no longer be trusted, but that was before you ended up on the other side yourself! Now you are being expected to, among other things, enforce the Queen's Law on the County of Ambuscade, collecting taxes, putting down rebellions, catching brigands, etc.

Well to hell with that! You are about as Lawful as your average cat burglar, and will have no truck with enforcing this law-and-order business. If you come back from a dungeon delve and find the county is being harried by brigands? Your going to sneak into their camp, poison all their food and water, then come back while their puking their guts up the next day and HIRE the fuckers! Offer them medical care, a full count's pardon, and clean food and they should JUMP at the chance to go spelunking with you into the Labyrinth of Ambuscade, keeping you well back from the fighting and mayhem! And if some of them cause trouble? Well, that's what your Men-At-Arms are for, isn't it?

Point of fact you have more than half a mind to put into the Guild for 'Grandfather' status right now, turn this castle of yours into a major Guild Hall for the Truthanaw Thieves Guild, and to hell with the fact that you are so far outside their jurisdiction that it defies adequate description.

"Now why would I be so loyal to the Thieves Guild? There is no honor among thieves." I hear you saying? That my friend is a vast oversimplification. True, your average thief is really only out for himself and perhaps his immediate associates and/or family members, but to you the Truthanaw Thieves Guild is both of the above.

You don't remember your parents, in point of fact you believe that you don't exactly have any. The first thing you remember is waking up in a laboratory of some kind, already 15 years old and knowing a lot of facts and skills that would serve you well later in life, what little there has been of it. You were in a tank that was rapidly draining of some kind of brackish pink liquid and you coughed more of the stuff out of your lungs till you could breathe again. There were four tanks next to your own, in two of them there were dead cats, in one of them a dead human woman of about your own age, and in the other one your "sister" another catfolk like yourself. You managed to use your claws to pick open the seem on the tank's lid, got your sister out of her own tank, and escaped the lab. Out on the streets you wandered, stealing clothes to cover your nakedness and food to slake your hunger.

These two acts swiftly brought you to the attentions of The Guild and you were 'asked' to endure an 'indenture' to 'repay them' for your 'unlicensed thievery'. Things could have gotten ugly there, especially for your sister, who they named Kathrine Penny Zithembe, though you have never realized how close she came to being into prostitution, but your contracts were bought by an upstanding older man named Rupert Lyesmyth. He was a "Father" in the guild, who capitalized on your imprinted skills by turning you into an effective two person con team, and then diversifying your talents with further training, you as a cat burglar and she as a Fagin. The Guild became your family: they were your Grandmothers and Grandfathers, your Aunts and Uncles, your Father and Mother, your Cousins, Brothers, and Sisters, each according to their rank. Thus it is you are a rarity, a true 'Guild Loyalist', and will do much to secure the guild's future.