Name: Felidae
Race: Khajiit
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Class: Wanderer
Standing Stone: The Thief
My character, a young Khajiit woman named Felidae, was born into captivity in a recluse Morrowind mine, which was being illegally run by a sadistic Dunmer Slave-Master. For years she was forced to work in the harsh conditions of the mine, at some point having an ugly slave-mark branded onto her left wrist in the form of a Hulking Fabricant. At the tender age of six she witnessed the brutal death of her father at the hands of the Slave-Master (her mother died during childbirth) and received a vivid scar across her face after confronting him over it. It also gave her an irrational dislike of the elven kind, especially the Dunmer.
When she was eight years-old the mine was finally discovered and ransacked by soldiers, giving her and the other slaves an opportunity to escape. During the commotion she was attacked by the deranged Slave-Master, and in her panic to get free she slashed his neck open with her razor-sharp claws, killing him. She escaped the mine and found herself wandering the wastelands of Morrowind alone, starving and without any purpose in life.
Eventually she was discovered by three Khajiit thieves who were escapees from another mine and, seeing some potential in the girl, they decided to take her under their wing. The trio showed her the way of the Thief, how to sneak, pickpocket, swindle etc., and they discovered that she's a fast learner when it comes to stealth. She and the three thieves soon formed a close bond with each other, and she began to see them as almost brotherly.
After three years of travelling the land with them, committing various break-ins and hold-ups throughout Morrowind, they decided to turn their sights on something bigger, and the four of them managed to gain access to Cyrodiil using the money they've accumulated. They immediately headed for the Imperial City, where the Khajiit thieves believed they will make their fortune. They set up camp in the sewers under the city, emerging at night to steal from shops and homes, and during the day picking the pockets of various passer-by.
After nearly a month, they realized they were getting nowhere and decided that they need to aim even higher in order to succeed in making their fortune. So one night they planned an extravagant raid on a stately house in the Elven Gardens district of the city, desperate in their greed. However, little did they know that the owner of the house was a retired captain from the Imperial Legion, and the house was very highly guarded. Needless to say, they were caught red-handed. Their hiding spot in the sewers was discovered, and the four thieves were sentenced to ten years each in the Imperial Prison for their crimes. The retired captain, however, took pity on the eleven year-old Felidae, and decided to foster her.
While the three Khajiit thieves rotted in the dungeons, Felidae slowly adapted to her new lifestyle. She took up a job delivering papers for the Black Horse Courier, and her foster father taught her the skills he learned in Legion training, such as swordplay, archery, light armour and hand-to-hand. Felidae learned to somewhat enjoy this new way of life, and the old man started to become the father she never really knew. It was also from this man that she acquired the name 'Felidae' (meaning the biological family of cats), as the first portion of her life was spent being regarded simply as a number.
Ten years passed, and Felidae grew into a strong-willed young woman living a life of almost complete contentment; earning bonuses and promotions at work due to the unmatched speed at which she delivered her papers, and had a growing hope of getting together enough money to one day purchase her own place.
Despite the seemingly perfect lifestyle, however, she still felt as though she didn't fit in with life in the city. She was tormented every day by memories of her childhood, and nightmares of her father's death permeated her dreams each night. She had trouble with keeping friends and had almost none, preferring to stay indoors and train than keep up with hersocial life, and she rarely left the city other than to hunt mudcrabs by Lake Rumare and meditate on the shoreline. Deep down she knew she will never be able to settle down and escape her past, no matter how hard she tried. So she lived as a recluse, only leaving the house to shop and work.
Meanwhile, deep in the Imperial dungeons, two of the Khajiit thieves had died from disease during their ten years of captivity, but the third thief was finally released back into Tamriel a free man; alone, insane from his many years of imprisonment, and with nought but one purpose. In his mentally handicapped state, he retraced his steps to the old man's house that night and managed to break in once more, carrying a lit torch. Felidae, hearing the thief enter, confronted him on the stairs. The two tussled, the thief dropping the torch and unintentionally starting a fire. Using all her strength, she managed to overpower the wretch and throw him to the floor. Terrified, he begged her to come with him back to Elsweyr, where they could start a new life together just like the old days. Just at at that moment, Felidae's foster father appeared in the doorway, threatening the thief that if he didn't leave the property immediately he'd be arrested, not knowing that the city guard were unable to enter due to the rapidly spreading fire. The thief, desperate not to be imprisoned a second time, seized a knife and murdered the old man in a fit of blind panic, while Felidae watched on in horror. Realising the enormity of what he's done, the murderer once again attempted to plead with her to join him, so they could escape the province together and start anew. But Felidae, suddenly beset by a murderous rage at the death of the man she had once called "father", ripped his throat out with her bare claws and flung him out the window, where he plummeted to his death.
Now realising that everything she once held dear is gone, and not wanting to be present when the soldiers arrive at the scene, she climbed out the shattered window and escaped the city unnoticed, while the only home she'd ever known burned to the ground behind her.
For over a week Felidae wandered the roads of Cyrodiil, starving and penniless. To her good fortune she eventually happened across a Khajiit caravan on the road, who offered her food in exchange for her services as a bodyguard. They revealed they are en route to Skyrim, and she decided to join them on their trip north.
After a few days of tricky navigation through the Jerall Mountains, they finally passed over the border and set up camp near Darkwater Crossing in southern Eastmarch, which was populated by mostly tough-looking Nords in blue armour. At midnight, Felidae was woken by an almighty commotion going on outside the camp. Upon waking, she realized with shock and anger that the Khajiit caravan had abandoned her, leaving only a smoking campfire behind to prove they were ever there. She was caught in the midst of an intense battle between the Nords and what look to her like Imperials, judging by the unique attire and weaponry. After attempting to flee into the woods, she was struck in the back of the head by an unknown assailant and knocked unconscious.
When she eventually awoke, head throbbing, she was slumped on a rickety cart with other Nordic prisoners; hands bound, blurry-eyed, and heading inexorably toward whatever fate had in store for her...
Cont:
Upon escaping Helgen, the 21 year old Khajiit girl goes on to wander Skyrim alone, putting all of her skills to use in an attempt to get by in a land fraught with danger. At one point she's a conwoman, using her silver-tongue to swindle people out of their hard-earned gold. Then she's a mercenary, paid to sort out trouble in different parts of Skyrim. Then she's a bounty killer, chasing and capturing dangerous criminals for a reward. She takes to wearing a leather gauntlet over her left hand, attempting to hide away the painful reminder of her childhood that's forever burned onto her wrist (even though she claims it's to help with her archery). She even stumbles across the Khajiit caravan she used to work with, all of them robbed blind and slain by unknown attackers in a remote mountain pass. She decides not to bother tracking down the people who killed them. After claiming a rare Dwemer crossbow from an ex-bounty target, Felidae decides to ditch her bow and modify the new weapon into a smaller variation of its former self, making it easier to move with but still being just as effective as before. She also modifies it to fire around six bolts in rapid succession; after one bolt is fired the weapon automatically slots another into place, saving the time of constantly having to reach into a quiver after every shot. She soon becomes one of the most feared bounty killers in Skyrim, well-known throughout the criminal underworld. But despite this, she still feels unsatisfied with her accomplishments.
Eventually, after five years as a drifter wandering from town to town, village to village, never staying in one place for too long, she overhears a rumour from a barmaid about a boy in Riften. A boy named Aventus Aretino, who is apparently attempting to contact the Dark Brotherhood. His motives are unknown.
And Felidae, feeling somewhat intrigued, decides to check it out.
