Jabin Green
By Jack Schafer
The matrons at the Waterdown orphanage told him that he was left on the doorstep one night in a wicker basket with
three silver Shields and a note that read, "Please take care of our Jabin."
He was a curious and active boy, always getting into places he didn’t belong, playing with things that didn’t belong
to him, and frightening the matrons by climbing to the most precarious heights. Their punishments taught him well – to
avoid notice when he pursued his youthful adventures. By day he attended to his lessons, did his chores, and behaved
(for the most part) like a proper little gentleman for the matrons and the ladies of the gentry who visited to fret over
the poor unfortunate children of the orphanage. By night he stole through the city streets, ran across rooftops, fought
imaginary Warlon spies, and harried the City Watch with impunity.
His keen mind and nimble hands won him an apprenticeship with a kindly old locksmith named Corvin Yale. The old man
taught him many things about springs and gears and mechanisms, but took ill and died less than three years into his
training. Yale's estranged son refused to continue the training and sent him back to the matrons, too old to start a
new apprenticeship.
The orphanage had fallen on hard times. Wealthy patrons had turned their attentions (and fortunes) elsewhere, and
while the Duke's funding kept the orphans under shelter it would not keep them fed. So Jabin took to pilfering food
from street vendors and local inns for himself, then began stealing from bakeries and butchers' sheds and cheese shops
for the orphanage. The matrons offered prayers of thanks for the "anonymous donations" that tided them over that long
lean year.
By the time he reached his majority, Jabin had a career firmly in mind – one that did not involve tilling the Duke's
fields. He declared himself a freeman and embarked on a one-man crime wave. Things did not go well. His attempts at
cutting purses earned him lashes and several trips to the stocks. His inexperience frequently cost him a fair price for
the goods he did manage to steal. In short order, he found himself sleeping in the street or abandoned attics, and
trying to avoid the City Watch.
He befriended a Secotah named Skeeve when he intervened in a street fight – they lost. Suddenly welcome in Out-Town,
he made a place for himself and acquired various new skills that turned him from a mediocre thief to a "skilled gentleman
of adventure". He learned his strengths and weaknesses, the rules of thieving society, how to assess the goods he sold,
and the subtle art of fencing. In a few short months, he was stealing enough to rent a small room over a carpenter's
shop, skillfully enough that he no longer had to avoid the eyes of the City Watchmen. He developed business ties with
(but never joined) the thieves' guilds in Waterdown, except for the infamous Black Dagger Society.
Over the years, Jabin traveled through the western duchies of the Empire, roamed the Merchant Kingdoms, and ventured to
the Pellini Isles. He has worked as a thief, a watchman, a smuggler, a courier, a mercenary, a duelist, a treasure hunter,
and a spy. His success does not yet approach the dreaded status of "famous thief", but he does have a reputation among
his peers for skill, reliability, and trustworthiness. He has managed to put away considerable sums in graveyard stashes
spread out across the peninsula.
For the past couple of years Jabin was trapped (more or less) within the walls of Waterdown, the city besieged by the
other Dukes and their armies. Although he limited his illegal activities, he found a great deal of work through Sergeant
Kam Boran of the City Watch – a man he had worked for previously as a troubleshooter and spy. Their efforts netted him
considerable rewards, and Kam Boran a lieutenancy.
He takes pride in his abilities but avoids arrogance. He enjoys a challenge but doesn't try to make things more
difficult than they have to be. He savors good alcohol and good food, but never to excess. He eschews gambling,
Dust, the professional company of courtesans, and other vices. He doesn't travel light, but is ready to abandon
his gear without hesitation. He is a fair hand at crafting (and uncrafting) jewelry. He sews to keep his fingers
nimble. He is fascinated by the mysterious green depths of emeralds. He never prays for boons, but thanks the gods
for the boons he receives. He lives by a simple code of ethics, the three principal points of which are:
Don't work against your partners.
Don't kill anybody you don't have to.
Don't steal from anybody who can't afford it.
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