Street Rat

Category: Background

Description

You grew up in the lower districts of Cyoria — the docks, the warrens, the places polite society pretends don't exist. You got into the Academy on a scholarship, and everyone here knows it. The noble kids look down on you, the professors doubt you, and the cafeteria food is better than anything you've ever eaten. But you've survived worse than exams.

Starting Bonus

Gain the Social Chameleon merit for free (does not cost Merit points). You know how to blend in, read a room, and disappear when trouble comes.

Connection

Underground Contacts. You know people in Cyoria's criminal underworld. Once per session, you can reach out to a fence, an informant, or a smuggler for black-market goods, rumours, or a safe place to hide.

Roleplay Hooks

• Someone from your old life shows up at the Academy gates, asking for a favour you can't refuse.
• A professor suspects your scholarship was arranged by someone with ulterior motives.
• You still have a hiding spot in the city where you stash things the Academy shouldn't know about.

"The Academy thinks it's teaching me discipline. The streets already did that."