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Tezrel, whom I created nearly 20 years ago. He still occupies a significant portion of my brain space. Raised as a orphan in the Imperial City, and thick as thieves and thieves as well with M'Kaath the Khajiit and Xerxes the Argonian, similarly orphaned and similarly aged. They are the closest thing to family they know, constantly pushing and testing each other in fencing, climbing, and sneaking, security & speechcraft. Rather than take any Imperial program to begin their lives, they strike out on their own.

Trusting each other since childhood, their effectiveness as a three-man heist crew outperforms many of the Thieves' Guild most experienced heroes. Rumors of "The Emperors" spread, wildly speculating of who could be daring to beat the Guild at their own game. The three do far too well for themselves, barely of adult age, ripping off the nobility of the Imperial City with the self justification only three orphans raised with nothing could embody. Their pockets grow fat and their heads far in the clouds.

Tezrel in particular, at the height of his cavalier streak, makes the mistake of not just stealing money, but the heart of a certain old nobleman's significantly younger wife. He meets a terrible fate, jailed and falsely charged with a murder he did not commit and yet quite guilty of several other crimes. Awaiting a certain death penalty, he despairs of life and the love he lost.

And the emperor quietly orders this certain someone, born under a certain sign to uncertain parents, to be shipped to Morrowind. Barely having any will to live, Tezrel knows he will never steal again though he knows no other way to make a living.

Reeling without their brother, ignorant of his fate, M'Kaath and Xerxes fall out and flee Cyrodiil. Unbeknownst to each other, eventually all find their way to the same far-east country where their paths will again intersect.