Introduction
Bernal did not know his father. Padros Iacomo left his destitute wife shortly after impregnating her for the third time, seeking a more exciting and worthwhile life in the regional capital of Yanmass. Bernal did not know his eldest sister either. Irma Iacomo, a cavalier of the Taldan Horse, was the main source of pride and money for her family before her death in a training accident plunged the Iacomos into poorness and despair.
Thus, Bernal was left to grow with a mother, Rosina, and a brother, Saulto, in a small town by the Brokenbridge River. Rosina Iacomo earned a very modest living for her two sons working as a gardener and florist, tending to the estates of local nobles and aspirants. Only two years Bernal's senior, Saulto was something of a young genius. By the time he was eight Saulto could read and understand complex treatises on magic and religion, inspiring rumours of various kinds - positive and less so - among his neighbours. Much to his dismay, Bernal was not born with his brother's sharp mind. He'd always been annoyed with himself at his lack of skill; his sharp eyes, shapely nose, and fleet of foot were not of much use to a rural family.
Broken Bridge
Shortly after his tenth birthday, a friend of Bernal took him to the nearby ancient causeway of Broken Bridge. Little more than a wooden bridge and stone fort, Bernal's attention was turned to the stone pylons jutting from the river bed. According to his friend, the large stone bridge that used to stand here was destroyed by a rampaging silver dragon, but this did not interest Bernal: the dare did. Bernal was dared to reach from the one bank of the river to the other, only by jumping from pylon to pylon. Slightly hesitant, Bernal accepted the challenge; he practised for a month before one night coming back to Broken Bridge - unknowingly followed by his brother.
Taking a deep breath, Bernal leaped from the bank to one stone pylon, and then the other, slowing each time only to shift his momentum in the correct direction. This feat of dexterity was marvelous to behold, even if Bernal thought no one could see him: Saulto was filled with jealousy for his brother's finesse. That is why, later that night when Bernal left back to their home, Saulto attempted to cross the river like his brother. With a running start, Saulto leaped from the bank to a stone pylon... only to slip on a loose rock. Saulto lost his footing and plummeted into the river, hitting his head against the rocks and dying instantly. The two's mother realised that something is wrong the next morning, when Saulto was nowhere to be found; his corpse was located three days later, washed up on the riverbank some ten miles to the south of Broken Bridge.
Rondelero
Having already lost her eldest daughter, Saulto's death did not do much to change Rosina Iacomo. By this time, she was an entirely apathetic woman; where all her motherly love could be funneled into her remaining son, it instead turned into spite for the world, resulting in outbursts of anger and despair. These were usually directed at Bernal: her reminder of what she had lost and what she still had to lose. Rosina thought nothing could make the world matter for her anymore; until, a year later, she struck gold.
While tilling the soil on one of her gardens, Rosina noticed something shining in the soil - a golden coin inscribed with the name Remoque V, a Taldan grand prince of centuries past. Bernal's mother dug at the same spot all day long, looking for more of these ancient coins, when she found it - the buried hoard of a dragon from the dragon plague. She was rich.
The great wealth, and immediate neophyte noble status that came with it, did not make Rosina any more kind to her son. It had a different effect; it made her paranoid. Under a facade of a supposed "improvement" for her son's life, Rosina sent Bernal far away from her, through the mountains of Krearis and to the City of a Hundred Fountains in northern Porthmos - Karakuru. With a sliver of his mother's fortune, Bernal applied to the Rondelero School, where he could learn to apply his natural grace and charm into a deadly fighting style. Bernal was successful in his studies; each month, he would get a small amount of money from the nouveau riche Rosina to pay for his tuition. He was apparently set for the next few years of his life.
It was not long before a courier came with different news, and a small sum of money. Rosina was found dead on a flowerbed of roses, having apparently died from a stroke - or poisoning. As Bernal correctly guessed, some local nobles were not satisfied with the sudden rise to status of a destitute gardener, and decided to take matters into their own hands (or rather, those of their hired blades.)
Conclusion
Orphaned of father and mother, bereaved of brother and sister, and with nowhere to live, Bernal took the long ride down the River Porthmos to the gleaming capital of Oppara, where he hoped someone would find his skills useful. Indeed, it was merely a week before Lady Martella Lotheed hired Bernal to fulfill several missions for her in an upcoming ball. What the missions were, Bernal did not care for too much, as long as they paid well and served as his gateway to the exciting life or intrigue in the upper echelons of Taldan nobility.
