Born of a Diobel smuggler and a dockside prostitute, Quartes begin with an interesting perspective on life. He was destined to be poor or in prison, with little chance of being anything else. The bastard's lineage was disputed by his father, an elven smuggler, who left the port soon after his birth to purse other ventures. His mother, who couldn't possibly support a babe and still ply her trade, gave the boy up to one of the local orphanages, and Quartes never saw her again.
Through it all, Quartes maintained an oddly jovial nature, never cursing fate for his lot in it, or blaming his woes on another. It was that very nature that led him to be discovered by an oft inebriated man of the cloth that was devoted to Cayden Cailean. The man mentored Quartes in the ways of his patron, and brought him up as a son. In him, Quartes found the father he had never had, and the priest's jovial nature soon became Quartes' own.
His talents, though, lay down another path. Quartes found that his skill with a blade, when combined with an arcane talent that seemed almost meager when compared with the reknowned wizards of Absalom, was an effective combination indeed. As his talents grew, his guardian and friend convinced Quartes not to waste them. Thus, Quartes finds himself working with the society that he sees as most actively doing actual good in Golarion - the Pathfinders.
Quartes is often jovial, at times to the extent to seem uncaring or callous. But, he's been tempered by despair, so his view on the world is that one should be happy with what he or she has, not wanting for what was not given them at birth. He often enjoys his drink a bit too much, or sings a bit too loudly, and he has a bit of his father's smuggler deep in his heart.
The only heirloom that Quartes has from his early life is a dueling sword that was apparently traded by his father for parts for a smuggler's vessel. The head of his first orphanage, a gruff and severe ex-adventurer, gave Quartes the sword; he never mentioned how he came across it. Since Quartes has no family name that he knows, he uses the maker's mark on his blade as his last name.
