As far back as Franz can remember, he was part of a travelling circus. His father was a performer, a tumbler in the circus, and he never met his mother, his dad would never even talk about her and grew angry if Franz ever pressed him too hard.
Though he grew up in the lifestyle of the circus, he never committed to his role as his father did. His father wasted many an hour trying to train Franz to be an acrobat or performer as good as he was, but Franz never had his heart in it.
The truth was, Franz had discovered a destiny he found far more interesting. Though he kept it secret from everyone, even his own father, he learned that he had an aptitude for magic. His father, and several of the other performers, held a disdain for the practice of magic, so Franz for several years developed his meager talents in secret, learning occasionally from others when he found chances to meet wizards or sorcerers in the circus's constant travels.
When Franz was 15, he and his father parted ways. By that time it was clear Franz would never be a part of the circus, so his father left him with some money to start a life and the circus moved on without him. And so Franz came to live in Andoran. What little money he had, Franz quickly managed to lose, becoming forced to live in the streets.
At first he was slow to adapt, but soon he found his niche in the city and began to thrive. The skills he had shunned as a circus performer soon demonstrated their usefulness as he first became a street performer working for what he could scrape off the streets, until he discovered his talents as a confidence man.
Franz had been lying for years in his attempts to hide his arcane powers, and he soon discovered that the talent was equally useful for cheating others out of their money. Whether it was running confidence games, cheating at gambling, or using his subtle arcane powers for personal gain, Franz became more successful in his pursuits than he thought possible.
His antics did not come without problems, however. Skilled as he was, Franz would all too often find himself facing an angry mark. He suffered several beatings and barely escaped with his life half a dozen times after cons gone wrong before he learned to defend himself.
He made plenty of enemies during his time in the city, but whether through sword, spell, or trickery he always managed to stay alive and one step ahead of all those who fell victim to him.
It was on one particular day, swelling with confidence after scoring a large sum of money, that Franz happened to be walking down just the right alley at just the right time. He had seen muggings before an avoided them rather than risk his own life, but on this particular occasion, whether it was compassion or pure bravado, when he discovered an old scholar at knifepoint, he had no choice but to act.
The scholar, Professor Lorimor, thanked him profusely for his help. Franz never learned the story of how the scholar came to be in that situation, but after his help Franz accompanied Lorimor back to the Inn he was staying at, and they talked for some time.
Franz's encounters with Lorimor were few and far between after that, though he would occasionally hear of his presence in the city or somewhere nearby and would go to see him. Franz would never have considered the two of them friends, acquaintances at most, but nonetheless when he learned he was in the scholars will, he did not hesitate to pack up his few possessions and leave for Ravengero.
