Like so many orphan children on the streets of Korvosa, Lara grew up on the streets and ended up as part of Lamm's "Little Lambs". While it meant she at least had something to eat and a place to rest, Lamm was a despicable man, and the beatings he would dole out when they'd failed to bring in enough in a day were brutal.
Lara would sometimes give what she stole to other kids, especially the younger ones, hoping to shield them from Lamm's wrath, which only made things worse for her - until he finally had enough - after a particularly bad string of failures, he gave her a brutal beating and left her battered in a garbage heap. Those scars we still visible today, even if she tried to hide them as best she could.
She'd probably not have survived if not for Shadi, a Shoanti woman who found her, and took her in. After she managed to nurse Lara back to health, she asked her to stay. With nowhere else to go, Lara agreed, and Shadi began teaching her. How to hunt, how to move about unseen. How to read a target's movements. Lara was a quick study, and would practice hunting for rats on the street.
Shadi was very reluctant to share much details about herself, but Lara eventually managed to put enough together to get a clearer picture about her saviour's life. Shadi worked as an assassin for hire for Korvosa's crime lords, known as The Crimson Whisper, renowned for her deadly skills. She couldn'y find any details about her life before coming to Korvosa, although Shadi's teachings had helped her notice she signs of shame and regret in Shadi's eyes whenever Lara asked about her past before coming to the city.
Whatever brought Shadi to Korvosa had also led her straight into the grips of shover addiction - Lara had caught her shivering frequently at night, typically after a job. And in the end, like so many others in the streets, it was the drug that took her life. Shadi's death shook Lara, and she spent quite a few days grieving, and wondering what to do with her life, as she had no one else to turn to. Eventually, she decided to try and do something about the city, try to make things better for those like her.
At first she tried helping out the Korvosan Guard - they were surprisingly willing to work with mercenaries and adventurers and the like, and she managed to put her skills to use, working mainly as an informant for them. And whatever money she could save, she'd donate to an orphanage in the city. But things didn't change much - the guard didn't have the resources to act on most of the information she brought, and every week she'd learn of more kids going missing, or people turning up dead on the streets, from either violence or drugs.
Fed up with the state of things, Lara made a decision - the only way for things to change, was to go after the crime lords themselves. Either intimidate them enough to stop their evil deeds, or force them to stop - permanently. Shadi's reputation was still quite well known, and few, of any, knew of her death. She'd become The Crimson Whisper, but she'd be focusing on going after the crime lords themselves instead of doing their dirty work. As a way to protect ghose like her, and to honor Shadi.
She took care to assemble a similar outfit to the one Shadi used to wear on her job - while the dark clothes and hooded cloak were something most would expect from those with her occupation, the dark red scarf she used to cover her face was distinctive enough. As was the intricate Shoanti tattoo she had on her right arm, that she displayed with pride.
After getting a similar one done, and seeing it contrasting with the scars she'd gotten from Lamm so long ago, Lara knew exactly who her first target as The Crimson Whisper would be.
