When Vulpus was young, he lived in a tiny village in the Galtan farmlands with his parents. Vulpus’s parents were happy to live a quiet life farming, speaking of how their parents were brought from Tian-Xa as oddities, and then freed in the Red Revolution’s early days, back when it had proper ideals. Against his parents’ dire warnings, Vulpus practiced his shapeshifting gift, finding the ability powerful and fascinating.
Vulpus’s parents’ fears were proven correct, when one day a merchant caught the boy practicing his shapeshifting gift. Due to the paranoia of the Revolution, the villagers immediately distrusted the Kitsune family, even though they had been members of the village for decades. A mob formed and marched on the family’s farm. Vulpus’s parents lacked his knack and practice for shapeshifting and were promptly caught, and even more promptly hung.
Panicked and seeking a way out of the village, Vulpus found a family of traveling merchants from Andoran. Seeking to escape by any means necessary, Vulpus laid on his charm, convincing the boy to go play with him. Leading the boy to the nearby river, he shoved him into the river and drowned him. Studying the boy’s body, he took his form and left the village with the boy's parents. Vulpus then spent the rest of his youth being raised by the merchants he left Galt with. After a few years, the family moved to Egorian, seeking greater fortune among Cheliax’s riches.
As soon as Vulpus was of age he faked the death of his identity as the merchant's son. He could no longer endure the guilt he felt when he received the stolen affection the merchants showed their son.
Vulpus's ability to change forms rapidly and the paranoia he developed living a lie for his entire life aided him greatly in making his way in Egorian. He would create new identities regularly, each with their own specialty or business. He's had his hand in thieves guilds, brothels, the inns, and theater. He would build up these identities and disguises one at a time until he’d had either established his identity or his business, and then promptly found managers to run his businesses for him, only staying on with those that were most profitable. Despite work, Vulpus was always ready to burn an identity if he roused suspicions he could not explain away.
Vulpus is, in fact, not his name. His parents gave him a name at birth, but that child died over two decades ago. He spent years as the merchant's son, but that boy is now also gone. Vulpus is a name whispered by those who make conjecture about a shadowy figure building a criminal enterprise. The name was given for his cunning, but he likes the name, as it is strangely on the nose. While some have figured out he exists, none have been able to correctly place all his efforts over the years, nor been able to avoid false leads.
Vulpus’s work as his brothel, the Fiendish Desires and work in a thieves’ guild, Vulpus managed to collect several secrets about local nobles, ranging from embarrassing, to scandlous, to criminal, and even treasonous. Seeking to leverage this information to protect his network, Vulpus sought a meeting with a member of the crown’s intelligence network. Vulpus presented the agent with his dossier of secrets, he asked for protection for his work in exchange for informing House Thrune of other noteworthy news. Vulpus was surprised to learn that his deal was contingent on joining a covert and foreign operating team. Still seeking his immunity, Vulpus signed on to the contract and set about finding managers for his businesses.
