Jin was born in the Tian Xia region of Chu Ye, the Kingdom of the Oni. Life was hard in Chu Ye with evil creatures in charge. As a slave populace forbidden to carry weapons, there were those that wished to fight their oppressors and they trained in secret in the ways of martial arts. After his grandfather was killed by the oni for accidentally spilling a drink on it, Jin's parents Bi and Mai joined the Mizu Ki Hikari rebels, taking their son with them to the Chuyokai Forest. Jin learned how to fight as well, even from a young age. Martial Arts discipline is not the easiest on a childhood either, but Jin was motivated in honor (or revenge) of his grandfather.
His parents didn't want him to be unable to defend himself should the need arise but forbade him from taking an active part in the rebellion. Of course, like many children, when told not to do something, they do the opposite. Jin was captured while attempting sabotage. He was branded with his new master's mark and enslaved, beaten and tortured for pleasure. His parents rescued him, though it took several months to put together and pull off the rescue, and in the process killed one of the oni. This required them to flee the country as they were too hunted even to hide with the rebels at that point.
The small family fled to Avistan in a long journey taking the better part of a year, and finally ended up in Jalmeray. Things were fine for a little while, and though life was hard as foreigners, it was much better than where they had come from. Jin began to have strange dreams, visions of things terrible and wondrous. After several weeks of it, he went to a seer to try and make sense of what was happening. The seer performed a ritual and told him that there was a greater destiny awaiting him, that he needed to leave Jalmeray soon or his family would suffer as the fates were watching him and had ways of making things happen.
Not wanting more hardship for his family and sensing the truth in the seer's words and his dreams, he said his goodbyes and traveled north. He came upon a monastery and stayed for a few nights during a bad storm. He seemed to find a sense of peace there and the strange dreams stopped, so he decided to stay. He worked there for over a year, learning how to read and learning more of the world and the gods, along with lots of manual labor and more martial arts training. But after a time, he began to have the dreams again and knew it was time to move on.
So he left the monastery, began wandering and visited several cities before arriving in Absalom. He happened upon a man being attacked in an alley, and without thinking he jumped in to help save the man. Jin was badly wounded and the man, Professor Lorrimor, took the young man back to his inn and cared for him. The two talked at length over the many days it took for Jin to heal and became friends. Jin even traveled with the Professor for a time, accompanying him on an expedition even, before they parted ways, though they occasionally wrote letters to one another. The two tended to have friendly debates over philosophy and morality.
And then the letter came that Jin hadn't known he'd been dreading - news of the Professor's death and a request for his presence.
