Darius Ravencroft

Darius never could stay out of trouble...

Since the day he could walk he was doing it everywhere he should not. Edwyn, his adoptive father, had his hands full raising the young thief, which as fate would have it is exactly what he was trained to be. Edwyn knew very early in Darius' life that with his quick reflexes and sharp wit, under his direction the boy could be groomed into quite the asset.
Darius certainly gave poor 'Eddy' as he referred to him, a run for his money!
From his earliest memory Darius has recalled frequently, though sporadically, hearing a distant sound of voices like music which often lead him blindly on a pursuit to discover its source.
The meaning or message was unknown to him, and coincidentally, the result of attempting to discover it lead him to life changing moments, people or places that altered his fate. Part of him always believed, or hoped, it was his deceased mother, Aeliana Ravencroft attempting to reach him from the void.
Aeliana was a witch of Nocturnal and spent the majority of her time in studious research and harmonious prayer and rituals with other witches.
He never met his mother and was told she died giving birth to him.
It wasn't until he was a late teen he learned of his blood father, the disabled, retired war
veteran Quintilius Civello.
To this day Civello still claims it false.
After forcing himself onto Darius' mother he had hired an assassin to have her killed when learning she had given birth to a child as to eliminate the possibility of it tarnishing his title to have a child with a common wench. The hired assassin was none-other-than Edwyn Thistleroot that carried out the request. After realizing what he had done, Edwyn discovered the infant child laying in a small wooden box in the corner of the room.
The infants big blue eyes innocently gazed up at him, feeling guilty for what he had done he took the child back to the Thieves Guild where he would end up, with the help of the other thieves, raising the future master thief Darius.
It wasn't until the day Edwyn died of old age that he confessed to Darius what had happened that night he met him and took him in.
That moment changed Darius' life forever.

Darius took his mothers surname Ravencroft after learning of her demise. In time and with the aid of rum and various drugs he was able to let go of a lot of the hatred he had for Eddy, but the thought of plunging a dagger deep into his murderous chest paired with the effects of the potent narcotics he became addicted resulted in a mental disorder that often rendered him antisocial and having general hatred towards blades for hire and the employers too cowardly to do the deed themselves.
After getting the same claim by the thieves that knew Edwyn that they were never told the truth by his mothers assassin, Darius could not stay amongst the guild any longer. Part of him couldn't accept that no one knew anything, and part of him knew he would never be 'himself' around them and that's was the single most reason causing his distrust towards thieves.
He left the Gold Coast entirely and set sail for Daggerfall quickly finding work with some local pirates native to Highrock, it was there he met his partner and fellow pirate Jae Gildergreen with whom he would spend the next decade working with.
The two of them retired from pirating to start their own group of likeminded thieves.
Over the next few years the Barony of Outlaws Refuge was formed and Darius found himself in the position as the primary leader. It consisted of 40 or more members including a few he still calls friends. Kolquitt Landover a master crafter who supplied the Barony with all their armor and weapons, Bog-grog the knowledgeable Orc who was well versed in the Daedric language and the craft of potion making and Terrezzi who was a skilled warrior and taught in the ways of magicka. Each sharing a disgust for governmental infrastructure and how the system favored the wealthy and titled with little regard for the poor, less fortunate folks of the diverse city. Many members justified their thievery by suggesting they were vigilantes supplying a means of goods and service to the underground community from which they thrived. Darius however always struggled with an alternative motivation tying him to his dark past to lie, steal and cheat his way to wealth and success at a personal level.
Midway through the Barony's lifespan Darius had met his current partner in crime Ferawynn whom he simply refereed to as Red. In many ways she was his equal and he had a tremendous amount of respect for her.
It wasn't long after the group, due to a combination of factors consisting around the success getting the Barony members to a sustainable status, and a desire to pursue bigger and better things, Darius announced his desire to step down as the leader. The members respected his decision and he left them in good standing.
After the Barony disbanded Darius approached the two of them set sail for the Rift where they had learned there was a rather large group of thieves operating out of Riften.
Eager to get to work Darius and Ferawynn took no time making a name for themselves in Riften.

The voices that haunted Darius dreams at night persisted only becoming more frequent. Each morning he woke he would scribble down what he could remember of them. The words he gathered made no sense to him, but it was sung often in his head as he sifted through each letter desperate to decode its message. Like music or a distant song, this unknown source was like a faint light guiding Darius.
Soon after crossing the borders into the Rift, Darius and Ferawynn settled in Riften finding odd ball jobs and staying wherever they could find a room. As the weeks passed, their knowledge and understanding of the city grew, along with it, the relationship and connections with the Thieves Guild which was small, but growing within Riften. After being granted permission by the Guild, Darius purchased a Manor just north of the city which he, along with his partner Ferawynn, would open their own tavern for business catering to a more specific crowd than the neighboring Withered Tree. The Thieves Guild would collect their dues from the establishment, though with the persistent presence of thieves and the like in the city, the duo had little trouble paying the bills and the guild with enough left to take something home. Thus the Shadow-mark Tavern made its mark on the city attracting the rough crowds from the shadows who sought perhaps a little more than the comfort of a drink and a warm fire. Though the staff was slim, more by choice than by lack of applications, the people who came usually left satisfied, at least according to the regulars that frequent the establishment.
With the success of the Shadow-mark Tavern and the growing connections he was making through his clients, Darius had become comfortable in the lifestyle of an entrepreneur and go-to-guy for hard to come by prodects and services in the city.
Eager to expand his business and grow his profits, Darius often traveled the realm seeking more exotic drink and drug to satisfy any needs that walked through his door, which has currently brought him to Vulkswaten after hearing of its popular tavern stocked with made-in-house spirits.
Darius had friends now, he had more wealth than any previous time in his life, but he still carried with him his dark past and the weight of struggling with the real reasoning behind his life choices.
Was he a thief because it was his destiny, or was it because it was his blood?