Vestele Wysaris

Vestele Wysaris was born near the port town of Lawcrane to a family of merchants. The Docks area of Lawcrane is known to be a rough part of the city, with many criminal elements basing their operations there. While the Royal Guard Of Orsholon maintain a hefty presence, nefarious activity still holds sway.

The Wysaris family’s shop was often plagued by one group or another offering “protection” from harm, with the implicit threat that if they did not pay for such “protection” harm might come to the shop or the Wysaris family themselves. On one occasion, Vestele’s father was unable to make his payment to the group demanding it, and was beaten severely by the thugs. Vestele was witness to the attack, watching from the back room as her father took the blows.

In that moment, 13-year-old Vestele decided that this would have to end. She would do whatever she could to thwart these criminals and make them pay. But how?

The only way she could conceive of achieving this was to become one of them. To assimilate into their world. To learn their ways. And to make them pay.

So, between going to school and working in the shop, Vestele began learning about the criminal world. While she told her parents she was “playing with friends”, she began watching the streets. As she watched, she began to see more; how the pickpockets lifted the coin purses of unsuspecting passersby, or how the thugs organized themselves before going into a business. She observed how they collected “protection” money, and where they went with it.

Her skills at hiding in the shows and observing grew every day. She had a knack for hiding in plain sight, disappearing into crowds or open doorways. She thought she had what she needed to take on some of these thugs, until a voice whispered in her ear one day.

“I see you.”

The voice startled her. She turned to see a young man, tall yet with Elven features, standing in the shadows behind her, “I see you,” he repeated.

She turned to see a young man cloaked in dark clothes and wearing a sly grin. “You been watching very carefully, young lady,” he said. “Why?”

She was frozen for a moment. She had been spotted and called out. How would she handle it?

“I want to learn how people do things, so to speak,” she replied.

“You’ll never learn it by watching. You have to actually do it. If you have the guts…” It was a challenge.

Vestele decided that this young man could be her gateway to the more unsavory individuals, and their techniques. She struck up a friendship with the young man, who went by the nickname Vicar. She convinved him she was unhappy in her home and wanted to learn enough to be able to support herself on the streets.

Over time, he showed her many of the skills she needed: Lockpicking, sleight of hand, pickpocketing, and even some self-defense. But she was learning much more than he was aware. He gave her access to many of the criminals, including the ones who assaulted her father. And she set her sights on extracting revenge.

She realized, however, that she would not be able to simply walk in and make them pay a price. They knew her face, they had seen her. She would have to hide her identity, if for no other reason than to protect her family. She had been lying to them about what she was doing away from home. They would be devastated if they knew what she was doing, and fearfu of her life if she was caught. No, she would have to insulate them from all of the dangers she would be facing.

And so was born Black Cat. Her dress became intrgral to her plan. A hooded cloak, a face wrap alloing only her eyes to show through. Her shits loose enough to hide her physical shape. She wanted to be as nebulous as possible.

In the process, however, she learned that not all those in the underbelly of Lawcrane were “criminals” with evil intent. Some learned their skills as a means to survive. They learned to poacha loaf of bread or some produce from a stand simply to feed their family. Some worked to pay off a debt. This realization gave Vestele a further purpose – she would use the skills she was learning to not only exact revenge on the thigs and their organization, but would work to help those who were being bullied, shaken down, or threatened.

Twice, Vestele has come to aid of a wrongly imprisoned individual. The Royal Guard has been a bit zealous in their law enforcement, and have on occasion ensnared an innocent individual and imprisoned them unjustly. On these two occasions, Vestele was able to surreptitiously and clandestinely expose the real culprits, and left small clues as to the "assistance" from the Black Cat.

Vestele prefers to wear non-gender-specific clothing. She finds these garments to be more comfortable, and when clothed as the Black Cat, they help to dishguise her identity. In addition, Vestele has stowed away a variety of garments and accessories that allow her to easily create and use disguises. These disguises give the ability to get into places and groups that she otherwise would not, and increase the chances that she can gather information she needs in her mission to avenge her family and help those in need.

Vestele has recently begun her last year in secondary school in Lawcrane. As of late her studies have suffered, as she has been sneaking out at night to delve further into the underworld. She finds an excuse to be out of the house, or leaves through a window, then heads to a local thieves hangout. She is well versed in many topics, but if she is not careful she will not be able to move on to higher education, either in Lawcrane or Orsholon City

Vestele works in her parents' shop, helping customers, stocking shelves, reciving goods, or just sweeping up. She is not paid for this, but insterad does it out of love for her parents. However, she has found some of the skills she has learned to be quite lucrative and satisfying, especially when she is able to lift some coin from a particularly odious individual.

Vestele nearly lost her own life when the Black Cat was almost exposed for who she really is. After befriending a pickpocket, she accidentally left an identifying document on a table when searching for an item in her hip pouch. The pickpocket was able to easily lift it. Vestele noticed it disappeared, but knew that mentioning it would only raise suspicion. If he read it, however, and shared that information with others, it would surely be a death sentence.

Fortunately, she was able to reacquire the document through some pickpocketing of her own, but leartned a valuable lesson. Since that day, she carries on identifying information with her.

Vestele identifies as a female, but is not terribly interested in gender norms. She is singularly focused on avenging the harms done to her family, and making those responsible pay for their actions. She is "tomboyish" which is reflected in how she dresses and how she interacts with those who identify as male, working to just be "one of the guys".

Vestele has amassed a small arsenal of tools for use in her "trade". She has developed lockpicking tools that are superior to those of the average thief, as well as a well-worn cloak that can – when it works – provide a measure of camouflage. She has also learned to create her own garments to help her disguise herself.

After having spent time learning to pickpocket and lift coin purses from the affluent and haughty, Vestele has developed a taste for the shiny things. After all, why learn to be a thief and not make use of the benefits. But she is not looking to hoard. She hates those who simply amass wealth and material things just for the sake of appearance or greed. Vestele uses very little of the money she "earns" on herself. It most often goes to those in need, suddenly appearing as a donation at a church, or the payment of a debt.

Watching her father beaten both harmed and inspired Vestele to action. It is the image of the thugs brutalizing her father that she sees whenever she witnesses someone else being approached about "protection". That mental image has, on occasion, caused her some difficulty as the emotion attached to it, tends to cause anger to rise up within her.

Vestele is generally a good soul, but has no problem breaking the rules for a greater good. To her, the outcome is more important than the means, and the underdog is the one that needs assistance.

Vestele works to avenge wrongs and punish those who would harm others in a way that she sees as most effective – their livelihoods. She will defend those whop have been set upon by the powerful, the evil and the greedy. She sees her family as having survived the attacks on her father's shop and their doing so made them underdogs in her eyes. If you want to find the Black Cat – look to those who are being oppressed.

"You won't see me coming. You won't hear me leave. But you will feel my wrath."

Vestele is incredibly skilled at observation, but this can often lead to a singular focus. This focus can lead to distraction with details, such as the time she became inordinately obssessive about Elven footwear.

Vestele can occasionally be cocky about their skills, especially when it comes to her activity as the Black Cat. On more than one occasion, this cockiness caused her to overestimate her skills, with potentially disastrous results. On one occasion, she was working to expose a criminal boss as a fraud when her disguise failed. She was able to quickly escape the situation, but it nearly gave her away, which could have been fatal.

Vestele's family is not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, she has no real interest in wealth. The family makes enough to make ends meet, and that satisfies Vestele