Cole Amaranth(Finished)

Cole's upbringing was hardly ideal by the standards of the time; growing up orphaned and on the streets of the industrial city of Arrachas along Vale's southern coast, he struggled to survive amidst the corruption and greed that oppressed the city-state. For hundreds of years the city's economy and government had been dominated by the interests and aims of eight noble families that had historically governed the city. That precedence, that unquestioning following of tradition had allowed these families to oppress and subjugate the lower classes for centuries while they simply took it, resigned to their traditional role in society.

Cole resisted. He became a thief, true; robbing from the criminal bosses and noble families in equal measures. But he used those proceeds to provide for those he could, giving them food and other essentials. The upper classes increasingly began to target the poor via unjust incarceration and random acts of violence in the hopes of sussing the "terrorist" that dared to challenge their authority. While this may not have had the desired effect, it did succeed at least in making Cole more aggressive and reckless in his strikes against... which unfortunately resulted in the capture of him and over 20 of his associates in a raid; of them, 13 were executed while the other 7 are still rotting in a maximum security prison located in Arrachas.

But such a fate did not await Cole. Originally the nobles planned to publicly executed him as a show of their power... had it not been for the intervention of the newly appointed Regional Administrator for Arrachas. free of the nobilities corrupting influence he exercised all of his power to have Cole and his associated exonerated of their crimes, aware as he was of the deep-seated corruption within the city; unfortunately he succeeded only in having Cole freed... on the condition he be trained as a Hunter far, far away from the city. Cole has done what he can to make the most of his new situation, but bitterness and resentment still hangs heavy over him, not to mention his deep-seated distrust for authority figures....

"The Chaos Den. The only safe haven in this entire cesspit of a city where nobles and commoners can be free to indulge their vice of choice. Course the minute a commoner steps outside they run the risk of getting beat down by bored rich kids simple because they can. To say I hate it wouldn't be fair, but to say I love it wouldn't be right either; I tolerate it... because I know it represents both everything right and everything wrong about Arrachas today."

Cole let loose his arrow. It glided silently through smog laden air for a scant second before striking the wall of the club, pulling the attached rope tightly. Cole tested the rope by strumming and pulling on it to see how secure it was; plenty, as it would seem. Latching his bow to his back he gripped the rope firmly with both hands while encircling the other end with his ankles for added grip... and began inching his way slowly from the rooftop he was one over to the Chaos Den's.