Flavio Goban/History

## **Childhood**

Flavio was born the eldest child of Flannery and Blaine Goban, a pair of petty criminals and members of Autolycus, a small to medium sized gang in Mistral's underworld. His younger sister, Kaltrina, was born when Flavio was 7 years old.

While a few members of Autolycus were fine with children, the majority of them only tolerated Flavio at best and only because he was the son of a pair of members. Because of this, his childhood was not the most joyful as he was exposed to the harsher side of organised crime at a young age. His parents had hopes that Flavio would grow up in the gang and lead the next generation of Autolycus, making it stronger in the long run.

Flavio hated the gang from an extremely young age, however; he hated the people in it, he hated the rules they subjected themselves to, and he hated being forced to follow the command of someone he didn't care about and who didn't care about him. When he was 6 he asked his mother what happened to people who left the gang, and Flannery bluntly told him they were "hunted down like the no-good deserters they are" and either brought back by force or killed. The information put a damper on Flavio's dreams of running away to join a gang of street urchins, and he found himself keeping his head down as much as possible.

His mother started him on basic self defense when Flavio turned 8, and not long after his father started teaching him about his job within the guild - hacking and surveillance. Flavio took to the lessons with gusto, still dreaming of leaving and aware that he needed to be strong in order to get away. He plotted for years, playing the part of the dutiful son as he patiently waited for the prime opportunity and continued to train himself to be stronger. He knew that he would have no allies that he could trust with his life within the gang, so he had to make his escape alone. Even his younger sister would have to be left behind, as she would simply slow him down and get the both of them caught.

Time flew by quickly with no clear point of escape until a few months into Flavio's 16th year. The majority of the gang were going on a large mission in the southern end of the City of Mistral to wipe out a rival gang, and Flavio volunteered to stay behind and watch the base with a few of the other members. In the days leading up to Autolycus' mission, he prepped himself for escape, submitting an application to Haven Academy for the protection being surrounded by Huntsmen and Huntsmen in training would bring and stealing money from his parents to pay for his tuition.

About halfway though the mission, Flavio made his escape. His fellow guards had settled in for a long and boring night after no sign of trouble approaching, and he was a few blocks away before one of the outlying scouts spotted him leaving their territory. It was child's play for him to avoid the few people they had left in the base, and his head start meant that by the time the main force was alerted to his desertion Flavio was already safely behind Haven's Academy walls.

## **Haven Academy**

During initiation Flavio partnered up with Gretal Lampsi, the daughter of a socialite and private detective. Their similar outlook on social interactions provided a common ground for the pair, and though they had their differences they were both in control of their emotions enough to work together well. Flavio demonstrated good leadership qualities as he directed Gretal in a fight against a small Deathstalker, and they made their way back to the initiation start point with no true difficulty.

Afterwards Flavio was named leader of Team FLAX, alongside the friction-filled partnership of Ater Roussell and Xander Bole. The team was fractious at first, between Flavio's unaffectionate or praise-giving nature, Gretal's socialite upbringing, Ater's flirtatious ways and Xander's strict moral code, but they eventually managed to pull together for the most part. Flavio quickly found that Xander was often the fourth wheel on the trio that was Flavio, Gretal and Ater, as his mindset meant that he simply couldn't connect with the three smaller members of the team effectively.

Halfway through his first year, Flavio upgraded Widow Iris to include the Dust tubes on the underside of the forearm, increasing his combat effectiveness. This was put to good use in the Vytal Festival which rolled around that year, where his team qualified and managed to get themselves to the doubles round. Flavio sent forward Gretal and Xander, the two heaviest hitters of Team FLAX, where they were ultimately knocked out by a duo from Atlas Academy.

His second and third years were quiet and uneventful, with no real dramas. Gretal and Flavio became closer in this time, and Flavio learnt about Gretal's father and her desire to use the opportunities being a Huntress will give her to find the man who betrayed and killed her father. He decided to keep an ear out for any information around the Transmit System since he had nothing better to do, and without even meaning to soon found himself actively helping her find information wherever possible.

The second upgrade was added to Widow Iris in this time as well, the hardlight generator and disc launcher on the back of his right gauntlet, and he utilised it to great effect in the Vytal Festival tournament of his third year at Haven. Deciding to go into the doubles himself alongside Xander, the combination of a slow but heavy hitter and a fast paced grappler got him through to the singles rounds. There he managed to fight against the other opponents until the semi-final round, where he lost against another, older student from Haven.

In his fourth year, Flavio upgraded Widow Iris with the final piece, adding the hardlight generator and blades to his left gauntlet. The team graduated from their fourth year at Haven with high overall scores.

## **Adulthood**

The team split after leaving Haven, with Xander heading back home for personal reasons while Flavio, Gretal and Ater hung around Mistral. Due to not actually having a set goal in mind for after graduation, Flavio delved full time into helping Gretal find the information she sought. In order to skirt around his parents gang and avoid the police cracking down on him for any illegal activities, Flavio adopted the pseudonym Midas, and created a new emblem for his alias to use.

During his time hunting information as Midas, he came to learn the value such information had to others, and soon he was making a living off discovering and selling information to any who wanted it. Ater assisted, his child modelling and acting career from before Haven helping the effeminate man get into places Flavio couldn't, and soon the smaller man was operating alongside Midas as Roux. Gretal soon joined the pair officially, recognising that three heads searching and coordinating their efforts is better than one going at it alone, and adopted the name Blodwen to avoid her real name being associated with the criminal information dealers Midas and Roux.

In his time around Mistral, he came across what had become of his younger sister, Kaltrina. Recognising her unhappiness in her place as part of Autolycus and affected by a lingering sense of regret that he never could take her with him during his own escape, Flavio contacted her with an offer to leave - by giving her the enrollment forms for Haven. He kept tabs on his younger sister in the weeks that followed, but also noticed the gang had upped security in the time since he had left to pursue his own lifestyle which would make it much harder for the younger girl to escape.

The night of Haven's new term commencement came up far too quickly, and Flavio kept a careful watch on Autolycus, knowing that this was Kaltrina's last chance for the year and she may just be desperate enough to chance it. Sure enough, she broke free in the darker hours of the night with the gang not far behind, and Flavio sent Gretal to escort her while he and Ater held off the gang members. His training at Haven Academy came in handy as the pair were quickly onset by a large number of people, his mother included among them.

After an intense battle with his mother, where he broke off to knock out as many lower levelled thugs as he could before she could catch up to him again, Flavio switched out with Ater to drive the woman away due to their fighting styles being too similar for either to truly gain an upper hand. Beating back the members of Autolycus was tedious due to their numbers and the few good fighters they had, but when Gretal contacted Flavio to let him know Kaltrina was safely behind Haven's walls he broke off from the fight alongside Ater and escaped himself. In the aftermath, Autolycus was attacked by another rival gang who took advantage of Flavio and Ater tiring out the main force, and the gang scattered.

As the year at Haven commences, Flavio is still searching for the information Gretal seeks, and has a feeling her search will be wrapped up soon.