I'll adjust this as I start Skyrim and see what doesn't fit or what I don't like, but I like to have a solid background in my head. I appreciate Bethesda for making this as possible as they can. I know I don't have to say this but feel free to use this, fix this, or whatever. Have fun with it.
Fjolfrin, Male, Nord, approximately 30 y/o
Fjolfrin's earliest memory is shrouded by darkness and frigid winds. His father, a Nord, was a ship owner who had long called the area around Anvil home. His brothers and uncles held together a small farm and tended to their trades. Of the two uncles, one is a master fletcher and archery trainer and the other a well traveled mercenary. Fjolfrin's mother, also a Nord, kept a small vineyard and practiced alchemy behind closed doors.
When Fjolfrin turned eighteen his father took him aside and told him how he came upon him. Before he purchased his first ship he was a seasoned sailor. His ship made a port call during the winter in Skyrim, but an ice storm/freeze damaged many ships and their stores in the harbor. The loss was was undoing for the ship owner. The crew was disbanded and compensated for travel accommodations. Fjolfrin's father banded with the ships quartermaster, an Imperial, and spent three months repairing salvageable ships. As the temporary work came to a close they were well compensated by a guild of ship owners and city fathers for easing the city's troubles.
During the months of work Fjolfrin's father sent for his brothers to travel to Skyrim and join their venture back to Anvil. This became even more important due to the amount of gold they were going to transport overland. Passage on a ship home would have been ideal, but sailors (and Nords) are known for their superstition. After ten years of fending off pirates, storms, creatures, and mutinous crews a frozen harbor and crippled ship struck him as a sign to settle down on hard ground.
When the snow started melting the three Nord brothers and their Imperial companion struck out across Skyrim en route to Anvil. While crossing thee tundra they crossed paths with some giants tending their herd. Tacitly, the giants presented the band with an infant boy wrapped in fur. Another giant raised his club at the band of men, but was obviously just feigning a threat to see the men take the child and move on. No wanted to argue with the giants so they moved on to find a place to camp and plan for their new traveler.
Fjolfrin knew the rest of the story all ready. His mother, recently banished for mischievous alchemy practices, stumbled upon their camp. She struck a deal to care for the infant for safe passage with the band.
Reaching adulthood, Fjolfrin signed on as an able bodied seaman on a merchant ship belonging to a friend of his father. Fjolfrin quickly grasped the seas and reigned in respect from officers, senior crew and swabs alike. After only a few years, a ship owner hired him to captain a merchant ship. The ship owner was dirty. The details were lost on the authorities as the owner managed to separate himself from his misdeeds due to his craftiness and position in society. Fisherman carried word to Fjolfrin from his father warning him Legion agents were bearing down on his vessel. The officers and senior crew, also presumed guilty, gathered with Captain Fjolfrin and decided to "draw a line in the sand" giving the crew the choice of running with them or jumping ship. The crew at large was not in any legal snares if they left the ship. It speaks to the character of the senior crew and the treachery of the ship owner that plenty of able bodied seamen stayed on verily risking their necks. They were stealing a ship. They were pirates.
The pirate life drains righteousness from a man fast. Decisions cost the lives of innocents at times. Rarely, wrongs can righted. At one point the ship owner who betrayed their trust was murdered by a paid assassin using a hefty portion of the ship's purse. No one voted against it. They roamed the waters for six years, taking better vessels a prize (I had to say that), smuggling, raiding, and avoiding authorities before running aground trying to hide in a bay. They hastily split up the stores and purse before disbanding to avoid capture.
Fjolfrin set off alone towards Skyrim thinking he could blend in among the Nords. He also had a growing curiosity for the land his father found him in. Not familiar with the tricks of overland fugitives, he was caught at the border and sentenced to death. Mere days later a Legion officer charged as an investigator put together the pieces. Word arrived that a pirate ship was discovered to have run aground in the next province. Nearby, a few sets of tracks were clearly moving in the direction of Skyrim. Fjolfrin was charged for piracy and re-sentenced to an immediate death.
Upon escape and entry into Skyrim (pending actual experience):
1. Get bearings.
2. Determine fugitive status/assume new identity
3. Find (by any means possible) clothing, weapons, food
4. Attempt to cross into Cyrodiil and get home to Anvil hopefully to an accepting family
5. If number 4 isn't possible (wink), then I will start earning money in towns, scavenging and less noble means when opportunities arise.
