Van Theachen
As a middle child of a well to do Halfling merchant family, Van had no desperate wants in his childhood. But with two elder brothers and a elder sister ahead of him it wasn't likely he would be inheriting the family business, instead it was expected of him to work under his elder siblings management. Although it wouldn't be a hard life, Van thought that it would be horrifically boring 
and THAT just wouldn't do.
and THAT just wouldn't do.
Van's childhood was fairly common for a child in a moderately sized Halfling family. Of course being Halfling merchants his family did some dealings that others would consider shady, although the family, when in private, stoutly defend their practices by calling themselves "Free Traders". The family home was near a small cove on a sea cliff, outside but close to the ancient curtain wall of the city. If you carefully looked you could find a small sea cave at the base of that cliff, that on low tide was exposed enough to allow a small boat to enter. Van is fond of his younger siblings, but is on cool terms with his two older brothers & his older sister. He tends to react with a hint of suspicion when they ask him to do things and he seems to hate
riding dogs due to an incident with his eldest brother's steed.
His great, great Aunt Fruitia, the famous actress (known as Little Miss Curly Locks), had a large influence on him. Whenever she visited she would delight in telling all the children stories from plays that she had been in or had seen and the interesting places she had travelled to. Although all the children enjoyed her stories (at least until they got older & decided they were too adult for such), Van always sat as close as he could & was mesmerized by them. When she finally retired and settled in an apartment above one of the family shops, he would try to visit her every day. Although it did get harder to do when he got older due to having to help with the family business and doing his (and his older brothers) stint of guild militia duty.
It was doing the family's tour of militia duty that brought him into a whole new world, away from storehouses, shops, finicky customers, and bookkeeping. A world of drinking, gambling, tall tales & boasts, wenching, and FIREARMS. Although he was small, when Van's drill sargent saw that Van had a knack for shooting he made Van his powder monkey, and between drills and guard duty taught Van the art of Gunslinging. (which he had plenty of time to learn thoroughly since he did his elder brothers' obligations to the militia as well as his own)
Although his siblings would tease him about his soldiering and his uniform, Aunt Fruitia (she wouldn't let him call her great, great Aunt because that sounded like she was positively ancient!) would always praise him and tell him how brave he looked. She even had a masterworked Dragon pistol made for him on his coming of age birthday. Van's shooting improved with the gift and he was able to bring a rabbit or some doves just about every time he visited her.
Several things have recently happened in Van's life. His beloved Aunt Fruitia died willing to him her memory book of playbills and 300 gold pieces. Soon thereafter the family duty to the Merchant Guild Militia was over since the newest son was just a toddler and Van was now expected to finally bucket down and be serious. That of course meant doing whatever tasks his elder siblings didn't care to do and to start courting some of the girls that his parents considered appropriate for a future merger/marriage. Privately aghast at the dull, predatory girls that his folks were contemplating for him and mourning the loss of his dear aunt, Van now spends as much time as he can either practicing with his weapons on his new pony, Excelsior, or carousing with his militia buddies, and hoping for an adventure to happen.
