Garra was born to a normal Celestine family, mother, father, and older brother, unfortunately this older brother, Katon who happened to be seven years older then Garra and the jealous type. He always hated Garra, it was apparent to anyone at a glance, except Garra’s parents.
This hatred only became a real issue when Garra’s parents would go out of town, Garra would be left in Katon’s care. Katon would torment him while there parents where away, nothing that would ever leave a mark though. When Garra’s parents returned home he would tell them what had happened but they would never believe him because he had no proof.
This all changed when Garra was seven, his parents had left town on business and his brother decided to make a bold move. He locked Garra in what he called “The Shrine”, it was a small storage space under there house that could be only be accessed by a trap door in the corner of the house; it was always dark and had a massive spider infestation.
After being thrown in Garra began screaming for help, but all this led to was his brother telling him to cover his mouth and nose or the spiders would eat his brain. So Garra did as he was told and covered his face with his hands. He was down there so long that he gave up screaming because he knew no one but his brother could hear him. Katon intended to leave him down there for three days, anticipating his parents return home on the fourth; however his parents returned home two days early. When Garra heard his parent’s voices he began screaming again and was soon released.
After being released Garra was covered in spiders, when they had all been brushed away hundreds of bites were revealed. It took hours for his parents to convince him to remove his hands from his face and only after he was given a scarf to cover it with. Ever since then he has only felt comfortable and safe when his face is covered, this incident also caused him to a major fear of spiders and have nightmares about them.
Garra’s parents threw Katon out of the house in their rage and forbid him from ever returning. Upon leaving Katon swore an oath of vengeance on his family, especially his little brother. No one that Garra has met has actually seen Katon since that day but rumors of his crimes have reached Garra’s ears from time to time.
Two years after that incident Garra’s parent went out on one of there business trips and never returned. There bodies were never found and no one had seen them since there departure, there was also no sign of them at the Inn they had intended to stay at. Garra believes his brother is responsible for the disappearance of his parents so he always listens intently to the rumors of his brother. Finding his brother and discovering the truth and then possibly killing his brother are his ultimate goals.
At the time of the disappearance Garra was too young to support himself so he ended up taking to the streets. He found surviving on the streets difficult but soon found a gang of young kids who made there living as pickpockets and joined up with them. He found it very easy to pick pockets and found little regret in it.
Four years later Garra came to the realization that the real money was in armed robbery, so he set out to become a highwayman. Some of the kids from his gang had already taken this path so using those connections he found a band of highway men that would take him on. He was taught the basics of swordsmanship, armed robbery, and especially stealth.
To accomplish this goal the robbers used a decoy system that worked something like this. One man would hide himself off to the side of the road and assess travelers that went by, if he saw one he thought was worth robbing he would signal down the road with a bird call to tell his companions that there is a target coming along. The companions down the road consisted of five men, one of which would distract the traveler as he passed, asking for the directions or something like that while the other five men would stealthily loot the traveler. If the traveler ignored the distractions then another bird call would be sent down the line where another team of five men would set up a road block and stop the traveler by force; while four of the five men from before would rush up behind the traveler preventing escape. Past the second set of five men was another look out to warn of upcoming travelers. Having the second lookout allows the robbers to loot travelers from both directions as well as keep them safe.
After a little over a year with these men the gang attempted to attack a caravan that was passing through. Unfortunately this caravan belonged to mercenaries and as such was heavily armed; the gang was killed on the spot. Garra would have been too except one of the mercenaries stepped forward and saved him. He was one of the leaders of the mercenaries and saw potential in Garra’s fighting style. He determined that he would admit Garra to the mercenaries and train him. This man was Master Zhao, and over the course of the next six years he trained Garra to fight in the style of Iaijutsu.
As a mercenary Garra spent plenty of his time training but was also utilized for recon and scouting. From time to time he was able to participate in the little skirmishes by the border but those opportunities were less common.
Garra stayed with the mercenaries for six years until his master choose was slain in one of these skirmishes. Feeling his training was incomplete Garra set off for the academy hearing of an amazing warrior by the name of Jane under whom he would like to train. He was soon enlisted and was allowed to train at the academy.