When Lyx was a child, he was kidnapped from his family's home in Dale by members of a thief’s guild owing allegiance to the Serpent born. His parents, rich merchants and jewel crafters from Dale, seemed the perfect marks -- with ample wealth to spend doting on their new-born son. But the thieves overlooked the stubbornness of dwarves, and after their son was taken, Lyx’s parents refused to deal with the kidnappers, abandoning their only son to the wiles of a band of cutthroat footpads.

 

The guild leader ordered the boy slain and cast into the street like garbage as a lesson to those who would rebuke the guild's demands, but one young guild thief proposed another solution. He said the guild should keep the boy, and raise him from a child to be a thief and beggar. That way the child would eventually earn enough for the guild to make up for the ransom they had lost though his parents hard-hearted decision. And so it was that the boy, who retained his moniker of "the ransom" as a constant reminder that his life was forfeit if he did not earn back the guild's looked-for payday, was taken to Bree-town where he grew up with cutpurses and enforcers for parents.

 

He worked many a con as a young boy, often portraying the role of a beggar child. As he grew, he was trained in the arts of burglary and pickpocketing, and eventually rose through the ranks to the position of junior guild thief. In time, his name shortened from "the ransom" to just Ransom, although those he trusts call him Lyx, as he earned a measure of respect from the other guild members for both his loyalty and skill.
The first night Ransom camped under the stars, far from the city walls, he found a bundled package that a guild member had slipped into his pack. Inside was a set of legacy lockpicks he has kept to this day along with a plain, faded envelop. Inside the envelope was an ornate signet ring and a simple four-word note: "This was your father's"

 

In the two years since he left Bree-town, Ransom has searched in vain for his parents, returning to Dale only to find their shop long shuttered and the neighbors barely remembering a pair of jewel crafters who left there long ago. He has tried to make his way in the world, but with few skills other than those of pickpocket and thief, has struggled to find honest work. The call of adventure in the southern lands appealed to him so he returned to the guild in Bree-town to make a name for himself as a thief and brigand.