Alexander Tithes

"Alexander was born to no one, not literally, but as figuratively as an infant left on the doorstep of an orphanage in war torn Wyoming can be. Maybe his parents didn't want a child, maybe they just weren't ready for him, the nuns that ran the place almost certainly weren't.

From the point he could walk by himself he was devoted to exploring his new home, and finding out all the interesting things that there could possibly be. More than once he was strung up by the Sisters for being where he shouldn't or ""retrieving"" any toys that had been confiscated. Little wonder that by the time he was a teen he'd been kicked out and was roughing it on the streets. Now Lex was never the largest of kids, and he made his way through life on the streets by being smarter (or faster) than the rest, but when he needed to lie low or hide from some of the tougher kids then libraries and bookshops were the best choice. The dangers of literature and the threat of actually learning something kept most of the brutish kids away whilst Lex poured over stories of self-made men who captured fate in their hands and rolled dice with demons. Men such as Edmund Hoyle.

Inspired by these tales Lex set out to teach himself as many games as he could, learning to count cards and roll 7s with a six sided die, and practiced on the poor unsuspecting townsfolk, fleecing them for all he could. Enough weird card tricks and the odd casino barring you entry and the fun of things quickly dries up, so Lex left to wander, learn every secret and trick he could, and maybe one day leave behind his own telling for a nosy young brat to pick up on."