Xander Lore

Xander grew up on the streets of Bastion - the last standing humanoid city of Hell - with his twin sister Elise (everyone called her L (Xander called her Ellie but nobody else was allowed to do that except Scarlett after a little time)) and their younger sister (6 years younger) Scarlett. They weren’t really related to Scarlett, the twins don’t really remember much of their parents, but when the twins were 13, they met her as another kid on the streets who Xander really connected with and he convinced L to essentially adopt her as their sister. The three of them were inseparable.When the twins were 16, L was dumpster diving for food like usual (it was her turn to get in it while the others took watch) (typically wasn’t a huge deal even when seen by the occasional town guard, who would yell at them to fuck off but wouldn’t pursuit when the siblings fled). This time, however, they were spotted by the newly established Cerberus Guard, who were much more brutal. They knocked L down as she coughed out a “RUN” at Xander. He couldn’t leave her, but he had Scarlett, had to keep her safe. He knew that L was capable, she could make it out of whatever situation she gets herself into. And as much as he hated to, he ran. He searched for any sign of her for years to no avail. He eventually came to terms that she is likely dead, although he still holds on hope even to this day that she’ll show up, though the logical part of his brain will always push the thought away.A few months later, Xander was taken off the streets by the Cerberus Guard and forced to train as one, because they saw potential after witnessing the end of an assault on Xander by essentially a mini loan shark, nothing super serious and he was able to knock out a couple, but they proved a little much for just him.
Xander was part of the Cerberus for about 4.5 years and he hated every moment of it. He would often sneak out from his barracks quarters they forced him to stay in during the night. Although it wasn’t much, he was able to support Scarlett a little more during this time period with little bits of food and supplies taken from the Cerberus Guard storage. Though they both hated where it came from, Xander couldn’t see any way out.When he was 21, he was part of a trade between Bastion and the Vanserra family - an elvish noble family in the material plane - to be part of the Oracle’s Eyes, their private guard. As part of the deal, a large chunk of his soul was taken out and put in a little hell cage given to the Vanserras so he could actually leave and stay outside of hell. (part of the canon of this HB world is that people from Hell can't stay outside for long. Symptom of a planar war that happened a while ago iirc)
He unfortunately wasn’t able to say goodbye to Scarlett, and from her perspective he just disappeared one day. The first couple months under the family were rough, they would try to break him, make him basically a brainless blind follower of orders. He eventually pretended that it worked to get it to stop, and that’s when he would take his oath.
During the oath taking ceremony he used the energy present to make his own oath in his mind. One to foster the good that comes from hell rather than the evil that makes up much of it. A little bit of the oath to the family made it through, however, and now he cannot willingly physically harm any member of the Vanserra House.During his time as an Oracle’s Eye, he knew the family was doing some pretty shady shit. One: because he’s not an idiot, rich people typically suck, and two: because he would occasionally overhear because they didn’t give a shit really what he heard, they thought he had sworn an oath to the family.About 6 months after the oath, Morrigan (a member of the noble family that was actually kinda good, she's an npc with connection to another of the pcs, dont worry abt it) fled. They ran into each other when she was leaving, and Xander let her go without a word. A year and a month or two later, he got a vision. He saw Morrigan being stabbed dead by Thevan, a known high up figure from Bastion with power to step between Hell and the Material Plane as he pleases. Also present in the vision was Minerva, pissed as hell and fighting Thevan. (a tiefling noble from Bastion that had been married off to another member of the Vanserra family (Minerva is the other pc previously mentioned, idk much.))Xander immediately went back to Bastion. He tried to get a hold of Scarlett but none of his contacts had any idea where she was, but did say she was pretty pissed when he disappeared, understandably. He was a bit panicked from the vision and the uncertainty about Scarlett, so his work in hiding himself was sloppy, and he was pretty quickly apprehended. and put in prison. (a prison break is where he met up with the party)