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Description
I present to you the world's worst dad, and one of my first characters I created about nine years ago!

For once, that hand with the broken fingers you see isn't just my anatomy being terrible, they're actual broken fingers! It's part of his backstory and the reason he is who he is, but I felt this was needed to say before you wondered what kind of hand looks like that?

This man is Raeges Infiliren, a former criminal who partook in tax evasion in a region with corrupt authority. When he was caught, part of his torture included breaking all fingers of his right hand and his pinkie finger of his left. They were snapped back into place pretty shoddily, leaving his right hand completely useless with an amputated middle finger and his left strongly weakened.

When they were done with him, he should've gone to prison for hard labour during the day, but with his hands this wasn't possible so he sat in his cell all day freezing and starving for three years. Resting did allow his left hand to heal back into a semi-usable one, but his right one was screwed. When he was released on the accounts of him actually costing money to stay there (for as much you'd pay for mouldy bread) his tax rate was nearly doubled, and with his hands it seemed like he didn't stand a chance to survive for more than a few months.

So what do you do when you face certain death due to being dirt poor and having no economic skills? Why, adopt some orphans, of course!

Yeah, seriously. Cheriot had been known as a village full of orphans - already by the border of a fluid warzone, it became a vicious cycle of there being a lot of orphans, so a lot of orphanages being built, so the city becoming known for orphans, so any orphans from nearby areas being brought there, rinse, repeat. Many of these children grow up into thieves, violent bandits, and criminals to mirror the poverty they grew up in.

The nobles didn't like the threat of being cut down by these grown up vermin and the poverty didn't look great for the city, so efforts were made to reward those who adopted any of them with tax reduction. After all, by adopting and raising them they would develop economic skills and grow into law abiding citizens to reduce the general crime rate, saving the state much more money in the long run than they'd earn with taxes. Should the kid die or commit a crime, the benefits would be lost again, for the latter even reversed into a penalty!

Raeges had come into contact with this system and knew of its benefits, so he made use of it by adopting one. And then adopting another. And then even more, until he was back at his old rate and had enough helping hands to work for him and earn him survival money. Winters were harsh, famines were even worse, but the strategy worked and he ended up surviving to see the children grow up in front of him.

Raeges was not a good dad at all. He felt entitled to his kids' labour for giving them a roof above their head, but he never felt a parent's connection to them as they were more of a survival tool to him that had to listen, work, and be quiet. He wasn't the friendliest person before his imprisonment, and the pain from his torture scars, his broken fingers, his probable PTSD, and the bleak outlook on his future turned him even more bitter. He was prone to kicking and shoving them for undesired behaviour and hurting them through his water magic by dehydrating their limbs or using it to shove, bruise, or contort them. In fits of rage he wouldn't shy away from spraining or even breaking joints and bones, but since that negatively impacted him as well he tried to avoid it.

His only redeeming parenting quality would be that he never did anything out of nowhere if he didn't believe it'd correct any recent behaviour, but since that's the bare minimum of empathy and decency anyone is required to show to their children he's still terrible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As stated before, he was one of my first characters I had when I started making coherent stories with them, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that despite his minor role in the present he plays a pivotal role in a few backstories. And man, did he do a lot of damage for a guy just trying to survive! Over time he ended up being a guardian of A, Kraye, Seares, Seranet, and Lyn, and it sort of shows c':

Since everyone ended up leaving him in one way or another, it's not exactly known where he stands in life right now, though it's safe to assume he went back to his regular routine as more people started to leave and is still at that to this day.

Big thanks to HeyAnkey for creating his design! The design I got from them was just perfect for Raeges, so I had to use it for him to finally after like 9 years give him a face ;v;

Description
I present to you the world's worst dad, and one of my first characters I created about nine years ago!

For once, that hand with the broken fingers you see isn't just my anatomy being terrible, they're actual broken fingers! It's part of his backstory and the reason he is who he is, but I felt this was needed to say before you wondered what kind of hand looks like that?

This man is Raeges Infiliren, a former criminal who partook in tax evasion in a region with corrupt authority. When he was caught, part of his torture included breaking all fingers of his right hand and his pinkie finger of his left. They were snapped back into place pretty shoddily, leaving his right hand completely useless with an amputated middle finger and his left strongly weakened.

When they were done with him, he should've gone to prison for hard labour during the day, but with his hands this wasn't possible so he sat in his cell all day freezing and starving for three years. Resting did allow his left hand to heal back into a semi-usable one, but his right one was screwed. When he was released on the accounts of him actually costing money to stay there (for as much you'd pay for mouldy bread) his tax rate was nearly doubled, and with his hands it seemed like he didn't stand a chance to survive for more than a few months.

So what do you do when you face certain death due to being dirt poor and having no economic skills? Why, adopt some orphans, of course!

Yeah, seriously. Cheriot had been known as a village full of orphans - already by the border of a fluid warzone, it became a vicious cycle of there being a lot of orphans, so a lot of orphanages being built, so the city becoming known for orphans, so any orphans from nearby areas being brought there, rinse, repeat. Many of these children grow up into thieves, violent bandits, and criminals to mirror the poverty they grew up in.

The nobles didn't like the threat of being cut down by these grown up vermin and the poverty didn't look great for the city, so efforts were made to reward those who adopted any of them with tax reduction. After all, by adopting and raising them they would develop economic skills and grow into law abiding citizens to reduce the general crime rate, saving the state much more money in the long run than they'd earn with taxes. Should the kid die or commit a crime, the benefits would be lost again, for the latter even reversed into a penalty!

Raeges had come into contact with this system and knew of its benefits, so he made use of it by adopting one. And then adopting another. And then even more, until he was back at his old rate and had enough helping hands to work for him and earn him survival money. Winters were harsh, famines were even worse, but the strategy worked and he ended up surviving to see the children grow up in front of him.

Raeges was not a good dad at all. He felt entitled to his kids' labour for giving them a roof above their head, but he never felt a parent's connection to them as they were more of a survival tool to him that had to listen, work, and be quiet. He wasn't the friendliest person before his imprisonment, and the pain from his torture scars, his broken fingers, his probable PTSD, and the bleak outlook on his future turned him even more bitter. He was prone to kicking and shoving them for undesired behaviour and hurting them through his water magic by dehydrating their limbs or using it to shove, bruise, or contort them. In fits of rage he wouldn't shy away from spraining or even breaking joints and bones, but since that negatively impacted him as well he tried to avoid it.

His only redeeming parenting quality would be that he never did anything out of nowhere if he didn't believe it'd correct any recent behaviour, but since that's the bare minimum of empathy and decency anyone is required to show to their children he's still terrible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As stated before, he was one of my first characters I had when I started making coherent stories with them, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that despite his minor role in the present he plays a pivotal role in a few backstories. And man, did he do a lot of damage for a guy just trying to survive! Over time he ended up being a guardian of A, Kraye, Seares, Seranet, and Lyn, and it sort of shows c':

Since everyone ended up leaving him in one way or another, it's not exactly known where he stands in life right now, though it's safe to assume he went back to his regular routine as more people started to leave and is still at that to this day.

Big thanks to HeyAnkey for creating his design! The design I got from them was just perfect for Raeges, so I had to use it for him to finally after like 9 years give him a face ;v;