The Unforgiving Streets
Port Bowry is a relatively normal port city in its general functions and sea-fairing influence. But it's also a touch more corrupt than normal. The city pays protection to some pirates who frequently dock here. There is an orphanage, but it's really just a glorified slave camp where the kids crawl into the smaller places of the copper mines. The upside is guaranteed room and board. The downside is the grueling and potentially lethal work. Lethal because the copper mines are so close to the shore, frequent cave-ins and mine floods happen. Of course, if you would rather help with the maintenance of the light tower, that is a temporary reprieve from mining. The man who works there, though, is a grouchy drunk who frequently sends kids back with bruises. And if he decides to add a complaint on top of that, you're punished by the orphanage.
It is actually up for debate whether it's worse to be on the street, surviving off trash.
The heroes of this story are children. Some are orphans from this mining establishment. Some from the street. Others still might not even be orphans per say. But all of them are children and thus, not worthy of respect from adults.
Eli is twice-orphaned. His original parents died when he was an infant. Then he was adopted by some gnomes, who also wound up dead when Eli was 6. It's been 2 years since then and he has been surviving in the wild mostly. Today, he comes to Bowry, curious of the port city and its goings on.
(OOC: Introducing one kid at a time to get what their story, background, etc is in this setting. Also note, this setting doesn't tie in with any others.)
(To anyone not Chris or Tim: Due to the unity thread being canceled and due to Chris and I talking about a kids-only scenario for a while, I decided why not DnD as the setting for child characters? So I'm starting this thread for Chris and I. It's meant for just us two, but if you really want in, send a PM. Child characters only.)