Name: Leonardo d'Fierro
Age: 262
(Looks 38)
Species: Niveis
Face Claim: Johnny Depp

Positive Traits: intellectual - jester - cunning
Negative Traits: alcoholic - overthinker - sly

And so the Story begins

The d’Fierro name was a rather well-known one not just in their home country in the Venetian Republic, but throughout Europe. To the human world, they were nobles descending from very old family. In the supernatural world, however, they were known as a powerful Initia family, and everyone of them were born to be fire-wielders.

Leonardo d’Fierro was no different. He was born the third son to Alessandro and Karina d’Fierro, five years after the eldest, Sebastian, and three years after the second son, Raphael. Both his elder brothers showed their affinity towards fire at the young age of five, and Leon’ soon followed suit. It was no surprise to anyone: this had been the way of the d’Fierro’s for generations.

On the stroke of midnight of his seventh birthday, Leon’ found himself awoken by his brothers. They told him to stay quiet, and to remove his shirt. Confused, Leon’ did as he was told. A glance in a mirror showed him a horrifying sight: red lines started to trail down his back. They were faint, but he was sure those hadn’t been there the night before.

His two older brothers explained what was happening to him: he wasn’t an Initia, but a Phoenix. Sebastian, now aged 12 and who’d spent most of his time in the libraries, came across journals written by a man named Nikolai Draven. The man wrote for deviant Phoenixes, those born to two Initia parents, as they would be scared of what they were going through. Sebastian told him the lines would continue to grow until our nineteenth year, and from the colour red, they’d change into the colour of our wings. Leon’ was shocked---they would have wings? His brothers confirmed it, no teasing glints in their eyes. They showed him their backs, and Sebastian’s lines vaguely started to resemble wings.

They agreed to keep this to themselves---all three of them had seen their father bathe in the river near their home, and his back was clear of lines. Besides that, their father was also the Master of Fire in their tribe. Their mother at least would have taken them aside if she was a Phoenix in hiding, so the three of them simply assume that they were the deviants Nikolai had written about. Nikolai made it clear: the reason the Phoenix weren’t common knowledge was because the Initia killed whatever Phoenixes they came across. So while they proceeded with their Initia training, the three of them conducted their own lessons together in an empty room in their family home. There, they would use Draven’s teaching to train themselves to truly be the best they possibly could.

As the brothers grew older, it was clear that the three had different interests. Sebastian treasured literature and the arts. Raphael became the warrior of the family. Meanwhile, Leon’ found himself enthralled with knowledge. He loved reading just as much as Basti did, but while his brother read tales of love and adventure, Leon’ preferred books about facts. He studied atlases and the theories of Greek and Arabic scholars whenever he wasn’t training.

Soon, Sebastian’s nineteen year came, and sure enough, one day, the lines on his back turned from an angry red to a pure, striking shade of white. The brothers rode their horses to the forests where no one would see them. Sebastian took off his shirt, and with a roll of his shoulders, white wings lifted from the markings on his back, and he could fly.

The year Raphael would get his wings was the year the twin girls, Leona and Luna, were born into the d’Fierro family. Leonardo was sixteen at the time of their birth, and just like his brothers, felt oddly protective over the two newest additions to his family. However, October that year was the day Raphael’s wings shifted from red to silver, and when he unfurled his wings, they were the same hue as the lines were. It took three more years for Leonardo to mature, and when he did, his lines turned a stunning shade of gold. Sure enough, his wings were the same colour, and the brother soon found themselves spending more time in the air than down on the ground.

Seven years after the birth of the twins, tragedy struck the d’Fierro home. A plague washed over the country, and though the five siblings remained unharmed, their parents fell victim to the illness. The brothers were men, capable of handling themselves, but the sisters were just girls. The three elder d’Fierro’s then took it upon themselves to raise the twins: Basti taught them of the arts, Raphael took up training them to be warriors, while Leon’ taught them the history of the world, science, and math---amongst other things. The head of the tribe did also offer the position of Master of Fire to the brothers now that their father had passed, leaving the position vacant: Raphael took it up without a second thought.

The brothers often wondered if the twins were like them too, especially since they too showed an affinity towards fire at the age of five. They never said anything outright to them, though they were rather sure that Leona and Luna were also Phoenixes, but instead left them Draven’s journals to find---just in case. It would do no one any good if the twins were put in harm’s way for no good reason.

Years passed, and the d’Fierro’s grew only closer. Grief bonded them, and they were nearly inseparable. Despite the large age gap between the brothers and the twins, Leon’ still loved spending time with his sisters, either on walks up and down the city, or just messing around in their family home. Out of the siblings, he was the jester, and found pleasure in pranking his siblings. Life was good, but of course, it wouldn’t last for long.
Leonardo was 35 years old when he found himself taken from his home in the middle of the night and thrown into a jail cell, alongside his elder brothers. They weren’t told why they were there, and probably never would have it hadn’t been for Raphael’s secret love: Begonia.

Only Sebastian and Leonardo knew of the secret romance shared between Raphael and Begonia. She came to them in the middle of the night to bring them grave news: theirs sisters had been discovered as Phoenixes, and that was enough cause to call for their executions. The masters in the tribe had said that if the twins were Phoenixes, then surely they must be too. Begonia also said that they had told Leona and Luna that if they left the city, the brothers would be allowed to live. However, that was a lie: he intended on killing them no matter what. Thankfully, Begonia had a solution.

She had a Necromancer friend who gave the brothers three separate necklaces to put on. Then, she brought in three other men---they looked exactly like the d’Fierro men. Begonia explained the plan: the three other men were convicted criminals, whose crimes were too horrendous to even speak of. They deserved to die, and they would in the d’Fierro’s place. Meanwhile, the brothers would leave and go their own separate ways, just in case they were recognised. They were important people, after all.

The plan went on without a hitch, but it was bittersweet to watch Leona burn down the city when the three men were executed. Leon’ yearned to reveal himself to the twins, but he knew that Begonia was right: word would have been spread that the d’Fierro siblings were Phoenixes, and the five of them together would only bring more danger. So at that spot, the brothers bid each other adieu, and Leonardo found himself riding towards the continent of Africa.

The youngest of the d’Fierro men found himself in Casablanca years later. He’d taken up drinking as a younger lad to cope with the loss of parents, and the habit never quite went away even after all the time that had passed. He’d just come back to the inn he was staying at when he found a letter placed upon the bed in hsi room. It said only to be by the tavern below the inn that night, and to wait at the furthest table. Intrigued, Leon’ waited, and waited, and waited. He sat there for hours, nursing a mug of ale as he waited for this mystery guest. Only when the inn held just him and the bartender, a woman made herself known, and sat at his table. She introduced herself as Rosaline, and made one demand: show her his back.

Leon’ grew defensive. If she was Initia and her tribe was near, he would be killed. However, she assured him that wasn’t the case, and showed him her own markings. They were somewhat different from his, and she explained that she was Niveis--a further mutation of the Phoenix gene, if a Phoenix were to die from drowning.
Still skeptical, Leon’ lifted the shirt to reveal the gold outline of his wings that trailed down his back. Rosaline nodded stiffly, and said it was enough. She told him that she was part of an assassin’s league by the name of Ravencry.
The bartender at the inn was a part of it too, so they could speak freely. She needed his help: her parents had started the league along with a mysterious figure, but both had been killed. Rosaline suspected the mysterious figure had something to do with it, but she had no clue who he was. She needed someone in Ravencry who could find information. Leon’ protested, saying that he wasn’t a warrior. However, she countered that he wouldn’t have to be an assassin. There were other jobs in the league: negiotiators and strategists, to name a few. He would be invisible even inside the league.

Leon’ asked her one last question: why was she so sure that he would help him. And that was when Rosaline revealed the biggest secret of it all: she was his ancestor. It seemed like such an outrageous statement, but Rosaline provided the documents and facts needed to convince him. By the end of the night, Leon’ decided: he would join the league, and he would help Rosaline as much as he could.

The Phoenix spent over two hundred years serving Ravencry. He would never join the ranks as an assassin, but he was sent as their emissary to deal with the higher-ups who wanted jobs done.

His natural-born charisma and high intellect did nothing but help him in this position, and the elders in Ravencry were glad to keep him on. In the meantime, Leonardo sent whatever relevant information he received to Rosaline, aiding her where he could to track down her parents’ killers. However, things changed in the 2010s, when a letter arrived from Sebastian: it was time to join his sisters in Evermore. He said it was time to show them that they were alive, and to reunite as a family.

He couldn’t ignore this call back to his family. He first contacted Rosaline, apologising that he could not remain in the league. She was more than understanding, as she too treasured her family and knew of their importance. Her words then pardoned him from the league, and he was free to travel to Colorado. There, he first met with his two brothers, and then, they reunited with their sisters.

For almost a decade, the d’Fierro siblings thrived in Evermore City. There was a well-established flock there, with none other than Leona leading. They found love, and lost love---Leonardo was no exception.
He was the flirtatious type, no doubt, but one particular woman caught his eye: Aaliyah Cole. She’d been his sister’s captive for many years, including the first few years that he’d returned to Evermore. Once she was freed, the two reconnected, and for the first time in his life, he understood what it was to be in love. So much so, that he actually proposed to her.

However, the realisation of marriage made Leonardo nervous. One by one, his siblings left the city, leaving him alone to deal with the looming shadow of commitment. It wasn’t his finest moment, but he ran, leaving nothing but a note behind to his fiance, expressing his most sincere apologies, but that this was all too much for him. Again, to cope, he found himself living day to day by the bottle, barely aware of the world moving past him as he holed up in one of the family’s many properties around the world. He was so unaware, he didn’t hear someone breaking into his home, so deep in his drunken stupor that he couldn’t fight off the man that dragged him from where he lay, and helpless as he was drowned in the bathtub of his room.

When he awoke, his face was not his own. He no longer felt the fires course through his veins, nor did the element come up when he tried to command it. Instead, he felt empowered by the rain that poured outside the house, and in an instant, he knew what he was. He was like Rosaline: a Niveis.

At a loss, Leon’ found himself returning to the one place that’d come closest to a home, hoping to find at least one of his siblings there, and that maybe they could get through this mess together---he set out for Evermore City.