Rigel Dexter

Rigel felt like the proverbial square peg, stuck between the hammer and the hole. Smokkel was a small coastal city that thrived on intersecting trade routes. The Dexters specialized in and prospered on "re-exporting". Despite excelling in his studies, school was not easy for him, like it was for his younger brother, Morgan. Morgan was a chip off the old block, glib of tongue, with an easy, infectious smile that never failed to get him out of trouble with the instructors.

Rigel was excited for his thirteenth birthday, when he would leave school to join his father on the boat. He caught on to the book keeping quick enough, but struggled with the subtleties of negotiating merchandise prices and taxes collected by harbor masters. This defecit in his skill set was only accentuated a year later when Morgan joined the crew. Morgan excelled excelled where Rigel struggled, and it was clear who would make the better captain when their father retired.

It turned out to be the saddest and most exciting day of his life when his father anchored at an unusual port of call. The ile de voquer was home to a temple of higher learning devoted to Avandra. Captain Dexter had taken on legitimate freight expressly to talk with the monks.

Rigel was surprised when his father asked him to join him for the fee negotiations with the monks, more often than not Morgan was chosen for that duty. He was amazed by the vast library where the monks had the crates delivered, and shocked when his father asked if he might like to stay here. He had never seen so many books in his entire life, much less in one place. And then He desperately wanted to stay and read all of them, just as much as he wanted to make his father proud.

It was a sad but hopeful parting as Morgan and his father sailed off, but Rigel was excited about his chance to finally find his true home.