'''Holtz'''

Holtz aka Iron Penny

Holtz' mother was a seamstress and his father a docker; he lost the former to the coughs when he was three and the latter to a bar-brawlers knife the year after. Through the intervention of a family friend he was placed at the Orphanage for Unfortunate Children of Parents Lost at Sea, a cramped and impoverished institution relying primarily on the generosity of drunken sailors. The records there have no notation of his family name.

The year he turned seven his bed was needed for a younger, more recent arrival so he was turned out onto the street. He made Ink Lane his home, learning to read from a newspaper vendor whom he supplied with stolen sweets.

Most of his peers escaped from being street urchins by swearing allegiance to one gang or another, but Holtz saw how most of them were used up and worn out after a handful of years so he stayed on his own, though it often meant going cold and hungry.

Talking to newspapermen and tattooists taught him how to be observant and personable, and gradually he started to be able to make a living as a purveyor of street and harbor rumour to writer and robber alike.

However, a couple of years back a rival information broker, Salia, used hired thugs and savage threats to push Holtz out of business, which has forced him to take more active part in the criminal undertakings he previously only indirectly supported.

Heritage: Akoros - Dockers Background: Underworld - Street orphan

Looks: man; affable and moderately handsome; wears well-sewn clothes of cheap fabric - shirt, vest, coat, leggings, tricorn hat, work boots

Long-time ally: Jeren, a bluecoat archivist and former newspaperman with whom he has a long-standing information exchange arrangement Rival: Salia, an information broker who pushed him out of business and still considers him a threat to her business

Vice: Obligation, the Orphanage for Unfortunate Children to Parents Lost at Sea, located at the Docks, run by the Seawives led by Matron Myre

Insight ***: Hunt *, Study *, Survey **

Prowess *: Prowl *

Resolve *: Consort **

Weaving the Web: You gain +1d to the engagement roll if you’ve gathered info on the target or location.