Ben Holliday

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"I do not waste words."

-A friend and Lithium meeting for the first time

Ben Holliday, better known by his callsign Lithium, was an accomplished alchemist and ex-hero who was closely affiliated with the group of adventurers known as the outlanders.

Biography
Ben was born approximately 30 years before the Resurgent War in the city of Sforzando, the capital of Audax. The only child of a wealthy baroness and a traveling merchant, Holliday was largely left to his own devices as a child, as his mother and father were constantly attending to important business outside the city. As a result, he was practically raised by his family's indentured servant, Wai Mi. Still, his parents incessantly encouraged him to participate in local competitions of art and science to bring glory to the Holliday name.

A precocious and bright child, Ben grew to appreciate the finer things in life, just as his mother before him. He was also a dead ringer for his close friend Josef Furnace in all respects, apart from the fact that Furnace was a notorious delinquent who habitually spat on the laws of Sforzando and used his authority as the son of a government man to avoid punishment.

Ben and Josef were kindred spirits despite Ben's reluctance to disobey authority, and the two constantly impressed the seasonsed artists of the city with their achievements in music and science. On one cold winter night, Josef introduced Ben to the secret practice of alchemy, which he swore was purely scientific in nature; in truth, it was more magical than scientific by all means, though Holliday denied this even as an adult.

The two young alchemists defied all expectations by accomplishing great scientific feats using alchemy as a crutch. Their friendship was put to the test, however, when Holliday's traditional parents demanded he stay away from Furnace, as they had long suspected his proclivity for alchemy due to his status as a hooligan. Ben ultimately parted ways with his friend, but hadn't quite realized the profound effect Josef had had on him.

Now a teenager invigorated with a sense of rebellion, Ben proved susceptible to the lectures of his servant Wai Mi, who filled his mind with notions of social justice and economic equality. Ben did not know who Wai Mi was, where he came from, or why he served the Holliday family, and he never bothered to inquire. But with each passing night, the odd man instilled him with a greater sense of idealism that utterly shocked his parents.

Holliday refused to participate in academics and neglected to socialize with his fellow upper classmen, instead spending much of his time throwing in with the impoverished youth that festered in the underbelly of Sforzando. Initially distrusting of him, the proletarians soon recognized Ben as their ally, a sort of inside man who could act as their ambassador to the bourgeoisie enemy that ruled the city with an iron fist.

However, it was quickly made abundantly clear that in the eyes of the town, Ben was no longer a well-mannered rich boy, but a socialist hooligan whose only company was the total outcasts of society - the parasites that were made to serve the upper class. Holliday was not dismayed. He disowned his own family before they could disown him, abandoning his given name and taking on the pseudonym Lithium.

Lithium, backed by the criminal gangs of Sforzando, led a revolt against the local government, orchestrating savage guerilla attacks against the most prominent banks and markets in the city. Lithium was able to teach the gangs several complex formulas for dangerous chemicals which they used to set unquenchable fires to heavily fortifed establishments. Their meddling severely hampered the Sforzandan economy, but in a way that they had not anticipated; in their zeal, they had also begun to unintentionally target innocent businesses run by hard working individuals. The government quickly turned the majority of the city's citizens against the gangs, who had seemingly betrayed the working class they had sought to liberate.

The revolution ended almost as quickly as it began. The gang leaders were hunted down one by one and imprisoned in the great dungeons of Sforzando. When Lithium was inevitably captured, his parents intervened, beseeching the city to let him live despite his heinous crimes. The government hesitantly acquisced their request, showing the young idealist mercy by exiling him to the untamed wilds of Kilran.

When Lithium and a handfull of other exceedingly fortunate remnants of the socialist revolution arrived in Kilran, they were alone and ill-equipped to effectively survive in the intense wilderness. It was predicted they would die within a few weeks of arriving. That was until they made contact with the Cult.

To be continued...