Fun-loving, charming but occasionally a bit of a sleazebag. Willing to let others do the work. Very intolerant of the undead, but without knowing exactly why.

Cruxis looks and speaks very much like Hugh Grant.

Torvis Ryal, who now calls himself Cruxis, spent most of his life in the Imperial City, studying to become a minister in the Thousand Scales. Blessed with charm and a gift for numbers, he was appointed to a minor post within the Imperial Treasury. He enjoyed his three years in the treasury, particularly the influence it gave him, but considered his off-hours more important. In spite of his wife and child, he spent a good deal of time carousing and having affairs as high up the social ladder as he could climb.

His crowning achievement to that end was to woo Nellens Marrianna, a well connected dragon-blooded magistrate. While in bed with her in her countryside cottage, he exalted, a memorable (and intensely pleasurable) experience for both of them.

Rather than flee in terror from this new anathema, Marrianna help conceal him. True to her house, Marrianna saw in him a unique opportunity, both long and short term. Knowing full well that he would need to run sooner or later, Marrianna suggested a plan: until he was discovered as anathema, Ryal would use his position in the treasury to embezzle funds for Marrianna and route funds to the (indirect) advantage of House Nellens. In return for the jade, Marrianna would keep silent and help conceal his new nature and illegal activities for as long as possible. Further, should he be exposed as an exalted, she vowed to help him escape the Realm. Though the plan was dangerous, Ryal had few options, so agreed.

After hiding in the cottage until his anima calmed, Ryal enacted the plan. Ever the bureaucrat, he was able to manipulate the system for eight months before being detected. While constantly fearing being exposed as anathema, he was actually caught first for embezzling and imprisoned.

True to her word, Marrianna manipulated her way into heading the investigation and had Ryal brought before her. During their meeting, she informed him that she had arranged an escape for him on the way from her offices back to his cell. Further, she had arranged a secret transport to the Scavenger Lands. He thanked and kissed her, then broke away from his guards as planned. Once free, however, he abandoned Marrianna’s plan and enacted his own.

Fearful that he may not be able to rely on Marrianna, Ryal had managed to stash away a fairly decent hoard for himself as well. While he had appeared over the previous eight months to be carousing as he always had, he was, in fact, arranging his own escape. He relied on an influential friend: Madras Ophiel, a former lover and mid-ranking member of the Guild. With her help, he managed to get to Lookshy without incident, leaving his wife and child far behind him.

Taking the name Cruxis, he spent the next two years visiting every city in the Scavenger Lands, storing his stolen funds to numerous banks and guild houses, as well as investing in various enterprises.

While in Great Forks, he began to feel the pull of the manse where he met the circle.

Confident to a fault, Cruxis tends not to think too far ahead, trusting his charm and exalted nature to get him out of trouble. While he has a general concern for the well-being of mortals, he has a hard time mustering much consideration for individual humans he runs across. More often than not, he tends to consider mortals he meets as tools, particularly women.

Normally cool and collected, he tends to be enraged by the presence of undead or demons, with an urge to set them on fire. He does not understand this urge, which disturbs him.

While travelling, he took great pains to keep his exalted nature secret, and was never suspected. As a result, he hesitates to spend peripheral essence.

Cruxis misses his old life, where there were rules to follow and everything got done correctly. He has found a new set of rules in trade and finance, and wants to get better at these.