Lúka en Olea

Early Life
Luka was born to a somewhat poor family in what was then called Kattegat, later renamed to Zaropolis. He grew up during the Kingdom of Aristios, a time when Aristios was but a shadow of its former self. When he was young, about the age of 7, he would wander the streets alone, sometimes get into big trouble. His parents didn't particularly care, and neither were home most of the day, only returning to feed their son and sleep. On the streets, he encountered old men, more impoverished than he, as they were without a home. Some of these men, for a coin, would tell Luka grand stories about the glory days. They wove vast tales of Aristii power, a day when their people were the giants of the north. A nation that was respected and even feared. A military of might and terror. A place to live where there was food on the table for even the poorest citizens, every day. These old men spoke of the Empire of Aristios.

Luka was enthralled, his mind soared with the imagination found only in a youth of his age. He imagined himself a royal, an advisor to the great Kratoras of yore, a great soldier winning an epic battle, and occasionally he himself in the throne. He knew within himself that he would never ascend to such a level, but it was fun to imagine nonetheless.

As he grew up, his wild imagination transformed into an obsession with the old Aristii culture, especially with the language High Aristii, which did not exist in the modern day save for a few texts. There were no public libraries in Kattegat, so he always kept a jar in his house which he filled over time, which he would use to purchase books about the old Aristii cultures. Occasionally, he would get tired of waiting, and just steal the books, especially the High Aristii books, as they were extremely expensive. Sadly, you cannot make money off of knowledge of culture, so he prepared himself for a career as a stonemason, much as his father(he wasn't very good at it, and would lose his hand in a terrible accident). However, his future would be shaken up when he was 19, with the return of Otto en Olea and the advent of the rebellion.

Rebellion
One of the Kratoras of the ancient empire Luka had such an obsession with had returned to Aristios. At the time, Aristios did not even exist and was ruled by a foreign nation, a fact that infuriated Luka. So, when Aristii partisans gathered in the city square in Kattegat to organize a march to Akirashalam, the capital of the rebellion, Luka eagerly joined in. Many of these partisans were young men like Luka, who had their minds filled with visions of glory and might.

When they arrived at Akirashalam however, Luka himself was declared unfit to fight, due to his injured arm. So, while he was not among the ranks of men fighting in Perdin, he stayed with the rebellion, as a simple laborer to mine stone and netherrack for the defense of the city. It seemed this would be his profession for life, which he was fine with, until he got the honor to personally meet Otto Olea.

While he was working in the mines, he would ramble to his fellow workers about ancient Aristios. He tried to weave tales much as the old men did for him all those years ago, but with the added knowledge of his childhood passion. The workers enjoyed his tales, and found that it massively boosted their morale, to know what they were contributing to. Then, during lunch breaks, men would gather around him and ask for his stories, which he happily obliged. It only grew from there, and sometimes he would be telling stories to upwards of a hundred workers. Eventually, word of this reached Otto, and he decided he wanted to meet this man for himself.

And so, Luka was summoned to the palace in Akirashalam. The conversation went extremely well, and it ended in Otto offering Luka a job, in the government's ministry of culture, which he graciously accepted. He remained in this position, doing much the same work as he did in his youth, trying to collect ancient records of Aristii culture.

Much to the shock of the wider world, the Aristii rebellion emerged victorious. A few days after the victory, Luka was summoned to the palace again. Otto offered Luka the position of Minister, where he would be at the lead of all cultural affairs in the new Aristios. He graciously accepted, and thanked Otto for the promotion. As soon as he reached his home, he began to cry with joy. The hopes and dreams of his youth had come to pass, and he believed with all his heart the only way to go from here was up.

He moved himself to Perdin, as he didn't like the desert climate of Akirashalam.

Adoption
Luka, while holding a prestigious title, was not of noble blood. It was a bit of an anomaly, a commoner in a noble's job. So, he sought to remedy that. Within his now hometown of Perdin, the mayor, Hessel, was of the noble house Gallisti. He and the mayor had become friends, so he requested adoption into the royal house. Hessel considered, and decided to grant it. Luka was adopted by a member of the Gallisti family, who Luka would never meet nor learn their name. What mattered was that he was now technically a noble. Discarding the Avkariz surname didn't matter much to him, he never really cared about it.

The Aristii Republic
Shortly after the success of the rebellion, another independence movement was growing in the west. The Republic of Aristios peacefully seceded from Sylvania. This angered Luka greatly. He had strong feelings regarding the republic that collapsed prior to his birth, and they weren't exactly positive feelings. Yes, the old men had spoken of the republic with spite, and so too did he.

At one point, when he was meeting with Otto regarding the republic, he was extremely vocal of his opinion. However, instead of the agreement he was expecting, he was scolded for this. Otto reminded Luka that they were all Aristii at the end of the day, and were and should be treated as absolute equals.

Luka would think over those words many times that night. Eventually, he concluded that Otto was right. So, he decided to make a trip to the republic. To his surprise, he quite enjoyed his experience there. The people were kind, save for the people who scoffed at him for being a filthy Ottocrat. He bought himself a house in Pompaelo, which he would spend a lot of time at during his off-time.