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After years of portraying his dead brother and having to face the consequences for actions that weren’t his, he’s developed a chip on his shoulder. This in turn lended to people not noticing the change as his brother was cruel, selfish, and lacked regard for others. Levi can sometimes be quick to anger and uses it to hide other feelings, often without realizing it. He distrusts most people right off the bat. He tries to be kind and helpful, and his true self shines through his smile and once he gets to know someone, at least a little.

Levi pays more attention to the politics of his own duchy and the surrounding ones, but since starting at Utopia he’s started to pay more attention to more kingdom and international reports. Phronese is okay and will defend it by default most times, but outside of it being the only home he knows it’s no better than any other kingdom. He’s supposed to grudge against Stilicidium because of boat attack he survived years ago, but really he doesn’t. He didn’t fight in the war because of his relationship to nobility but did occasional volunteer work for related causes when he was a young teen.

The old Duke of Phronese had no male children, and he wasn’t going to leave his duchy to a damned woman. So what was an ailing, heirless man to do to secure his family’s legacy? He pitted all seven daughters against one another with the promise that the first one to deliver a grandson would earn his favor and be taken care of for the rest of their lives. Not only did one daughter deliver, she delivered two boys on the first try. The old Duke followed through on his promise and her family was given an estate, land, luxury items and enough riches to set dozens of commoner families for life, while the eldest twin Levi was gain the title when he came of age.

The two boys were identical but couldn’t have been more different from one another. Liam was bright and tender-hearted, the daytime to what nights Levi brought when he began his reign of terror at a young age. They were both well taken care of but there were noticeable differences in how their parents and some extended family treated them. Levi was favored, being that his birth was what propelled them further up into Phronese nobility, and because of that every demand was met and he rarely faced consequences for his actions. The boys were encouraged to play and bond with one another but their parents and nannies might as well have asked for oil and water to mix; Levi looked upon Liam more as a personal toy and punching bag, born only to serve him and do his bidding.

Liam resented his twin, and they often butted heads, resulting in knock-down drag out fights in the D’Artanagan house. More often than not, Liam bettered his twin and left him in worse shape, and more often than not he was the only one blamed and punished for it. Breathing was easier when Levi wasn’t around, so Liam went out of his way to put distance between them. He avoided him when he could, kept a smaller but different friend group, and purposely took on hobbies Levi did not like. Liam could be his own entity and learn more about himself, grow into his own skin more comfortably. He didn’t have to worry about being the target of his brother’s ire when he wasn’t around. These efforts garnered success for Liam, but he didn’t count on Levi rearing his ugly head once he realized what it all meant for him.

Liam might not have had the titles, power, or his parent’s love, but he had what Levi lacked: good-standing, a clean record, talent, and more wit. By the time they were in their late teens, Levi was responsible for a number of cruel, depraved acts that commoners would have been jailed or executed for. Their parents had the funds and pull to make the problems go away, but no amount of either would be able to stop the stories from spreading in and around the duchy. He believed himself to be untouchable and was too blinded by the spotlight to see how fast from favor he was falling. Frankly, people in the duchy and in court were sick of his crap. When he realized he was losing to his more studious, soft, pathetic, no-game having loser of a twin brother in the court of public opinion, Levi quietly declared war on him.

They were nineteen when a Stilicidium vessel attacked the steam boat the D’Artanagan family were vacationing on. In the end, the ship was plundered and sunk, and there were few survivors. Liam was lost during the attack and his body was never recovered. The family was grief stricken, having lost a son and a brother to the war activity. Levi was witnessed to have barely spoken during the grieving period he was so broken to have lost his twin.

What really happened on that fateful day, and the events that followed: Levi was the one that really perished that day. An opportunity showed itself, and he was going to use it to get rid of Liam once and for all. There was a scuffle unlike any other for them, and Liam had a feeling if Levi had his way, only one of them would make it back home. In the end Levi found himself hanging off of the railing of the boat. Liam went to pull him up, but in those seconds he acted on a moment of clarity — or an error in judgment, that he sometimes believes it to be now — and let him ‘slip’ out of his hands and into the waves below. When Liam returned home, he found himself being addressed as Levi. At the insistence of his mother, he assumed his brother’s identity. To him, she painted a picture of ruin for not only their family but the Duchy if a succession war started or if the crown got involved. This much was true, and to this day the duchy’s troubles goes deeper than he’s aware of. What he did not realize until years later was that his mother was thinking only of herself; she did not want to lose the wealth and status she’d grown so accustomed to.

So he mourned, but for the loss of his own identity. An identity he gave the twin who didn’t deserve it, and gave up for what he believed would be for the greater good in the long run. Liam, referred to here on out as Levi, continued the charade and knew his twin well enough to fool many people. But over time, he learned just how limitless his brother was when it came to the treatment of other people. With that knowledge came the people his brother hurt, or those who cared for the people he hurt, more than ready to give Levi a taste of his own medicine. And some did. The balancing act of having to pretend to be his brother while trying to preserve the most treasured parts of himself left him feeling weathered, bitter, and with a dislike and distrust of others. Eventually, he withdrew to his duchy, only leaving for official court business when necessary. Invitations — what little he got at that point — went declined or unanswered. The staff of his estate, some who knew him before he could even walk, were dismissed with a severance and positive recommendations and replaced with people mostly unfamiliar with who Levi used to be. He couldn’t control what people thought or what they did, but he could control who and what he surrounded himself with within his own territory.

Both he and his brother realized their photographic memory abilities from a very early age, and Levi could recall memories from further back than most people. It was an advantage in his studies and made for quick and easy referencing. In the days after the boat accident, he noticed something new happening: he was gaining memories that were not his. At first, they came to him without warning, with little effort, and when he touched others. With time the sensitivity died down and Levi initially believed he was only able to read memories. It wasn’t until a blow up with his mother’s lady’s maid that he realized he could do more than just read them. She also carried on an affair with his brother prior to his death, and Levi at first went along with it with the enthusiasm for drinking bitter wine. On the night in question Levi accidentally made her forget not only the both of them, but to his horror other portions of her memory. Learning from the first time, Levi was more careful with the few people that figured it out over the years, eventually learning the full extent of his power. The only person he told was his father, who was on his deathbed when he whispered it to him as a final screw you.

When the letter came for him to go to Utopia Academy, Levi ignored it. Leave the comfort of his home to play school with a bunch of people he had no interest in? No thanks. The opening day came and went, and he went about his business still in Phronese. He went eventually at the strong recommendation of court officials, lest he wanted his Duchy to face certain consequences. But he made his sentiments known: He hates everything about this.