Li'nux the Khajiit hailed from Elsweyr, and did a brief stint with the Imperial Legion in Cyrodill before being hired away as a private contractor to guard the caravan of pawnbroker Ma'dran, a new franchisee of the merchant magnate Ri'saad. At the beginning of our tale, the has recently arrived in Southwestern Skyrim, and Ma'dran saw fit to hire an orcish guard who could also serve as guide to this vast new province. Li'nux took the opportunity to leave the caravan's service, and strike out on his own as an entreprenuer. He spent most of his savings to acquire Ma'dran's family skooma recipe, with a discount, in exchange for keeping the savvy old huckster cut in on the business. He sent a message to his wife and child, to travel by ship to Solitude, and began the long hike there to meet them.
Arriving without incident, Li'nux checked in with the Imperial Legion headquartered at Castle Dour guarding Skyrim's capitol. He thought they might have some assignments that could make him some quick scratch, and also introduce him to some new locations and contacts that could prove useful for his nascent skooma trade. Indeed, the Legate asked him to clear out some bandits holed up in a mountain fort to the north. Li'nux would use this opportunity to demonstrate his usefulness as a guerrila fighter and reconnaisance operative, hoping to avoid being drafted into a footman role, as he had heard of mounting tensions between the Empire and some of the local Nords who followed a bigoted ogre of a demogogue named Ulfric Stormcloak. It seemed plausible that the tensions would boil over into full scale war in the coming years, and if that happend Li'nux as a veteran would be re-called to active duty to fight in the front lines. He preferred to slink through the shadows, stalking his prey, rather than to charge into meat-grinding melees.
So, he headed off to do his bidding, and despite almost freezing to death in the northern heights (he would have to get used to this could, and acquire warmer clothes and a better utility ax for chopping firewood), he silently picked off the few bedraggled bandits and returned to Castle Dour. His solo performance earned him an audience with the General, who was pleased to have a capable Khajiit on reserve for when covert operations were called for. In order to stay on retainer, he was granted a small parcel of land out in the marshlands East of Solitude, upon which he promptly began building a humble homestead to install his family in when they arrived. As he did this, he made frequent trips to the nearby mill in Morthal for construction supplies, and ingratiated himself with the local Jarl by sniffing out a criminal vampire, and joining the angry mob in finding justice for a woman and child murdered by an arsonist acting on the vampire's orders.
Finally the family arrived, and moved in. But Li'nux needed more funds to improve the homestead, and so he reached out to some Khatjiit living in the southern hold of Falkreath, and invited them to join his "salesforce." A pair came, and fell into a rhythym of one staying at the house, helping cook skooma as well as act a steward, while the other traveled the trade routes with Li'nux, finding new customers and slowly building the business.
One day another call came from Castle Dour, and Li'nux took his wife (also an erstwhile legionairre) for an audience with the General. It seems that Ulfric believed he'd found the location of a symbolic artifact, a crown that he thought would improve his public perception if he were to possess it. The General wanted the Khajiit to go ahead as scouts for an elite squad that was to make sure he didn't get it, if it in fact existed. There was no time to waste, so Li'nux and his fierce lady geared up and headed out to meet up with the squad.
They found the group the next afternoon at an Imperial encampment they were using as a staging ground in the icy hills northwest of their homestead. Li'nux and his wife paused for a brief lunch and discussion of tactics, but then headed out on foot moving southwest through the valley, to make as much headway as possible before night fell with it's lethally cold temperatures. As darkness descended, they came to a monastic outpost called the Hall of the Vigilant. It was the priory of an order of demon-hunting clerics, and as they were friendly to the Empire, they stopped in to warm up, share a meal, and take a cat nap.
About an hour before dawn, Li'nux penned a message for the squad to follow if they stopped here, geared up again, and headed out into a light snowfall illuminated by the eerie norther lights. As they approached a small fort, Fort (name), they could here the sounds of a skirmish in the pre-dawn gloom! Their keen feline vision made out the shapes of burly Stormcloak warriors streaming in through a wide open gate. They crept up to peek in, and could see bleary-eyed Pale Hold Guards scrambling to strap on armor and grab weaponry to fight back, but most were slaughtered in the ambush just as the first rays of dawn lit up the inner yard. Li'nux and his wife noticed some bandits through the window of the canteen/tavern, and slunk inside to witness them cutting down the barkeeper and boasting of how they helped the Stormcloak force invade by gaining the trust of the guards, then leaving the gate open in the night. Li'nux and his wife pounced on the surprised mercenaries, ending their devious careers. There were too many outside to wade into full battle, so the Khajiit remained hidden in the shadows. A force of a dozen or so Stormcloaks remained, and formed up in the inner yard, stripping the Pale guards' bodies of valuables, while their captain walked to the canteen tavern and knocked. He poked his head inside, looked quizzical, assuming the bandits had died of wounds received from fighting the bartender, and barked orders. The Stormcloaks formed up, and marched back out they way they came through the Southeast gate.
Li'nux and his wife checked for survivors and found none. They also took a few remaining valuables and some food from the canteen, left another message for the elite squad coming behind them explianing what they had witnessed, then carefully headed out on the trail of the Stormcloaks. Following their trail through the day, the Khajiit reconnaiseuers watched them arrive at the purported tomb ruins where the crown was thought to be. They set up a base camp, killed a couple of local bandits they found loitering around, and began to send in small groups to look for a way in. Li'nux and his wife hid in the trees and awaited their reinforcements.
