Klaus -wip-

Klaus was born in Germany, so he's technically of German heritage, although he only lived the first seven years of his life there. He can recall minimal words and speak very basic German although this isn't a skill that he finds much use for, and is probably one that is fading quickly.
He was born in the brothel where his mother worked at the time, growing up there until he was six. He was never told the name of his father and to this day he still doesn't know, nor does he really care to find out. Many of the women there took care of him, so in a way he had many mothers and never suffered neglect in terms of parental care. For his last few years in the brothel as a child, Klaus worked; washing glasses, sweeping floors and changing bedsheets.

Shortly after turning six, it seemed there had been reports from concerned men who frequented the brothel, that a child had been seen there. Deeming that to be no such place for a child (and because they did not want a reputation of going into a place of that nature with children roaming around), Klaus was revoked from his mother and taken to an orphanage. Attempts were made by him to find his way back home (and got quite good at planning escapes), but every time he was caught, brought back, and punished. Soon doors, gates and windows were locked to prevent his escapes.
He only spent a year in the orphanage before he was adopted out to a couple and taken far away from his hometown. Everything seemed alright at first, but soon Klaus realised that this couple only wanted free work. They had many other adopted children, of which they treated most of like servants, including Klaus.
Two months later, Klaus escaped, taking advantage of their ignorance to his tenancies.

At only seven years old, the boy wandered through the port town, stowed aboard a docked ship in a desperate attempt to escape from the family he was sure would come searching for him eventually.
Mid way through the voyage, he caused quite an ordeal and had pretty much the whole crew attempting to catch the boy they'd seen running amongst cargo below the decks. Eventually, he was caught and brought to the Captain, but was in the end rewarded with his own place on the ship, just because of the run around he'd managed to give the crew. Ever since that way, Klaus has developed a love for travelling and adventure.

When he was 17 years old an attack was set upon a ship Klaus was working on at the time. A canon blasted the wood of their vessel, which broke off shrapnel and flew into Klaus' eye, blinding him on the left side permanently. The eye itself was removed to prevent infection, the hole was stuffed with gauze and bandaged so it could heal. The pain and trauma of having an eyeball removed was second to how bitter and incapacitated Klaus felt with the vision on his left side missing. He sunk into a phase of sadness and recklessness, which lasted a good half of a year and eventually led to the man getting arrested while in England and sentenced to hang.
This where he met his now longest standing friend, who was also in jail for some kind of treason against the crown. The older man seemed to convince the teen Klaus to help him escape and together they did, restoring Klaus' faith in himself somewhat. Along with the scare of facing his own death breaking him out of his depression.

As the years passed, Klaus slowly got back to his old self and learned to work through his disability, even use it to his advantage. His friend stayed around, joining his friend on many different quests, but he would never linger for more than a year. Klaus knows where to find him, though, should he ever need his friend again.