Liu Xin has been a peddler and a burglar from an early age. He grow up with father, who brought him into the family business, before he died due to illness when Liu was 15. He was the result of a one night stand with a married woman, so he spirited off to his father after his birth, and claimed to be a stillborn. He has met his mother once, but as he bears a decent resemblance to her and is a bastard, he has kept his distance. After the death off his father, Liu Xin traveled on his own from town to village, peddling wares stolen from the town two stops back.

One night, a few years before the Dwarven invasion, Liu had found a particularly well locked study in the house of a local merchant, but once he gained entrance, he found foreign documents instead of wares. He was caught while searching the room, and offered a choice: join the employ of the Olgaeth Empire, or be killed. Thus began Liu Xin's career as a Olgaeth spy. He continued his roaming lifestyle, but instead of stealing goods, which would be missed, he began stealing information. In addition to knowledge of troop mobilization and supplies, Liu Xin found himself gathering vast amounts of salacious gossip. This, combined with his newfound legitimate merchant contacts allowed him to worm himself into polite society as a respectable trader with a keen ear, further enabling his information gathering efforts.

As his employment lengthened, Liu Xin found himself occasionally to take more direct action, such as intercepting and forging various documents. In once instance, in the village of Xiangshan, he was asked to cut the bell rope to the village tower. A week later, the invasion began. With the money he had accumulated from his espionage, Liu Xin was able to travel far enough to weather the war, but after peace was declared he returned to the region in the interest of striking a new bargain. Along the way he passed through the village of Xiangshan, except there wasn't a village there anymore. It had been leveled by Olgaeth forces, leaving only a charred skeleton. At the center of town he found a small shrine had been built around where the massive bell had fallen, complete with a small plaque that read:

'You sang a song of gathering
With each resounding breath
But when your heart rang silent
You sentenced us to death'

After reading the plaque, he turned and left to continue his journey. Now however, he found himself having nightmares of people burning alive and screaming, only their voices were silent, or he would be falling from a great height, and he would reach out to catch a rope, only for it to break and twist itself around him. When he reached his old contact, he found him more prosperous than ever, and was promised work ferreting out various rebel factions if he wanted it. However, Liu found himself compelled to return to the ruins of Xiangshan. Maybe he could bring an offering to placate the spirits of the place. Upon returning however, he found another man kneeling at the shrine. He was hideously disfigured, his face covered in burns, one eye covered by scar tissue, one arm hanging useless under his shirt. The man was sobbing, one hand on the list of names. When Liu approached, he turned to him and sobbed,

"It's my fault, it's all my fault. They could have run, they could have hid, but I failed them. I failed all of them."

Liu just stared at the pitiful creature, holding his offering to his hands.

"I was the bell ringer, the scout nearly ran himself to death to give us time, but I hadn't done my duty. When I pulled the rope, it snapped, and then there was no time at all. I tried to replace it, but by then it was too late. A hundred thirty seven people died because of me, because I failed in my duty. I know every one of their names. I have been bringing offering to this shrine every day for years to placate them, but they still torment me. How could they not, they will never be able to rest until the responsible one is dead."

Liu started to grow wary as the cripples demeanor changed, how much did this man know?

"It is good that you are here today, perhaps the gods have granted me one last favor before they condemn me for good, perhaps they simply want a witness. Either way, they watch down on you now. Go well friend, and know this, every debt must be payed."

With those words, the cripple drew a dagger from his belt and plunged it into his heart. Liu ran to stop him, but the cripple was already drifting off to shock when he arrived, a horrible grimace of guilt spread across his face. Liu Xin buried the body next to the shrine and placed his offering upon it. He learned two things that day: That his torment was only just beginning, and that suicide would right no wrongs. And so he left Xiangshan, eventually joining a mercenary company, which leads us to today.

Sai.
Done.
He's not nobility, but I was using the term as a synonym for "benevolent power" rather than "station and privledge".
Updated, though for the record, I took the previous one (with only a little paraphrasing) out of the book.