@Chickn

SPRS and BRVO both seem solid. As much as I like some of the others, this pair is the only one I read that seemed like a good compromise.

I'm going to make a Vlad post now. Prepare for that, folks. By the way, I should mention that I changed his name somewhat; his family name is now Plasimov, just so it has more of an association with blood and all.

*His father became abusive and beat Vlad's mother unconscious, Vlad was taken away by authorities, but his father requested he be left with family friends;
*Vlad came into the family, which consisted of a father and son, and had done far better than Vlad's family, so he vowed to inherit that family's wealth even over his stepbrother via trickery and psychological warfare;
*It turns out the stepfather was smarter, and the son less wimpy, than credit had been given, and Vlad and his stepbrother fought often enough that it became a problem;
*The stepfather put them both into a private training school to make better use of their aura than it currently had, and their fighting was mostly quelled by stricter punishments;