Jin originally from the city of Waterdeep did not grow up there. It's actually not a city that he's familiar with at all. He was born there to human parents but upon seeing his ash colored skin, small horns at the side of his head, and a devilish tail. They thought better to ditch the boy at the side of the road after a few days of deliberating what to do with him. Along came some fur traders. A pack of goblins known as the Luskan Skin Trade found him there half starved and crying. There a middle aged female goblin Groga Fratsnitz after just losing a few of her own children to blood thirsty ex-soldiers found him and decided to care for the baby. In the north-western town of Luskan is where he called home for his formative years and where his adoptive parents Salesh and Groga dubbed him Jin Blackthorn. The black color of his horns being a little on the nose for very uncreative parents. 

It wouldn't be fair to say that Jin spent most of his time in Luskan despite that's where he claims his home to be in the City of Sails. For months out of the year he would travel with his adoptive parents along with the other traders which happened to be other goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears and their children old enough to tag along. Early on once he was old enough to form bonds and friendships with the people he had been traveling with he once again found himself on the outside looking in when it came to the offspring of the other traders. The adults saw no difference as they too also understood that the rest of the world, outside of other goblinoids saw him as just as much a monster. Those first few years on the road Jin dreaded leaving Luskan where he could hide in his home away from Gargamel Bolgrosh the tanner's (Grhothgar Bolgrosh) son. Gargamel seemed to be his mortal enemy from day one and kept the young tiefling from being accepted. Gargamel a bugbear held sway over the others because of his size which tended to keep the other goblin and hobgoblin children in check. It was better to be on his side than be bullied. 

When Jin was ten he had noticed Gargamel was nowhere to be seen  in the caravan as the near back to Luskan. He had known the kid to sometimes rush ahead and walk alone off to the side and despite being not on great terms with Gargamel he was curious to know where he had run off to. When he did find him, he stumbled on a couple hunters that had ensnared his childhood enemy. Thoughts of letting that asshole get what he deserves ran through his mind but the injustice of two grown men hurting a child irked him and this marked the first case that his hellish anger would take hold of his better senses as he gripped his skinning knife from its tiny sheath and ran like the wind not thinking about the consequences of his actions or the fact that it was just two immature kids not nearly full grown taking on grown ass adult humans. Jin did manage to surprise one of them by leaping onto their back and repeatedly stabbing him as many time as he could all the while screaming nonsensical words. He was quickly clubbed off the back of the one man by the other. However the racket he had caused drew the attention of the caravan and they quickly descended upon both men to rescue the boys. When the caravan got there the two boys were taken away while the fur and skin traders did what they did best and flayed both men alive. That one moment of bravery earned Jin his closest friend, Gargamel, and with him came the rest of the kids to accepting him as one of them.

Not all of the children of the fur traders followed in their parent's footsteps. Jin and Gargamel as they got older became as thick as thieves and often challenged each other in feats of strength and endurance. They found that their talents were best suited in fighting. Two goblin twins that had come to his inner circle Robosh and Gobosh also had an affinity for fighting but would later settle into blacksmithing armor and weapons. A female hobgoblin by the name of Lavralti Thrash seemed to be on the heels of both Jin and Gargamel but never fully fit in since she was a few years younger but as the boys neared 17 they became closer and she too started fighting with him. 

Those three formed a small ragtag group of goblinoids and other outsider races to fend off humans and creatures that wished to do harm. They had no formal training but it was all about courage and determination to keep people safe from harm. Jin's fighting didn't always include his little group as sometimes he found himself wandering into town to test out his charm devilishly good looks with the ladies in hopes of finding maybe one who didn't mind his ash grey skin and horns. There was one at one time but that's for another story (He was a side piece of a dark haired elf woman from Waterdeep who liked doing things she wasn't supposed to and anything with him was never going to be real). It was in these adventures into town and the taverns such as One Eyed Jax and the Cutlass that he found himself in squabbles with the townsfolk. It was never over insults to his own person as he didn't mind the rough talk about himself. No the stuff that got him riled up was hearing the shit talking of goblinoids, the seeing the mistreatment of those he had dubbed his people, but it developed into so much more as the years dew on. Jin began to step in for anyone who was being mistreated, given an unfair shake, or robbed in the rough city of Luskan. Those who had been saved by him were said to have had the devil on their side that day. Jin was also quite familiar with the inside of a jail cell for his public disturbances. 

Jin, Gargamel, and Lavralti all eventually joined a much larger and more coordinated militia that not only protected their small village outside of Luskan but the surrounding areas doing much of the same thing for years on till war came a knocking at their front door step and the group now somewhere in their mid to late twenties were itching for actual action but were not ready for what the casualties of war actually brought. The small group and the low ranking soldier were eventually absorbed into a much bigger army that went to war and lost. They had been taken into a much bigger army to fight in the War of the Silver Marches. This marked the first time that he could say he felt united with other races against a common enemy and he didn't feel like one of the monsters. It was in the Battle of the Cold Vale that his company tasted defeat at the hands of the Drow. During the fight Jin spent most of his time shoulder to shoulder with Gargamel since the two complimented each other well and both lived to be captured when they were found to still be alive among a pile of dead bodies. Unfortunately Lavralti the dear friend had been felled by an arrow in their best efforts to survive. All soldiers that weren't killed or injured beyond worth were chained up for hard labor and eventually sold off to camps and prisons. 

Not since the battle field has Jin seen Gargamel or anyone that he could say that he remembers. They were separated both screaming at one another to stay alive before being shackled and shuttled off to god knows where. Jin has since moved from camp to camp in his captor's hands for the last 2 years. He's grown weary and tired and wondering if there's a god out there willing to give him enough strength to persevere so that he can cut them all down should he be freed.