I'm going to put this into suitable prose later, but the backstory of my PC is this, pending suggestions & edits:

Raised in an appropriate city several days to the east of the place where we're starting the game. Sniktari was part of a pack of eight or so who spent much of its time outside of the city, as they preferred to conduct themselves in a manner deemed... inappropriate by the local Sibeccai. Nothing bad or evil- just more feral than the Sibeccai are comfortable with. The members of his pack were of no blood relation, but blood relation isn't that important to the Sibs. These were his closest friends, many known for years.

At some point, the entire pack gets Dominated by an unknown force. All but one who makes his save who is immediately torn apart by the rest of them. Over the course of the next several weeks, the pack is used, remotely, but the dominator to make hit & run attacks on local trade caravans, perform seemingly random tasks of vandalism or theivery, and other acts foul & mysterious. If a member of the pack breaks out of the enchantment during a fight, he is turned on by the rest and slain. If it's during another time, that member is subdued and tied up for re-domination.

This happens to Sniktari three times- more than any other. On the third night he lies bound, he dreams of a wolverine. He awakens suddenly in the middle of the night to find his bonds chewed through and a strange sense about his body. He flees, and is forced to kill one of the pack in doing so- with claws that mysteriously sprout from the back of his hands!

He tries to find the dominator. Skulks around the forest for some time, searching... searching... Yet always fearing the return of the mental collar. He keeps an eye on the movements of the pack, hoping for some clue to free them.

He's forced to watch as the pack goes on an attack that was an ambush. Apparently the dominator's need for the pack was over, or he feared having one on the loose. As their plight dawns on them, one by one, each member of the pack comes out of domination, only to be cut down by the righteous fury of the merchant guards & locals. The last one flees to the woods, is almost to cover- sees Sniktari in the shadows. Reaches out his arm and opens his mouth- and falls with three arrows sprouting from his back.

Sniktari fades into the shadows and flees. He works, cautiously, on gathering what information he can about who might have benefitted from the actions of the pack and who might have learned all their truenames. His trail leads him away from his home town. And east.

He burns to repay whoever collared them all like dogs and left his life in ruin.
That day he takes the name Sniktari the Avenger.