Born from an unseemly coupling of an imperial father and a federal mother, Tom have often found himself torn between two worlds. His parents separated over the constant, heated arguments about slavery. His mother, of course, despised ANY form of slavery, while his father, raised in the customs of the Imperium, believed that imperial slavery - one with strictly defined ethical boundaries about treatment of those unfortunate to sink as low - was better and more humane, than the treatment of the homeless masses of the federation, who lived in disgusting slums. After one of these arguments, his father left... with his other child, Tom's younger sister, never to be seen again.