Background Help: From Street Urchin to Paladin?

[neg]

Looking for some background aid on a my first 3.5 Paladin and I am fresh out of ideas.

Paladin would be a follower of:

Dannis
Symbol: Golden scales on a black field
Alignment: LN
Portfolio: Justice, Redemption, Law, Protection
Domains: Law, Planning (FR), Protection, Retribution
Favored Weapon: Sword of justice (bastard sword)

Dannis is the god of justice and redemption in Ateria. His rise to power is not documented but he is one of the more powerful gods. Dannis is an even-tempered god who feels justice will always prevail. He is patient, cunning, and judgmental.
Priests of Dannis can be found in any area of Ateria. They are dispensers of justice and in many places they hold positions of office as judges, sheriff’s, and lawmakers. Priests of Dannis also do a lot of work for merchants who trade (especially to other countries). They help with legal documentation to avoid taxes and tariffs. They also help in many matters that require a signed legal document. In some cases even magical documents are prepared by the priests (though this is very rare and extremely expensive).
The church holds mass on the 10th day at sunrise. The rest of the day the priests stay to hear confessions. All worshippers are encouraged to confess any small crimes they had committed the previous week. Most punishments involve small tributes of money or extra prayer for forgiveness.
Priests typically wear black robes of office with golden scales on the front. The church is highly regimented and some sects have different colored trim on their black robes to differentiate their roles in the church.
The church of Dannis condones adventuring and encourages their priests to spread the word of Dannis, pass judgment on any crimes they encounter, serve the public with legal help if possible, and collect any information about well-known heretics (criminals).

Dogma: Justice is might. Law and order shall prevail. Judge not lest you be judged. Honor thy father, thy lords, and thy church. Swords will bring justice where words shall not.

All I got is this new character is obviously physically gifted and was a ring leader of a street urchin gang in a major city where the god Dannis was primarily worshipped. I need the bridge to paladinhood to be lacking in cliche (the urchin to paladin is cliche enough, yes? ), and still gives me a direction/goals, and personality to role play (another part I am struggling with). The DM is leaning toward this paladin to be a nenforce the laws, bring in the bad guys type, and less helping the downtrodden, feel good story of the week type.

Any suggestions or ideas? I could use some creative EN world juices!

-neg

 

[Crothian]

It is a bit clishe, but for Paladins I like them following in the footesteps of another. Your street urchin is saved by ort sees a true act iof heroism by another Paladin. THe Paladin saves whomever, but doesn't seek reward or fame or anything. To the Street Urchin doing something that risks your life for nothing other then the saving another is a complete alien concept, but intrigueing to him. He slowly starts to incorperate it into his life and soon finds he can no longer relate to the other gangs memebers who are not as enlightened. When he finaloly walks away from them with no idea what he is going to do having given up everything he knew; the orginal Paladin is there and offers him a fullfilling if very difficult life.

THis is basically the back story of a Thief Paladin I used in second edition.

 

[Torm]

Another cliche, but a good one: The scam artist who takes up a role for a scam, and then stays in it for long enough to discover he'd really rather BE that.

Another that is less dramatic, but also a lot more unique: Perhaps your character at some point became tied up in one of the more complicated and bureaucratic aspects of the tax codes - the government decided he owed something crazy, and he went through heck trying to get it straight. In the process, he learned so much about the way they work that he began being called upon by other rogues with similar difficulties, and then regular folks and even merchants as his reputation for getting results increased. Throughout this, at first in indignation at his own treatment, but then in the injustices he witnesses others going through, a sense of Good slowly awoke in him - the fees he was charging people to do this work for them would nearly, and sometimes altogether, disappear if he was convinced that they had been heinously wronged.

 

[Torm]

- continued - (still having problems with long posts, for some reason. :\ )

In the process of his new work, he ended up coming into contact with the Temple of Dannis an increasing amount - documents that needed notarization, etc. Eventually that lead into joining the church, at first out of convenience, but later out of stronger and stronger belief in the causes espoused. And then one day, along with a few others in the church, he got "the call" - and a warning: Something wicked this way comes.....