Spondulix hails from Van Darkholme–a former duergar mining expedition that turned into a permanent settlement on the border between Al-Qashqa and Zweistrum. The settlement was divided into the theocratic elite, the Wizard Caste, and the commoners–and while Spondulix was once considered a candidate for the Wizard Caste, they found him unable to perform most basic cantrips or understand many simple spells; though he could somehow cast in armor quite well. They considered his magic beguiling and impossible to understand, much less train, and so he was dismissed as a candidate. He instead came to work in the Great King's Vault, where he would read the cheques from duergars working every day and distribute their wages to them.

His love for currency was stoked from finding a Zakarion coin unfathomably stirred into the mix of Zweistrum and Al-Qashqan coins that normally circulated in Van Darkholme, and following an incident in which he thought he had lost it forever, he set out into the world to collect one of every kind of coin minted on the Roll and document as much history as he possibly could about them.