As a son of the Delegate Verity Talius, Virikai was born into a family of privilege and wealth. Both of his parents spoiled their son, giving him the best of everything as far as material possessions go, and he never wanted for anything. His family background gave him a head start in life that even most eídisi didn't have: at the tender age of just two arcs, Verity paid for private instruction for his son. At first, the child did not seem interested in his lessons. When his instructor complained to Verity, however, he was furious, and sought to correct his son's behaviour in the only way he thought a toddler would understand: pain.
As a Videnese child, he began to study at the Viden Academy just before turning six. His early instructors could not miss the signs of brilliance already having taken root in the child. He excelled in both literacy and numeracy, and was among the youngest to enter secondary education, at the age of eight. The next eight years of Virikai's life was spent in secondary education, where he was exposed to a broad range of topics, before finally being offered the chance to specialise in those he was truly interested in: the sciences. In the early years of his adult life, Virikai was considered by all who met him to be an intelligent, polite young man who showed an enthusiasm to learn.
At first, the Talius scion could not understand why pupils in his classes tried to befriend him or, indeed, each other. Days of silent study allowed him to come to the conclusion that each person who entered into a friendship sought to get something out of it. Accepting this logic, Virikai began to evaluate the other pupils before beginning to surround himself with those he deemed to be the most valuable. With low levels of tolerance for empathy, Virikai could not understand the emotional attachments that were formed... in fact, he despised them. But he was slowly perfecting his mask, and was able to use his superficial charm to make many do his bidding.
Leaving education for a period at the age of nineteen, Virikai immersed himself in private study, using his father's money to access the Prime Atheneum many times each season as he expanded his knowledge of topics which he was intrigued by the most. For years, he continued in this fashion, devouring tome after dusty tome, claiming them as his companions over people. Further, he isolated himself, for he found himself so intrigued by the books in the Prime Atheneum that he no longer saw the need for effort in constructing an image of himself for the world to see: his ambitions were singular and did not require the goodwill of others to see them through.
Most of all, his fascination of science continued... particularly his interest in the practical applications of it. Most of all, he was interested in medical uses, and how the body might react to certain potions and poisons. His father, seeing this, offered to pay for his studies in tertiary education from the Academy, with the prospect of his employment in the medical centre. Virikai, however, scorned this, no longer using a mask of pretend compassion for the world around him. Medicine was interesting, yes, but he could not abide working in that clinical white space every day, having to soothe the irrationally concerned mother of a child with a mild bout of influenza. But four years of his private study had now passed. At 23 arcs, his father forced his hand - believing his son to be wasting his time - and secured him a job in the Facility for Retrospective Analysis as a Researcher.