Nira
Nira comes from a quiet, dutiful family of devout Shinze worshippers. Her parents lived inland in Cara Blanca, in the small town of Graceling Beach. They were modest but important townsfolk, known for their generosity and hard work. They spent their lives dedicated to making the world a better place, and instilled that same drive in their children.
Many years ago, Graceling Beach was a quiet town that would host visitors travelling either to the Strands: Ilea Brin in the East, home of the mages and warlocks, or Quima Brin in the West, home of the wizards. There was turmoil in the region, though now it is almost unheard of to speak about the Ley Line Wars. One of the last battles was waged in Graceling Beach. Nira was always curious about that day, but her family was reluctant to disclose anything.
Through listening at closed doors, asking the right people the right questions, and by some wonderful amateur sleuthing, she was able to get a vague idea of the events. There was a battle for power in the North, there are strong ley lines running through the strands, and the different arcana users fight for control of territory with the strongest lines. The undersea kingdoms were also involved in these wars, and after the treaties were signed, they were mostly banished from the topside. While the aracana users didn't typically attack civilians, those towns who fell along the ley lines often had casualties, whether property or people.
Graceling Beach was the site of a large battle. A huge rift into the Malestrom, a separate plane that is filled with strong chaotic energies was opened. Her mother and father were in the town square, as were most people, for the weekend market. It had been so quiet lately, almost no battles in months. As the rift opened and the fighting began, they did their best to gather the townsfolk and usher them to safety. Another, smaller rift, began to open, and as it did, a large blast of chaotic energy struck out and hit her mother, sending her flying into a building.
The Valkyries are a reclusive race that are tasked with keeping the balance of things. They fight to maintain order during war. They won't intercede based on beliefs of either side, but they will intervene if the battle is unfair or is affecting innocent people. They came down from the sky in several battle squadrons, and one spotted Nira's mother, who was limping, trying to get up and continue to help people to safety after her injuries. The Valkyrie grabbed her, wrapping her steel edged wings around to shield her, and said, "This is no place for a child." Nira's mother was confused, but relieved to be carried to safety and reunited with her husband.
The town was severely damaged. Even when they returned days later, there were still eerie flames and fizzling arcane spells seething from the rubble. Not knowing they were pregnant, upon returning to the town, they adopted two young boys, ages 5 and 3 whose parents were killed in the attack. 9 months later, Nira was born.
Her parents loved her very much, but it was clear from the beginning that she was not human. The exposure to the blast of chaos affected her development and she was marked by that. Her brothers were the only two children who were not instantly afraid of her. They loved and spoiled their sister, and they were a very close group. Her parents did their best to shield her from the world, but people and children can be cruel. Due to their prominence, philanthropy, and their efforts to help rebuild the town, comments were kept to a minimum, though the sting of being an outsider never went away.
When she was 13, her eldest brother, now 18, decided to follow the path of their parents and devote his life to good service and worship. He left on a spirit quest. There were many tears at this announcement, none more than from Nira, who felt like a piece of her heart was breaking off and floating away. He promised to write to her every week, and she tried to smile and wave without tears as she watched him walk down the little road that would lead to the main continent.
Letters arrived every week, as promised, then began to trickle in slowly: every two weeks, every 3 weeks, every 4 weeks...until finally it would be a shock when she saw a letter. As the letters went on, they became disjointed and didn't seem to make sense with how she remembered her brother. It had been nearly two years, so when she brought her concerns to her parents, they told her not to worry, and that sometimes when you spend so much time devoted to a god, your thoughts can be a little jumbled. She spoke to her middle brother, showing him all the letters. He agreed that something was not right at all.
He was coming up on his 18th birthday, and was now free to choose his own path. He decided he would go look for their brother, promising to write to her every week. His plan was to travel south to the main continent, Bregne Fenn, and go to the last place their brother wrote about: Balvonier.
Nira was too young to follow, although she tried to run away many times. Her brother kept his word and his letters came every week, though for the first two months it was mostly him stopping in towns to work long enough to pay for the rest of the journey. The last letter from him explained that he was in Balvonier and got a lead. He was going to travel around the Rueda, hitting all of the towns to search for a mysterious man. He wasn't very descriptive about what he was searching for, but he seemed excited, although secretive. She wouldn't call the next note a letter. It was barely a sheet, he had obviously torn a corner off of some sort of book or formal document as the paper was very nice. It simply said "It wasn't Him xx". There was no return address, but his last known whereabouts was somewhere around the Roueda in Tricreche.
Nira saved all her money, working as hard as she could to afford the trip. Their parents didn't want her to go, they wanted her to have faith, but Nira's faith in the "good" gods is very much shaken.
Nira stopped on her journey after meeting a very kind cleric while trying to arrange passage across the Choker Strait. She worshipped a chaotic neutral protean god, and was also a ganza like Nira. It was the first time she felt truly seen. She offered to train Nira and help set up a network of worshippers who could provide food, shelter, and aid on the journey if she stayed and trained to become a cleric.
She didn't want to delay her journey, but Nira knew that she wouldn't get very far if she didn't have some sort of help. And Erinye was true to her word, she sent for help immediately and Nira was able to get confirmation that her middle brother had been in Balvonier, before she left, Erinye had more information about her brother. The last time he was seen, he was muttering to himself, he seemed frazzled and paranoid, and kept drinking heavily, which her brother rarely drank anything.
He was last seen in Weatherby, which is quite hard to get to. Erinye suggested you stop in Spindledown, where she has an old friend named Elentiya. Spindledown is about half way to Weatherby, but as she traveled south she heard about the large festival in Balvonier. Since it is the first major city after crossing the Brez Pass, she needed to stop and gather supplies anyway.