Mariala Teryne is a T’ara Kul of the Xavar’na convocation, the school of magic specializing in the powers of mind and spirit. She belongs to the Order of the Violet Eye. Born on 28 Sarnia 2994, at Danoc Manor in Etana Hundred, Thergarshire, in the feudal kingdom of Nolkior , she is 24 years old and in her first year as a Kolori, or journeyman. As is customary, she is expected to travel for at least a year and a day, learning how magic works in the real world, developing new spells, and gathering interesting artifacts for the benefit of her chantry.

Mariala stands 5′ 3″ tall, with a medium build, a medium complexion, dark red hear and hazel eyes. While not especially beautiful, she is far from unattractive, and has  certainly had her share of admirers. Since falling in with Vulk Elida and Drake Dartoff, and later on Devrik Askalan and Erol Doritar, she has grown rapidly out of the shy, somewhat unassuming persona of her school years. She has learned to use her powers in support of her friends in battle, and has begun developing her own unique magics. And given the amount of violence that the Hand of Fortune (as the group has recently taken to calling themselves) seems to find itself immersed in, she has begun to wear a certain amount of armor under her gowns…

Mariala is the unacknowledged bastard of a minor nobleman, Ser Naldaro Danoc, by the female knight Sera Alia Teryne. The two met in 2986, while both were attached to the Army of the Kurikmarch, fighting the fierce northern barbarians called the Firilani. The two fell in love, despite Ser Naldaro’s recent marriage to a considerably older woman, a marriage arranged and forced on him by his father. Naldaro and Alia maintained a sporadic love affair for five years, until Alia became pregnant in 2991.

His wife apparently barren, Ser Naldaro was thrilled at the birth of his first children – twins, a boy and a girl. Alia retired from active duty and accepted his offer to become Bailiff of Ashu Manor, a moderate-sized fief owing to Danoc. Mariala was born three years later, followed by a brother in 2997 and a sister in 3000. Lady Kayla, Ser Naldaro’s wife, was less pleased with her husband’s other family. Each new child felt like a reproach to her own inability to provide an heir. But she knew her duty as a nobel wife, and has endured… while loveless, the relationship on both sides is cordial, and a tacit silence is maintained on the subject of Ashu Manor and its residents.

Ser Naldaro was always as an attentive and doting father, as his duties and responsibilities allowed. His own father, Ser Hardan, as the head of Clan Danoc, has steadfastly refused to allow him to recognize his bastard offspring, in the futile hope yet of legitimate heirs. But for all his glowering disapproval, he couldn’t prevent his son from loving his children. Indeed, for all his grim insistence on proprieties, Ser Hardan himself has been known to unbend so far as to smile on those rare occasions when he is around his grandchildren. When the old man dies, whoever becomes clan head, Ser Naldaro is certain to formally acknowledge his bastard children, allowing them to take the Danoc name and to inherit.

Mariala left her home at the age of 16, when her father paid for her entry into the best Xavar;nai chantry in the region. For several years prior, she had been having increasingly frequent flashes of prescience and clairvoyance, until it became obvious that she had the gift of the T’ara Kul, and would need training. Despite a relatively happy childhood in the country, Mariala was glad to leave the stern discipline of her mother, with whom she had been increasingly in conflict. Sera Alia had little truck with esoteric matters, and little understanding or patience with her daughter’s “dreamy, impractical foolishness.” Nonetheless, they both cried when the day came for Mariala to leave for the journey to Aquina Chantry, on the shores of Dragon Lake.

Seven years of study at the foremost chantry of the Xavar’na convocation has given Marial a very solid grounding in the magics of the mind, and the power of the human spirit. Her natural ability to see the future and perceive the ethereal world, however, while strengthened and somewhat trained, remained only sporadically under her control. On Höl Kopia of 3017, on gaining the rank of Kolori, she left her school behind to begin her journeyman’s year of wandering. Taking boat at Râgnol Keep, she crossed the waters of Drragon Lake to Kar Kolhurn in the neighboring realm of Arushal, seeking the wisdom of an old Vendari (Master) named Edine Taris. Rumor had it that he was adept at the art of prescience, and you hoped he might teach you to better control your own gift.

But he proved an irascible old man, with little interested in training or even speaking to “a child barely weaned from her mother’s teat.” He did, eventually, give in to the point of allowing Mariala access to some of his books, but adamantly refused to be drawn out of his own esoteric studies to even the simplest of questions. In the end, though she gleaned some clues to spells unknown to her and learned something of the theories of foretelling, she left Magister Taris’ sanctum feeling like she’d wasted six tendays of her life.

But during the year-end celebrations of Kristala Va, she met two men who would change her life forever, and start her down the path to greatness…

Drake Bartoff is the nom d’adventure of Draik Bartyne, a mercenary, amateur apothecary, and some-time temple guard for Kasira, Goddess of Luck. Born 11 Kilta 2992, the 26 year old has a wiry build, standing 5′ 6″ tall, with brown hair and hazel eyes, and weighs 146 pounds. Of average looks, he has a pleasant singing voice, and amazing agility and reflexes, the latter of which has served him in good stead in battle. Moderately claustrophobic, he has been dismayed in recent months at the number of times he’s found himself in small underground spaces… a recent violent encounter that turned him to stone for several days was the last straw. He is now retired to his home town of Dür, Nolkior, where he intends to carry on his uncle’s apothecary business and conduct his own researches.

Darik was born in the castle town of Dür, in Kinenshire, in the Kingdom of Nolkior, to Ser Athal Bartyne and his wife Lady Elesa Bartyne (neé Semos). Sadly, Lady Elesa died just a ten-day after his birth, of a birthbed fever. Dartik and his older brother Alakor spent their early years at Cleme Manor, the fief their father held in the nearby countryside. Though their father, as a knight of the Caelite clerical order The Lord of Paladins, was often away fighting the northern barbarian tribes, it was a generally happy childhood. Draik looked up to and lionized his brother, six years older, and for his part Alakor was always protective of the boy.

This happy life ended when Draik was seven years old. Ser Athal was killed in battle with the Firilani during a skirmish in the Kurikmarch in Kilta 2999. The boys fell under the guardianship of their uncle, Ser Athal’s older brother, Querdon Bartyne. An apothecary in Dürtown, and a recent widower, Querdon had little interest in the boys except as free labor. His rearing of them, as of his own two sons, alternated between neglect and harsh discipline. As they grew older he found uses for them in seeking out the plants he required and for the drudge tasks of the laboratory.

As unpleasant as this was, at least Draik had the love and support of his brother – until the day he disappeared, two years after their father’s death. Querdon seemed surprisingly unconcerned, claiming Alakor had run off, too lazy to face “a man’s work.” But Draik never believed it – his brother had hinted to him in the month before that he suspected his uncle was involved in some shady business, although he was unsure exactly what. Draik was stubbornly convinced that his brother had been murdered for learning the truth – if not by their uncle, than by whatever shadowy men he might be involved with.

It was almost eight years before he learned the truth, when he discovered a note from his brother, long lost and brought unexpectedly to light. Following that clue, Draik uncovered his uncle’s hidden dealing with Ser Danyes Bernan, a local knight who was secretly the head of a Zalik-mal group dealing in illicit drugs. Querdon supplied the group with many of the forbidden plants and extracts they needed. Draik became certain that Ser Danyes had killed Alakor, and that his uncle knew it.

Determined not to suffer the same fate, Draik fled from Dür with the aid of Komnal Julander, a freehold farmer who had been friends with Ser Athal and out of remembrance of him had always been kind to his sons. He saw Draik of well provisioned and with a few coins. Vowing to return some day and exact justice on both his uncle and Ser Danyes, Draik headed into the night. When the sun rose again he had become Drake Bartoff, freebooter and adventurer.

During the next eight years he became a mercenary, working both independently and with some of the mercenary companies abroad in Nolkior, Arushal, Darikaz and the Republic. The first, and most important was the Hand of Vengeance, where he met the man who would become both mentor and friend, Colith One-eye. Taking him under his wing, training the raw 17-year-old  boy, he saw to it that the boy learned the skills to survive in a hard world, despite not being a natural warrior. Eventually Colith sent Draik off to another company, and from there he became a body-guard to a tent maker in Kamdisol, Kornun Tayarte.

His most recent job was as a Temple Guard at the Lothkir temple of Kasira, the Goddess of Luck, in Arushal. There he met a young noble scion, Vulk Elida, who was training to become a cantor. Over the last couple of years the two became close friends, and when Vulk left the temple to begin his mendicant year as a newly anointed cantor, Drake left with him. This was due in equal parts to a desire to protect his friend, and out of boredom with the life of a temple guard.

Vulk’s first commission was to deliver a vital message to the Earl Savartim at Kar Kolhurn on the shores of Dragon Lake, even though it was late in the year. There, during the year-end celebrations of Kristala Va, they met a very nice young scholar, Mariala Teryne, whom they convinced to accompany them south to Savartim before the snows began in earnest. Little did any of them realize then what a fateful meeting it was, or that something great had begun…

Vulk Elida, of Clan Elida, is a newly consecrated Cantor of Kasira, the Immortal Lady of Luck. Born 5 Turniki 2994, on Elidar Manor, in Thaldant Hundred, Ulionshire, in the Kingdom of Arushal. He is a very handsome man, standing 6′ 1″ tall, with a medium build, weighing 180 pounds, with auburn hair and blue eyes. Since his consecration in the summer of 3017 into the Third Circle of the Mysteries, he is able to perform all the rituals of that rank that he has been taught. He is a fair hand at providing field first aid, amplified by his native healing talent. He has learned many tricks to compensate for his colorblindness, and his skill at heraldry is fairly good, as is his grasp of Arushali folklore. He has some knowledge of the law, and a minor skill at drawing, especially maps. Quite fond of fishing, he also loves to practice tricks of legerdemain, although he is still far from good. He is trained in the sword, but is a rather indifferent swordsman. His skill at unarmed combat, however, is excellent, especially in defense.

Though born in the country, Vulk was raised mainly in the walled town of Virzon, the major settlement of Ulionshire and the third largest town in the kingdom. He spent many summers at Elidar Manor with his siblings and cousins, under the watchful eye of his Aunt Ulina. Four years ago, on the death of his grandfather, she was selected by the Clan Council, with the support of his father, as the new Clan Head.

His father is Tulath Elida, the Herald for the City of Virzon, and Vulk wished to follow in his footsteps. But his color blindness made that difficult, leading him to join the Cult of Kasira, Herald of the Immortals, after being rejected by the Violet Mantle Palace of Arms. As many clerics of Kasira also find employment as heralds, this seemed his best option for pursuing his dream. Currently in his mendicant year, when cantors newly consecrated into the Third Circle of the Mysteries are required to wander the world and try their luck, Vulk has gained several boon companions with whom he has shared his adventures.

As the Herald for the City of Virzon, Vulk’s father represents the Lord Mayor and the Council in official business outside the city, maintains the Citizen Rolls, and conducts the census of the lands under the city’s control every five years. His mother is Lena Elida (nee Hargalen), of Nolkior. She met Tulath when he was a young herald for the Earl of Devok, visiting Baron Carialis at Westrox Keep in Nolkior. Being from a good, if minor, family in Eichel Manor in Ambaris Hundred, Daretshire, she was an acceptable match for Tulath, who fell quickly under the spell of her beauty. They were wed in Virzon on 18 Sarnia 2982.

Vulk has three older sisters, one older brother, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. He also has 11 nieces and nephews, as well as 11 first cousins. He’s not particularly close with his three older sisters, except for Kalyn, who is a cantor of Shala in Lothkir. His older brother Naldaro was recently knighted and is a Captain of the City Guard in Virzon. He knows little about the lives of his younger siblings, as he left for the Temple in Lothkir at age 16, when they were still quite young. In the last eight years he’s visited the family only a few times a year, although various combinations of relatives have visited him in the big city fairly regularly.

Vulk and his friend Drake, formerly a Temple Guard, finished a commission from the Temple in Lothkir at the very end of 3017, delivering an important document to the Earl of Savartim at Kolhurn Keep on the shores of Dragon Lake. Late in the year as it was to be traveling, the weather had been good and they had no trouble getting so far north. Wanting to to return south as soon as possible, however, hoping to find a lead on a suitable position as a herald, they planned to set out immediately after the Kristala Va celebrations of the new year.

It was during those celebrations, however, that they met a pleasant young female scholar, Mariala Tyeryne, and convinced her that traveling south in their company would be safer than on her own, and more interesting than a winter in Kolhurntown. Despite a short acquaintance, she agreed. Perhaps she sensed that this chance meeting was something more than chance, that the seed of something great had been planted…