On September 1st, 2011, Analeigh was born to Colonel Vladimir Sarvuski and his wife Darya in a military hospital in the mountainous region of Yekaterinburg, Russia. In the aftermath of 9/11 in the United States, the Russian government began working on secret military projects to enhance their soldiers and their weaponry in preparation for an assumed oncoming World War 3. Their main focus would be drawn to children who expressed particular “exceptionalities”. Having an interest in enhancing these exceptionalities in order to form a super army of enhanced youth, they began to gather participants from around the country to perform experiments on. Colonel Vladimir oversaw one such facility for much of Analeigh’s younger life as her mother raised her. Often Analeigh would play on the playgrounds with the children of the experiments, her mother looking on casually. It wasn’t until Analeigh was about six that her mother began to notice the signs… Analeigh sitting with other children at the playground, playing but not speaking… smiling and laughing, without words. Her mother would whisk her away in silent and reprimand her, telling her never to be silent, never to use her mind in such a way, but children only remember so long and she would often talk to the other children through her mind when she thought others weren’t looking. When Analeigh was fifteen, she was walking through the courtyard of the facility with several friends towards the cafeteria. Her father was there waiting for her without her knowledge. He watched the way they walked, glancing at each other, laughing, but never speaking. It didn’t take long for him to become enraged, bursting through the doors and storming towards her. He grabbed her harshly by her bicep, dragging her some until she caught up, leaving bruises in her pale flesh. As they arrived back at the house he would slam the door behind them, yelling and screaming at her and her mother for keeping this terrible secret from him. The next day Analeigh was entered into the program. The first weeks were excruciating. Test after test for hours on end to challenge her abilities and her endurance. She was notably one of their strongest candidates though she’d had no training. They placed her into the advanced enhancement program, implanting her with wires running along her body, and plugs at each major joint that connected into her nervous system. They said it would increase her powers. Days at a time she would lay in an experiment chamber, tied to a table, plugged into their system, screaming in agony as they pulse electricity through her body.
(option one would have you involved here… option 2, continues)
Until one day it changed. In the dead of night, laying in her black room in nothing more than a hospital gown and her modifications, the door was opened, light pouring through and blinding her. She would rise, moving to the door to find other experiments rushing passed her in an escape. Many were lost, but Analeigh and a few others managed their way out. For months they survived on whatever they could, stayed out of crowded places and avoided anyone who might detect them. Analeigh eventually left the group, knowing that they would stand more of a chance without her. Less time and resources had been put into them, and she feared that one day her father would come for her. She made her way to Europe, hitching hiking and stealing vehicles when she could. She stored her tech armor in a backpack that she carried and hid the visible remnants with baggy and covering garments to avoid detection. For months she saved to manage fare for a ship headed for the old America by thieving, pick pocketing, and seducing men only to rob them. She learned when and where to hide, and to move silently in the alley ways and shadows. When the police would catch up with her, she became skilled at slipping from the cuffs and disappearing before they would notice. She hoped for a new life across the sea, something free where she could live as normal as possible. When she arrived however, her dreams became disappointments. Work hard to find. Many viewed her as too young, others saw no further than her physical features, and yet some were too suspicious of this girl from across the world. She was forced to return to her ways of survival. While lifting fruit from a stand with her powers one day she was grabbed by a man, a large brutish looking man in a military uniform. She thought at first to try and slip free and escape, but as the man took the fruit from her hand, the grin on his face was… different. He asked her to come with him, said he had a proposition for her and her curiosity got the better of her. Once back to his recruiting station he described to her a force… a group of exceptional soldiers that the alliance was forming. These soldiers would be unlike anything else the world had seen. The story reminded her much of the passions of her father, but she kept her mouth shut… at least here they were grown adults making their own choices rather than children stripped from their beds at night. Reluctantly… eventually… she had agreed to give this unit a try; the promise of a warm bed, regular meals, and not having to hide and sneak around winning over the sick feeling of dejavue. She provided them with her shell pieces to study and map in an attempt to duplicate or perhaps enhance them, and soon was given a ticket and orders to arrive on base and report in.

To many, Thac’zil Del Oloth (the land of darkness) has been considered the end of the world for centuries. There, embedded in the sharpened mountains of jagged rock lives only the Drow who worship Yahsra Chath (The God’s of flame). These creatures are said to have flesh as dark as the ash that clouds the skies about their volcanic lands, eyes and hair burning with the fires they worship. Their lives are measured by the coming and waning of the sun, in death they are consumed by fire. Here, in this land often mistaken as demon in nature, the day of the solstice had come; a day when all would worship and celebrate their god lingering in the skies above. A day without true darkness, as the light became pure enough to force its way through the ash. On this day, many things have been known to happen. Sacrifices are made, unions sealed and broken, and for one day, the priestesses and priests, the most beautiful and powerful of all of the Drow, came forth to choose mates. It was a great honor to be chosen, one that no one would refuse. Children from these unions often became the generations of priests to come. However, once in a century or so, a mating would go awry. Blessed or damned by the gods, each had their opinions, these anomalies created the Dalharen ssussun (Children of the Light). These children, unlike the Drow, were not of ash and flame, but swelled with light poured color. Their skin shown like pinkened silks. Their lips stained like berries. Their hair wrapped them in the most vibrant colors the rays of sun might produce, a living veil of all things foreign and feared by the Drow.

Iire was born to be a priestess of Yahsra Chath. Conceived to one of the strongest priestesses of a generation on her virgin pairing it was expected that great things would come for this girl. In the same generation, a male Ssussun had been born. Together, Iire and the Ssussun whom they called Yukin were raised in the belly of the mountains... in the steam and the ash. Iire had always looked strangely at the Ssussun. He was a nice boy, always smiled and shared and was pleasant to her. She didn't understand really why the mothers and fathers insisted that she was not to befriend him. Iire was strong willed and learned quickly. Her skills in the flame and smoke growing beyond any in her class, but it was too frequently that after training she would run back to her chambers, to where the Ssussun boy was with his keeper to play tricks and smile at him in a way that made the mothers fown.

(one potential variation of this story uses only the history up to this point.. ie. you would play the Ssussun and I would play Iire... however continue if that's not what you're looking for. )

When Iire was but an adolescent, a second Ssussun was born. She was named Soza al Coru. It was unheard of for two Ssussun to survive at the same time, and Iire never liked the way she heard them speak of her friend. She had no time for silly though. She was given the Ssussun girl as her keep, and in that day became a mother as well. Raising the girl as her own, Iire told her the stories of the Ssussun, and the mountains, and of all things. She loved the girl in a way too deeply. On the day of Iire's hundredth solstice, Iire had left Soza deep in the belly of the mountains to attend the celebration. There, at the pounding of the drums and the heat of the fire, Iire found Yukin bound, gagged, and blind folded awaiting his fate. Her horror could not have fallen deeper into her heart. The rest of the ceremony was a blurr, a painful memory of her lifelong friend burning in the flames. Iire did her best to keep the pain from her face, but when she was finally dismissed her exit was too swift to go unnoticed. It was that day that Iire vowed to never let this happen to Soza... that day that Iire sealed her fate. Sitting alone in the darkness of the dungeons, Iire turned the iron shackles on her wrists, just slightly... just to relieve the pressure for a moment. It had been a week, maybe too since they came and took Soza... a group of warriors with wood elves among them. They hadn't come for her to begin with, but once they were here, Iire could not pass the opportunity to save this child she'd been tending. She couldn't see Soza burn as Yukin had. No one had seen her, she was certain of this, but it didn't matter to them. Iire was Soza's "mother" and as such it was her duty to protect the child for use when the suns called for her sacrifice. Iire sat back against the wall with a sigh and watched the smoke rise from the one place where the light from the fire pits below shown through the rock. The dungeons were a loney place, but at least it was not long until the next solstice. In a week or two, Iire would take Soza's place, in payment for her failures.

Sien was born into slavery. Her mother was owned by a wealthy man who often put slave against slave or beast and sold seats to greater his income. She was a simple woman, a beautiful woman. In the slave pits she had been raped many times by man and orc alike. Sien was merely the product of an unfortunate encounter. She didn’t really know her mother. She couldn’t remember her. She’d died while Sien was but a toddler still… another, yet more violent encounter this time. That left Sien in the care of the orcs and slaves. It was a harsh and painful upbringing. The advanced growth that her orc blood gave her assisted in her muscle and physical build keeping her just beyond the human boy’s reach. By 14 she was fully developed. By 15, she was fully grown. Her height and build was enough to pit her against nearly any opponent. Her higher than normal intelligence, for an orc, made her a formidable combatant. Indeed, Sien became the highest ticket show the slave master had. Dressing her in gladiator mail and leathers, putting a giant sword in her hand, her owners sold out shows again and again so that audiences could watch beast and man alike in their quest to tear the strong, beautiful, and powerful half-orc woman to shreds.

To many, Thac’zil Del Oloth (the land of darkness) has been considered the end of the world for centuries. There, embedded in the sharpened mountains of jagged rock lives only the Drow who worship Yahsra Chath (The God’s of flame). These creatures are said to have flesh as dark as the ash that clouds the skies about their volcanic lands, eyes and hair burning with the fires they worship. Their lives are measured by the coming and waning of the sun, in death they are consumed by fire. Here, in this land often mistaken as demon in nature, the day of the solstice had come; a day when all would worship and celebrate their god lingering in the skies above. A day without true darkness, as the light became pure enough to force its way through the ash. On this day, many things have been known to happen. Sacrifices are made, unions sealed and broken, and for one day, the priestesses and priests, the most beautiful and powerful of all of the Drow, came forth to choose mates. It was a great honor to be chosen, one that no one would refuse. Children from these unions often became the generations of priests to come. However, once in a century or so, a mating would go awry. Blessed or damned by the gods, each had their opinions, these anomalies created the Dalharen ssussun (Children of the Light). These children, unlike the Drow, were not of ash and flame, but swelled with light poured color. Their skin shown like pinkened silks. Their lips stained like berries. Their hair wrapped them in the most vibrant colors the rays of sun might produce, a living veil of all things foreign and feared by the Drow. It was a union such as this that Soza’s handmaiden spoke of from time to time; a birth that resulted in the sacrificial burning of her mother during the following sun in penance to the gods for having chosen poorly her mate and wombed such a child. For now, Soza was alone. The last Ssussun had been sacrificed to bring
nourishment and rain to the people. The Ssussun were kept, deep inside the earth where the mountains swelled with steam from their bellies. They were tended by the priestesses or priests of the fire, kept until it was decided that a more substantial sacrifice was necessary to sustain blessings upon their kingdom. Few made it to one hundred suns. Iire had always treated Soza well. Being less that twice Soza’s age, Iire was but a girl when she was given the task of the Ssussun. She could still recall the last, a male they called Yukin for the pigment of his eyes seemed to wash his skin as well. Iire had grown before him in the order of the priestesses, and spoke of him to Soza as a kind boy. Often Soza would think that she saw a bit of sorrow in Iire’s eyes when she spoke of the day that Yukin was sacrificed. She would tell Soza, “The sacrifice is the moment in your life where you truly honor the gods. By giving yourself to them in all things, you cleanse yourself and this world of your misdoings, and rain the blessings of your sacrifice on those whom you leave behind.” Iire had a soft hand and a gentle voice, but often it could not sate Soza’s curiosity. Soza wished to be free and see the sun from whence she was told she was created. On long hot nights in her stone chamber, Soza would pass the visions of those she’d watched burn in the sacrifice before her mind, determined to die with the dignity of the best of them when her time came.

Tasia was a normal girl, living a normal life, in a normal home. Her parents were inn keepers. They lived a simple life running their small tavern and keep. Tasia often worked in the kitchens or at the bar. When it got late, her parents tended to move her out of the view of the patrons that grew increasingly drunk however. She was too pretty. She always had been ever since she was born. It made sober people uncertain of her, and drunks too interested. Her parent's had hoped that when she hit puberty things would level out a bit. They didn't though. Things started to get strange, uncomfortable. In the night, the doors and cabinets would open and close on their own while Tasia was sleeping. They would hear strange noises in the halls. Her mother awoke once to strange lights dancing down the stairs.

The more time went on, the more her mother began to loathe her... fear her even. She'd heard stories of the cursed children descended from the dragons. They were beautiful, powerful, and deadly. Before Tasia could kill them in her dreams, her mother begged her father to throw her out in the streets. That was more than a year ago now. Her power had done nothing but grow since then, though at times she still had trouble controlling it. She'd found a pet to keep her company and aid her in the dark and lonely nights. She stole, bluffed, and crept in the shadows to keep herself alive... living meal to meal, day to day... and bunking down in a dark corner in the nights waiting for her moment of redemption.