Abilities:
Magrino prefers the title of "magician" over "mage". Many of his abilities are performance or circus-based befitting his appearance and former profession. Most adept at illusions, Magrino also can use magic to allow him to preform gravity-defying jumps and stunts as well as shoot out playing razor sharp cards and ropes. The only "true" battle magic he knows is a variation of fire magic he calls "Star Sparkle" where it looks like he can shoot out roman candles

Starting Gear:
Outside of his ringmaster costume, Magrino only has three items of note:

• Gilded Cane - Just a normal, if not an especially decorated walking cane
• Boots of Balance - Helping him in his seemingly impossible jumps and landings, the boots boost his jump distance and strength as well as allow him to fall great distances without falling and balance himself on the slimmest of strings
• Smiling Masquerade - Magrino's signature mask, it hides a burnt face and allows its wearer to magically see in the night, through smoke and even invisible creatures to a degree

Personality/Goals:

• Become famous and have the crowds chant his name
• To find the people who destroyed his circus and family
• Rather strange and esoteric with a slight ego streak
• Confident in a haughty, sneering way
• Extremely flamboyant and a fame-hog

Backstory:
Magrino's first memories were that of being brought in by a circus having been left out in the wilderness to die as a baby. Although having a kindling of magic, he was accepted into the traveling circus that was full of societal outcasts. Although some would say he never had a family, Magrino would say he had the best family in the world. His father was Ringmaster Charcal the Great, his mother the beautiful beast tamer Evelynn, his uncles were Boris the Strongman and Honkers the Jester, his aunts were the twin Dancers Anna and Amma, he had more siblings then he cared to count (but never cared to love) and had several pet snakes, lions and birds.

He would grow up in this environment that some would call unfitting but Magrino called perfect. In time, he became one of the best performers in the entire circus and was in line to become heir to the title of Ringmaster. Trained by his fellow acrobats and performers at day and tutored in magic by the local hag and fellow magicians, Magrino aspired to become the greatest showman.

However, one night, Magrino would awake to see his entire life burnt to ash. The sole survivor of the unnatural fire, he would don the mantle of Ringmaster, not to lead the circus, but to avenge them. Within his head, he now travels the realm putting down rouge magics while searching for the arsonists. the souls of his past echoing it. The sole survivor of the unnatural fire, he would done the mantel of Ringmaster, not to lead the circus, but to avenge them. With the souls of his past echoing in his head, he now travels the realm putting down rogue magics while searching for the arsonists.

In the appearance of a young girl due to a mistake in practising magic, Saffron stands at a height of 4'10 with light brown hair that drops down to her shoulders. Her nose is slightly pointy and she has large brown eyes to match her hair, a small mouth joining these features on her face, as well as a pair of slightly small human ears hidden beneath the sweeps of her hair. Moving down, Saffron is quite thin and has the smallest of bust due to the age she is trapped at. Along with her human features, she does have a pair of features that only a cat would have; it's ears, as well as it's tail. A pair of cat ears just a tad lower in tone than her hair sit above her head, along with a tail behind her that sits at the same colour as her hair.

Saffron has an affiliation with nature and it's various magics. She has a few simple magic abilities; she can communicate with every known animal in their native tongue, as well as has being able to understand new animals' languages after some exploration. She is very knowledgeable in knowing that makes the animals tick, and so can influence them into doing things such as defending or attacking for her, or having a bird fly overhead to scout the path.

Another ability Saffron has is altering the growth of cells, both of fauna and flora. In doing this, she very rapidly assists in the healing process, though this does have some drawbacks. The patient of this will suffer a large amount of pain for the duration of the healing, which means unless the person has a minor wound they'll end up begging for it to stop. This flux of pain also occurs to Saffron if she is healing herself, and so she is unable to heal herself due to the inability to force healing upon herself like she can others. The healing is also able to remove corruption from a person before it has fully set in, and from there on can only slow the growth of it, the cost being pain and Saffron's own strength. Saffron also have the ability to transform into some animals as well, most smaller ones, whilst the only large animal she can turn into is a leopard.

She does have some offensive capability as well, though this is limited by location. Saffron is at her best in areas with flora, as she can manipulate plants and their roots to entangle and attack foes, as well as create defensive and concealment barriers. Whilst underground in these areas, she can still utilise the roots, making them dig underground to assist her. Unintended side effects could include cave-ins. The less flora, the less she has to attack with. She can do this is deserty and sandy areas, however the roots that she uses would be poor and weak, and as such not as effective.

As for (questioningly) non-magical abilities, due to a mistake that she committed whilst exploring the bounds of her magical abilities, she generated herself a pair of cat ears, as well as a cat tail. Whilst the cat tail doesn't form anything extra apart from the ability to hold things (to some extent) using it, the cat ears provide her extra aural perception. Due to her smaller size, she can't rely much on strength, instead relying on single-handed weapons, primarily daggers but she is capable of using shortswords. She doesn't rely on these weapons unless she has to, however. In terms of knowledge, she has the knowledge of a standard adult, as well as an mental encyclopedia of berries, leaves, and all sorts of natural things.

Saffron has the clothing that she is wearing, as well as a pouch that contains berries that she can eat from and a flask of water. Her belt also contains a trio of snares for catching small prey. On her left side is a small dagger, though she doesn't use it much. In addition to her clothing in the image, she also has a brown hood inside one of her pouches, which she can put over her head to hide her cat ears.

Saffron has three main goals, two of which link in with eachother as well as one that is generally her overall goal. Her first two goals are simple, yet hard to pull off; she wishes to undo the stall in her age that she had accidentally cast on herself, and the second is to undo the feline appendages that she had cast on herself. With the second, she admits that there is a small chance that she might come to terms with her new and non-human appendages, however for now, she wants them gone. The third goal is not as simple as the former two, and is more a hope than a goal: She wants demons to be eradicated, made extinct. She despises demons, as they spread their corruption and destroy innocents.

As a whole, Saffron is giggly, as though her mind is mentally adult, her childish form still prods at her mind. She tends to quickly dislike those who attack or damage nature without reason; she doesn't mind people picking blades of grass or anything tiny, unless they are doing it purposefully to annoy her, but if it's consistent without reason, she'll feel unhappy. Aware of her child form, she doesn't fear in using that to her advantage, whether it be for free food at towns or sympathy for the upset child.

Her cat features do grant her some supplementary additions to her emotions. Fish is a sufficient lure of Saffron's attention, as is catnip, though once she has figured out that she had been lured, she won't be happy (unless, of course, she is allowed to consume the fish or mess around with the catnip); she generally doesn't like being baited by her 'cat-side' as she calls it, and doesn't like people taking advantage of it. On the other hand, Saffron wouldn't complain as to her ears being petted or rubbed behind them. It's a matter of how you take advantage of the cat-side; to take advantage of or to comfort Saffron.

Moving was a large part of Saffron's life early: She didn't live in one place, often only remaining in some towns for at maximum a month before she was on the move again. This was due to the fact that her parents were mages, and were nervous about staying in one spot for long. The travel between towns was how Saffron developed her own nature magic, developing her abilities whilst on the road. Casting random spells was a child's way of exploring her bounds of magic, and one such spell trapped her age, though she nor her parents knew this had happened until Saffron herself realised that it had been too long before she had grown.

Saffron started to live on her own from a point where she had lost her parents in a deadly encounter with mage hunters. The only reason that she got survived the encounter was a spell by her father that removed her from the visible spectrum, though she didn't escape completely due to one mage hunter following his dog's nose. Knowing that her parents were going to die was one thing, however knowing exactly when her father had died was another; she knew he had died the second that she lost her invisibility, something which brought the mage hunter and his dog straight to her until she impaled them both using the roots of a tree, extended out from under the ground. She didn't know whether or not the rest of the mage hunters had found their companion because as fast as she could, she was out of the area. Once Saffron escaped, she began mourning.

After that, Saffron lived a life that varied. She would mainly live out in the wilds, practising her magic and attempting to hone it out of sight of passing folk. It was during one of these tests that she messed up a transformation spell, pulled from it at an early point of shifting by a passing animal that surprised her greatly. She barely managed to control herself and break the spell, and though successful was left with a pair of cat ears and a cat tail that she tried to remove desperately; those appendages alone would show that she used magics of some kind. Saffron soon came to realise that they were there to stay until she could figure out a way to remove them properly, which would not be achieved by way of panic. So, she learned to live with them.

Though Saffron did spend most of her time out in the wilds, she would sometimes venture into towns for various reasons, ranging from hiding out during winters and bad weather to acting as a child to get things such as food and other items. Hiding her cat appendages was sometimes tough, but was doable, and Saffron had plenty of practise throughout her time.

Name:
Antoinette Larstrahd

Physical:
Somewhat frail and very fair of complexion Antoinette certainly doesn’t have a particularly imposing presence. Her hair, originally a deep chestnut brown became bleached white-blonde the very first time she uttered a spell. Often mistaken for a traveling sage or chronicler of sorts she certainly doesn’t look like she could handle herself in the dangerous wilds of the world, but of course appearances can be deceiving.

Abilities:
Antoinette follows an older and fairly obscure branch of arcana, one that carries quite the stigma amongst the ‘civilized’ folks of the world. She practises what was long ago referred to most simply as blood magic.

Different from the branch which now carries the name, Anto requires physical blood as a component to even the simplest of incantations. The source of the blood used can affect the potency of magics cast somewhat, however beyond that any serves as an acceptable catalyst. A notable exclusion would be that she is however unable to magically heal or restore vitality through this form of ‘Blood magic’ or ‘Blood weaving’.

Using this older school Anto has avoided specialising as much as most other spellcasters tend to, though she does have a natural affinity for abjuration and transmutation but tends to struggle more with evocation magics.

Due to the requirement of her magic she has a large scar in the palm of each hand, reminders of the many times she has used her own lifeblood as a component.

Starting Gear:
Anto’s clothing matches the style of the noble ladies of the city-state of Jumaban, renown for ease of movement and comfort whilst still being practical enough to travel in. Though comfortable they certainly lack any form of martial protection or even protection from the harsher seasons and weather conditions of the world. The travelling cloak she wears however is much sturdier and offers protection from the elements if nothing else and lined with thick golden-fox hair. She also owns a pair of thick padded gloves and wears finely crafted and well maintained traveling boots.

Adorned in intricate silverwork jewellery from Jumaban, Anto most notably possesses a ring that holds a small concealed blade which though not effective as a weapon can be used to draw blood against unprotected skin.

Anto carries a small satchel containing her personal items and fairly meagre supplies. These comprise of a leather-bound book, writing inks and implements, several days’ rations in the form of nuts, roots and berries. She also carries several linen bandages and a flask of Jumaban Alvo (a strong spirit that doubles as a disinfectant).

She owns a single stiletto knife which is small and easily concealed on her person. Though certainly putting her at a disadvantage in any straight up fight, it again serves primarily as a tool to ensure there is always an open wound for her to channel her abilities and as a last resort when otherwise unable to do so.

Personality/Goals:
Antoinette has developed a rather pessimistic and detached view of the world after the events that have shaped her life.

Despite this she continues to travel and seeks to meet others that practise the arcane arts whilst having little positive interest in those that do not. Where she once saw the majority of those without any disposition to magic as simply misguided and misinformed, she now believes that the vast majority will always violently shun what they do not understand no matter what attempts are made to better educate them or even help them.

The population of ‘ordinary people’ represents the biggest current threat to mages that exists. She views anyone who would harm a magic-user simply for being one as an enemy or at the very least an obstacle that must be overcome through whatever means necessary.

She does however have a very strong aversion to those who would use their magical powers to harm those who cannot defend themselves (particularly due to the negativity and hostility towards mages this behaviour brings).

Backstory:
Antoinette’s first memories are of misery and slavery and her early life amongst the wealthy and elite of Alibari. She does not often think back to this time and remembers practically nothing of her life before her eighth year.

This however all changed when she was purchased by an old Jumaban Noblewoman named Christelle that sensed the untapped abilities within a nameless slave girl and so ‘saved’ her from a short and miserable life.

Taken to a small compound within the remote foothills of the Aganorat region the next several years of the newly named Antoinette life became a flurry of education, discipline and secrecy as she found herself thrust into a lifestyle she had never expected. Christelle belonged to a practically extinct order of mages that had been hunted to the last several surviving members despite their mostly altruistic tenants and noble intentions.

Antoinette’s life was difficult and demanding, but in turn she was provided with knowledge and a lifestyle that she would have never otherwise experienced as she was trained in the old arts of Blood-weaving. Though incorrectly viewed as a dark or evil form of magic, in truth simply another arcane tool to access the innate abilities within she was raised and trained to ‘serve’ the now extinct Aganoratan merchant Kings.

However before her eighteenth year a series of events involving Demonic forces and the nation of Alibarith spiralled out of control as the few senior members of the order including Christelle fought unsuccessfully to thwart the corrupting influence of a demonic entity they knew only as Ulgozil. In turn the corrupted agents of Ulgozil struck against the compound slaughtering and destroying all they could.

Antoinette escaped into the desert with another older initiate named Sylvie and they wandered for days before eventually finding one of the few oasis sanctuaries that nestled deep within the foothills narrowly surviving the ordeal.

Life from then on became much harder as the pair struggled to survive together in a world that hated them, finding solace only with each other and those very few other spellcasters they crossed paths with. Travelling northwards away from the harsh arid climate and enemies of the past they found that as long as they kept their abilities a secret they could survive and do what small deeds they could to better the world. Their relationship deepened and became more intimate as they worked as partners in everything they did.

Six years later however misfortune struck again as in the process of clearing a cult from a town they put their trust in the wrong person who in turn betrayed and exposed them as blood-mages. A mob formed and where Antoinette was willing to use her abilities against those that threatened her to escape Sylvie was not. When Sylvie did not meet her Antoinette returned only to learn the crowd had beaten, bound and burned Sylvie alive in their ignorance of the fact she had just saved them all.

Filled with loss and despair it took every ounce of self-control she possessed to leave without incinerating town in turn for what they had done.

Six months passed as she continued to travel, however now withdrawn from the outside world as she simply watches life instead of interfering as she reflects upon her own existence and that of others. Having spent much time submerged within her own thoughts she has now become far more pessimistic in her views and is struggling to find any meaning or goal worth pursuing beyond the improvement of her arts. She has continued to struggle with the concept of being ‘alone’ in the world after the loss of such a close relationship.

Name: Orkag the Bloodletter

Physical: At nearly 7 feet tall, Orkag is much taller than most other species and a head taller than many other orcs. While he is muscular and strong and could easily have become a warrior of his clan, he has chosen to be a shaman. His eyes, once brown like most of his kin, have become a deep crimson due to the type of magic he has been using.

Abilities:

Though it is called blood magic, it has nothing to do with the manipulation of blood, instead, this type of magic draws on the life-force of magic user and allows him to cast various types of magic, though the stronger the spell the more life-force needed to cast it. The advantage of this type of magic is that one only needs to have seen the spell once before he can cast it as well. The disadvantage is obvious, he can cast only a limited amount of spells before he has to rest, or risk death. Though the user can draw the life-force of other beings as well, he can only draw the life-force of non-sentient beings like animals and various beasts.

Orkag, though now a shaman, still retains the skill in combat that he had trained before he was chosen to become a shaman and as such, people might be surprised(or not) that despite his mostly magic training, he is as deadly with his mace as he is with his spells.

Starting Gear:

Other than the clothing, armor on him and food rations, Orkag has only a few items of actual note.

• The Bloodletter's Staff - A complicated name for a simple tool, the magical staff allows him to channel his blood magic spells at a faster rate than he would without it.
• The Bonebreaker - Though a shaman, Orkag is still an orc and orcs are naturally born warriors and when he reaches his limit of spellcasting for the day, he relies on this trusty steel maul to get him out of any sticky situation.
• Beak and Claw - Though they are animals in form, these two ravens are pure magic that follow Orkag at all times and listen to his commands... most of the time. These magic ravens have incredible sight, nightvision and can see through illusions to a limited degree. He is able to communicate telepathically with these animals and give them orders when he needs them to do something secret.

Personality/Goals: Though the magic he casts is disliked by many, including own clan, Orkag means to help the world with his magic whenever he is able and though he is quite unfriendly and somewhat rude at first sight, he opens up to other people after some time spent with them. He disproves the wanton use of magic, he himself casting spells only when truly necessary, no matter if it is a combat spell or otherwise... he especially dislikes people who use magic purely to become renown.

As for a goal, he does not truly have one, he merely seeks to improve the world as best as he can, though the vision he has recently received, speaking vaguely of great evil approaching soon currently has him on edge and he has started to seek other powerful mages, or powerful people in general, be they mages or warriors, to warn them of this evil and to band them together against this incoming evil.

Backstory: Orkag was born in one of the many nomadic orc tribes that wander the continent and though they generally avoid coming too close to the settlements of other races, his tribe often approached towns to trade the various excess goods they had gathered in their travels. Thanks to this, Orkag had the opportunity of meeting many types of people of various other races and learn about them and their traditions on top of his.

Thanks to his large physique, Orkag was destined to be one of the strongest warriors of his tribe and for a while, he embraced that calling, as being a warrior meant that he would be the protector of the tribe and everyone within it. However, one day, the shaman council of the tribe said that his true calling would be that of a shaman, as the protector spirits of the spirits of the tribe gave a vision to the council that Orkag would be instrumental in keeping the world safe.

Though he respected the calling of the shamans and started to study under them, he did not like it at all as the magic incantations they taught him were complex and difficult to learn. However, upon meeting the shamans of a different rather disliked tribe, he learned of another type of magic that would allow him to cast spells without needing to learn the incantations... he started to learn blood magic.

However, when the shamans of his own tribe learned of this, they decided to cast Orkag out of the tribe as they considered blood magic the antithesis of life. Though Orkag disliked this, he once again accepted the fact and left the tribe, living his life mostly secluded from society until recently when he too received a vision speaking vaguely of a great evil coming. Upon receiving that vision, he has decided to come out of his self-imposed isolation and try and form a band of people to unite against this incoming evil.

Name: Mort the Plaguebringer
Physical: Mort stands at a standard 1.8m and has a sickly demeanor, although that doesn't hamper his physical abilities. He doesn't cough or anything of the sort, but his breathing sounds raspy. No one really knows what he looks like under his mask, as he rarely takes it off and will only pull it down slightly if he needs to. His scythe is a lot more basic and made of metal instead of wood.
Abilities:
Mort is a mage of death. As such, most of his abilities are based around manipulating death. While he can cast general spells that are based on death, he has some special skills that are of great note.

Disease immunity: Mort is unable to become sick, radiating sickness himself. In fact, any sickness in the air only strengthens his powers.

Plague Aura: Mort emits an aura of death around him, causing enemies to feel ill, become diseased, and slowly, VERY slowly, take damage and eventually die while they stay in his aura. Enemies that die by Mort's aura will reanimate to serve him, but will rapidly decay due to the innumerable magical diseases they carry. Mort can choose who is affected by his aura and diseases, but either way everyone sees the sickly bluish green luminescent light mist Mort emits.

Stay the Reaper: Mort can heal his allies and himself by using necrotic energies. This weakens his magic for a time after being used as it takes away from the death in the area.

Call the Reaper: Mort uses the death in the air to summon a sacrificial spectral altar on his victim, chaining them to it. Then a figure of the grim reaper appears and swings their scythe at the target, dealing damage equal to the amount of death in the air and how close to death that victim is. Victims killed by this spell greatly heal Mort, replenish his energy, and serve him in undeath, at least until they decay to dust. This spell requires a lot of energy to cast.

Starting Gear: Scythe: A basic scythe to show Mort's affinity with death. Very sharp.
Personality/Goals: Mort is a mage that most people tend to stay away from, especially considering his plague can be seen before he even appears himself. Mort himself isn't a mean person, and only tends to hurt people that have bothered him first, or that he is hunting. Due to his plague magic though, he doesn't have too much interaction with people, but people who get to know him know that he is quite chipper and upbeat. Well, minus the death and dark humor he has. He doesn't have any issues with the slow death he often brings his enemies, as thats just how death magic works, nor does he see any issue with the occasional undead minion he finds himself with.

As for what he wants, Mort is mostly interested in progressing his craft and showing death magic could be very useful. After all, when one can freely reanimate the dead, including demons, and cure disease, eventually there could be so much good that can be done by manipulating life and death. It would be very nice to be able to chat with people like normal mages do, after all. And eventually becoming a Lich sounded pretty good. Life beyond death and whatnot, and more time to do what he sought out to do.

Backstory: Born in a small farming village, Mort wasn't in the best of health most of the time. Often times he found himself sickly and unable to do much but read. One day a mage came to attempt to fix what was a long standing drought, and when they left, dropped one of their books about magic. Sure it wasn't the death magic Mort was going to be known for, but the basics of magic was all Mort needed get started. Turning his sickness into strength, Mort used his magic to cure himself of his aliment, and when he was old enough, departed to bigger and better places to hone his morbid interest in death, having been knocking at its door more than a few times.

Eventually his magic was shaped by this, and he became the plaguebringer. Always emitting an aura of sickness and death, Mort became an expert in death magic and as he learned more and more about magic, he also learned about those who used it for evil purposes. Sure Mort's magic was often seen as evil, but he himself wasn't and struck out to deal with those people. After all, he really couldn't stop his aura, so if he wanted to be able to talk to people without most of them running away in fear, it would be best to do that in the end.

Name: Sharadur

Physical:
Sharadur is slightly above average height for a woman by human standards, with amber eyes and red-orange hair cut relatively short. More often than not, she goes around wearing armor. While her gear is of decent craftsmanship, she usually seems awkward and uncomfortable in her mail, as if unaccustomed to wearing such garb. She typically feels warm, almost feverish, to the touch. It is not uncommon for there to be a heat shimmer or few small curls of smoke wafting around her person, particularly after she has been using her magical talents.

Abilities:
Phoenix sorcery-
Supposedly, somewhere in her some unnamed blood relation did some deed or performed some favor and was blessed by a phoenix as a result. Every now and again, this blessing manifests itself in her bloodline, with Sharadur being the current recipient of the immortal flame- at least, that's the story she is going with for the moment. It seems plausible enough. Still, what is beyond doubt is that Sharadur is a talented pyromancer. She can invoke this power to channel all manner of fire-related magic: from the basic and traditional "lighting shit on fire", to making existing flames grow and shrink and even wreathing herself in a mantle of flame at need. Unfortunately fire is rather unpredictable by nature, which sometimes leads to Sharadur unintentionally lashing out with her power- especially when blood runs hot and emotions are on edge.

Starting Gear:
Breastplate, chain shirt, leather armor, daggers, rapier. Most of her armor is a recent purchase and while the craftsmanship is plain, it is clearly well made.

Personality/Goals:
Sharadur is a rather impulsive, stubborn, quick tempered and not very well spoken. Being born to common merchants, she has no proper family name and has spent the majority of her life around boats and near sailors. As a result, she knows very little by way of courtly decorum and has a vulgar vocabulary and rough manner to boot. Not having a completely solid grip on her own magical talent, when her temper flares, so do nearby flames.

All her life she has had a thirst for adventure, which is part of the reason she is currently so far from home. Unfortunately, she has also spent an entire life hearing and believing derogatory remarks made about city-folk and mainlanders (they're all a bunch of pasty-faced sheep fuckers after all- everyone knows that). This has left her with a rather negative impression regarding the people she now finds herself surrounded by and an outright hostility towards any fancy-pants noble she runs into. When she does find herself in the company of the latter, she often becomes suspicious of their motives and assumes they are out to manipulate her in some way, since none of them know how to stand and fight like a decent person. Even the ones who do carry swords at their side are seen by Sharadur as a pack of fools with wealthy enough parents that they could afford extra sharp toys to play with, with their plethora of pretentious titles thrown into the deal.

That being said, when she is around those she likes and trusts, she lets the more positive aspects of her personality shine through. In her eyes, true family consists of those who you can count on to have your back rather than being strictly confined to those who you are related to by blood. She would be willing to put her life at risk to protect those she regards as family. Also, though she is well-accustomed to putting in a days worth of hard labor, she has no compunction against cutting loose and having a good time when among family. To her, a raucous tavern with good drinks and good company is the ideal way to end a long day.

As for her goals, they are quite simple: get work, get paid, don't get the rest of her family mixed up in all this magic shit.

Backstory:
Sharadur was born on a ship in the middle of the ocean west of the mainland to a pair of moderately successful merchants. As both her parents worked aboard ships for a living and couldn't afford to just leave their jobs to raise a family, the first decade of Sharadur's life was spent aboard her parent's vessel as they traveled from port to port up and down the coast of the mainland and between the island provinces plying their trade. When it came to her parents, they ran a tight crew and considered anyone physically capable of doing work as a crew member in need of useful tasks to be given, even if they happened to be a child. With that in mind, the tasks they assigned were always reasonable ones that took into account stature and capability. Though not the most entertaining of childhoods, thus ultimately ended up providing Sharadur with a plethora of useful life skills from a very young age. Perhaps her favorite task to be set to was cooking. After all, the captain may ostensibly be the one in charge, but no one wants to get on the wrong side of a ship's cook, lest the gastric consequences be dire.

From as young an age as she could remember, Sharadur had a healthy love for the wild stories sailors told whenever they stopped at a port. As soon as she learned to read, she began to acquire books of lore for the small library she kept in the quarters she shared with her parents. Though she loved tales of adventure most of all, she never was very fond of those involving the high seas- given her lifestyle, it just seemed an unrealistically romanticized version of her perfectly mundane life. Her favorite tale was one she heard from her parents, something about her great-great-great grand-whatever having done some big favor or rendered some grand service for a legendary phoenix (the exact nature of the deeds were reliably inconsistent between each re-telling), who had then blessed their family line with his mighty powers. To a young Sharadur, those sorts of stories were fanciful enough to fill her childish imagination with images of how awesomely badass she was definitely going to be one day.

It wasn't until the midst of her adolescence, well past when she realized that bedside stories were nothing more than nonsense and that she was never going to be destined for any awesome powers that her powers began to awaken (oh man what a twist no one ever expected super surprise okay?). Even as a small child, she had always borne an unconscious fascination with fire, racking up several instances where she accidentally scorched more than a few of her parent's belongings as a result playing around with candles. It was considerably more significant of a surprise when fire seemed to begin reacting to her presence, with candles seeming to burn brighter whenever her she was around. This culminated one day at sea when their vessel was caught off guard by a band of pirates. In the midst of the conflict was the first time she truly unleashed her power, resolving itself in a blast of fire that set the other ship's rigging ablaze. As a a result of the pirate's subsequent frantic efforts to douse the flames and save their own ship that Sharadur and her family slipped away. Unfortunately, they hadn't gone entirely unscathed and while leading a sortie against boarding crews, her mother had taken a wound to the leg. The injury became infected before they could get proper treatment and left her mother with a permanent limp. After that incident, her parents decided that their lifestyle needed to change and set aside their current line of work, deciding instead to put their accumulated wealth and connections towards starting and managing their own shipping company.

Thus shore-bound, her parents were also able to attend to the matter of Sharadur's burgeoning magical talent. There was some brief discussion along the lines of simply discouraging her from using magic and convincing her that suppressing her powers was for the best, yet those plans were quickly discarded. Consult pretty much any storybook ever if you wanted evidence for just how poorly that usually ended up going. Besides, telling a child to simply not do badass awesome magical things that no one else around them could do was almost certainly a failed venture from the outset. Instead, they did their best to try and find one tutor or another who had some scrap of magical skill with which to teach their daughter how to keep her powers as firmly under control as possible. For a while, things seemed to be good, yet Sharadur quickly found her daily life becoming quite monotonous. It was right around the time her parents began regularly spouting off obnoxious sayings like: "owning one percent of one-hundred ships is better than owning one-hundred percent of one ship!", she knew that counting coppers and balancing ledgers was not the life for her.

Setting out on her own, for a time she took to mercenary work. The idea was a bit of inspiration brought about by memories of the day her magical powers awakened and she began selling her services to ship captains thinking of doing the particularly risky and lucrative trade runs. Often these involved smuggling in one form or another or took else took the ship through waters with bad reputations for piracy. As it turns out, fire is an immediate and powerful deterrent for would-be plunderers. For a couple of years, life was a bit more exciting again. Unfortunately, hiring a pyromancer with only loose control over her magic is a bit of a double-edged sword. Sure, it meant that anyone wanting to seize your vessel found themselves quickly converting their entire crew into a bucket brigade, yet it also meant that there was always the chance your own cargo accidentally went up in flames. In a world where mages were often looked at with deep distrust even in the best of scenarios, her growing reputation began to hurt more than help. For some captains, the risk was still worth the potential payout, yet it only took one or two major incidents to slow business down to a crawl.

Eventually, it became clear she needed to turn to a different line of work, preferably before too many people began to throw out labels along the lines of "rogue mage" or "unwitting destroyer". She also didn't want to take any chance that her family get caught up in the backlash of any trouble she would end up making for herself. Fortunately, news travels swiftly along the shipping lanes and the rumor mill was always churning out potential opportunities for people of every imaginable skill happening across the Bytanian mainland. With a bit of gold borrowed from her parents, she acquired some proper arms and equipment to take with her as she set out to start on a new line of work, which would probably just involve lighting lots of shit on fire. The usual.