Kivrin

The young aelotoi girl was born on a distant land into a slave race. A hard life, but it was all she'd known, and without a basis for comparison she never thought it was particularly bad. She'd heard the stories growing up of how the world used to be lush and green, her people free and cared for by the goddess L'Naere, but discounted them as nothing more than stories to entertain the children. Then came a day when her mother somehow displeased their masters, and was torn to shreds and consumed in front of of the girl, her father, and her younger sister. After this event, she began looking for a way to escape. To this end, she took up with the Vaer'sah and learned stealth. One day, she overheard others talking of a portal that had been found, and debating what to do about it. As they argued, she went back to see her father and sister, telling them she wasn't planning to wait for a committee to decide what to do; she'd use what she'd learned with the Vaer'sah to sneak past the guards at the portal, and if whatever was on the other side turned out to be safe, she'd return for them when she was strong enough to fight off the Overseers.
On the other side of the portal, she found herself in a forest, with no idea where to turn. Overwhelmed by so much plantlife in one place, she soon became lost. After several days of wandering, beginning to think leaving her world was a mistake, she heard an odd howling nearby. Frightened, but concerned for the animal making the noise, she investigated. To her surprise, the sound was not from an animal, but from an elven bard practicing his loresinging. He introduced himself as Kaliq Landerian, and asked her she came to be there. She explained as best as she could using actions and gestures, and he decided he couldn't just leave her wandering, so he took her back to his family's home near Loenthra. By now, rumors had been flying about the elves' part in the enslavement of the aelotoi, and the family was more than willing to accept her into their home. They taught her the elven language, and accepted her as nearly one of their own. Rather than using her own name, she chose a new first name and took a surname similar to her adopted family's, thus becoming known as Kivrin Landeria, the name she kept until her wedding to Rullyn Addaerrant.
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From here, Kivrin's story becomes closely intertwined with a young half-sylvan girl she and her new brother met while at the market. I'll leave most of the details for that story, but in short, upon discovering that the girl was also a sort of slave and enduring torture of a different sort from her captor, Kivrin immediately took it upon herself to become the girl's protector (perhaps because of her failure to protect her sister). She eventually managed to free the girl, but her actions required both of them to flee the village.
There's a postscript to her story, which helps explain why she's the way she is now. After becoming considerably stronger and gaining more skills, Kivrin returned to the area where she remembered the portal being, with the idea that she would be able to bring her father and younger sister back with her this time. She searched the entire area for weeks, but was unable to find any sign of the portal. She learned from some of the locals that in order to prevent the kiramon coming through, the portal was sealed by the elves. Kivrin was absolutely devastated by this news. She blames the elves, in part, for the enslavement of her people in the first place as well as for the loss of her family. But moreso, she blames herself for leaving her family behind and for not returning soon enough to rescue them. She clings to the small hope that they might have escaped with the others, but accepts that even if this is the case, there is very little chance that she'll see them again, or even recognize them now if she did. While she does occasionally seek vengeance against the kiramon, her primary desire is to build a new life and find a sort of peace with her past.
(It should also be noted that she no longer thinks of Kaliq's singing as animal howling. She's grown to like his voice, but still insists he can't carry a tune, and that the only reason objects respond to his loresinging is to get him to stop.)
Category:Platinum Profiles