Tala Shams

Artist: Bree

## Biography

Tala never knew who her true parents were, but having been raised by her Half-Orc mothers in the swamplands, she felt closer to them in blood than her Divaharrat parents. Though her village wished for her to be a powerful fighter, her mothers encouraged her to pursue that strength through her own means, allowing her to explore lighter weapons such as the Rapier over heavier weapons for the sake of her own happiness. That is, until she outlived her parents and, at age 43, the village refused to keep her around due to her perceived uselessness and clumsy personality (and the fact that she was maturing much slower than any orc child).

Still only half-way to maturity, Tala was incredibly fascinated with the world around her. Stumbling upon her first town filled her with wonder, and she was immediately drawn to an Aasimar man named Wyraun, who was telling stories of his travels just outside of the local tavern. When Tala approached the man, he was incredibly surprised to see such a young Divaharrat so far North in Musea. When she learned that there were more of her species, she asked to accompany him on her travels in hopes of meeting them and possibly finding her parents. During their 2 years of travels, he told her of the beauty of places and people he’d met, the dangers he’d encountered, and the world he’d seen. During one of their excursions in a tunnel system, a landslide caused a section of wall to collapse, splitting the two from each other. She was never able to find him again.

Tala continued adventuring by herself, doing her best to help people despite her graceless tendencies. For the next 72 years of her life, she stayed within the forests and coastal cities of Northern Musea, maturing and learning of the world Wyraun had told her of without feeling like she’d left him behind. Perhaps she never ventured further south due to the fear that if he resurfaced and couldn’t find her, he’d think she abandoned him. One day however, she stumbled across a beached pirate ship. When she asked the passengers if she could help, she was tasked with finding them wood to fix their ship with. Spurred on by their trust, she began to cut down the nearest tree, not realizing until she was done that the falling log was dangerously close to the ship and has fallen across the boat, smashing it in half. Shortly after, a Dwarven women appeared, praising Tala for her help in stopping the pirates. She quickly recruited the Divaharrat to the Black Warden order.

After a year among the Black Wardens, she was tasked to locate persons of interest who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances along with three other Wardens, a human named Tamela and the first Divaharret she’d met named Zubea, and Noe. During their quest, Tamela was replaced with a new Warden, Thoren, who was to learn under Zubea. Part of their investigation lead them to meeting a person named Goyoku, who Tala considered a friend until the Hallows Eve Festival, where she was kidnapped by Goyoku and her crew and taken to a Pocket Plane.

While imprisoned in Goyoku’s castle, Tala met another prisoner named Russer. They were friendly towards each other and, evetually, Russer helped her break out, but was forced to stay behind. After her escape, she searched the pocket plane for evidence of where she was and where her fellow Wardens had gone. It wasn’t until Thoren and his new mentors, Weylyn, Jin, and an intelligent dog named Varia found her within that plane that she learned of Zubea’s fate; a gruesome death at the hands of Goyoku. With her spirit broken by the news, Tala’s personality completely flipped, trying honor the only other person of her species that she’d known. She tried to become cruel and calculating, even copying Zubea’s style of using a headband to cover all-but-two of her eyes. With her mind unable to properly grieve, she didn’t think clearly when combat ensued, and through many situations, decided to kill first before asking questions. When they found the castle once more, her emotions overcame her, and she rushed ahead of her comrades. Finding herself trapped behind a magical wall, she was forced to fight Twilight alone - a battle she had no hope to win. Tala was beheaded before her party, and her body was teleported to Vulen, the Warden Commander of the time,

 however, her ring was stolen before her party had claimed it.