Izora Castillion

Izora Castillion was raised among what can only be called a traveling circus. She grew up not knowing who her real parents were, but as far as Izora was concerned, everyone among the circus was her family. The Acrobats were her sisters, the Strong Men were her brothers, the Lady of the Trapeze her mother, and the Ringleader as her father. Not to mention all the other unique faces who came and went who were her extended family, as well as those in the crew and guards. Though she likely had a rough start in life, Izora never wanted for a thing. She got to travel all over and has seen more cities than lots of people dream about.

From a young age she had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. She sought out this knowledge in many ways and certainly made use of her unique situation. While the circus was traveling from city to city she would spend time with the other members of the circus, sometimes talking way into the night. Her favorite person to spend time with was the Old Man she only knew as Grandpa, for he would not allow her to learn his name. From what she had gathered over the years he was once the former ringleader, but stepped down before she was in the circus. It was this man who taught Izora everything she knew about magic. They would often talk hours into the night while drinking hot chocolate, at least until one of the Ladies would come and gather her citing that a growing girl needs her rest. But, this wasn't the only place she would spend her time. For example she learned how to be a navigator from riding on the lead wagon and never failing to talk his ear off every time she did. As well as many small things here and there.

It was in cities where this thirst would run amuck. Every city that she visited  she would immediately run off to see the streets and the places only locals would see. This got her in her fair share of trouble, but she was always able to get out of it one way or another (mostly by running to the Strong Men who could take care of anything that was pursuing her). When she was a child running around like a street urchin was most entertaining to her, but as she got older it was the great places of learning that would draw her in. She would find herself sneaking into college classes and crashing private salons. She made sure to soak up every bit of the experience she could at every place the circus stopped. This, of course, also got her into trouble, but she was usually able to somehow get out of it. (usually by running to Grandpa who would somehow take care of it). To Izora this was never ending fun and excitement, but the fun can’t always last forever.

The last five years that she traveled with the circus were filled with strange occurrences. It started small at first with things getting missing and the circus caravan sometimes getting a little lost as they traveled, but over time it began to become worse. Luck no longer seemed to be on Izora’s side as well. After getting chased from a few colleges and getting arrested a few times she began to hardly leave the caravan. She spent a lot of time with Grandpa during this time. He was beginning to look frail and she feared her time with him was growing short. So she spent as much time as she could spending time with him and helping out.

As her birthday neared, the Old Man began to encourage her to go out and celebrate. She always declined, saying that she would rather spend the occasion with him. But as the date got closer she began to feel the pull to go out and do something. She finally decided that she would find a small party or salon to go to when she walked into Grandpa’s wagon to be presented with one of the most beautiful dresses she has ever seen.  With that, how can she refuse now? At first things seemed to be going well like they used to, she found a nice Masquerade party where she could blend in and was having a good time. Just as she was beginning to lose her nerves and really have fun everything fell apart. Some sort of cultists appeared and began terrorizing everyone. She fled the party, ducking alley to alley to do so, hiding from stray cultists. It was here that she ran almost directly into the Ringmaster of the circus who immediately grabbed her by the arm and ushered her back to the Caravan. When they arrived it was dark and almost completely empty. We went directly to the Old Man’s wagon. When they entered it was shocking how bad the old man looked, yet no one would explain anything to her. In fact they were silent until they were well on the road,but even then they still refused to tell her anything and kept her in the dark for the entire ride. On the day that they entered the forest both of her guardians breathed a visible sigh of relief and began to act like themselves again. They then told her that they had scattered the caravan in order to keep them safe. Then one day they stopped in a village in the middle of nowhere and decided to stay in the inn. That night they told her that this village’s name was Laggereth and that she was to stay behind when they left. They had made some kind of arrangement with the innkeep that she was to have one of the spare inn rooms to use as she saw fit for as long as she needed. The next morning they all said a teary goodbye, telling her to make this place a home and to try to help these people as much as she can. It has been three years since that day, and this is where our story picks up….