A large, elegant woman with black hair that lies flat down her back, Leah is poised, stern, and committed to the cause. She is ambitious, and has her own ideas on how the Church should address the problem of modern morality.

Leah Vaduva is a priestess of Anun who reports to the Hall of the Lost Cardinal. A large, elegant woman in her fifties, with black hair that lies flat down her back, Leah is poised, stern, and committed to the cause. She is ambitious, and longs for power and status within the church. A loyal supporter of Grinius Aldair and the other Bishops, she is nonetheless ready and expecting to ascend herself to the role of Bishop the second a position becomes available, if not sooner.
 
Leah grew up in the nearby town of Hillchurch, in a family of pretty humble stature. As a girl, her older and only sister Minadora (Mina) went missing, and her body was later discovered, limp, bloodied and mauled in the woods, no doubt feasted on by vampires, werewolves, or some other monster. Leah's parents, distraught, withdrew from others in the town in their grief, and young Leah found support and hope in the Church of Anun. She was taught (and believed) that her wayward sister had no doubt sinned and angered Anun, and so had attracted monstrous punishment upon herself. Leah's clear and unforgiving devoutness frightened her parents, but she found new community and purpose in the Church. It was the only way for the young girl to make sense of such horrors, and have hope for her soul in such a miserable world.
 
Leah began as a children's tutor of religion, was sponsored to study languages, history, and the divine arcane arts in the nearby Havenhold, undertook several pilgrimages to the other cathedral cities, trading knowledge of Anun and the permitted magics, and over the years made great progress in the church hierarchy.
 
She spent some years working in a school in Hillchurch which taught children of the local families, as well as housed those without as a form of charity. She took great pleasure in this protecting of ideals for people so young, before the world could corrupt them too much, but occasionally would be tasked to oversee the spiritual correction of more troubled youths- orphans and those from otherwise traumatic circumstances.
 
One such boy, Tomas, had lost his family to a demon hoard as they were travelling to Havenhold. He was well liked by the other children, but had an occasional cruel streak, haunted by his past. One summer evening, Leah was making her way to The Tickled Trout, a local tavern owned by a past pupil of hers named Vilhelm Zamfir (who always kept a bottle of Grand Armagnac Eldenvale Reserve behind the bar at her request). She noticed Tomas standing by the well at the edge of the woods, talking to a bird, coaxing it down to the stone wall, and onto his arm, where he whispered something to the bird, and it promptly flew headfirst into the well, with a tiny splash. She saw Tomas watch the bird for a few moments, expressionless, then turn and walk away. Leah strongly suspected that the boy was demon-marked, and considered reporting him to the Hall of Lost Cardinals, but did not, deciding instead it was her duty to try and save him.
 
Leah focussed her efforts on extending every kindness to Tomas, invited him for dinner in her home, and took walks with him through the woods, telling him all about her wonderful teachings and travels in the Church, but to no avail. Two months later the boy led two children from the younger class out to the woods, where they were found drowned in the well, with an altar of blood and candles atop the stones. Tomas came to class the next day with a vacant expression, and bloodied nails and clothes. Leah escorted Tomas to Havenhold that day, and requested transfer to another faction of the Church. She was formally trained as a cleric, and began enlisting in missions to hunt undead and demonic incursions across the Golden Lands.
 
She often stops by Hillchurch when she returns from expeditions to the farther reaches of the region, and frequents The Tickled Trout for a guilty tipple and a game of cards, and loves to see her past pupils growing up and making the best of their simple lives. She also says a prayer, and leaves a wreath of flowers by the well before she passes on through to Havenhold.
 
To those in the Church, she would probably be known for her skill in battle against the demon incursions with her warhammer- (a great golden staff with almost impossibly heavy black orb atop, which also doubles as her holy symbol and arcane focus), for having brought scrolls and tomes, knowledge of great significance from the other Cathedrals, and for older characters, they might recall her bringing in Tomas, a boy of 13 for demonic sorcery (with awe and respect, fear, or immense distaste…).
 
At the core of Leah is her belief that knowledge of how things were before the darkness came is the greatest threat to modern morality. If we did not know that once people lived in sin without punishment, we would not be so tempted by sin. And if humanity had not been so rife with sin in the first place, certainly the world would not have changed so, and the undead come. Humanity brought this upon themselves. She seeks to remove living and written record of the before-times, keeping it secretly managed by only senior operatives of the church who would not be corrupted by it, so that subsequent generations can live pure lives, safe from divine persecution. This is the dogma she is secretly pursuing within the Church, however as a controversial ethos, many disagree and she is cautiously gaining support as she advances higher in the Church.

Age

55

Gender

F

Eyes

Amber/Dark

Hair

Black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale

Height

5 ft 9