Demie's Backstory
Birth and Early Life
Demie was born a half-third generation pure-blood Verdan, the oldest of her Father's five children. Two of her siblings were half-siblings, for both of which her Father was their Mother. Only one of her siblings, her half-born-brother (sharing only one parent with her, and born as a brother) Nurg, is still living, to her knowledge. Demie is a born-sister, that is born biologically female, but as with many Verdan, volatility ran in her blood, and by the time she was 5 she was biologically male.
Demie was born in the small village of Grith'rath, two day's travel from Hellscream Outpost on the far west coast of The Spires of Doom. She lived there until she was 3, welcoming a baby born-brother, Grib, into her family until the village was once again attacked by one of the marauding bandit gangs that plagued every settled corner of the Spires. Having lost many more of the people from the village, including her first baby born-brother who was carried off by an Aaracockra, the village decided to move into the relative safety of Hellscream Outpost. There Demie would live until she was nearly 21. The chaos and anarchy of the settlement fueled and invigorated her, just as it did the rest of the Verdan that lived there. The place had its moments of being dangerous, but it simply taught Demie to be keen and keep her mind sharp. The outpost, however, wasn't nearly as dangerous as the wilds beyond, and this was were Demie truly flourished.
Demie took up the mantle of a hunter to provide for herself, her family, and whoever else would pay her. The challenges of the wilds continued to pull her back out and she relished the opportunity push herself past her limits. It also gave her the opportunity to practice drawing and remembering the terrain that she hunted on, an activity that she had quite an affinity for. When she was 15 she tracked and killed a full grown Displacer Beast that had been terrorizing the outpost. The beast, who the people had dubbed Bits because of how little he left of his victims, had claimed the lives of many great orcs and hobgoblins and many feared the sight of him. But not Demie. Using her skills as a tracker and her uncanny sense of terrain and navigation she was able to surprise the beast and kill him herself. As an honour for her prowess Glorkdof the Shrill Scream, leader of the Outpost had the beast skinned and fashioned into a cloak for Demie and gave her the title of The Twin Ranger.
Early Adult Life
It was also in Hellscream that Demie met and fell in love with Illith, another pure-blood Verdan, albeit a third generation Verdan rather than a second generation like Demie. Due to the volatility of gender within the Verdan, their culture doesn't have any formal marriage, rather it is up to the individuals to form their own commitments, a bond that kept two Verdan together until one of them was subject to the chaos of their heritage, at which point the commitment was considered to be fulfilled. At age 16 Demie and Illith formalized their commitment to each other.
That same year Glorkdof put together a grand company of fighters to try and push further inland and reclaim a large portion of fertile soil and abundant forests from the wilds and the marauding bandits that had been plaguing the outpost. Both Demie and Illith signed up as the pay was incredibly good and the thought of adventure made their eyes glow with joy. Learning from each other, Demie became well practiced in a few spells that Illith had taught her, while Illith used Demie's knowledge of animals and her own magical prowess to gain a deeper understanding of the flora and fauna around them. Together they made for an incredible duo that proved far more effective than the brutish hack and slash orc and goblin tactics. For nearly four years they fought alongside Glorkdof, helping him reclaim much of the lands he had set out to, but at the cost of not having started their own family, which most Verdan of their age had already done.
After clearing a pack of bandits out of a Barrow that nearly claimed Illith's life the two decided to head back to Hellscream to start their family. However, on the journey back Demie began to notice a change in herself. By the time they had made the 3 day travel back to the outpost it was clear that she was going through another gender mutation. Just as it ran in the blood of both of her parents, within a week Demie had returned to being biologically female, as she was at birth. The two were devastated, as gender volatility didn't run in Illith's family it was clear that their plans to start a family of their own were no more.
The change in Demie's physiology put a pressure on their relationship to the point where, after a particularly nasty fight, Illith vocalized that, with their commitment fulfilled, it might be time for the two of them to move on. Distraught by the reality that she might lose her love, Demie ran. She called out to any gods that would listen to change this fate, but they ignored her. Then, on her way back home to face Illith, she overheard some pompous half-elf rattling on about adventure in the Elven Forests of Porisia. Seeing no other options for herself Demie signed up.
As she got home Illith finally caught up with her. Although she was hurt and angry, she hadn't meant to push Demie away. She revealed that her intentions were quite the opposite, and that even though she wasn't yet ready to have a female partner, one day she would be. She proposed a Covenant between the two,
a bond as deep and chaotic as the being that had created them, and vowed to search for Demie when she was finally ready. As a symbol of this Covenant Demie took a simple wooden ring, which she wears on the second finger of her right hand, and set off for the far lands of Porisia.
Porisia and the Elven Forest
For the next four years Demie worked for the Emerald Veil Logging Co. drawing maps of the Elven Forests that had encroached into the Kingdom of Porisia. While parts of the forest had been mapped before, the half-elf she reported to had made clear that they were to create the most detailed maps, down to each square inch that they could travel. Demie quickly excelled past the other cartographers. While they often got hung up or killed by the flora and fauna that didn't seem to want them around, Demie's training in the wilds of The Spires had prepared her well for the task at hand.
Three years into her mapping of the forest Demie was awakened at night by a horrific, shooting pain ripping through her until it consumed her whole body. For days this new agony continued, so fierce that Demie lost all concept of time and space. When the pain eventually subsided she found herself in the den of a Displacer Beast. Bewildered, she frantically looked around, wondering why the beast hadn't eaten her. Around the cave she saw the corpses of six dead Displacer cubs.
The Displacer was a mother who had lost her family in some cruel tragedy. When it happened upon Demie, helpless and writhing on the forest floor in the displacer cloak that she wore, the beast took her in and cared for her as though Demie was her own cub. The beast simply wanted to fill the void that her own lost family had created.
For a time, Demie stayed with the Displacer, who she called Mother. Over those weeks she became aware of yet more changes to herself, likely the reason for the great pain that she had endured. Eventually though, both her and Mother knew it was time to part ways, and so Demie resumed her mapping of the forest. Finishing up this section of the forest and heading into Tre'Morin she was greeted with much the same as usual. The Veil's half-elf seemed surprised that she had returned, apparently assuming that she was a poor enough ranger to get herself killed. With a dismissive wave though, she was sent back into the forest to map yet another section. On her way out of town though she could hear the whispers and rumblings of something big happening in the west of the country. Kingdoms she thought to herself There's always something going on. Ultimately though she paid it little mind.
She spent another 5 weeks mapping the new section of forest before returning to Tre'Morin to claim her earnings for the new map. Upon arriving though she found the town in a panic and the small outpost where she would get paid abandoned. Stopping a nearby villager they told her of the massive wildfires that had begun in the Porisian Forest. The Emerald Veil had left to go fight the fires in order to protect their interests in that forest.
After the fires had finally been put out though her half-elf contact never returned, and any emissaries of the company refused to pay her any wages. Along with that the people feared that tough times were ahead for the Kingdom, which proved to be right. Work slowly began to dry up, as did the water as massive droughts began to plague the small trading post, along with the rest of the kingdom. For a while Demie had found work helping on a small halfling farm, but the droughts caused that work to be lost. The only work Demie could find was hunting in the Elven Forest. It paid well, but she had such a hard time killing the creatures after what had happened with Mother.
Choosing not to work as a hunter any longer Demie fell on hard times, turning to magic to sustain her. Knowing that her magic could help she would frequent one of the many new orphanages that seemed to be popping up all over the place as the diseases got worse and worse throughout the Kingdom. Slowly, talks of war began to take over the minds of the people in Tre'Morin. Demie didn't care for the conflicts of the humans and the elves. If they only knew of the horrors of the Spires, these good for nothing rulers and nobles would be better to their people she would often think to herself.
Figuring that this would be her life until Illith finally found her, Demie was surprised when one day she was approached by a courier. He delivered a letter, addressed to her using her name, title, and her family name, which she was certain hadn't been uttered on this continent. The letter was a call for aid from some person who called themselves Torbin, asking her to meet in Porion, the City of Gems. After much contemplation, Demie decided to go and seek out this Torbin.
The City of Gems
Making her way along the border of the forest up to Gem'Morin, and then along the coast, following the Trader's Routes to Porion, Demie saw just how badly the common-folk of the country were hurting after the fires. Tre'Morin was in rough shape, but nearly every person that she passed looked desperate, beaten down, and broken. While she travelled, she did her best to bring cheer to those she happened to travel alongside, but despite her best efforts it was clear that the people of Porisia were in need of a drastic change.
Finally making her way through the city gates she used her old work permit from the Emerald Veil Logging Co. to get herself past the guards. When they saw the company's stamp on the paper their gruff demeanor changed to jovial banter.
"We're sorry for the hassle ma'am, it's just that we've had a number of outsiders try to get inside the city and we don't need that sort of rabble causing problems, you know?" One of the guards remarked to her.
Biting back a nasty retort at the guard for fear that they'd turn her around she simply nodded and headed through the gate, resolving even more to do what she could to make a change.
As she passed through the guard called after her with a friendly wave, "If you're not busy with the Loggers currently I know that the Smiths are looking for a good cartographer to do some work in the mountains!"
"I'll keep it in mind," Demie replied with feigned warmth as she continued on her way. Reading again through the letter from Torbin she made her way to the banks of the river that split the city. Surely Torbin would be on the shores of the river!
For nearly a week she paced along the banks of the river before finally giving up. Torbin must have found a better cartographer. Put out by the thought she decided to make her way to the Smithing Guild. She was here anyways, and if she had to put up with the stench of the city she may as well make some money doing it.
Despite the obvious distrust of her goblin heritage from the dwarves and gnomes of the guild Demie proved her worth as a cartographer, mapping much of the Mountains of Wind and discovering an unmined vein of ore in a mine that was previously thought to have been dry. However, this mine was overrun by not only a tribe of giants, but also some aberant monstrosities like the ones she knew from home, making further exploration of the cave impossible for her.
In exchange for some coin, a roof over her head, hot food, and repairing her weathered gear the guild was happy to have her continue mapping out the mountains for them. She mapped the eastern face of the mountains over the course of the next couple months until, as she was preparing to set out for the foot of the Wild Range, the southern mountains that push into the borders of the Wildlands, she overheard the leader of the guild, Harlan Wythe, talking about the motley gang of adventurers that had cleared out the mine that had housed the giants she had discovered. Stories of them had run rampant through the guild hall since their exploits in the mines a few short weeks ago. Demie herself was enamoured with the stories of such a heroic band of weirdos. To have cleared out the mine without even killing the giants was such a noble thing to do! Not all heroes wore shiny armour she had decided after hearing of them.
It wasn't the group of adventurers that had perked her oversized ears though, but rather it was a name that she hadn't heard in a number of weeks. The messenger talking to Harlan had mentioned Torbin! It couldn't be coincidence that such a heroic party would work with Torbin, it made complete sense, and what's more, she hadn't heard any stories of a cartographer being among them. Actually, the only thing that she really knew of them was that they were really short for not being dwarves...an odd thing for people to say about them.
Hearing the name Torbin, Demie couldn't help but interrupt from where she stood waiting in the back of the room. Both dwarves seemed to jump as she cleared her throat. Apparently she was getting better at sneaking across the hard stone floors of the guild. Thanks mountains she thought to herself before pulling out the letter that she had received so many moons ago and showing it to Harlan. Seeing the signature his eyebrows lifted in surprise. Very clearly this was the same Torbin that they had been talking about.
Harlan looked earnestly into Demie's eyes as he spoke, saying in a calm, measured voice, "If Torbin sent word to you then he needs you now more than ever. Recently he has suffered some great losses. Last we heard, he was making home in the Sapphire Shores Tavern on the north of the Slums. Make haste Demie, and please for all our sake's keep your head on a swivel. I'd like to see you return to us in one piece."
Harlan wasn't normally this grim, so deep down something began to nag at Demie to approach this Torbin with the same caution she had learned in her years fighting in The Spires. Despite this she flashed a huge grin, excited by the opportunity to meet not only such a famous band of heroes, but also to finally prove herself as the best damn ranger there is.
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