Early Life
Ralta was born in the coastal fort-town of Klinfost, North of the Kivish Empire. Klinfost was at that time the largest settlement that far North, and was in many ways made by the Kivish: much of its population were refugees, the city's culture was built around defense against Kivish raids, and the local economy was reliant on trade with the Kivish. Ralta was born to a lesser merchant, and what a time to enter that life: Klinfost had never had much and had a more egalitarian culture, so the emergence of a new wealthy elite and a distant ruling class was creating dissent and turmoil. Ralta's parents tried to teach her everything from numbers to language to politics to business. She had a sharp mind and a silver tongue, and her family raised her with immense ambition. She had a happy childhood and adored her family, who kindled a curious and critical mind.
But she never got to live a merchant's life. Her family's rise from lesser to middling merchant had attracted the attention of more established families, and before she was even a teenager her family was targeted in a criminal harassment campaign. Goods were stolen, employees were driven away by intimidation, and buildings were burnt down. It escalated over time, and soon Ralta herself was a victim. Bandits robbed her first merchant convoy blind and sought to hold her ransom, but she managed to escape. And, brazen as always, she decided to not only come back but to rob the bandits back- and find proof of other clan's involvement. Against all odds, she succeeded. And so began her career as Ralta the Thief, as she waged a campaign of harassment back. Unfortunately, this did not actually improve things for her family and only escalated the trade war. It cost them dearly- one of her mothers was killed and the other was driven out of town. While her extended family remained and her mother was to return, she was surely next on their hitlist.
To save Ralta and provide her an opportunity where she could be happy, her extended family sent her to the
Empire of Kizen with a small sum for education. And so, at age 16, she left for the Kivish heartlands. She managed to avoid bandits, con artists, and monsters on the road and in the city. She apprenticed herself to a local Kivish scholar, a priest-turned-surveyor named Lemeka. Studying under Lemeka had it all: monster hunting, scholarship, courtly intrigue. It was a dream come true, and one where she honed or skills of stealth, writing, business, and sociability at the same time. At age 20, she graduated from her apprenticeship and joined Lemeka in the Kivish court as a junior business partner.
The Seeds of Dissent
But while Ralta studied with Lemeka and integrated into Kivish society, she noticed horrors greater than anything she could have imagined. The mageplague littered the cities with corpses, while the panicked warriors razed the countryside in search of tribute. A violent, apocalyptic panic had overtaken the struggling empire and brought out its worst elements (typically hidden beneath the gold and glamor) for Ralta to see. And while she was more focused on survival than morality, she was increasingly drawn to an unusual acquaintance of Lemeka's: Okerta the Wise, a Kobold blessed by
Mavara with immense age that went by many names and identities in the Kivish courts. Okerta stirred trouble and dissent however she could and helped smuggle Kivish slaves out of the Empire. Through Okerta, Ralta learned that her people were falling under attack once again- targeted by slavers and pirates that operated their own little border fiefdoms within Kizen.
In 968, after graduating Lemeka's apprenticeship, Okerta gave Ralta a tip off that a large scale attack was planned on Klinfost. Stopping the attack through legal means was not working, and Okerta was leaving to meet back with Mavara and wouldn't be able to stop it herself. Ralta was left with a choice: abandon her new life to save her childhood home, or focus on herself and survive in comfort. She chose to protect her family- she abandoned her job and new home, stole the battle plans and communications of the slaver coalition, and raced to Klinfost. Thanks to her daring ride, Klinfost survived the attack- but she lost her other mother in the siege.
It would have been safer to stay in Klinfost after that, to use her newfound fame to settle down and become a merchant. But for some reason she turned back to Kizen- perhaps she had found a moral mission, or perhaps Klinfost was too painful a place for her now. She returned to Lemeka and started waiting for Okerta to return. But Okerta never did. Lemeka shielded Ralta from suspicion and allowed her to return to her old life, but it wasn't a perfect return: one of the slavers, Albara Blackhorn, always kept her eye on Ralta, sure she was the one who ruined their plans.
Rebel Runner
After two years, Ralta grew worried for Okerta. She began to check in with Okerta's old associates, despite the risk that she might be discovered as a traitor. She started doing jobs for them: stealing correspondence, running messages, sneaking and spying in the imperial palace. Meanwhile, Okerta continued working as a surveyor and merchant. She started writing manuscripts and running exotic goods into the imperial court- all the better as an alibi. In the palace, she even picked up a girlfriend: a Kobold minstrel by the name of Yilna. But Albara, her pursuer, was relentless. After five years working as a spy, The Jig Was Up. Ralta barely escaped, gathered all the information she could, and fled with Yilna to
The Kingdom of Hain.
In Hain, Ralta was able to talk her way to the great families to exchange her information for security. It seemed again that now was a perfect opportunity to settle in and start a mundane life, but again Ralta continued causing problems. She entered the Hainish court, ghostwriting poetry and intimating herself with the anti-Kivish warhawks. Again she started with Okerta's old contacts, but this time she didn't just make do: she began recruiting. She befriended the starspawn explorer Habila of Deverkel to help her forge routes further South: to recruit in Eketen, Kasteny, even Arvarun. While plenty of anti-Kivish sentiment existed in Hain, the plague had put the war on hold- but Ralta wanted the empire reigned in no matter what.
The initial purpose of all of this was to revitalize the rebellion in Kizen. Against all logic, she went back again to the Empire. It cost her the relationship with Yilna, her connections, and her business, but it worked. She started a new identity in Kizen and began working as a smuggler. And as the dissenters met up again, she pushed them to radicalize: Kizen must change immediately or be destroyed, no slow reform about it. She sold Kivish secrets and stolen research to bankroll her campaign- and started running letters for non-rebels as well. And so, the
Courier Confederation was born: a league of secret messengers across Stildane that shared supply drops, safe havens, and research. They brought together scholars, merchants, and politicians from across Stildane, encouraging a sudden sharing of research, technology, and culture. And, best of all, they fueled slave rebellions and instability across the plague-ridden fragmenting Empire.
Ralta the Shadow
Years and years of this went by. Eventually Okerta's son, Harmony, arrived to inform them that Okerta had been crushed in a tragic earthquake and cavein with the rest of
Mavara's court- there was no leader but Ralta now. And so she dove into her work with renewed passion. After about ten years, the Couriers became self-sufficient and no longer needed micromanagement. And they were quickly becoming a wild success both politically and financially- going so far as to actually help build outposts uniting Eketen. They even helped trigger yet another war between Hain and Kizen, which itself led to a succession crisis in 988.
Ralta began accumulating political power in the empire again, to shield her organization and prevent future attacks on her beloved hometown. She operated under several fake identities: as a mystical Guru and faith healer, as a long lost aristocratic huntress, and as a beleaguered merchant. As the empire continued convulsing internally, no one could keep track of these personas, and she had the time of her life playing these absurd characters and using their power for her own voice. She supported the growing dissenting factions known as The Liberated Path and the Reverent Path- both of whom wanted to fundamentally reform the empire into something less aggressive and violent.
Her playing around did attract an old enemy, though: Albara. The two carried their rivalry through the collapsing Empire, a game of desperate cat and mouse. Ralta certainly encouraged this- seducing and eloping with Albara's bodyguard to spite the old slaver. Ultimately Ralta won- but Albara left her a nasty scar in the process.
In 999, the Liberated and Reverent factions agreed to work together to dispose of the emperor and place their own candidate on the throne. It ended in a very brief rulership and resulting bloodshed- the end of the Line of Verkion, the end of the Empire.
The Mailman Retires
Ralta didn't stop in 1000: she just pivoted from rebellion to business and recovery efforts, extracting books and artifacts from the collapsing Empire and running messages and goods across the civil war. The texts deciphering the Great Puzzle turned out to be exactly what scholars to the South needed, allowing for the invention of Wizardry in 1001. Years of this dragged on, as the warring Kivish factions turned on one another and the landscape turned into a hellish Ederstone wasteland. Ralta slowly divested herself from business and retired temporarily again and again only to be dragged into business once more. She finally left the Couriers entirely to formally retire in 1035.
Ralta, the explorer Haliba, and the bodyguard Selga all retired in a lovely estate together in Varinok in 1035. It was the end- no more fighting, no more monsters or adventures or tricks. But Ralta couldn't ever leave her enemies untaunted or the politicians well enough alone. She began penning, against her wives' advice, to leaders in the Kivish Civil War. And as they ignored her advice, calls for compromise, and theological arguments, she began to get a little angry and blasphemous. She claimed credit for the collapse of the Kizen Empire, insulted a number of major religious figures, and doubted critical tenets of Kivish belief. She even invited them to fight her in person, address included. Rather than travel there and kill her themselves, one leader simply leaked the information and claims to the public, effectively inviting zealots across the land to murder Ralta at her estate.
In 1039, a group of mercenaries agreed to take out a hit on her. They were followed by an entourage of enraged vigilantes, and were quite noticeable in their approach. And yet, as Selga, Haliba, their kids, and the staff evacuated, Ralta stayed behind. She likely didn't intend to die- just to get in a nice laugh and make a daring escape. Maybe she did want to die like this. But either way, this time she was slow in her escape- and she was shot down from the roof of her house mid-speech.
Ralta's family were a significant commercial clan in Varinok for centuries. The last formal members were wiped out in the 1690s, during the Fifth Scouring, but cadet branches kick around in relative obscurity to this day.
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