Lady Tharway

(a.k.a. The Wrath of Haunaele, Lady of Blood)

If there is a singular inspiration for most of the damnations, it would have to be Lady Tharway. I didn't sleep for a week after reading about her.

~Libra Popo

During the Haunaele-Lokahi War, there was no shortage of those who stepped up. After Lokahi victory, those that “performed on a heroic level,” were the first titled citizens of the new empire. One such titled individuals was a woman known as, Lady Tharway.

From Slave to War Hero

As a child, Lady Tharway lived with her parents on a farm worked by slaves in the Haunaele Kingdom. She worked beside her parents in the fields to the point of exhaustion day in and day out. As she reached her teenage years, she grew in beauty despite being covered in dirt and sweat. Rumors were overheard that the eldest son of the master family saw her as attractive. Seeing an opportunity, her mother had her pretend to pass out from exhaustion and run her limp body up to the master's house at the same time the eldest son would be crossing the same path. As she hoped, he was enthralled by her even more up close and asked his father to make her a house slave. She did the tasks put before her around the house, waiting for another opportunity. When the war reached the edges of the estate, she snuck out of the house and sought sanctuary with the Lokahi army. Unlike other women simply looking for freedom and safe passage, Lady Tharway asked to earn her freedom by joining the war effort. She quickly learned how to quietly and quickly infiltrate and eliminate targets to clear the way for her battalion. She often took out lookouts, guards, and estate owners to allow the Lokahi soldiers to overwhelm their objectives with little to no warning. When the war ended, she and others were summoned to the capital and given a parade, a week-long celebration, and titles with land. She was a war hero and a lady of the land.

A Break From the Mundane

Lady Tharway was not fond of the quiet life and was beyond bored for a peaceful decade. She was never seen in public and did not answer to the emperor's summons when they were issued. And then “The Great Balancing” happened. The Great balancing was many things but none more exciting to Lady Tharway but a reason to use her deadly skills. At first, she helped the empire by eliminating monsters deemed, “undesirably unbalanced.” One of her favorites to hunt were harpies. She enjoyed adorning her hair with feathers plucked from the corpses she left behind. Lady Tharway was not alone in her monster hunting, nor was she the only one looking to sharpen her weapons. As monster hunting got boring for her, the other monster hunters became her new targets. During the great balancing, all four of the emperor's children laid claims on the crown and turned their armies on their father and each other. Lady Tharway chose to champion the youngest, Soahc who was barely 18 years of age at the time. He had the smallest army but, some believe, that added to the fun for the woman dubbed “The Wrath of Haunaele,” by her enemies and “Lady of Blood,” by those that feared her. She slaughtered whole brigades and other Heroes of the past war. She did not care who she killed as long as she killed. It wasn't until she encountered a group of soldiers that would alter become The Scale that she met her match. She did not know when she encountered them that they were sent by Soahc to eliminate her. His admiration and respect had turned into fear, and he would rather not find out what would happen if she ran out of trophies to hunt. She did not go down easily and even while she bled on the ground she laughed in the face of her killers. So disturbed were they by her behavior, that they surrounded her dying body with kindling and set her on fire to ensure her death.

Death is Not the End

As the flames raged, reports of a woman's laughter and shadows of a woman in the flames were common among those that were present. One report recorded hearing the same woman's voice whispering “Freedom… Death and Freedom.” After the fire died, they let the winds take the ashes away and left the laughter behind. Since then, stories of Lady Tharway have popped up throughout history. Her spirit was blamed when Soahc's young bride seemingly stopped being able to produce any more children after their first (also named Soahc). And again when he and his wife grew Ill from a mysterious disease that inevitably killed them after reports of a woman's laughter echoing in the palace halls. Soahc ll often reported a woman visiting him the night after his wife died in childbirth. Many suggest it was Lady Tharway continuing her revenge as she drove him to cruelty and madness. None can say for sure if she truly became some sort of evil presence or a convenient scapegoat. It is easy to say, no one wants to find out the hard way.

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Species

Elf

Eyes

Light blue

Hair

Midnight Black

Height

5'4''

Weight

120 lbs