Ailis
Ailis daughter of Loghain
Ailis is a mysterious elven sorcerer, who makes her way as an musician, actor and dancer. Her true background is one she must keep hidden, and one she understands little of herself. She seeks the truth of her origins, her mother and father, and of her magical powers.
Born in 737 SE in the Kharnath Valley, Ailis was raised by her father, a wanderer, who told her her mother had died in childbirth. For the first few years of her life they traveled together on the great prairie, while he told her of her origins. He was a Nyxian, a Shadowkin, who had been griped by wanderlust, and traveled west, using glamour magic to disguise his true nature. Ailis would sometimes see him use this magic, when they would occasionally meet other travellers in the valley, changing himself into an orc to intimidate goblin robbers, or becoming a Dunorian adventurer to trade with a passing caravan. Ailis could also perform magic, though it was different from her father's.
Though he didn't tell her much of her mother, he said she was an elf from the west, and that they had fallen in love and she had agreed to travel with him to his homeland in the east, which is how they had found themselves in the Kharnath Valley when Ailis was born, and her mother died. He taught Ailis how to play the Ketrea, a flute made of a black, petrified tree, which he said was from his homeland. They would always travel at night and sleep by day, as the sunshine was unpleasant for Ailis, and downright painful for her farther. At night they would watch the stars and he would tell her stories of her people, although all she remembers today are the melodies he played on the flute.
She has forgotten most of these stories, as well as her father's language Nyxian, because when she was only 5 her father fell ill, and he decided to travel north to the Thualian Barrens. Ailis was too young to understand why, but what is certain is that sometime in 732 SE her father died of some wasting disease, and he gave her his journal and a locket with a small drawing of her mother (a beautiful golden skinned elven woman). For days, young Ailis wandered the barrens, until she was found by an orc tribe named Wolfheart (Oruskana in Thualian). The orcs took her as a slave, but she fought them with all her might, which drew the attention of the matriarch of the Clan Oruskana, named Taisha. She saw the little girl bitting and struggling against her captors and declared that she had a Wolfheart, and that it was a good omen for the tribe.
Taisha freed Ailis and adopted her as one of her daughters, and for years Ailis traveled with the Wolfheart clan, learning the ways of the orcs, and replacing her native Nyxian with Thualian. Ailis had a knack for acting, singing and playing her Ketrea, which pleased Taisha greatly, and she became a performer in the clan, who would create songs and act out plays of their wars and victories. Over time, Taisha grew so fond of Ailis that it drew the attention of Vasha, Taisha's oldest daughter. She grew jealous of Ailis, and in 755 SE, when Taisha died in battle against a rival orc tribe, Vasha made her move. She declared Ailis a traitor and a spy, and intended to execute her as her first act as the new chieftain of clan Oruskana. But while Ailis was sitting in a prison tent, waiting to be brought before the tribe to be beheaded, her other adoptive sister and best friend, Memara, came to her rescue and snuck her out of camp. Fleeing westward with only her flute, her locket and her father's journal (in a language she has forgotten how to speak and never learned to read), she has made her living as an entertainer and musician, travelling through Sarkara and eventually reaching Morogar.
Background:
Born in 737 SE in the Kharnath Valley, Ailis was raised by her father, a wanderer, who told her her mother had died in childbirth. For the first few years of her life they traveled together on the great prairie, while he told her of her origins. He was a Nyxian, a Shadowkin, who had been griped by wanderlust, and traveled west, using glamour magic to disguise his true nature. Ailis would sometimes see him use this magic, when they would occasionally meet other travellers in the valley, changing himself into an orc to intimidate goblin robbers, or becoming a Dunorian adventurer to trade with a passing caravan. Ailis could also perform magic, though it was different from her father's.
Though he didn't tell her much of her mother, he said she was an elf from the west, and that they had fallen in love and she had agreed to travel with him to his homeland in the east, which is how they had found themselves in the Kharnath Valley when Ailis was born, and her mother died. He taught Ailis how to play the Ketrea, a flute made of a black, petrified tree, which he said was from his homeland. They would always travel at night and sleep by day, as the sunshine was unpleasant for Ailis, and downright painful for her farther. At night they would watch the stars and he would tell her stories of her people, although all she remembers today are the melodies he played on the flute.
She has forgotten most of these stories, as well as her father's language Nyxian, because when she was only 5 her father fell ill, and he decided to travel north to the Thualian Barrens. Ailis was too young to understand why, but what is certain is that sometime in 732 SE her father died of some wasting disease, and he gave her his journal and a locket with a small drawing of her mother (a beautiful golden skinned elven woman). For days, young Ailis wandered the barrens, until she was found by an orc tribe named Wolfheart (Oruskana in Thualian). The orcs took her as a slave, but she fought them with all her might, which drew the attention of the matriarch of the Clan Oruskana, named Taisha. She saw the little girl bitting and struggling against her captors and declared that she had a Wolfheart, and that it was a good omen for the tribe.
Taisha freed Ailis and adopted her as one of her daughters, and for years Ailis traveled with the Wolfheart clan, learning the ways of the orcs, and replacing her native Nyxian with Thualian. Ailis had a knack for acting, singing and playing her Ketrea, which pleased Taisha greatly, and she became a performer in the clan, who would create songs and act out plays of their wars and victories. Over time, Taisha grew so fond of Ailis that it drew the attention of Vasha, Taisha's oldest daughter. She grew jealous of Ailis, and in 755 SE, when Taisha died in battle against a rival orc tribe, Vasha made her move. She declared Ailis a traitor and a spy, and intended to execute her as her first act as the new chieftain of clan Oruskana. But while Ailis was sitting in a prison tent, waiting to be brought before the tribe to be beheaded, her other adoptive sister and best friend, Memara, came to her rescue and snuck her out of camp. Fleeing westward with only her flute, her locket and her father's journal (in a language she has forgotten how to speak and never learned to read), she has made her living as an entertainer and musician, travelling through Sarkara and eventually reaching Morogar.
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