Ember

Ember Elthana

DM Note: This is Ember's detailed backstory, as player characters you would not likely know much of this, but as players you might be interested in seeing all of Dana's efforts :)

Forty years ago, under an ominous sky, the first blood moon in 1,000 years shined down its red glow for the birth of a baby girl, Ember. She was a half-breed, the product of a very unlikely love affair between a Moon Elf ranger named Merialeth Elthana, and a Long Tooth Shifter named Asher of the Youlumene clan. A love union between Moon-Elves and Shifters was forbidden between such creatures so Merialeth and Asher vowed to live a nomadic life in the forest. Not long after they began their life together, Merialeth was ripe with baby, and on the Red Octavia Night, Ember was born. Ember was a sweet child connected to nature and the creatures of the forest. And so the three, Merialeth, Asher, and Ember, lived their solitary life without issue in the forest, only venturing to nearby towns as needed. Ember, however, never enjoyed this; she didn't understand the people in the cities and upon entering these various towns and villages she could not wait until she was back in the forest where she belonged.

Ember was a mix of both her parents but looked far more like her mother, especially with her mother's golden green eyes; however, she did have her father's wild white hair and tenacious spirit. Unfortunately, shifting seemed to pass her by. As Ember approached her twenty-third birthday with great disappointment, it seeme she was still unable to shift like her father, Little did the family know this peacefulness would soon come to a violent end. Many centuries ago a curse was made upon half-blood shifters born under the blood moon—the reason why is long lost—but it is said that the change is violent, bloody, and “when the wolf awakes they will crave death, flesh, and blood.” The last half-breed was born so long ago that the details of the curse had been lost giving way to only legend… this is why Asher had no warning of what was about to happen to his sweet daughter.

Ember’s change happened quickly and violently, the sky was dark with a new moon. Where she once stood now loomed a massive, drooling and snarling white wolf, her teeth bared, her red eyes glowing as the blood moon did the night of her birth. The glowing red eyes immediately alarmed Asher, for in a normal shifting the eyes stayed the same as in the host’s regular form. This wolf, however, had a taste for death, and before either parent could move or speak, Embers’ new enormous white body pounced and toppled them, ripping out throats, spraying blood in all directions. The wolf was pleased with herself as she walked away from the motionless bodies. She did not kill for sustenance or survival; she killed for the thrill of death and the taste of flesh and blood. Ember moved on through the forest destroying any and all creatures she encountered that night. As the sun rose, she violently shifted back to her true form; the pain of the transformation was unbearable physically and emotionally. And when she woke she had remembered it all, everything, every detail of what she had done. The pain of this was unbearable, her parents were gone and it was all her fault, not to mention the other innocent souls she destroyed. How would she survive this torment? She felt she deserved to die. So she laid paralyzed and motionless for days, wasting away dying the slow tedious death she felt she deserved.

Laying in waste, praying for death, Ember thought on her parents. She remembered her mother telling her of a very powerful Elven druid named Thasitalia Penthana who lived deep in the forest; Ember thought she might be powerful enough to help her from the pain. She dragged herself up and started her journey to Thasitalia knowing she needed to get there before the next new moon, before the demon wolf made another appearance and she would add more devastation to the torment that is in her mind. Once Ember reached the Druid, Thasitalia, she could feel the power flowing off the stoic elf just by being in her presence and knew her decision to come here was the right one. Thasitalia was 6" tall with cobalt blue hair, alabaster skin, and the same golden green eyes as Ember. It was clear to Thasitalia that this half-elf had the rare moon-elf blood in her, which intrigued Thasitalia since she was moon-elf as well. She agreed to preform a ritual to contain the wolf demon inside of her forever, however, the horrors of her night as the wolf would not be so easily removed. Ember was deeply thankful to Thasitalia, and decided her path was clear: she would dedicate her life to Thasitalia and the ways of the Druids.

For seventeen years Ember studied the ways of the Druid under the guidance of Thasitalia. And for seventeen years the memories of the night the demon wolf murdered her parents haunted her days and dreams, never giving her a moment of peace. She relentlessly pushed through the trauma and dove into her studies and druidic life. And after seventeen years it was decided that now was the time for Ember to expand her knowledge at the magistry like Thasitalia had done long before her. Ember was none too pleased about leaving her life deep in the forest, but knew her master had her reasons for everything; it was all a part of a larger plan to make her a great Druid. Now, is the time for her to leave her teacher and for her new journey to begin