Lyrna (prime)
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Lyrna SparrHawk was born in Ta’Vaalor over 300 years ago. She served her mandated century of service, eventually, but did not fit well within the structure of Ta’Vaalor, primarily due to her atypical upbringing and lack of Family. Lyrna came to Wehnimer's Landing in 5118 looking to start a new life. A friendly person anyway, she was welcomed by other “misfits” with open arms. Her loyal and protective nature, combined with more than a century of military experience, motivated her to join the Wehnimer's Landing Militia, where she was accepted into the ranks. She can often be found in the east tower opening boxes, or in one of the Inns around Landing, including her favorite Plur’s Pub in Moonshine Manor.
Appearance
You see Lyrna SparrHawk the Locksmith. She appears to be a Vaalor Elf. She is tall. She appears to be mature. She has silver-flecked blue-grey eyes and sun-kissed, light brown skin. She has waist length, curly strawberry blonde hair with a single streak of silver. She has a thin face and well-defined, high cheekbones. A slender shadowy grey feather quill tipped with an ink-stained vaalorn nib is tucked behind her ear. She has an enruned moonstone spike in her left eyebrow, a pearl-inset white gold half-ring in her lip, and a sparkling emerald stud in the upper ridge of her right ear. She is in good shape. She is wearing an onyx scarab earcuff, a slender silver sickle talisman, a dark charcoal grey jacket embroidered with a single silver wyvern on its high collar, a rich ebon silk shirt, a charcoal leather weapon sling bound in silver, an intricate silver quiver containing a bundle of wooden arrows, a pair of simple black pants, a small locksmith's anklepouch, and some charcoal grey oiled leather calf-high boots laced with braided leather.
Affiliations
- Citizen of Wehnimer's Landing
- Member of the Wehnimer's Landing Militia
- Guildmaster of the Locksmith Guild
- Member of House Brigatta
- Pack of the Ishan
- Master of the Order of Voln
- Member of Moonshine Manor
History
From the Beginning
Lyrna was born in approximately 4761, although the exact date is uncertain. She was born in the Fortress of Ta’Vaalor to a poor mother. The identity of her father is unknown – information regarding his identity is lost. She grew up with someone that she believed to be her older brother, Jeyhans. By her memory, he died a True Death in 5089.
Per Lyrna’s trial of 5118, there is no record of his existence in Ta’Vaalor.
When she was 7 years old (or thereabouts) her mother was murdered. Lyrna was probably present although she does not remember the event clearly. She does remember that someone else was there. She remembers her brother taking her by the hand and telling her that they had to run away.
And she remembers her mother’s blood splashed upon the walls above her body.
For the next 30 years, Lyrna lived on the docks. A barefoot child playing among the workers. Helping for a bit of coin or food. Her brother, Jey, was frequently away, working odd jobs around the city, also for coins or food. She spent time in the Hall of the Arkati, particularly during bad weather. They would feed her and teach her of their faiths. She longed to hear the call of one of the Patrons, but it was one she never heard.
Jey did not approve of her fascination with the Arkati and hurt her when he caught her there.
Joining the Legion
When Jeyhans reached 50 years old, he joined the Legion, and things improved a bit for Lyrna. There was more consistent coin, and she no longer had to worry about food. His violence had an outlet and he did not vent his anger on her. When Lyrna reached that age, she too joined to serve her century in the Legion. Not for any noble reason, or even the obligation of every Vaalorian to do so. She did it for the food and shelter and training.
Lyrna was not a rousing success in the Legion. She was constantly in trouble, although never anything bad enough to be removed completely. With no family other than her brother to protect her, she was an easy scapegoat for anything bad that happened, and eventually she did start causing much of the trouble she was blamed for.
If she was going to be blamed for it anyway…
This continued for approximately 80 years, and during that time she did not make it beyond Squire Legionnaire.
Contrary to popular belief, she was NOT responsible for the Rolton Incident of 4872.
Jeyhans, on the other hand, had done well and been promoted twice. He decided to continue in the Legion after his century was over. Unfortunately, within 5 years of his continuance, he was involved in an accident that left him with head trauma that never fully healed despite frequent attempts by a variety of healers. He had terrible headaches. He started drinking heavily and became increasingly violent.
He was dismissed from service a few years later, and Lyrna was eventually forced to take leave of absence to care for him, as he was unable to work, at times becoming dangerously violent. She was injured by him frequently and during one of his worst episodes, he struck and killed her. She did not remember the incident afterwards.
Lyrna was able to find enough work around the Fortress to support them. Jey disappeared for days at a time, usually coming back staggeringly drunk. He would take the money she had earned after he’d sobered up a bit and leave for a few more days.
This continued for almost 200 years.
Much of this time passed in a haze for Lyrna. She would work when she was not too injured – there was no money for healing, take care of Jey when she could find him, and stay out of the way of most everyone. She continued to go to the Hall of the Arkati as she was able and was well known there - it was the only place she found peace.
Around 5089, she received a knock on her door and two guards asked her to identify a body. The body was that of Jey, and while she was distraught, there was relief as well. After she identified him, she never saw the body again.
From Adventurer to Legionnaire to Adventurer
She began to put her life back together and when the King opened the gates of Ta’Vaalor and offered an adventurer’s loan to help people get started along that path, she was happy to accept. She began working as a locksmith, having picked up a variety of skills over the years, and using her bow to hunt. She got involved with the Golden Hawks and found a renewed sense of pride in being Vaalorian.
Then the paperwork caught up with her.
In 5104, she received notification that she needed to finish up her century immediately if she was going to be allowed to claim citizenship. There was still a solid decade remaining and she spent the time from 5105-5115 finishing her century of service.
The decade went more smoothly than her 90 previous years of service had, but she was still ready to get back out and be an adventurer when it was done. She did join the Reserves, as she had discovered the honor of, and need to, defend her city. The much more successful decade, combined with the time in the Hawks, had helped her feel as though she had a real place and could contribute to Vaalorian society.
There was one way in which her views differed from many Vaalorians though. She had always been at the bottom of Vaalorian society. When the gates were opened, she found that suddenly she was… acceptable, while all the newcomers were below her. Although she welcomed the sudden increased acceptance by her own people, she also was angered that the people that they had been told to welcome were being rejected, and that her elevation came at someone else’s expense. She began working to improve relations between Vaalorians and everyone else, making it a point to welcome people of any race and try to make their experience in Ta’Vaalor better.
A Cursed Journal
Lyrna began getting headaches early in 5116, and in the process of digging up the cause unearthed history that she hadn’t known. Journals were uncovered, and they (friends that included a fellow Reservist) discovered that a blood ritual had been placed on her. The journals, besides describing years of Jeyhan’s (and her) life from his perspective, also contained notes made regarding the design of the curse on her. Much of the journals were written in Faendryl. As they were investigating the blood curse, there was the discovery of a second series of spells on her that could allow someone to block her memory or control her actions. Initially it was thought that they had to be a member of her Faendryl bloodline and order her in Faendryl with intent. It was discovered later that they did not have to be of her bloodline to attempt to do so, but there was a chance of her resisting a command from someone not of the bloodline. Then a book of sorcery was discovered, linked back to a main book of the family’s bloodline. And it acknowledged Lyrna as being part of the bloodline, confirming half Faendryl ancestry.
Much of the next two years involved working to destroy the book of sorcery and remove the blood ritual and other spells on her. Progress was slow but steady. Not everything was discovered at once, and often a new problem was discovered as something was fixed.
Things came to a head late in 5117, when the book’s magic possessed Lyrna. Although it had no true sentience, it had been dedicated to Fash’lo’nae (and Amasalen) and given strong purpose to contribute primarily to sorcerous knowledge and secondarily to magical knowledge in general. Lyrna, being the first person to touch it in more than 100 years, had little to contribute except her artistic abilities. Because of the bloodline connection and other unfortunate circumstances, the magic of the book was able jump to her. It attempted to take control in order to gather arcane knowledge and find a Faendryl sorcerer suitable to continuing its work.
The fight for control was one that she was slowly losing.
An Unintentional Act of Treason
At this point, Lyrna had become a Legionnaire in the Reserves, as well as an officer of the Wyvern’s Honor (a social outlet for the Reserves). There was a ball that was sponsored in part by the Wyvern’s Honor that no other officers were able to attend. She went despite her general wariness of attending such upper class events.
There were several factors distracting Lyrna that night. She had not slept in over a week. The process of removing some of the spells from her had caused some of her mana to be uncontrolled and swirling through her. She was fighting to not draw on every surface available to her (at the books urging). She was, in fact, struggling to act normally. She left as soon as she was able to.
But the King of Ta’Vaalor was there, and because they had learned that she could be controlled by someone other than the original caster of the spells on her (who was presumed dead), that meant that the King was endangered by her presence. She didn’t think of it.
Even if she had, in truth, she did not believe that she was CAPABLE of hurting the King.