Legends of Belariath
Aych Kasaiell
A long time ago, there was a Moriel House that was banished from the Nethergloom, due to an indescretion on the part of the House Matron that brought shame upon them all. In that family there was a great warrior male, who was considered by many to be one of the best alive, alongside even greater seductress, known for being capable of bending anyone to her will. The two became lovers, something considered a great match, and the whole House had great hopes for their child, whom it was believed would bring such prosperity to their House that they could once again take their place in the Nethergloom.
Tragedy struck, however, when human mercenaries attacked the village that the outcast moriel had made their home. Outnumbered and outarmed, the great warrior lead those fighters amongst them and succeeded in fighting off their attackers, but he was struck down in the battle and died. The tragedy was compounded when the seductress later died giving birth to the child of the great warrior, who proved to not be the savior the House was looking for, but instead a girl who was found to be deformed, with fiery red hair and sharp, pointed teeth. The child was discarded, left abandoned in the village to die of exposure.
Death came for her, but not in the manner they expected. She was discovered by a man named Damros, a Master Assassin, who took the infant to an enclave in the mountains, where he and others like himself, from every race and every nation, had formed a group called the Scarlet Knife with a single goal: to train the perfect obedient assassins, who would kill whoever they were told, whenever they were told, without question or hesitation. Hundreds of children were kept within the enclave, all being trained and conditioned in different ways, in an effort to find the perfect techniques for training, with the intent of one day being turned against the Emperor and his Nobles.
The red-headed moriel was given the name Aych, and she was raised in relative comfort until she was old enough to walk and speak, and then her training was started. Where some other children trained with blunted or wooden weapons, performed drills and katas, or fought to the first blood, Aych was made to train with live blades, against adult opponents, and forced to fight until she drew blood against an opponent or lost consciousness, regardless of the injuries she recieved. The healers at the enclave were skilled, despite the twisted natures that lead to them being part of that enclave, and Aych always recovered from her training sessions, growing more and more skilled, as she adapted to pain, becoming close and intimate friends with the sensation of physical agony.
Two years after her training started, and it seemed she was progressing at a sufficient rate, they began to condition her. Kindness was not the method they chose, nor was strict discipline. Insanity was the tool they used to condition her, using a combination of torture and drugs of various description to break her already fragile psyche, with the intent of piecing it back together so that she would react to certain stimuli in certain ways; so that one sight, or sound, or smell, might induce a frenzied, violent rage, while another might reduce the girl to passive submission.
They succeeded in shattering her mind, but their attempts to remould it to their whims were less than successful. The torture intended to discourage unwanted behaviours was something they discovered too late only encouraged her, and the mind-numbing and perception-altering chemicals they gave her to reward good behaviour only filled her with hatred and resentment, the insane dark elf hating having her already broken mind subjected to unreal and forced emotions and experiences. Filled with hatred for her Masters and utterly mad, it took only one final event to make her snap. She woke one night from a drugged haze to find herself in the bed of Damros' son, naked and used, and the last piece of loyalty within her shattered.
Death was sowed that night, the skills she'd been taught so harshly turned against her masters. When she left that enclave, it was as a blood-stained shadow, the moonlight revealing a figure all in crimson, with only faint patches of her ebony skin visible beneath. The enclave fell apart after that, those who survived joining other assassin guilds within and without of the Empire, or going into hiding, fearing that the insane dark elf might hunt down all the rest who were responsible for her fate.
In the many years since then, Aych has killed many, and hurt many more. She has taken delight in fighting and hunting men and women alike, and also learned the delight to be found in taking her pleasure from others, and even having her own body taken against her will. The insane dark elf was a total hedonist upon arriving in Nanthalion, dealing in violence and carnal delight in equal measure. Slowly, she has begun to piece her mind back together into something resembling a whole one, but still, the flighty moriel is ever prone to sudden shifts in desire and temperment. In Nanthalion, she has made many friends and only a few enemies, her innocent appearance and haphazard demeanor leaving most unable to hold a grudge against even her most violent acts, and since bonding with her lover Lilara, she seems content to remain settled there, though her madness and wanderlust might occasionally send her out beyond the lands of Nanthalion, she always returns eventually, for that place, and The Lonely Inn, were the closest thing she'd ever had to a home.