Legends of Belariath
Raven Liopen
The Spirits Call.
Found by a grieving Druidess, the girl-child of the deceased Liopen family was raised in the depths of the forest, far from the more “civilized” regions of Belariath. The tribe lived on the outskirts of the distant, barely scraping by a meager existance without need or desire to seek out others. Far from the reach of slavers, who would spend more in getting to their village then they would garnish as profit from the pitiful creatures, the tribe was untouched by the outside world and had to fear from nothing but the harsh riggors of the changing seasons the the natural wild-life of that dark, distant region of the forest.
Not that the life in the forest was easy or simple by any means. The lands surrounding the duids home was near devoid of animal's, barren as a result of trappers and hunters who had used the lands in ages past. The predators that remained in the region and those that passed through were soon ravenous by the time they encorached on the druid tribe and such animals were not above stealing away a sylvan child even in the light of day to satiate their hunger.
This was the situation that drove the lone druidess far into the forests, consumed with her greif. During an attack from wolves, the druidess had been outside, fighting off the pack with the rest of their tribe, leaving her child in the supposed safety of their hut. But she had not seen the shadow slip inside the door, she had not heard the scream of the child. What she had seen was the trail of blood that led from her doorstep into the wilderness, the shredded blanket the child had been wrapped in. She had run from thier small villiage, ignoring the cries of the others. It was not safe outside the village, especially with the pack of predators so close at hand.
She ran until she could run no more, collapsing against an ancient tree. For hours she cried out to the spirits of the forest in her greif, demanding their presence, demanding a reason for her childs death. For two days the druidess stay in that spot, neither eating or drinking as she began to give herself up to her grief. She decided to die. And so she closed her eyes and forced herself to fall into a sleep that she did not plan to wake from.
Yet in the morning, with the wet chill of a morning dew covering her body, she woke and would lift her head and open her eyes, blurred with tears from the harsh light of an early morning. Before her there was a raven. It cawed loudly at her, as if berating her for questioning the will of nature before it took flight. It would land on a short branch of a nearby tree, turning to caw at her louder. Finally finding a creature to vent her anger to, she rose to her feet and began to stalk after the bird, it taking flight whenever she came to close, leading her deeper into the forest, farther from her home. She was led to a cave, that arose from an outcropping of rock, following the Raven within, knowing that with it cornered she would have her revenge.
The druidess' sandal-clad feet carried her through the darkness along a single turn before it grew briht once more. She screamed out her rage at the raven as she ran out into the light after it, using every muscle in her body to try to capture it. Just as her fingers brushed against the feathers of the black bird, she would be jerked down to the ground. She rolled and kicked her legs upon finding them captured in a tangle of vines. She rolled further and screamed out her fury before she finally stood and looked around, favoring her ankle as she had twisted it in pulling her foot free. She could not see the Raven. She could not hear the flapping of it's wings. But what she could hear struck her through the heart with a need.
A child's cry.
She would dash towards the sound, ignoring the pain in her ankle to step out into the harsh light of a roadway. The druidess brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the light before she moved down this path to the child's cry. She followed it to a drift of leaves, brushing armfulls of leaves away to find a young child, only days old nestled within. The Druid reached to the child reverently, picking up the girl-child and the bright blue blanket she was wrapped in. Made of the finest materials, the druid had never seen such cloth, though she brought the child close to her, trying to ease it's discomfort. The pale-white child stood out in a deep contrast from her own semi-tan skin, the filth of sleeping on the bare ground int he forest soon spreading to the child as she rocked her.
The druidess would find only one other item, a mithril chain and pendent that hung lossely from the child's neck with a regal “L” engraved into it's surface. She took the child, blanket, and pendent as a gift from the spirits, holding the crying girl-child against her body as she moved with her off of the road, back the way she came. She walked back through the cave and continued into the forest on the other side. The child, younger even then the child she had lost continued to cry out it's hunger.
The druidess would stop, with her back turned from the cave to feed the young girl-child from her own breasts. Nearly-overcome with fatigue, the druidess was almost unable to rise to her feet. Looking back in the direction of the cave, she would find it gone. It would never reappear and in years later after searching the area, no druid ever again found any such cave nor the road beyond. The druidess took the girl-child with her back to her tribe and took her as her own daughter. She named her in honor of the spirit that led the druidess to her. Raven.
Raven grew up like any other child of the tribe, though she was unlike the others. Her hair shone golden-blonde and her fair skin was always prone to burning after staying out in the sun for long hours. She also grew up slower, left behind when the other children grew into young adults, forcing her to befriend younger children who had always looked up to her from their own formative years. When it came time to train the children in searching the woods for the fruits, berries, and roots; Raven's adopted mother taught her how to cover her skin with the mud of the nearby brook, masking the pale-ness of her skin, hiding the luster of her hair. And soon she took to doing such any time she left the villiage. The dirt protected her skin from the sun and when she was as dirty as the others, she did not feel so different.
One day, after sneaking away from the camp on her own, she would come acros the scene of a battle. She recognized the sight of shredded tree as the power of one of the great bears of the mountains having come down to feast in preperation for his winter slumber, though the devastation surrounded a single area. A wolf's den. A Bear had followed the scent of dried blood to the den while the wolf-mother was away and when she returned with game, the bear had fought the wolf mother for her game. The wolf abandoned the kill, darting to join her cub within the den though the bear caught it with a swipe of it's claws and broke the animal's back.
The wolf had made it into the den while the bear took the kill and moved away with it, though the single cub within the den, the surviving cub of a litter of 4, was left alone within. Raven heard the yelping whine of the pup within and crawled in curiously. The pup was afraid of the girl-child, but she was able to sneak away a small bit of dried meat from her villiage. Upon returning to the den, she was able to coax the cub out with the promise of that meat. She kept the Wolf as a pet and it grew with her.
As Raven became a young woman, her adopted mother revealed the secret of her birth which had always been kept secret from her. Her pendant had been hidden beneath a large stone inside their hut and when it emerged it was covered in a fine layer of green moss that hid the truth of the worth of that item. It was given to Raven with the story of where she had been found. Raven soon after left her tribe with the wolf pup, now grown to it's full size. It still hunted it's own prey, though it looked to Raven as a mother figure and protected her from any animals that may come at them while she aided with the use of a sling.
After a battle, she would use her skills to heal him to the best of her abilities, caring for her wolf until he was healed once more and they continued along their trek.
Her Mission: To find her parents if they live and if they do not, learn the reason behind their deaths. Learn why she was left by the side of a road and if there is anything left for her from her parents.
Since Arriving:
Raven came across Nanthalion during her trip, deciding to spend a full month at the inn to rest and recuperate, trying to build up her strength so that she and the wolf she raised from a pup could continue their travels. One afternoon when the wolf went out into the forest as it usually did to collect it's own food, it never returned, leaving Raven alone in the strange town of Nanthalion.
Raven began to meet people and make friends, though she never feared much until after a pinkmist-Ishtar event where her flesh was promised to one Andrew Talos by another. She refused to fulfill this bargain as she had not made it and had nothing to gain from it, but the promise of exacting his will from her was enough for her to seek protection.
SIlver_Shadow offered her the protection of his collar and she accepted, since having lived with Silver and underhis protection. Raven still searches for news of her family and knowledge of their deaths, but such history of elven nobility is not common. It is not needed in the day-to-day lives of Nanthalion and so it is never learned. Never needed. Never shared. But still She searches.