Legends of Belariath

Velina

Her story begins 73 years before now. She was born to the high priestess and high chancellor of her village of Ilrino, of the Karalinka Tribe. She was the first of six in her clutch. Though she was only moments older then her siblings, she was placed in charge of them. She grew into this role resentfully at first as most children do.

At the age of 6 she began her training under the tutelage of Aimee Sarasine the grand hunter of the village; she was a bright, wild student. As she grew into the ranger training she drifted from her mentor by favoring the bow over the spear. Around the age of 9 she befriended Donal, the tailless son of the sheriff of Ilrino. they became fast friends when she attacked a group of bullies that targeted him for his lack of tails. As the two grew closer she developed an adolescent crush on the slightly older boy. Their parents, seeing the blossoming affections between the two, arranged for their marriage.

While this was being planed, Velina, like all the eldest daughters of her mother's family, began training to take her place as High Priest of The Lady when her mother passed the title to her through retirement, vision, or death. She excelled in this training quickly, taking to the reading of Ancient Vulpani.

Three years into Velina's religious training, the village of Ilrino, and all the Karalinka Tribe villages, were sacked. The Otala Tribe, waging a seemingly losing war with the Karalinka, mounted a grand push to crush the "weak and spineless" Karalinka, as they called them.

Ilrino was sacked on Velina's 12th birthday. She took her mothers book and hid it in the old oak on her family's land that served as the Life Tree for her dryad friend Gelia. As she ran through the village looking to lead other children into the forests that they knew so well, she saw the brutal death of her crush Donal at the hands of a pair of Otala necromancers who set cannibalistic corpses upon him.

Velina found no children to lead out of the village, but she did manage to retrieve her pet snake Stretch. For weeks she wandered aimlessly in the forest, dirty and in shock at the destruction of her home. She grew to hate The Lady for letting her tribe die. But her fear kept her wandering the endless forests, from the dwarven kingdom in the ironhills to the human lands in the south. She survived in the forests with a make shift sling.

Around her 17th birthday, unknown to her, The Lady granted her a soul. Velina found she could make crude hides to sell to leather workers. She used the shiny coins the human gave her, to buy bread. Around her 22nd birthday, Stretch died. For the next 41 years her life continued this way surviving on the fringes of civil society.

Just months before her 73rd birthday she entered the city of Nanthalion. Here she met her soul sister Callie Volopa. Through this close and loving friendship, Velina began opening up; soon she no longer feared intimacy. Though she was abused twice, she had let this slide more or less as part of this land. Soon she met her new love and future wife Rida Cherryglade. The two just clicked. Through Rida's love and awe of The Lady, Velina found her way back to The Lady's bosom.

As their love blossomed, Rida and Velina bought house and land. On this land, Gelia was found and returned to the Velina's life. Soon Velina plans to head home to her village to find her mother's ritual book as the last step to reclaiming her past. Some time after that she plans to marry Rida.

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