Ermione

You who have always lived in freedom cannot know its splendor. And how can you value the beauty of your world, when it has graced your eyes every day of your life? My people, the Aelotoi, arrived here only recently and we bring with us the memory of servitude, and scarcity, and the devastation of our world by the Overseers. But I digress. I was asked to relate my own history. Still, how can any of you understand me, if you do not gain some appreciation of the world on which I was born. Perhaps it was once as beautiful as this verdant land where we now find ourselves. Certainly, our history whispers of the Life Giver, L’Naere, and how she peopled our land and filled it with useful and beautiful plants and animals for our maintenance and enjoyment. But the Overseers stole all that from us. The world I was born into was a place of dust and deprivation. It was a land where my owners required that I fly over the ravaged lands seeking for ever dwindling sites for their mines, ever disappearing locations of food and water. Not even to fly again would I return to my home.

Today, I live in Elanthia, a free Aelotoi woman. I can travel, but at my own behest. I can earn a living providing a valuable service, not languish in servitude. And, if I cannot still fly, I can still travel, taking in all the beauty that my new home offers. Thus, when I and my people crossed the silver portal and found ourselves in a free land, I chose to become a rogue. Once I master the arts of lock disarming and picking, I can make my way anywhere in these new Lands. I can explore my new home from River’s Rest to Ice Mule Trace. I feel some shame to admit that I still have not seen Cysaegir, the city given to my people by Queen Myasara. But, one day, I will travel there, perhaps to settle down and make a lasting home.

As I read this over, it seems that I have dwelt overlong on the hardships my people and I faced in our native land. I would not have you think that I, or my people, are bitter, or brooding, or mired forever in despair over the ruin of our native land. On the contrary, we are so overwhelmed by the beauty and richness of Elanthia that each morning is a delight, each noon a pleasure, and each evening a bounty. How could I be aught but ready to laugh, to share a smile or embrace? Indeed, when first I entered these lands, I was nigh giddy from the beauty and from the unlimited possibilities of life here. I am fond of jokes and merriment and songs and dance. I briefly considered the noble profession of bard, but found that I possessed little musical talent (those who have heard my occasional humming while puzzling over a difficult trap seem to agree with that assessment). Finally, I realized that I had quick, nimble fingers and an aptitude for perceiving traps and tricky locks. So, I took on the profession of locksmithing. It has given me the self-sufficiency I desired and has allowed me to make the acquaintance of many fine people in my new home. It was said, long ago, in my native land, “It is the longest winter that yields the most bountiful spring.” Truly, my life has been like that saying: a long winter of despair in my native land, and now this verdant spring in Elanthia.