Raven was born Mara Ilspeth Medvyed, called Mims for short by her devoted parents and nanny, lavished with all the favors of her noble birth. When she was but a year old, her parents took a cruise down the East Sellen River, both for diplomatic reasons with the local fey as well as pleasure. They took their small daughter along as all was deemed to be safe.
They didn't count on sabotage from within their own ranks however. And the small vessel was sunk with all hands lost. But in truth, little Mims was not killed when the boat went down. She was trapped between rigging and spars which didn't sink and instead washed ashore further down the river.
The tiny child was spared, but to what life? Her unconscious form was found by a female wolf, known as Mist among her own wolf pack for her silver-grey fur. She was nursing her own pups at the time, and recognized the child as an infant and pulled it out of the wreckage. She suckled Mims as her own and kept her long after her own pups were grown and gone.
Three years later, when Mims was four and walking, Mist was called by a strange mystical pull, and left her pack, little Mims following along as Mist took her newly found place at the side of Jeffrois Morrigan, a dour ranger. Jeff was not happy to have his new companion saddled with this extra baggage, but he accepted his new role as surrogate father to the toddler, just as Mist was surrogate mother.
Together the ranger and wolf raised Mims, who Jeffrois named 'Raven' for her jet black hair. Raven grew to be a bright and happy child with extensive woodlore and abilities in the forest. She was about to embark on the edge of adulthood when her 'father' was inspired to visit Stoneclimb for an archery competition.
Raven was spotted by a scion of the House, and recognized immediately by the very obvious birthmark. Diviners were called out who confirmed that the child was indeed the missing Mara Ilspeth Medvyed. Once it was confirmed that he had nothing to do with the original loss of the boat and her disappearance, Jeffrois was given a reward for finding and succoring the child.
Mara was taken back into the Medvyed family and trained in noble pursuits for the next ten years of her life, but always the call of the wild and untamed places called to her and whenever she could get away from her nurses and cousins, she would return to the forests for as long as she could.
Despite all their efforts to train Mara as a proper young noblewoman, she always sought out the wilderness. On many of her forays into the woods, she would meet up with Jeffrois and Mist and hunt with them, or simply spend the day with them.
Jeffrois, seeing that her years with the Medvyed were doing little to tame Raven, introduced her to a friend of his, Triance, a druid in service to Gozreh. Triance saw at once the potential in the young woman. He introduced her to the faith of Gozreh and helped her develop her abilities as a budding young druid in her own right.
Finally, seeing the potential in having a druid in the line, the Medvyed family relented and approved her further study. After all, they controlled the largest forest in Brevoy and their lumber was prized through the kingdom. What better than to have a druid in the family to help protect the woodlands?
House Medvyed’s crest is a black bear, rampant against a red field, with a spread of black antlers above the bear’s head.