Little is known of the time before Lavrash de Meriade was taken from her family to be raised as a wizard. She is born in the year of the Snow Winds as the daughter of a Thayan scribe in the service of Dmitra Flass, Tharchion of Eltabbar. It is pretty much all she knows about that time. She is aware her family lives still, but considers it better not to visit them or to show any affection, lest another Red Wizard will use it to strike at her.
As apprentice of Elar Borlass, an illusion mage, she quickly found out that this was a fight for survival. So she did. She studied Divination, not only to shield herself against the illusions of her master, but also to stay one step ahead of her rival apprentices. She studied the languages of Orcs and Gnolls to see if those around as soldiers could be persuaded to step up for her if necessary. They didn't unless they'd get a huge bribe, but at least she learned they wouldn't help others either. She later repeated the experiment on two elven slaves of Elar and there, she did find success. They were willing to share bits of information of their mutual master and other apprentices in return for small bits of information from the outside world. This alliance and her quick senses pulled her trough her youth. It came to an end tough, when the slaves were sold. In her quest for a new ally, Lavrash decided to turn to magic instead. She bought a young Fennec Fox on the market and trained it to aid her in her task. It appeared an excellent choice, as his awareness and scouting skills more than once proved invaluable.
A bit too good perhaps, because soon Elar increased his hostility towards her. She found traps and snakes in her bedroom, and even worse, she caught a new apprentice who was given the assignment of setting her up. She realised she had to move against Elar quickly in order to survive. He made his move first tough, and send her on a faraway mission. She didn't mind the first, it was good to be able to breathe freely. But the fact he send her worried her. Most apprentices with tasks in foreign lands were not supposed to succeed. And investigating possibilities of opening a Red Wizard compound in the city of Phlan didn't seem like a hard task. So where was the catch?
