Anya was abandoned on the street at the age of two. Whether her parents died, were enslaved or imprisoned, or simply decided to abandon her is anyone's guess. She was sent to an orphanage where she lived until the ripe old age of seven, when she ran away after yet another beating from the matron.
After staying on the street for several days, begging the local merchants for food, she was spotted by Gaedren Lamm, who promised her a roof over her head and three square meals, in exchange for a bit of light work. Eager to get out of the streets, the little girl followed the old man, not knowing what was in store for her.
Gaedren soon found that Anya was a terrible pickpocket, clumsy and somewhat slow. However, her power to persuade people was rather uncanny. Whenever she got caught, she'd turn all sulky and scared, and her marks would start to feel sorry for her, and let her go without charging her. Sometimes even with a few coins or some food.
Gaedren decided to use her ability and started grooming her as a grifter. Not having much experience in the field, he was unable to teach her much, but she seemed to take to it quite naturally. She spent several years working for him, and made him quite a bit of money.
As Anya grew, her budding physical beauty became quite apparent, and Gaedren started pressuring her into using her body to seduce her marks. Anya felt very uncomfortable with this, and refused, leading Gaedren and his goons to beat her every night in order to subdue her.
One night, during such a beating, one of Gaedren's goons tried to have his way with her, thinking that would make her more docile. As he tried, she suddenly started exclaiming some weird language no one had ever heard. As she did, a wolf appeared out of nowhere, attacking her torturers. Scared and confused, Anya managed to keep herself together enough to flee in the confusion.
That night, as she was hidden away in a small part of the sewer system, she had a vision. She saw an old man sitting in a huge library, filled top to bottom with tomes and scrolls. "All this knowledge will be yours" he said. "But only after you defeat your demons"
Anya awoke and without knowing how, suddenly understood her purpose in life, as well as the power she had been granted. She longs for the knowledge promised her, but she knows the first step is taking care of Gaedren.
