Zandu Eugenovitch Petranov was born the son of a Cleric of Desna, and steeped in her ways from an early age. He was groomed to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a Cleric in his time.
All that changed when he came of age. As a coming of age gift, he was given a kapenia (family scarf) and went off to the nearby town with his friends to celebrate. While he was celebrating the local Chelaxian Sheriff took it in his head to round up all the passing Varisians for no other reason than because he could. Zandu and his friends narrowly escaped, but his family and the caravan they were travelling with were taken into custody.
Unsure of what to do, Zandu prayed to Desna and received a dream in which he was charged to free the captives. Together with his friends, he began a campaign to get the captives released. Taking the name "Babotchka" (Varisian for Buttefly), by which he prefers to be known to strangers, he stole from the Sheriff, distributing the money to the poor and oppressed, and before long was being hailed as a folk hero.
Finally the authorities stepped in: decreeing that the sheriff had overstepped the mark, he was stripped of office and the captives set free. However, they would offer no pardon for Babotchka and increased the bounty on his head.
Zandu, seeing that his work was done and that things were getting too hot in Cheliax, decided it was time to leave. His family had died in captivity; his friends went East, but Zandu, responding to a dream in which a distressed Varisian lost the swallowtail that had alighted on his head, knew that he had to return to Varisia.
Travelling the old trade routes into Varisia, Zandu wandered through Korvosan territory and ended up alongside lake Syrantula, where he celebrated the swallowtail festival. After lingering a few days, he set out for Wartle, planning to follow the trade route North along Ember lake.
Along the way, however, he heard of Goblin attacks on the Swallowtail festival at Sandpoint. Hearing that the attacks had been foiled by a plucky band of adventurers heartened him somewhat, nevertheless he felt that such sacrilege should be investigated, and set out for Sandpoint. The nearer he got, and the more he heard about strange goings on in sandpoint, the more he felt that this is what Desna had called him to Varisia for.
In Sandpoint he went immediately to the Cathedral, and introduced himself to Father Zantus. Father Zantus for his part was quite relieved to see someone like Zandu, as he had been praying for some weeks for someone who could assist the company of adventurers who had taken up the mantle of protectors of sandpoint.
It is father Zantus, then who introduces "Babotchka" to Lord Foxglove and the other members of the group.
