Lauran Jalar's page

About Lauran Jalar

Background Lauran family traces its descent to the original Shining Crusade against the Whispering Tyrant himself.
When the crusade was called the Jalars, minor Taldan nobles hungry for glory, responded en masse. During the conflict most of the family perished, but some managed to gain important positions and actually suceeded at the "glory" part of their task, the fact most of them did not survive to enjoy the fruits of their actions was considered a small price to pay for the honor they achieved in death. Nearing the end of the fight only two Jalars, Elmar and Jyan, survived. Officers in the crusade, Lauran ancestors had the privilege to assist into the imprisonment of the Whispering Tyrant .After that was done they decided not to return to Taldor but to stay back and guard the land from the archlich possible return and from the machinations of his remaining agents. Of the two surviving Jalars one moved into Lastwall and gained a prestigious position in the newborn nation as a well respected general in its army. In time he married and his branch of the family was born anew.
His sister instead decided for a different path: choosing Ustalav as her new home, she favored a less direct approach than her sibling. Instead of searching for a place in the military of fractious Ustalav, she decided defending the land required a less blatant approach than it was possiblke elsewhere. So she embraced the way of the inquisitor founding the group known as the Torches of Valor, a Iomedaean sect dedicated to ferretting out undeads and other monstruosities hiding among humans and bringing them to justice (which, in most cases meant a quick burning in the main town square...). Through the years the ustalavian branch of the Jalars expanded quietly, even coming so far as to reqruit trusted outsiders in their ranks in order to expand their net of informats through Ustalav.

While the Torches were by all means not infallible and had their share of setbacks, nontheless they managed to gain an impressive reputation as relentless enemies of evil and undeath. They traced the reason for their success to the fact each generation a female child was born in the family bearing a striking resemblance with the original ancestor, and exibiting uncommon powers. Seemingly blessed by Iomedae this child invariably grew up as a skilled inquistor bringing eternal rest to the horrors still plaguing Ustalav.
The child was not always easy to identify, but while growing around dangers of every kind up the Torches knew her nature would show herself rather quickly (if not the chances of an unpleasant demise were rather high....). In any case any female Jalar was given a sword dating back to the original Shining Crusade. If and when the bearer would prove herself she would be given the original sword Jyan beared during the fight against the Whispering Tyrant.

During this age Lauran is considered to be the most probable heir of the ancestor. She has not done anything so impressive as to convince all of her elders in the family, but she has done enough to sway a number of them. Certainly she has roamed most of Ustalav and, despite being rather young, she has dealt with a number of monstrusities plaguing the Immortal Principality. It was in the very first of her missions that she met Professor Petros Lorrimor.

Lauran had been ordered to observe and report about a group of cultists supposedly following an ancient version of Pharasma's teachings. What she found out was a group of lunatics affiliated with the Whispering Way intent in sacrificing an old man to their foul patron. Despite being severely outnumbered, and having orders to just watch Lauran decided she could not allow the fould deed to be accomplished. Springing into action Lauran managed to scare, confuse and ultimately dispatch most of the cultists, leading the survivors to believe they were up against a large number of opponents, forcing them to flee into the night before completing their ritual. Freeing the old man from the bindings connecting him to the slab of obsidian meant to be the place where he would ahve met his end, Lauran initially didn't think much of the aged scholar giving her an odd look and thanking her with solemn courtesy. She got the impression the old man wasn't entirely happy to be saved as if what he had just undergone was no more than an interesting experience he would have liked to study a bit longer. Anyway the man presented himself as Professor Petros Lorrimor and promised her she would be rewarded for her help. Through the years he actually made good to his promise giving Lauran profound (if sometimes odd) insights into the dark things that roamed he ustalavic nights, and she actually grew to like the man, finding him refreshingly different from the usually dull members of her family.

Learning about Lorrimor's demise was therefore quite unsettling for Lauran. It was with a sad heath that she travelled to Ravengro to bury the man she had called friend and hear her camerade last whishes.

Personality: Lauran is quiet and dedicated. She doesn't talk much if not needed, having been trained to suspect of everything and everyone and to listen to other people's talk for hints of corruption. Lauran shows the world a confident facade, and she certainly trusts in her abilities, yet, she also feels the stress of her family's expectations. Since she was old enough to be trained she was told she was exceptional and she was expected to bring honor and glory to her family. From there she was given a very rigorous training, learning how to best shatter a skeletron spine with a mallet by 4 and 50 different ways to stake a vampire by seven, yet lacking a prospective on what "normal" people did for living. She doesn't exactly understand what she misses, yet she knows she does, and, being curious she started wondering about how would her life be without all the responsabilities she was saddled with.

Phisical descrition: Lauran is tall for a woman, with a lithe figure and short dark hair matched by her blackened armor. Despite her eavy armor Lauran is good at moving silently, probably a consequence of her natural grace.