Lillian Auryn Grace was the ninth and final child born to Vivexis Darahan, Grand Duchess of the southeastern prefecture of Whitemarch. Though she was the ninth child, she was also the only female child and thus grew up outnumbered, protected and relentlessly prodded by her numerous brothers. Her older brothers quickly taught her that they would always be bigger and stronger, but her power would instead be found through her words and actions. As she aged, she learned how to con, persuade or intimidate her older siblings into getting what she wanted rather than physically forcing it from them.
She spent her formative years in Pol, Whitemarch’s “new” capital after hearing numerous stories about how the previous capital of Cydonus was razed during the Grand Campaign. Most of these stories came from her mother, of course, having spent nothing short of four tours of duty on the ramparts of Vigil. Though her family was best known for their skilled knights and legendary monster hunters, her mother had different plans in mind for Lillian. Instead of being trained in the military academies and arts of war like her brothers, Lillian was instead tutored in the art of political and social economics to further her already blossoming skills as a con artist and fleece that she demonstrated so successfully against her brothers. Forced to learn the who’s who of Taldor, her mother had planned to position her strategically to be wed off for benefit to the family. Or at least, give the appearance of so.
One of the more belligerent noble families to reside in Whitemarch is House Trant. The elder Trant serves the Taldan government as a senator. As such, her family had frequent dealings with the Trants and Lillian was often forced to interact with the children of their family. Malphene Trant, eldest daughter of Senator trant, was a complete pain in the ass to Lillian. Though similar in age, Malphene was much larger in size and stature and repeatedly bullied Lillian during every encounter. It was this repeated torture at the hand of the bigger and stronger people that drove her to insist that she needed to learn some form of self defense.
For years Lillian lobbied her mother for admission into the nearby Monastery of the Seven Forms for defense lessons. Her mother relented and allowed Lillian to attend, but only for six months. During her time at the monastery she studied hard and picked up on a breadth of fighting techniques such as rondelro and fencing. Smaller in size and strength compared to most of the fighters in this school, she found she worked best with with swift, dervish-like bladework attacks. Her weapon style relied on finesse, speed and tactics rather than strength or large weapons.
After a brief stint in the monastery, Lillian was told she needed to “find her muse”, whatever that was supposed to mean. After trying her hand a variety of different crafts, she discovered she could weave notes together and produce melodies that were quite soothing and relaxing with the flute. During a stint at the Rhapsodic College in Westport, she attracted the attention of a visiting Baron who quickly took to Lillian’s side and lavishly decorated her with gifts and endorsements. The most precious of which is her masterfully crafted silver flute. Her prized possession, she rarely is seen travelling without it and it has since become a good luck item that she must always keep with her.
For two years, her mother sent her on tour of Taldor’s parlor rooms, ballrooms and political events when travel was required to undesirable locations (basically anywhere outside of Whitemarch). Gifts from her patron coupled with her family's wealth allowed Lillian to live in the lap of luxury. Whether she was to simply mingle with the boys, give private performances or represent her family name where required, she secretly used this time away from her mothers supervision to practice all of the other “skills” that a woman dabbling in politics and intrigue should know but not make public.
It was during one of those visits to Sophra prefecture where she ran into a bastard of House Karthis, Victor Lowborn. While most military men are all brawn no brains, this one was a little different. Not only did he have the strength of a soldier, but he had speed that seemed to match hers as well as half of a wit about him. She lured him away for a night and tried to her charm to see what she could uncover about House Karthis.
She was unskilled thus far in only pretending to show affection while soliciting information and thus her efforts were only partially successful. She allowed herself to grow a little more attached that she should of this bastard and extended her stay for an additional week while she continued to make excuses while she still remained here. In this city. With him. She learned a lot about weakness the hard way this week, an area she swore she would improve upon in the future.
Eventually however, she moved on and continued to the next prefecture where she continued to refine her craft. As the months passed by, Lillian learned much of rewards of planning ahead. For those moments that can’t be prepared for, she practiced improvisation and tried to always stay quick on her feet. In doing so, however, she became so meticulous in her planning that set herself up for failure in those areas for which she had not yet been trained.
Lillian began to grow more brazen with each town she visited, often to the point of being boastful of her skills. Initially she had to call upon her family members and her patron Baron several times to bail her out of trouble, but those moments grow fewer which each passing city. Equipped with her wicked smile and honeyed words, her talents see her out of most situations without the need to call for help.
Months blurred into years and as her two and a half year tour comes to an end, she finds herself in the capital city of Oppara seeking an opportunity that would allow her to extend her travel and refrain from returning home to her mother.
