Maria Serastus grew up on the streets. She doesnt know who her real family were, only that she was abandoned before she was old enough to take care of herself and left to starve. And starve she would had she not been (un)fortunate enough to be taken in by Gedrin Lamb, who quickly recognised her knack for simple but useful 'magic tricks'and put them to use. Who knows what kind of person she would have been if she had grown up in different circumstances, but life under Lamb taught her to be hard. The only person she could rely on was herself and the more she justified the things she did in the name of survival the less they bothered her, gaining herself a reputation amongst her fellow orphans as a person not to cross.
Things changed when she botched a burglary attempt on a preists dwelling and was almost caught. She didn't get the haul she intended that day, but the cleric did let her take a red pentagram, saying that she would need asmodeus strength if she was one day going to take the revenge he knew lay in her heart. Maria simply snarled at him, but took the pentacle and fled.
Intrigued by what had happened, she began sneaking into a local temple where she was fascinated by the rites and worship of a god she recognised as a mirror of her own determination to rise above her place in the world. Already tempered by life on the streets she became harder, cleverer, bolder, and it was noticed. Her rising capabilities were apreciated. Her growing boldness and spirit were not, and it was not long before Gedrin discovered the source of her newfound confidence.
Being beaten within an inch of her life she could accept - it was not the first time, and her newfound faith gave her the strength to rise above it. Having her pentagram broken and being forbidden from continuing to attend the church however was another matter - her faith had become a lifeline and the thought of sinking back into a mire of despondence was too much. With no other options, she ran.
The only place she knew to seek sanctuary was the church she had been attending, where she was taken in and raised as one of Asmodeus faithful. For years she assumed she would take up the Mace as one of Asmodeus clerics, but her adoptive family had other plans. Like Gedrin, they had recognised her latent magical talents and saw an opporunity to spread their influence by having her trained in the ways of Magic at the Acadamae.
Despite a hard exterior that made it hard to truly bond with her fellow students, the Academae was fanally a place where Maria could truly thrive. She excelled at her studies and found a strange kind of peace in the art of conjuring creatures over which she held absolute dominion. A conjured creature would never betray you, never strike you, never refuse your commands. Armed with power over the universe itself she rose quickly through the ranks of the Academae, soon passing the finishing exams and binding a familiar Imp to herself in the shape of a hawk.
The day after graduation she woke to find a harrow card and a note on her desk promising her long awaited revenge on Gedrin.
Truth be told, it was years since her thoughts had turned to revenge. Finding a place in the world and an art she excelled at had made such petty thoughts seem trivial, but she thought back to the words of that first cleric who had turned her onto Asmodeus path. She had no idea how the note or the card had arrived in her locked room, but surely this was a call to duty from Asmodeus himself.
LN Medium Human Wizard(Conjuror, opposition: enchantment and necromancy) L1
Summoner’s Charm (Su): Whenever you cast a conjuration (summoning) spell, increase the duration by a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1).
Acid Dart: (8/day) 30ft. Touch attack +3 (1d6 dam)
Abilities Str 7 (-2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 14 (+2), Int 20 (+5), Wis 11 (+0), Cha 7 (-2)
Traits:
Unhappy Childhood (+2 concentration and stabilisation from dying), Dangerously Curious (+1UMD, class skill)
Feats:
Scribe Scroll, Hawk Familiar (+3 per), Improved Initiative (+4 initiative), Academae Graduate (reduce summon time by 1 rnd to min standard action. DC 15 fort or fatigued), Spell Focus: Conjuration (+1DC)
