Mina hails from Magnimar, the youngest daughter of a modestly wealthy merchant family specializing in rare and antique books. Mina did not mesh well with the social-climbing aspirations of her mother, who desperately wanted her daughter to become a "perfect lady." Rather than makeup and perfume, Mina was far more interested in poring through the hundreds of books kept in the family library, leading to a series of half-finished projects and hobbies ranging from alchemy to magic.
What Mina loved best, though, were terrifying tales of hideous monsters. She would often steal a dusty tome from her father's collection and take a candle up to the attic, where she would scare herself silly as she turned the crackling pages with trembling fingers. She would have terrible nightmares, of course, but the remarkable thrill she received as she read kept her going back for more each night, much to her mother's despair.
The one person who never teased her about her obsession was one of her father's best customers, the exotic Professor Lorrimor. He would often slip Mina small volumes of terrifying tales when he visited her father, and in time, the two of them grew quite close. As the years passed, Mina began to attend her "uncle" Lorrimor's lectures on ancient cults and dark magics, becoming a genuine scholar on the subject in her own right.
Upon hearing the news of Lorrimor's death, Mina was heartbroken, but she couldn't help feel the slightest twinge of excitement. The funeral was to be held in Ustalav, the very setting of so many of her favorite dark tales. Who knows what thrills awaited her in that dark land?
