Originally the daughter of a noble Chelaxian (Chellish?) familiy, Mira Esoteria devoted all her time to studying as soon as she could read. Her family hired personal tutors, and the manor in which she lived had an extensive library. She quickly made herself known as a prodigy with arcane magics, though it seemed to be more natural than learned.
Mira rarely had visitors, and fortunately didn't care too much for company, save for that of the son of a loosely related family. Only a few months older than Mira, Ruan Vallys would visit and manage to draw Mira from her books when his family, often begging the lord and lady of House Esoteria for financial assistance, was in town. Mira looked forward to his visits, but quickly noticed that he could never run for as long as she could, and had to lie down frequently due to fits of coughing. Even as a child, she realized why his parents were always asking for money, and began work on a project that people would find horrifying from an adult, much less a child.
She started pushing her arcane abilities further than anyone ever should, and gathered information about methods to seal someone's soul to an object, often using deception. She made a doll in Ruan's likeness, and sat it on the nightstand next to his deathbed. The moment he passed on, the doll's eyes lit up with an eerie light, and Mira, patiently sitting next to the bed, collapsed.
The next few years remain a blur in her memory; she awoke later that day with her mother peering over at her with a mortified expression, and her father yelling frantically. The doll was next to her, motionless, with nothing but a faintly shimmering gem in its chest betraying the its nature. She was confined to her home, as her parents couldn't bear to abandon their precious daughter who had shown so much potential. The doll with a shard of Ruan's soul slowly became a replacement for her now-deceased friend, though its personality was a twisted reflection of the original's kindness and selflessness.
Time passed normally for the world around her, and while she was trying to perfect a new spell or picking up a new hobby, her parents were growing ever older. She became detached from others, and her personality also became more twisted in her time spent with naught but the company of a doll. Mira still has typical emotions, but they're typically triggered by the wrong things, such as laughing at death, or finding a bright sunny day horribly depressing.
Eventually, she was left alone in a large manor. She was the only child her parents ever had, and her House faded further into obscurity. The manor gained a reputation as being haunted, as passersby would see the flicker of candlelight in a window, or hear the laugh of a girl from beyond the gates.
Mira eventually came across the work of Professor Lorrimor, and began exchanging letters with him on various topics of study, often disguising herself to go into town to have the letters sent and recieved. The news of his death was more disappointing than a shock to Mira, but she felt inclined to attend his funeral.
