Rowan Drovenge's page

Rowan was born Priscilla Drovenge. Her parents both worked as teachers in Villegre and they had a small home in the same area. When Priscilla was born, her mother fancied that the birthmark on her left wrist was shaped like a rosebud and thus this became an endearing nickname when she was a child.
Lydia and Aquila Drovenge were certain that their daughter would become a great scholar since she had such two qualified tutors. Priscilla wanted to be the obedient daughter and fulfill their expectations but the problem was that she hated school. She found it very hard to learn in such a structured environment and often found her mind wandering and herself doodling. She fell in love with drawing and secretly hoped to become an artist when older. She struggled through her studies when she was young and her parents were less than accepting of her performance. They grew distant and she noticed that her mother called her rosebud less often.
When she was a teenager she often skipped class to spend time in Villegre Park, people watching and sketching. It was in Villegre Park that she first saw Tiberius. His laugh first caught her attention as the melodious sound of it traveled across the park. His wavy brown hair and striking blue eyes kept her attention and he became the sole muse for her sketchpad. Over the course of the next few weeks she frequented the park more often in hopes of seeing him and adding to her growing number of drawings. She must have caught his attention as well because while she was engrossed with her latest portrait, a hand pulled the pad of paper away. She looked up in horror, her cheeks coloring and her mouth agape. Before she could snatch it back, he had flipped through it and said, “These are really well done. You flatter me, miss. Can I have this one?” Priscilla nodded before holding out her hand for her sketchpad back. Tiberius flopped down on the ground and introduced himself. They became inseparable over the next few months and Priscilla was convinced that she had found her soulmate.
Priscilla never paid much attention to the politics in her home city of Kintargo but she did think it odd that Tiberius was gone most evenings. One night when she was agonizing over finally asking him where he disappeared to without her, she was surprised to find him quietly knocking at her window. Afraid her parents would hear, she quickly opened the casement and was shocked to see that he was bleeding. Pulling him into her room, she was horrified to see a huge wound in his side. She tried to stop the bleeding by pressing her pillow into the wound but Tiberius was still losing blood. His eyes rolled back into his head and he lost consciousness. Priscilla could barely see through her tears and she pleaded with Tiberius to wake up. It was then that her left wrist became uncomfortably hot which radiated into her hand. She stared in unbelief as her hand began to glow softly and she felt compelled to place it over his wound. Seconds later the bleeding stopped and minutes later Tiberius regained consciousness. With the life and death drama averted, Priscilla inspected her wrist. Surprise registered on her face as her rosebud birthmark had morphed into a perfectly drawn rose growing out of a blood soaked street. Showing it to Tiberius she asked, “Do you know what this means?” Tiberius smiled and weakly nodded as he struggled to his feet. “There is a lot you need to be told but we can’t stay here. I may have already put your family in danger by coming here but I thought it would be the last time I’d see your face so I had to come. There is a chance that once we leave you won’t be able to come back. If you aren’t prepared for that then I will go but I won’t be able to come back.” After mulling over the consequences of his words Priscilla gathered a few things together into a backpack and said, “I was never going to be a scholar anyways.”
That night, Priscilla’s eyes were opened to a world she had never known. She met Tiberius’ uncle and learned that he was involved with a group called the Silver Ravens and that Tiberius had begun doing some reconnaissance for them as well. This was why he had been gone so many evenings and how he had gotten hurt - obviously he hadn’t been as careful as he had thought. She knew that things had been stricter in the city as of late but she had no idea that the people of Kintargo were being oppressed as much as they were. When Tiberius showed his uncle her wrist, they began talking excitedly about her having to meet with their contact in the Rose of Kintargo.
When Priscilla met with Rulla from the Rose of Kintargo, she learned that the mark on her wrist was that of the holy symbol of Milani and that she must have been chosen by the goddess herself to help in the fight that was to come. Feeling a renewed sense of purpose, Priscilla agreed to undergo training in secret to learn the ways of Milani since following the goddess was frowned upon.
During her training, Priscilla could tell that there was an increasing undercurrent of tension in Kintargo. She also decided to leave her childhood name of Priscilla behind and take on the name of Rowan. She changed her name partially to protect her parents should she be caught but she also felt that taking a new name marked her new purpose. She was living and training in a home in the Redroof district belonging to Rulla who was a merchant of cloth. Elsbeth, a cleric of Milani who had traveled from another city, was also staying with Rulla as Rowan’s mentor. After a particularly grueling month of training, Rowan snuck out of the house one night in order to find Tiberius. It had been awhile since they had seen each other and she was missing him. She had drawn a new picture of him and she had it tucked into her shirt to give to him. When she got near to his home, she saw people running about and was dismayed to see the house on fire. Having been trained to keep her emotions in check, instead of bursting into tears she quickly scanned the crowd of people for familiar faces. When she didn’t see anyone she knew, she blended into the chaos and headed back for Rulla’s with a heavy heart. When she got about a block from Rulla’s house her heart sank even further as she witnessed a similar scene to that at Tiberius’. Rulla’s home was on fire and she didn’t see Elsbeth or Rulla in the crowd of people.
Not knowing what to do, Rowan watched with the others until the fire had been put out. She then stayed as long as seemed prudent to see if anyone official came to ransack Rulla’s home. With the growing conflict within Kintargo, Rulla had expected city officials to start making life difficult for those who didn’t fall-in-line. As a contingency, she had built a small hiding space into the floor to store emergency supplies. However, Rowan didn’t want to enter the home until she knew it was safe so she wandered the streets for a while before returning in the middle of the night. Moving quickly through the charred remains, Rowan found the hidden supplies and turned to leave when she heard the scuff of a footstep. She was preparing to fight her way out when she heard Elsbeth’s voice. “I’ve made arrangements for us to continue our training at another location but we must hurry from here.” Rowan quickly followed her mentor through the streets to a part of the city where she had never been before. She tried to keep the surprise from showing on her face when they stopped in front of a brothel and Elsbeth started to go inside. Finding a woman named Aula inside the brothel, Elsbeth and Rowan were soon settled in another location where her training continued in earnest.
News of the planned public protest in Aria Park spread quickly through the streets. Rowan believed that it would be the perfect place to look for Tiberius. She still had a small hope that he had escaped his burning home but after hearing about numerous burned homes and disappearances that fateful night, the hope was very small. All Rowan knew for sure was that her world was forever changed and that someone needed to pay.

Appearance: Rowan has wavy, shoulder-length chestnut brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her skin is pale which makes her dark brown eyes look almost black in certain lighting. Her face is quite striking with high cheekbones and a narrow jawline. She has a strong, athletic body with few curves to speak of. Even though she keeps it well hidden from unfriendly eyes, her most memorable feature is the rose divinely tattooed on her left wrist.
Personality: Having lost people of importance at a young age, smiles are rarely seen on Rowan’s face. She considers her new divine purpose important and is very focused. She desires to have someone pay for the disappearances of Tiberius and Rulla but knows better than to let revenge cloud her judgement. She still enjoys drawing and will often use this as a way of relaxing.