Irtsa

Irtsa the Malevolent was a half-elf wizard, devolved from a religious childhood by treacherous choices. A raven pet named Nvar followed her path of evil and chaos. She herself was as lit afire; her hair of an orange hue and one eye bloody red while the other a cloudy gray. Harboring intense hatred towards paladins, she strikes them down at sight.

-- Biography --

Her upbringing was proper, though tragic. Irtsa's mother, Lehennia, was a renown paladin elf who wandered the lands in a righteous quest of vanquishing evil and wrong. In one of her more intense exorcisms she was gravely wounded and brought to the nearest temple for healing. It was here she met Gabel, high priest of Pelor. He was truly gifted in the arts of healing, but could ironically not rid himself of his own disease. During their time together they shared many a discussion about their shared faith and beliefs, and Lehennia stayed behind even after her complete recovery. As time went by, she became pregnant with Irtsa.

However, at the night of giving birth Lehennia's heart stopped beating as Irtsa drew her first breath. This was not the first time Gabel had failed in his miracleous healing, sometimes life wants it different, but he was never again the same after her passing. He took it upon himself, this was a sign from Pelor that he had neglected his ways and duties, which he chose to atone through prayers in total seclusion. Days became months and as time ran by Irtsa grew up in the temple surrounded by other orphans, picked up from the street to be taught the ways of Pelor and fed. This education spanned from prayers and songs praising Pelor to the arts of reading and writing, simple mathematics and culture. The rest of the time went by helping the monks of the temple cleaning, cooking and mending. Irtsa was an easy child, always treating others with respect and ready to help. Her father she saw little of, catching only glimpses of him as he ate and bathed with the other priests. She soon dreamed of becoming a righteous paladin like her mother, contributing to the good in the world. However, she had inherited her father's sickly health and the priests forbid her from training with weapons inside the temple. They tried to turn her attention elsewhere due to her physique, but she would not be presuaded.

One night they came to her and announced that her father had died. Irta was not shocked, as she had guessed that his secluded life of atonement would only hasten his demise. She only performed a prayer for the father she never knew and finally felt that she belonged with the other orphans. However, her father's death sparked something in Irtsa in the coming years, as she came to realize that she needed a cure for her disease in order to fulfill her dream and become a paladin. This led to an intense hunt through the temple's library, consulting travelling healers stopping in town, and at last witchcraft. The forbidden scripts explaining dark magic in the library promised power and prolonged life through a ritual, only for a small payment. This was described rather vaguely, but after comparing different sources Irtsa concluded that a spectre of her mind containing emotions would be affected. She convinced herself that this was but a bonus, not a prize to pay, as a righteous paladin must not be clouded by her own feelings and opinions. Convinced that she had nothing to lose, Irtsa performed the dark ritual one night under a sky of stars and the light of two waning moons.

With incantations written in chalk around her naked body on the ground, she asked Pelor for forgiveness before closing her eyes and start to recite the words in the script. The ground was cold against her skin although the night was warm. As she whispered the foreign language of the ritual she could feel the butterflies in her stomach settle and her confidence grow. A warm feeling started to spread from her chest and out into her arms and legs, and she felt the power surge when she clenched her fists. She could not bring herself to believe she had ever doubted, let alone what nerves or confusion felt like. One part of the payment she had dwelled on, was the loss of love. After days of reflection, she arrived at the conclusion that she had never really felt the power of love, neither received nor given. Her father she had never connected to, her mother never known, the priests and monks had her eternal gratitude, and Pelor she lived to serve. This was thus the most terrifying part of the dark magic, since the consequences was mysterious to her. Upon having uttered the paragraph, she could not distinguish any difference in her body or mind. Fearlessly she moved on to finish the ritual, greatly satisfied at this point with the gain compared to loss. As she finished, she felt the warmth subside back to her chest and smiled a toothy grin. However, things went quickly wrong. The runes around her started glow in pulses and the heat collected in her chest rushed to her head. A searing pain threatened to split her skull and trying to trash Irtsa felt like she was pulled to the ground. Her fair hair and innocent eyes flared with heat and she screamed out for Pelor to intervene with a hoarse voice. When the pain and pressure subsided their colour had turned. Irtsa rose panting and bleeding, with an orange hue in her hair. Trying to wipe some of the blood that had trickled into her eye, she opened the other to find the world around her unknown.

What happened that night at the temple remains one of today's mysteries. It was found scourched to the ground with no survivors.

With a twisted mind, Irtsa became the opposite of her childhood dream. She turned her admiration of paladins into hatred and wrecked havoc upon the world through dark magic and fire. A raven named Nvar settled by her side through her adventures seeking power. Cutting a deal with the demonic prince Ssratesh and turning into a morgh under fortunate circumstances, she attaining even more dark magic. However, she suffered mortal wounds in combat with a stone giant and Nvar fled the scene to never be seen again.

Played by Astri Horge Glindø.