Rei

Hongshen and Nystera(pronounced Nis-terra) were wed roughly 500 years ago. It was an arranged marriage by their parents to secure family power. Prior to the marriage Nystera was a professional singer and was fairly famous. After the wedding she never performed again. Hongshen is a Cleric of Irisi and an total authoritarian. He believes women are to be seen and not heard and that his wife is to serve her husband and give him children. If/when she fails to do so he "instructs" her of her failings. She is usually not seen for a week or so following such an instruction while she heals back up. Regardless she was eventually able to provide three eggs for the family. The first to hatch and therefore the heir apparent was a girl, Reilong... Much to Hongshen's disappointment. The second to hatch was also a girl, Yulong. The last to hatch was Reilong. The middle was Shanlong. He became the biggest disappointment of all because he was a boy which gave Hongshen hope but he turned out to be an amethyst like his mother. The three children grew up in a home where disobedience was met with swift and brutal punishment, but Hongshen was smart. He never struck them where it could be seen in normal attire, and after the beatings would end Nystera would spirit the child away and sing away the pain.

The three children grew up to be fiercely competitive for their fathers approval (if he approved of you he might be lenient if you failed) Yulong and Shanlong learned they had an affinity for the arcane and pursued that until they became a sorcerer and a bard. Though Hongshen was fiercely proud of his powerful sorcerer daughter, he LOATHED the idea of Shanlong taking after Nystera yet again. One night he caught Shanlong singing a bawdy song to a drunken tavern wench about the gods being fools and flew into a rage and beat Shanlong for hours. Shanlong fell into a coma during the beating that he never awoke from. He died roughly a week later.

Rei had no such magical affinity (much to her fathers disapproval) so she focused on the martial arts. She mastered the bow and whip, and made herself light, quick, and clever. Unfortunately she could never get out of the shadow of her younger sister. eventually Hongshen decided to offer Rei up for a pre-arranged marriage and make Yulong the new rightful heir of the Moonglow family. Rei raged and refused and in response Hongshen imprisoned her for 3 and a half weeks without food and minimum water. Each day he would visit her and ask if she was ready to get married. Each day she would refuse him and he would beat her mercilessly, and each day after he left Nystera would tend to her wounds. After 3.5 weeks something in Rei broke. She gave in to her father's will in appearance and he let her out. She sought out her sister Yulong for a way to kill a cleric. Rei thought she was being careful. She thought surely Yulong would be on her side. Yulong suggested that if Rei had even some modicum of magic it might be possible. Suddenly Yulong had an idea. She had heard rumors of wild magic in the plague quarter. That might be harnessed and aimed at Hongshen like a weapon.

So they traveled together to the Plague Quarter in search of this wild magic. once deep inside the quarter Yulong betrayed Rei. She attacked her, and trapped her with a Web spell and then she told Rei of her REAL plan. That Rei had always been an obstacle and needed to be removed so that Yulong could rise to power. Yulong then Set flame to the surrounding area and left Rei to die alone. The smoke and flame would eventually bring the wizard of life to investigate, but before she arrived something else come to see what dared intrude on its realm. The vision of that creature. Writhing shadow wreathed in flames from the area would haunt Rei for the rest of her long life. It stood there, laughing at Rei as death drew ever closer to her. Then, it was gone, making a hastened retreat as another approached. The Wizard of Life found Rei. She snuffed the flames and freed Rei before taking her back to her tower and healing her wounds. Once Rei told her of what had transpired the Wizard decided that Rei's best chance was to stay "dead" so she sent Rei through the portal to Wellspring where Sinbad would teach her how to hide. Rei would spend roughly 200 years in the wilds before she would happen upon a Paladin, a Cleric, and a Dark scaled Dragonfolk Sorcerer that would send her crashing back towards home.