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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aeric" data-source="post: 1932989" data-attributes="member: 17012">Miriella NightbreezeHalf-Elven Cleric of PaladineMiriella is the daughter of Velanon Sulathiel, a Silvanesti elf, and Duala, a human barbarian from the Plains of Dust.  Her parents met when Velanon was discovered by Duala’s tribe, unconscious and near death, three days from the Silvanesti border.  Velanon was a soldier whose unit was stationed on the western border when the Dragonarmy overran their position.  The elven warriors scattered to find their own ways home, but Velanon had deliriously wandered out onto the Plains.  Although the plainsmen were distrustful of the elves, they had a great respect for life, and so they had taken him in and nursed him back to health.  One barbarian in particular cared for Velanon and tended his wounds: a young woman named Duala, apprentice to the tribe’s wise-woman.  The two came to care for one another greatly during Velanon’s recuperation, eventually becoming lovers.  Despite their love, Velanon returned to Silvanesti and his duty as soon as he was well enough to travel.  Shortly after Velanon’s departure, Duala discovered that she was pregnant with his child, but not before the tribe learned of the tragedy of the Dragon Orb.  Velanon was never heard from again.    News of the pregnancy was not received well by the tribe, for even though the Plainsmen grudgingly tolerated the elf, the child would be both a bastard and a half-breed, seen by many as an ill omen.  No man would have Duala after her pregnancy had been revealed and, fearing for her unborn child’s life, she fled for civilized lands as soon as possible.  She hitched a ride with some merchants who traded with the tribe on a regular basis.  The caravan took her to Black Harbor, a port town in the north where she eventually found employment assisting an elderly woman in her rug-weaving business.  Miriella was born a year later, just in time for the Red Dragonarmy to conquer the area.  Life continued almost normally in the small port city, despite the strict control of the Dragon Highlords and the ever-present draconians.  Another two years and the city changed hands again, as the Whitestone forces drove the Dragonarmy from the area.    Miriella spent the first fifteen years of her life in Black Harbor, where her unmistakable elven features proved to be a strong contrast against the otherwise human population—and a constant source of prejudice and condemnation.  Her mother fared only slightly better; even during peacetime the Plainsmen were suspected by the city-dwellers, but during the war many tribes allied or were forced into alliances with the Dragonarmy, and their raids on civilized lands were still fresh wounds in many peoples’ minds.  As soon as Miri was old enough to handle the journey, her mother packed up all their things and they bid a fond farewell to the few friends they had in town.  A month later, Duala and Miri found themselves in bustling Tarsis, a major headquarters for the Whitestone forces and center of the reconstruction effort.  The unlikely pair quickly found acceptance in the city as two more pairs of hands to work.  Miri’s life achieved some sort of normalcy in Tarsis; she still got the stares and the hushed whispers, but nowhere near as bad as in Black Harbor.  After all, Qualinesti was just over the horizon to the north, and there were a fair number of elves and even a few half-elves who lived and worked in Tarsis.  With her natural beauty and charisma, Miri made several friends there.    Shortly after moving to Tarsis, Miri found herself drawn to the Holy Order of the Stars, which had built a number of new temples in the city.  She made the acquaintance of several priests, but felt the strongest connection with a cleric of Paladine named Trevin Farseer.  Trevin, like most of the priests, had only been in the Holy Order’s service for a few years, but he was a man of strength and wisdom.  After several interviews with Miri and her mother, Trevin accepted the girl as his apprentice.  A year later she was ordained as a full member of the clergy, and served as an assistant to Trevin during his forays into the Plains of Dust.  Despite her exile from the tribe, Duala taught her daughter everything she could about the ways of the Plainsmen, something that proved valuable during her missionary work.  Miri worked alongside Trevin for several years before finally striking out on her own; she stayed active in the Tarsis area but also made frequent journeys to Qualinesti.  She helped to bridge the gap between the humans and the elves reclaiming their forest home, and she also took the opportunity to learn about her elven heritage, something she never had a chance to do before.  One of her most prized possessions, a pair of Elven Boots, was given to her in gratitude for her hard work.    As the weather started to change, Miri found herself spending more and more time in Qualinesti, trying to help the elves restore their forest home to its former glory.  She returned to Tarsis after hearing that the Icewall Glacier was somehow moving northward towards her home.  Miri began to work with a group of Solamnic Knights who were investigating the rumors of a dark knighthood based in the south.  The rumors were indeed true, and Miri saw battle for the first time.  It was almost the last time, for the unit she was serving with was defeated.  Many of her comrades were slain, but she and a select few others were captured and taken south to the evil knights’ base of operations.Description:    Miriella is an honest, hardworking young woman dedicated to the cause of good.  She is shy and retiring around strangers, as she is all too aware of the effect her mixed heritage has on people.  Once that barrier is breached, however, people find that she is a warm and pleasant person to be around, eager to please and help out whenever possible.  She views her service to Paladine not as a calling or destiny of any kind, but simply the best way to do what she wants to do: protect others from suffering.      Miri was too young to remember the War of the Lance, but she is certainly familiar with the after-affects of such a war.  She is dedicated to doing everything she can to ensure others do not suffer like that again, but in her heart, she wonders what one person, or even several people working together, can do to stop such an enormous thing as a war.  She was inspired by stories of the Heroes of the Lance growing up, and it is through their example that she hopes to make a difference during the current crisis.  She has no ambitions of becoming a Hero herself, but subconsciously she works as hard as she does so that people will accept and love her, despite her mixed heritage.  It is probably the only selfish desire in her heart.Appearance:    While only half-elven, Miri could easily be mistaken for a full-blooded elf.  She is tall and willowy, although a bit more robust than the average elven woman, and has long limbs and angular facial features.  Long, midnight-black hair (the only real obvious hint of human parentage) barely hides her sharply pointed ears, and her crystal blue eyes are almond-shaped.  This strong evidence of her Silvanesti blood caused her quite a bit of trouble in Qualinesti, a place she thought to find acceptance beyond the small-minded prejudices of human lands.  She had to work just as hard for acceptance there as she did at home.  In fact, Miri has had to work hard all of her life, not just to fit in, but to survive.  She had to pick up a lot of the slack left by the absence of a father, leaving her with a strong work ethic as an adult.  The chaos of the post-war years only added to the danger and uncertainty of her existence.        Miriella commonly wears plate armor covered with a white tabard showing the symbol of the Platinum Dragon.  Her weapon of choice is a light mace, and her large round shield also bears the symbol of Paladine on it.  During these unusually cold times, Miri can usually be found wearing a hooded fur cloak made from the skin of a polar bear.  She wears no helm, and keeps her hair in braids more common to her Plainsmen kin than to the civilized folk of Tarsis.Killer Gaming Moments:-There was an awesome roleplaying scene where our party confronted Lord Soth in his castle (we were playing in the War of Chaos campaign), and Miri tried to "turn him away from the dark side."  It didn't work, of course, and we would have had to fight him, but then a chaos demon showed up and did it for us.  We, in turn, fought the chaos demon, and much to everyone's surprise, triumphed.-Another good scene was when the party had been taken prisoner in a city held by the Knights of Takhisis.  We managed to escape and sneak around the city for a while, trying to figure out where to go next, when the city itself came under attack by the Chaos legion.  We ended up fighting against the demons side by side with the evil knights who imprisoned us in the first place.</blockquote>

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