Birth

Illyria's mother Saranan Li'Uhren was an gold elven adventurer who hailed from the city of Suldannesselar. In her travels, she came to the town of Beregost, and fell passionately in love with a human man by the name of Baran Arler. After several years, they were married under human law, and after another several years Sara concieved Illyria. She decided that she wanted her little girl to appreciate the fullness of elven society, and so she spent all the money she'd accumulated to get her and her husband transport to Evermeet. It cost a good 50,000 to gain passage to the Isle, which was indeed an incredible amount of money, and almost all of Sara and Baran's savings.

Once there, heavy debates ensued about whether Baran should be allowed to stay on Evermeet, with some Golden elf parties wanting him dead for even setting foot upon the sacred soils. Similarly, many wanted Saranen off the isle for having a half-elven baby in her womb. Saranan was shocked and appalled by this display of racism and hatred, but she didn't have anything left to be able to travel back to the mainland with. After almost a month where the heavily pregnant Sara and Baran had very little sleep, a powerful member of the elven royal court stepped forward and vouched for them.

Sara did not know who this was, indeed, most people did not, but she thanked Rillifane for the incredible help. She went into labor just days after the decision to let them stay, and gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter. Sara had known what her daughter's name was since she had concieved her, and lovingly kissed a wide-eyed Illyria on the forehead.


Early Life

Illyria's first years were wondrous, and filled with happiness. Her mother loved her to distraction, and her father, if possible, loved her even more. His world revolved around his daughter, and he spent every waking moment he could with her. He was constantly amazed by her perception of the world around her, enthralled by her green eyed stare. Most of all, he was amazed that Illyria was his and Saranan's daughter. He hardly believed it sometimes.

Illyria lived with her parents in Leuthilspar, situated at the mouth of the river Ardulith. When she turned 3, for months Sara took Illyria to the Temple of the Seldarine each day to pay homage to the gods, and despaired that her young daughter did not take interest in them. Baran smiled when she vented her worries to him, and told her that humans generally don't take interest in the gods until they are in their early 20s, though there are occasionally some who will worship a particular deity throughout their entire lives.

It was when she turned 5 that she met her older brother, Kentharil, who felt that she was an abomination, and ignored her entirely. He was the son of Saranan to another elven man, and had just reached elven adulthood. He despised Baran, and tried to force Saranan to kick Baran from the household. Saranan, disgusted and sickened by her elder son's behaviour, instead kicked *him* out of the house, disowning him and leaving him without family in one stroke. Furious at his mother, he beseeched the elven council to rethink their decision to let Baran stay, and inflamed the more racist elves. After months of deliberation and arguments, it was decided that Baran was to leave the isle when the child turned 9 years old.

Baran, horrified and distraught, spent his remaining 4 years on the isle with his wife and daughter, and wished with all his heart that he could become elven so he could stay with them and help raise his beloved daughter. Illyria could feel something terrible was eating away at her mother and father, but they had agreed not to tell her, and so she remained in the dark. She eventually lost the connection to her father, and began to feel resentment, a feeling she had never experienced before.

It was about this time when Illyria began to realise the hatred and pity other elves had for half-elves. She was ostracised from elven society, and she didn't have any friends. Often when they went out to the market places, gold elves would make snide comments about how it was amazing the 'filth' showed themselves in public. Illyria weathered many such comments, and felt that her father should at least respond to these comments. But Baran simply stared straight ahead, not even acknowledging them.

Baran's heart was breaking from the wall Illyria had erected between them, and tried to bring back the love she once had had for him, but it simply caused more resentment and sadness. He forced himself to avoid her when possible to stop her from moving from resentment to hatred, though it tore him apart to do so.

Eventually she turned nine. Baran felt incredibly guilty about being forced to abandon his daughter, and used his remaining money to buy her a beautiful necklace, which despite the growing resentment she felt towards her father, she never took off. He kissed his, grief assailing his senses, and hugged her, crying, for what seemed like hours. He kissed Illyria on the forehead, and finally met her eyes. Incomprehension was writ large in her beautiful green eyes, and a darkness now dwelt behind. He hugged her fiercely, but she didn't reciprocate, and simply stared onward, feeling lost. He whispered that he loved her more than anything, but she didn't reply.

He slowly stood up, gave Sarana one final hug, and left through the door. He travelled to the palace of Queen Amlauril, where Kentharil waited, smug, absolute hatred in his eyes. Baran walked through the door, and young elf screamed, plunging a dagger into Baran's heart. He welcomed the darkness.


Oralle watched from the corner, cloaked in darkness, and cast the spell which would transport him the streets of Athkatla. Expressionless, she wrote something in her journal, and walked away, leaving a bewildered Kentharil and a pool of blood lying on the floor.

Adolescence

The loss of her father hit Illyria hard, even if she had not liked him very much towards the end. She was prone to fits of depression, and every now and then had wild mood swings, where she would change from joyful to furious in a split second for no particular reason. In her own, childish way, she felt responsible for Sara, and tried to make her mother happy by spending time with her, and helping her around the house.

Sara worried that money was going to become a problem, since she wasn't working, but soon an unknown figure in the government began to start siphoning money into the Li'Uhren account. She decided to turn a blind eye to it for the moment, but keep it in mind.

Illyria took to wandering the forest outskirts of Leuthilspar. Always an outsider, not being a full elf, she felt the stares of disgust and pity very keenly. She found a secluded grove right at the edge of the city, and it became her hide-out for a while, where she would play games with dolls and little animal toys, enacting great battles and love stories with imaginary friends and people. As she grew older, though, she tired of these games, and realised that she was lonely. She had no friends because she was a half-elf, a being to be pitied, not befriended, and so she had invented the things she needed most.

She needed something to throw herself into, and although she didn't feel a strong connection to any particular diety, she decided to become a Priestess, hoping that the structure and other people would help her meet some friends. When she found out none of the other students were her age because she was maturing much more rapidly than most, she threw herself into her studies of religion, elven and otherwise. As time went on, she realised that none of the priests or priestesses recognised the fact that she excelled in her studies. None of them took an interest in her, and she began to wonder what they were searching for.

She asked one of the priestesses what she needed that would make her acceptable to the priesthood, and the woman replied somewhat sadly 'Illyria, you outstrip even your older elven counterparts in your knowledge of religion, but you haven't heard the Call. You don't have the spark needed to become a priestess. It is not something you can just learn, you are born with it. You could not have the spark, because your father was human, and he tainted your blood.'

Humiliated and horrified at both herself and the priestess' view on her, she quit on the spot, and walked home, wondering how she could get the spark. She tried to seek solace in her mother, but Sara was distant, even slightly cold. Sara realised she hadn't long to live, despite her tender age, and tried to stop her daughter from being hurt by distancing herself. Her connection to Baran had been broken, and each day it was a struggle to wake up.

Illyria, who had once again taken to the forests, came home one day to see her mother crying, head in her hands sitting at the kitchen table. It was then Illyria realised how pale and thin Sara had become. Illyria sought to comfort her mother, but felt herself pushed away. Sara calmed down, and told her why she was so upset. Someone had once again raised the issue of Illyria being a half-elf, and Sara feared that Illyria would be taken away. Illyria was all she had.

Early adulthood

Illyria was horrified. She had almost completely ignored her mother for the past few years, being so cought up in her studies trying to become better, she hadn't even realised her mother needed her. Illyria sobbed her apologies over and over, and Sara took her daughter into her arms and told her it was okay. As long as they were together, it would be alright.

Once again, a powerful member of the government intervened, and the issue was dropped. Sara momentarily wondered who this was, but since no-one seemed to know, she soon forgot about it. Instead, she threw herself into the research of something she wouldn't tell Illyria of.

It became the focus of Sara's life for several years, and Illyria retreated to the library. She devoured every book she came across, losing herself in the stories and history of the elven people. Eventually one of the kind librarians noticed the young girls interest in lore and history, and procured a small amount of books on *other* cultures-- human, Dwarven, Gnomish, and a few more, including several books which the library was not even supposed to have, on the Drow, and the Orcs.

Illyria devoured these books, and became a student of the librarian Getheril, who turned out to be an ancient elven historian. He took Illyria under his wing, and taught her about hundreds of cultures, both living and dead, and as she had the books she absorbed the information like a sponge. She was Getheril's most apt student, and despite her ability to learn so quickly, deep down he knew she would never be able to compete with elven sages due to her parentage.

Illyria herself knew this, but instead of stopping her hunger for culture, it increased it tenfold. She once again threw herself into her studies, learning lots about mostly elven culture, and some about other cultures.

She found that she liked ancient human cultures the most out of all the cultures she knew of, and expressed her desire to learn more about them. Getheril sadly told her that there was no way she could possibly leave the Isle, and that she would have to content herself with the information available.

Crushed, she moved back in with her mother, Sara, who was in much better health. Illyria found, like her mother had so many years ago, that wanderlust had started to assert itself. She forced herself to remain with Sara for several years, but with each passing day she grew more and more restless. Sara recongised the signs, and one day, when Illyria was about 27, Sara told Illyria of her travels in Faerun. Instead of alleviating Illyria's wanderlust, like Sara had hoped it would, it instead increased it, and she found herself even more agitated with the slow pace of elven society.

Sara realised that her daughter could not stay with the elves much longer, and put more effort into her research, which indeed, was a way to get back to Faerun. Sara felt that Baran was alive, through their link, but he was aging, and if she couldn't find him soon she would never see him again. She eventually found that there were several members of the court of Amlauril who controlled the Gates in and out of Evermeet, but contact with these elusive elves was infrequent at best. Still, Sara persevered in her studies, eventually learning that one of these Gate Keepers, the Gold Elven woman Oralle Si'Enari, was also the one who had pushed for Illyria and Baran to stay on Evermeet.

Hearing that Sara was wanting to get passage off of Evermeet, Lady Oralle Si'Enari took pity on them and offered to transport them to the mainland, and perhaps when Sara or Illyria had some money they could pay her back. Sara immediately went to search for Baran, leaving Illyria with Oralle.

The two became friends, and Oralle tried to teach Illyria the rudiments of arcane magic but Illyria never could get it right. Illyria often would have discussions with Oralle about other races, history, and philosophy, and learned that Oralle habroured a dislike of other elves. When she questioned Oralle about it, Oralle sighed and related a story of her childhood. She had excelled in all of her magical studies, advancing far beyond her tutors, who gave up trying to instill reason to her spellcasting. She had raw power and lots of it, and used it whenever she wanted to. This had caused lots of powerful members of the elven court worry about what she could do, and she was apprehended. The matter was brought before Queen Amlauril, and she decreed that Oralle was to be under constant watch until she had learned to think before casting a spell.

Oralle was unable to do anything as a young elf, and was constantly under watch. She could not go anywhere without a guard, and never had a moment alone. Illyria understood how this would have upset Oralle, but didn't quite understand why she had a dislike of all elven people. She chose not to pursue it, and neither raised the matter again.

They travelled together for 5 years, growing quite close. They made periodic visits to Oralle's house near the village of Rayen, and Illyria came to love the house. It became her haven, and Oralle told her that whatever happened, she was always welcome to stay there and use it as a base of operations.

Recent History

They were in the land of Tethyr when Oralle recieved summons from the Elven court. Oralle felt guilty about leaving her in a foreign land, so she took her to Athkatla where it was rumoured Baran and Sara lived. Tearfully, she gave Illyria a beautiful amulet which she bound to her, so it would never come off, and a diary which Oralle herself had enchanted. It would never run out of pages, and so Illyria could write as much as she liked. Illyria gave Oralle a hug and a kiss, and Oralle walked off, leaving Illyria by herself in an unknown world.

She sought information from some of the people in Waukeen's Promenade, and heard that her mother and father had moved. They had once lived in Waukeen's Promenade, from what Illyria gathered, but she didn't know what else to do.

Hearing his half-sister was in the city, Kentharil, who was by now a powerful member of the Cowled Wizards of Amn, sought her out to see if she similarly harboured a dislike of humans. Although he disliked her, he keenly felt the loss of his family, and so found her in the Mithrest Inn. This is where <CHARNAME> first sees her and Kentharil fighting.