PLAYED BY: Kelly Pelot
CHARACTER NAME: Marrah Faile. (“ma-RAH fa-YEEL”)
GENDER: Female
CLASS: Rogue
AGE: 28
RACE: Syndar
HAIR: Awesome
EYES: Green
OCCUPATION: Merchant, Madam, Raven
KNOWN SKILLS: Buying, Selling, Trading, Lying, Stealing, Sneaking, Killing, Surviving
In the Year 251, 14 year old Marrah and her parents, one of the rare Syndar pairs who chose to be joined, were sent from the kingdom of Tielorrien to aid in the development of the new colonies. Her father was a skilled herbalist or Bellath-ah-Dien, and her mother a healer or Lethellerion. Marrah herself had only just begun her studies at The Rui-Calithil.
During the voyage to Mardrun a fire broke out on their ship. Though they were in site of land, the pull of the sinking ship made it almost impossible to escape. Marrah could hear her Mother’s cries as her Father desperately tried to reach her, but, despite his skills in casting, there was little to be done. Panicked refugees kept pulling each other under in their own struggles to reach the surface and her mother was soon lost in the chaos. For what seemed like an eternity Marrah floated there listening to her father scream her Mother’s name. Long after the burning ship had disappeared under the water she remained with him as he called for his wife.
In time, a small boat from Mardrun appeared and brought them to their new home. Her Father, once the pinnacle of Syndar stoicism, had to be forcibly removed from the water and held down in the boat to keep him from jumping back into the ocean.
She could feel the change in him almost immediately; it was as if something inside of him were dying. Day by day he grew weaker and weaker as though all of his strength had been tied up to her Mother and without her, it was gone. Other Syndar could sense it too. He stopped casting, stopped working, and stopped caring at all. In no time at all they began to whisper that he was hollowed. The whispers then turned to outright contempt. Her Father had not been hollowed. They all knew it. They had been there when he began to change. But instead of helping her find out how to fix the change, Marrah and her father were expelled from the community. The same worthless, ungrateful community that had cost her Mother her life.
A year of wondering followed at the end of which they found themselves near New Oarsmeet. It wasn’t a nice place but it was free of Syndar looking to run them off, so they stayed. Marrah had grown accustomed to caring for her father. She used what little of the hunting skills she’d learned at The Rui-Calithil to catch food when she could or to steal food or money when she had to. It was getting harder to care for him though. She hated being cast out by the others but she couldn’t deny the day-to-day horror of being with one who was dead on the inside. It wasn’t simply that the essence was gone. It was as if a black hole had opened inside of him and was desperately sucking the essence, warmth, and joy out of everything it came near. There were times her flesh crawled just being near him. She yearned to leave but the moment she resolved to do so the memories of her parents together, full of love and happiness, prevented her from seeing it through.
Then in 253 on the anniversary of her Mother’s death, Marrah’s Father was gone. All he left behind was a barely legible note saying, “She needs me. She’s alone”. Marrah stayed in New Oarsmeet a several more years, in case he returned, working on ships, doing odd jobs, and learning all the things a Syndar of her age should never be learning.
Eventually, stories of a Celestine opposed to traditions and intolerant of classism piqued her interest. If not for the tradition of shunning the hollowed, she would still be living amongst her own kind. Most likely a skilled hunter already. Instead she was in a corrupt and squalid little village doing things that would make her Mother weep in order to survive. Tradition had forced her into the unsavory life she now lived and she could not imagine a world in which one of the most favored of the Gods children would actively renounce his position of Glory.
It was an anomaly too unbelievable to be ignored and, though she still had several months of promised work left to do on her current ship, she felt it was time to seek a new port. The minute the ship docked for the evening, Marrah grabbed the pouch of coins she’d been stealing from the others and a small pack then left New Oarsmeet for good.
Marrah used her silver to purchase and setup a small shop. Regarding every patron as an opportunity to find out more about the strange Celestine. In time her dogged interest, and her unconventional skill set caught the attention of the Ravens and she was eventually invited to join with them. An offer she was more than happy to accept.
Marrah’s main place of business is New Hope but she has recently begun traveling, looking to set up small shops in other towns in order to generate further income and also to provide a safe haven/meeting place for any Ravens in the area. Since joining the Ravens her tiny shop has expanded exponentially and is now a full blown market stop, pub, and brothel.