Kersley

     Alma was born in the Kingdom of Santegia, Axios, in 1628, during the brief time of peace after a treaty between Oren and Coalition of the three has been signed. She was raised in a family of two Haenseti refugees who walked with Barbanovs to the Mardon, were oppressed and drowning in poverty under the rule of Orenian empire and lastly, after all the political disputes, settled in the outskirts of Santegia. Her father was a carpenter, her mother – a housewife and an artist. Being torn away from their culture, Alma's parents changed their family name to Kersley in order to appear more heartlandish and avoid further discrimination. At long last they decided to have a child so it could grow in her own home, not forced to change allegiance from one king to another. The next few years after Alma’s birth were alike to a humble heaven. Alma’s mother taught her how to be a lady and her father told her tales of All-father and the Long Dark.

     Alas, in 1637 her father was drafted into the army due to the military reformation and expansion. In 1639 he returned after the victory over an Urguan Kingdom, yet he was missing his left arm. From now on Alma had to help her father in his trade so that they could earn money to afford food and taxes. She was getting more skilled in carpentry, her da was getting weaker and her ma was getting more depressed. 5 years after migration to Atlas her father could not work anymore and was chained to bed with his wife having to take care of him. This is when Alma departed home in order to get a profitable job and afford an expensive healer for her father.

     In 1646 she came upon a suspicious haenseti sailboat owner who was hiring folk for an ever more suspicious task. The man happened to be so called Willghar the Yellow Crotch, a former privateer and heavy ale drinker. Alma accepted his offer and soon discovered that Willghar’s line of work was, to put it lightly, not quite lawful. With a help of a dwarf named Glass-Eyed Brug Willghar was smuggling contraband across riverside settlements. Brug was skilled in calligraphy and jurisprudence, so he was forging various documents in order to sell their goods without suspicion. Alma, being somewhat skilled at carpentry, travelled with Willghar and Brug, fixing their boat when it needed fixing. After some time she began to partake in Willghar’s negotiations with traders and coastal guards, getting experienced in rhetoric (see: profuse lying). All this time she was sending part of her earnings back to her parents in Santegia-Haria.

     In 1649 Willghar, Brug and Alma had enough funds to afford a proper ship and hire a crew, which they did. The vessel was an old schooner, but nevertheless Willghar lovingly named it ‘The Rotten Martlet’. For a few years Rotten Martlet sailed around the Atlas and Willghar continued his dirty work with Alma as his first mate. On their travels she met a lot of different people and heard a lot of myths, legends and tales, paying more attention to those revolving around death and afterlife.

     In 1656 Willghar got drunk (even more than usual) and damaged the steering wheel of Rotten Martlet, which led to the ship crashing into the reefs somewhere around Golf isles. Majority of the crew sank to the bottom of the sea, and even though his body was never found (not that anyone was actually looking) Willghar is considered to have met the same fate. Alma and Brug, however, managed to survive and sailed back to the continent on the first passing ship. They were headed to the Kingdom of Haense, home of Willghar and motherland of Alma’s parents, when in 1657 some disgruntled merchants (see: ploughin' bastards) recognized her and reported to the city guards of Marna. While awaiting her trial in prison Alma had a long talk with her cellmate, a dark she-elf called ‘Dipsy’ (hopefully just a nickname). Dipsy pitied Alma for being a human and having such a short lifespan, but also suggested that it could be helped by magic, most likely the dark type. Idea stuck to Alma and after a few months, when Brug finally succeeded in getting her out of jail (not without some elaborate document forgeries and few old acquaintances), she decided to fight death as long as she can. Alma had finally reached Haense with Brug in 1658, where she found some leads to the ancient places of mysterious power. Then she parted with her dwarven friend and decided to visit her parents before embarking on her new quest.

     In 1659 Alma reached her old home in the outskirts of Santegia only to find an abandoned cottage with boarded up windows. Neighbors told her that her father died in 1654 of some illness despite the efforts of local doctors, and her mother was becoming stranger and stranger since then until vanishing without a trace in 1658. Without a trail to follow Alma decided to stay a bit longer in Santegia to mourn her parents and gather resources to embark on her quest towards mysterious and unknown. Soon she realized that no captain would venture where she wishes to go, therefore it became obvious that Alma had to finally get herself her own vessel and a loyal crew...