Rubada Quatra was born to Goblin traders hailing from distant lands. They were strict, uncaring souls with a bitterness towards all other races in their hearts. What forced them to flee, and where they originally hailed from, is unclear to Rubada – all that she and her siblings have pieced together is that they were fleeing from their Rex, whose ire they had invited after making a fool of him at a clan gathering in Iron Uzg. As a Goblin, Ruby was one of dozens of siblings, each with their own roles in the family. In Rubada’s case, she was tasked with mixing medicines and herbal remedies for her family – no small feat, given how frequently Gobs tend to face near-mortal injury. To facilitate this requirement, Rubada’s parents spared no expense in her alchemical education. At first, they had only hired for medicine women to teach her a few things whenever they were in town, but eventually, Ruby’s father relented and gave up the Goblin tradition of oral education and formally hired a tutor that instructed Rubada on how to read and write as well. Unfortunately, in the process of educating Rubada on how to best serve the family, they utterly neglected any attempts to impart any basic social decorum onto her. It wasn’t part of her required tasks within the family, after all.
As a result, when Rubada was finally allowed to take an apprenticeship position, her lack of manners and social tact (as well as racial prejudices) almost immediately made her an outcast at the workshop. Further, the workshop to which she was apprenticed had ties with the illustrious Grand Library, and thus refused to tolerate any of Rubada’s frequent bouts of mania while engrossed in her studies. Formal, restrictive, and by-the-book; that’s how things were done at the workshop, almost the exact opposite of Rudaba’s very being. Within a year, she was being mistreated by all the other apprentices and staff members. Frustrated, she attempted to return back home, only to be told that she would not be welcomed back until her apprenticeship was complete. Outraged and abandoned, Ruby made up her mind fairly easily and impulsively. One evening shortly after being barred from her home, Ruby steeled her resolve. She loaded a small cart with some supplies, stole nearly fifty pounds of alchemical ingredients, loaded up her favorite cauldron, and ran off from her apprenticeship.
Since that day, she has lived alone in the wilderness. She has been exploring the world and its abandoned settlements, searching for more knowledge. She has recently discovered the story of an ancient hero known as the Fisher King, who would remain an immortal so long as he continued to protect his home. In her wildest dreams, she has begun to envision this future for herself – forever living to pursue her hobbies, alone in her tower for all of time, free to experiment and research as she sees fit. In her currently fruitless pursuits, she has wandered to Arcas, where she intends on perhaps finally settling down for a period longer than just a few months.
