Born to unknown parents, Losia was found as an infant in the charred remains of what had once been an old cottage in the woods surrounding the small Eleven town of Bramblebury. She was rescued by an elderly Highlander couple, Singvid and Una Swilftstein, who took her under her wing. They gave her the name 'Losia' for her 'great will and generosity', which she showed from an early age. Despite giving her their last name, Singvid and Una never let her consider them her parents, and despite the young Losia's begging, they never told her anything about her real ones except that they originally hailed from the Kingdom of Norland and were devout believers in the Red Faith.
The Swilftsteins lived on the outskirts of Bramblebury themselves, and were quite friendly with the local Wood Elves. Losia often ventured into the little settlement on errands and made several friends among their kind. She learnt several skills from them, including Archery and how to play a small variety of instruments. Singvid often drilled into her that hard work and determination would always pay off in the end, so the young Losia often threw herself into whatever task or skill she had set herself. With her enthusiasm, Singvid and Una managed to scrape together enough knowledge to teach Losia her letters and basic arithmetic until she was a considerably decent writer herself. However, because of her rather isolated upbringing, Losia was never very learned in historical or political matters during her childhood, although she had heard of the 'curse' or mortality bestowed upon Humanity from her young Wood Elf friends. Despite knowing that her parents and Una were followers of the Red Faith, Losia turned away from it, believing that no Allfather would have let her parents, who were so devoted to the faith, suffer the ends that they did.
As Losia grew older and more experienced with venturing out into the woods on her own, she often encountered strangers and travellers and enjoyed listening to their stories, particularly about the Holy Orenian Empire. This stimulated her to start accompanying Singvid on trade journeys to sell whatever art Una had made or whatever produce Singvid had gathered from their tiny farm. On one particular trip, Singvid and Losia were ambushed on their way back by a small band of thieves who often preyed on the elderly and weak. Despite standing their ground, they were both overpowered and their newly-traded items were stolen. Singvid himself was gravely injured and although he and Losia managed to stumble home, he only made it through another three days.
Una, who had never left his side during this period, succumbed to her grief and Losia found herself completely alone. Having approached the age of eighteen, she decided that she'd had enough of her boring, sheltered life in the woods and packed up what little she had. After bidding Bramblebury farewell and leaving the abandoning the cottage she'd always called home, Losia struck out on her own, determined to see how true the travellers' stories were.
