Part 1: The Backstory
This is the story of my first D&D character and how Annora Eden became Queen Annora Eden-Quade Von Parrigon of the Independent Kingdom of Pariton.
Character Description- Annora was a half-elf inquisitive rogue with medium-length reddish-brown hair and olive skin. She wore mainly dark colors but favored green as it matched her eyes. She often wore hoods and face coverings, and her weapon of choice was a dagger. Eventually I would love to commission some art of all of my D&D girlies to share!
Campaign Backstory-Annora was technically my second D&D character; however, my first one was not for a campaign I played in consistently or very long. I created her when I was in a bad space mentally, and my boyfriend suggested that he could form a group and DM a campaign. He walked me through the process of how to create a D&D character and then told me to write a backstory and really learn my character. The following is what I poured my heart and soul into for a year and taught me how D&D can heal me, one character at a time. It has been a little while since the end of this campaign, and I wasn’t the best note taker through this campaign, so it will sadly skip around a lot and skip details, but I know the main plot points of the story are correct.
Annora’s Backstory- Annora Eden was born to her mother, Calliope Eden, late one summer night after her mother’s shift at the tavern. She lived above her workplace, a room graciously offered to her by her boss Zorg, who was right by Calliope’s side through her pregnancy and birth, asking no questions about the father. Calliope knew better than to be open about Annora’s parentage; in fact, she only sent one letter to an Ambassador of Antithia, Varis Quade, to inform him of his daughter’s birth. Annora was born a half-elf, inheriting all of her human mother’s good looks and charms, almost being able to pass as a human if it weren’t for her prominent pointed ears, the only physical attribute she inherited from her father.
For many years after that, Annora lived with Calliope and Zorg, helping where she could and being taught by the two of them. In many ways, they had formed a co-parenting situation where, when Zorg was around, he helped as much as a father could ever. This worked well until Calliope became ill from an unknown illness. She fought long and hard, but in her last days she knew she was going to die. She sent a letter to Varis telling him she was going to die and their daughter would be left an orphan. Zorg could only do so much on his own, raising a little girl by himself. On the day Calliope died, Varis Quade returned to the tavern for the first time since Annora’s conception and spoke to Calliope alone in her room. When he emerged from her room, she was dead, and Varis demanded that Annora collect his things and come to live with him in Antithia.
In Antithia, Annora was to only go by the name Eden, her mother’s surname, and never tell anyone who she was. Until adulthood, Annora was raised by a constantly revolving door of elven nannies instructed only to further her education and keep her alive, to do nothing for emotional care. If Annora got too attached, they were fired. However, Varis was rarely home; he was an Ambassador for The Empire of the Middenlands and was constantly away for business. The only affection Varis ever showed for his young daughter was when he returned from his travels; he always brought books back to Annora from various places in the Middenlands.
When Annora reached 18 years old, she was introduced to “The Man”. Varis informed her that this man was now her guardian and would train her to be useful. He granted her a small sum of money and paid The Man handsomely to take over Annora’s care. For the following years, Annora was trained as an assassin, a job she was incredibly skilled at. Despite her skills, Annora did not like taking lives, guilty or innocent; she was, however aware that her skills were what were keeping her alive. She decided to play it smart, working hard and performing her duties whether or not she agreed with their outcome. After years of working to prove herself and showing her undeniable stealth and efficiency, she was moved to an elite group known as “The Shadows”. In The Shadows, she became notorious under the name “The Nightingale” for skillful and flawless assassinations of high-ranking officials and politicians. One day, she received a specific mission from The Man that would change the trajectory of the rest of her life.
The Shadows were never told the names of those who hired them, and the clients were never told the name of The Shadows, but this mission was special, different. The person who hired her asked for her by name and presented her with a letter showing her the importance of the mission. The letter was sealed in black wax with the seal of the Quade estate, orders directly from her father to fulfill the wishes of this client, a man who signed this letter in beautiful cursive, Felix Ashbridge.