Sat'psa Vanna

Isal Vanna was the youngest daughter of Isal Balin, born of his youngest wife (his favorite before his decline). She was the youngest of the contenders and the least politically powerful. She staked her claim on popular approval and on her personal power instead of political or monetary power. Trained both as an arcanist of the Shadow Moon school and as a Temple Dancer, she wielded both divine and arcane power despite her young age. She was loved by the common folk for her generosity and concern for them, but disliked by the traditionalists and the nobles for her iconoclastic beliefs and her disregard of tradition. She was open and candid, but a bit naive. She has only one supporter from her siblings, and most believe that he's trying to become the power behind her throne. She was unmarried, although there are rumors of lovers and of engagements to nobles from throughout the Stone Throne. One oddity is that her servants (who are few in number for a khun) are uniformly astonishingly beautiful but rarely speak.

She was strangely successful, foiling several attempted assassinations and poisonings. In fact, she was the direct cause of more withdrawals from the contention in disgrace than any other. Somehow she knew about their plots before they happen and always foiled them without risk to herself. Some claimed that she's misusing her arcane power here, which has caused disturbed whispers about the Dark Lady to resurface, but her friendly and open manner laid those to rest.

Involvement with Against Awakening

She ran a cosmetics and pharmaceutical manufacturing business and operated several clinics (including providing reduced-cost or free service to the poor of Kel'al'ar). Secretly, she was manufacturing mind-altering drugs using materials supplied by the ophidian tribes in the deep jungles of the southern tip to build a fanatical power base. These ophidian tribes had been influenced by the Temple of the Moon and the Awakener-possessed priests there, and Vanna fell under their influence as well. She became possessed by the Awakened entity known as Lust and worked with the other Awakened to attempt to incite a war between the tribes and Kel'al'ar, using the drugs to overthrow the city from within. This plot was foiled by the Dimwit Syndicate, who entered her mental hellscape and, with the aid of a device prepared by a deva of the 1st Host, 2nd Legion of the Celestial Host, managed to do what was thought impossible. They freed her from possession, destroying the Awakened entity and returning her to control. The trauma of this event and the memories of the foul acts done by Lust in her body damaged her psyche. She regressed back into childhood and never quite fully recovered. She reached a mental age of roughly 18 after a few years, at which mental age she stayed for the rest of her life. Considered legally incompetent to manage all of her own affairs, a guardian was appointed for her. She lived another 30 years, dying of complications of the possession which had plagued her the rest of her life. She never married or had children...although this turned out to not be true. She bore one child, Azhtar Cai'Valur, father of Ahzekiel Cai'Valur, fathered by a "fallen" angel (the deva who created the device).

Demographic Information

A young human woman with significant elven heritage, Isal Vanna was only in her mid 20s in 211. Tall (at 5'11") and slender, she was considered the most beautiful woman in the Southern District (if not the whole Stone Throne). Her long, jet-black hair falls straight down her back and her sur ao dai, while a bit more practical in cut than most, is made of the most diaphanous material around. A former Temple Dancer, she's very familiar with using her body's beauty as a weapon and is not shy about it one bit.

Personality

The common folk love me for my kindness and generosity.

Ideal

Charity. I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost.

Bond

I'm trying to pay off an old debt I owe to a generous benefactor.

Flaw

I've made a terrible bargain for power--and I would do anything to keep that bargain secret.

Alignment

CG (near the CN border)