Rin was a highly respected & admired veteran warrior from a distant land which after years of civil war between regional lords had eventually been unified under a powerful noble house which Rin had served under where she was apparently not only rewarded with wealth & rank but had been propositioned into marriage with the lords second eldest son, However the marriage offer was later dropped due to malicious whispers & rumors surrounding Sakimino Rin which also had some impact on her status in society.

Although her homeland had been in peacetime after unification Rin still saw her skill-set put to use in removing pockets of resistance in more remote areas or dealing with bandits. During which time various laws were enforced while she was away fighting a strong social class order was imposed on the populous & any and all people with any magic ability were essentially forced into slavery with the choice of either serving in the imperial military for life or to be put to death.

A year or so later after suppressing a bandit uprising Rin returned home though the city was far different from when she had left, also there seemed to be a lot of commotion and panic. Turned out some of the mages in the imperial army had rebelled & slaughtered half the palace guard in a failed attempt to kill the emperor after which the expected response came all magic wielders were now to be put to death due to the 'dark corruptible influences' of sorcery. In the chaos & witch hunts that followed in the few days since Rin had received an imperial summons to the palace where upon arriving Rin found she had been called by one of the emperors noble concubines. (Noble born daughters who's family's seeked to gain imperial favor)

The Concubine had known & trusted Rin but was still hesitant in revealing that she had magical ability, before Rin could inquire the Concubine had explained that members in court had found out, more so that her only child was not only capable of magic but was extremely proficient with it, they'd have both been executed already if it was not for her close relationship with the emperor & the fact the child was also his. A discreet plot had been set in motion to keep these facts hidden from the populace & deal with the mother & child via an 'accident'.

Fearing for her child the Concubine had pleaded if not outright begged for Rin to save her child, at this point however guards had burst into the room with the emperor following in behind them after he'd learned his loyal retainer Rin had been summoned to the palace by the 'deceitful witch' who was trying to throw the nation back into war (apparently) a young crying child was hurled to the floor by one of the guards before running to her mothers embrace while the emperor was apologizing to Rin for not dealing with the matter, & having barely arrived before Rin had fallen victim to an 'evil scheme'. The emperor gave the order to his guards to kill the mages explaining they can stage an excuse later, Rin conflicted stood frozen in place as the concubine begged for her daughter to be spared just before a guards blade cut into her, After a long silence everyone stood dumbfounded as the attacking guard fell to the ground having been practically cleaved in half at the waist from a single swing of a sword.

Rin readying her stance & leveling her blade in one hand turned and placed herself between the women & the emperors guards breaking eye contact briefly to face the wounded concubine, Rin swore on her life to protect the young girl grabbing the crying child with her free arm as she did so, after a nod of acceptance & single word of thanks Rin charged through the guards most of who moved to surround the emperor than get in her way of the exit. Rin in the confusion of the alarms was still forced to fight the guards stationed throughout the palace as running with an imperial daughter clenched under her arm wasn't exactly inconspicuous. The fact Rin was able to escape the palace that day was due to the wounded imperial concubine, its one thing to piss off a powerful magic user, its another to piss off a powerful magic wielding mother protecting her child. Half the palace burned that night the emperor was severely wounded, not to mention the imperial guard garrison at the palace after both the failed mage rebellion & the events during Rins escape had been all but decimated before they where able to kill the rampaging mage & secure the emperor.

Rin & her new charge Sena spent the remainder of the year fleeing from place to place seeking refuge as they tried to make it to the coastal regions, Rin trying not to notice the irony of now working with rebels & bandit groups in their efforts to do so. Rin was now wanted for high treason the price on her head in her own country was worthy of kings, which many supposed allies would try to claim along the way. One of which being a romantic interest to Rin before their betrayal which nearly worked until as if out of no-ware the heavens interjected as a powerful thunderstorm rained down bolts of thunder blasting the earth around Rin & the crying & mumbling Sena who was hugging her, in the chaos they managed to escape unharmed making their way to the nearest port town in search of transport.

After Stowing away on a foreign trade ship they'd escaped their homeland, upon discovery on-board Rin ended up working as part of the crew until they reached their destination. In the few years since Rin has maintained her duty of protecting & raising Sena as they've traveled further & further through many different countries & cultures. Along the way working as a Mercenary fighting people & monsters, or as a guard for traveling traders, & with the help of the very intelligent & learned Sena, Rin has been able to learn different languages & customs
on their travels wherever they go. And recently Rin's arrived in caradia with some coin in their pockets as a result of mercenary work & trade goods most of which has been spent however due to acquiring more books, maps, & provisions for their continued journey.

A Daughter to the Emperor of a foreign distant land Sena was pampered growing up she wanted for nothing, her tutors also found her to be incredibly intelligent as she came to rival some of the kingdoms most renowned scholars in knowledge, She was rarely seen without her head in a book or a scroll, her shy nature seemed to isolate her a little from others but she was close to the crowned Empress who Sena had long discussions & debates with, which made Sena a favorite of the empresses friends & confidants despite her youth.

Growing up sheltered Sena was oblivious to events outside the grand palaces due to which her Magical talent became known at a politically bad time for the nation Sena found herself & her mother suddenly isolated and one evening she was dragged from her room by palace guards beaten as if she was some kind of evil monster before being thrown at her mother. Not understanding what was happening Sena was lost, hurt, confused & in a panic, more so when her mother was stabbed by a palace guard in front of her. Sena can clearly remember alot of what happened that night aside from her mother saying she'd be safe as she was picked up by a younger Rin, unable to grab onto her mother who seemed push Sena into Rin's arms after which Sena remembers little aside from blurred movement, sounds of running interrupted by clashing metal ringing, and then fire.

Not sugar coating anything, all events & goings on was explained to Sena following her rescue, for a time Sena was totally silent, stressed out by everything happening to her, overtime with the constant protection of her guardian Sena recovered as they fled to the coastal areas of their homeland, sena continued where she could to bury herself in books maybe in part to escape from reality for a bit while as they fled she grew closer with Rin at one point she shyly& nervously said Rin was like a parent to her, Rin however barked at the comment stunning Sena as Rin ranted on about not being that old & that if anything she was an older sister if anything!, Rins reaction caused Sena to burst into laughter as the two began to jokingly jab insults at each other on their travels.

In the Few years of their travels since journeying to various lands Sena has continued to soak up knowledge like a sponge, learning commerce & various sciences along the way, she's still unaccustomed to rough living in tents & living like commoners but she doesn't dislike it. In fact she enjoys her adventures with Rin & exploring the world & new places no longer such experiences confined to text in her books. Rin has seen fit that Sena is still quite pampered as she gets all the books she wants and doesn't really work aside from managing trade goods from place to place dealing with various merchants. Sena even realizes she's still quite sheltered and wants to prove her worth in Rins eye's however the one thing she's extremely talented at Rin Forbade her from using, Her magic.

Rin fearing any unwanted attention on Sena forbade her from using magic unless they were alone away from any witnesses, even in countries that embraced magics. So Sena is almost always seen by others as a shy & quiet bookworm. Rin's also a little afraid of Sena's magic as she's seen its effects, Her abilities rivaling magic feats of legend, and on some occasions noticed unintended occurrences with Sena's mood or on occasion her dreams her abilities effect the weather or objects around them. A few incidents Sena is aware of but the majority of them Rin's kept her in the dark likely not wanting to upset her.

Recently Sena's journeyed to caradia and after quickly picking up the language went about educating Rin & making beneficial trade deals with the local merchants as they prepared to journey onward.

Maxmilián Ledislav Doubek’s father was also the village chief of Erostey, so Max’s older brother Ivan had the burden of trying to live up to expectations of becoming the next chief. Personally, Max was glad he wouldn’t have to worry about that. However, his own problems appeared around his eighth birthday. Accidents and other instances of bad luck occurred more frequently when he was around, and he noticed them only occasionally. It was only when Max saw his father’s servant, Anders Persson, giving him suspicious glares that he started feeling like something was wrong. When he asked his father, he was told to not worry about it, nothing’s wrong with him. A slightly confusing message for a child, but Max shrugged it off when very soon, Mr. Persson was replaced by another man.

Erostey was a common stop along the route for travelers and traders. One trader who came frequently to the village was a foreign man named Adrian Vann, who was friends with the Doubek family. Just a little before Max’s ninth summer, he and Ivan stopped by Trader Vann’s vendor stall, where Max proceeded to accidentally shatter a fragile glass ornament. While Ivan left to fetch a little more money from their parents, Vann and Max struck up a conversation. The trader learned that Max was starting to feel like he was “bad luck incarnate”, in the words of a young boy. When Ivan returned, Vann decided to cut the ornament’s price in half. He did write and send a short letter with the boys back to their father. Max didn’t know what was in it, but his father left later to have a talk with Trader Vann.

Accidents and mishaps never did stop following Max around. A few years later, at the age of twelve, Maxmilián and a friend, Arvid, were fishing at a river near Erostey. Arvid hooked something that ended up pulling him and his pole into the water. When he didn’t come back up after a few seconds, Max dove in to try and help him back up. He couldn’t see clearly in the water, but it looked like Arvid was trapped by something…large. Max and Arvid only got away from the water creature because Trader Vann and a local hunter found them and intervened. Back at the village, Arvid’s father, who happened to be Anders Persson, accused Max of bringing doom to his son. In short, Anders claimed he was going to kill Max and rid the village of his bad luck, and he had several other villagers backing him up.

Max’s father finally agreed to a previous request made by Trader Vann – to send Max with him for training. Vann was sure that Max had potential to become a hex-mage or something similar. Max was not thrilled with leaving behind his home, even if it was with a family friend. Oh, and another thing – Vann was a mage, too, but with a different specialty. However, Max had to agree with his father that it wasn’t safe for him in Erostey.

So Max left town and travelled with Trader Vann for a few months. During that time, he began learning how to control his hex-magic properly, though it was a slow process. Eventually, he and Vann left Caradia and met with another man, Jeshal Kifius. Kifius called himself a hexblade, as he was able to use both sword and hexes on the battlefield. Vann stayed long enough to help Max get settled, then resumed his trading routes.

Max trained under Kifius for close to ten years, eventually getting work alongside him as a caravan guard. This was his career until just recently. He was one of the guards in a trading caravan travelling back through Caradia, when they were attacked by inky-black creatures with claws, teeth, and glowing red eyes. Max was one of the few survivors who fled on horseback, eventually making their way to the capital of Caradia with their report. It seemed that other reports of the creatures had already reached the capital’s ears.

Though he had to rest first, Maxmilián Ledislav Doubek decided to answer the Emperor’s call to arms. He didn’t know yet whether Erostey or his family had been affected, but if not, then ridding the land of the black creatures may protect them…