When a Jäger is activated, they inherit the skills and knowledge necessary to leave the safety of their ancestral home and begin to walk the Path. The Path refers to a Jäger's mission to protect the mundane world from the evils that lurk in the darkness and beyond the veil the separates our world from another. This has been the sacred duty of the Jäger since time immemorial and so upon the passing of his own father, Jonathan Van Abrams began his own Path. But unfortunately, he made one mistake.

Jonathan fell in love.

While Jäger are encouraged to start a family, it is heavily advised against doing so while walking the Path. For this reason, female Jäger often marry young and bear children before walking the Path while males generally prefer to wait, marrying late into their prime and taking a younger bride to ensure an heir. Jonathan was not one for tradition however and while walking his Path encountered Sofia.

Working a case in the Northern Region of British Columbia, Jonathan was tracking a particularly malicious gancanagh when he determined Sofia to be its next victim. Intercepting the gancanagh at a local ski cabin, Jonathan bought Sofia a drink, baiting the jealous fae. During the course of the night, the two fell in love and together laid a trap for the gancanagh. From that night on, the pair were inseparable and Sofia quickly accepting the world that had been hidden from her previously, eagerly learning everything she could from Jonathan.

Over the next few months, the pair made their way down the Western coast. With nary a job between them, Jonathan and Sofia got by the same way Jäger had for centuries, grifting and petty theft. Jonathan's talents were within the casinos, a sucker for a card table, he had an 'unnatural' lucky streak when it came to blackjack. Sofia's skills, however, were a tad more diverse, in no small part due to her rather deft hands. Between various 'borrowed' cars, hotel rooms and dive bars, the pair kept moving until one night, Sofie emerged excitedly from the bathroom.

She was with child.

Ellara Charlotte Van Abrams was born late into the evening on one fateful Wednesday in September of 1993. Despite their original plans to head South, Jonathan routed his new family back East believing it to be the safer Path. Staying put for no more than a year at a time, Ellara's earliest memories revolve around the family's many moves as Jonathan uprooted the family in order both to appease the Jäger Council and to keep his family from being discovered by the monsters he swore to hunt.

As soon as Ellara was old enough to talk, her mother began to involve her in helping fund the family. By the age of five, Ellara could size up a mark and was capable of picking the pocket of an unsuspecting adult. Aside from learning to aid the family, Ellara was also home-schooled by her mother. Though her learning was behind that of other children her age, Ellara was sharp and possessed a keen mind for learning.

Despite this, Ellara was never let in on the family secret as her mother wanted to shield her until she and Jonathan both felt she was old enough. Unfortunately for her, Sofia wouldn't live to see that day nor Ellara's eighth birthday. Returning home from a day out with her father, Ellara entered their Memphis home before running upstairs to greet her mother. What she found, however, would remain in her nightmares for the rest of her life.

Entering into the bedroom, Ellara came to a halt in the middle of the empty room only for a drop of something warm to fall from the ceiling, landing on her forehead as she looked up into the silently screaming face of her mother. Running into the bedroom, Jonathan quickly grabbed Ellara before rushing her into his car. Her father never retrieved Sofia's body, instead, burning the house to the ground as it became nothing but smoke in the rearview mirror.

Driving Ellara across the country, Jonathan left the young girl in the care of his sister, Diana, and her husband, Thomas Roy. As Jonathan's younger sister, Diana was never 'activated' and as such was able to live out a fairly normal life. Despite this, she never had any children of her own, though not for lack of trying and was more than happy to help when Jonathan showed up on her doorstep with her niece in tow.

Ellara's eighth birthday was the first birthday she celebrated without either of her biological parents. Though her father would occasionally visit in the years that follow, the pair eventually grew estranged. Living with her Aunt and Uncle, her Aunt quickly realized that due to living on the Path, Ellara was too far behind on her academics to be enrolled in a public school. Instead, Diana enrolled Ellara in a private home group and enlisted the help of a tutor to bring her up to speed. By the age of twelve, Ellara was enrolled into a public junior high school where she was forced to adjust to the transition of going from homeschooling to the public education system at one of the more awkward times in a young woman's life.

If junior high was the worst two years of Ellara's life, then high school was the ninth circle of hell. During her freshman year, Ellara's Jäger abilities began to fully manifest. While she had seen glimpses of things she couldn't explain in her younger years, now walking down the hallway of her high school, Ellara could clearly see which of her classmates were not what they seemed.

Unfortunately, they could see her too.

Like most teenagers, Ellara was no stranger to breaking the rules, particularly when it came to her curfew. During her sophomore year of high school, Ellara snuck out of her bedroom in order to attend a party late one Friday evening. Stumbling home in the wee hours of the morning, Ellara froze when she saw flashes of red and blue illuminating her neighborhood street. Outside of her Aunt's and Uncle house was a pair of cruisers and an ambulance pulled in the driveway. Running home, Ellara was prevented from entering the house, her Uncle coming to comfort her outside, but her aunt was nowhere to be found. It was only after Ellara saw the covered body wheeled out of the house that she realized the extent of the events that had transpired during her absence.

With the death of her Aunt, the relationship between Ellara and her Uncle became strained. The two may have shared a house, but that was about all as he withdrew completely from Ellara, blaming her and her father for the untimely death of his wife. Though he allowed Ellara to finish her secondary education, Thomas refused to legally adopt the girl and the moment she graduated high school, Ellara returned home to find her room packed, her belongings loaded into a rented truck.

Leaving behind her home in Seattle, Ellara headed South, driving through parts of Washington, Oregon, and California before eventually arriving in the golden city of Santa Celia. With only enough money to secure a small apartment and minimal experience to acquire a job, Ellara fell up the skills she had learned from her father and mother. Unfortunately for Ellara, it didn't take long until she found herself in the back of a police cruiser.

Sentenced to fifty hours of community service due in part both to her offense and due to her disruptive behavior in court. Ellara was put to work in a soup kitchen where she met pub owner, Patrick O'Sullivan, who took a liking to the young woman, eventually offering her a part-time position at her pub, the Tír na nÓg. While Ellara's personable skills didn't exactly make her a great waitress, Patrick was patient with the young girl and eventually found her a place behind the bar.

Working in the bar, Ellara began to see more and more things that she couldn't explain. It seemed as though the supernatural were as drawn to her as she was to them and for Ellara, that was terrifying. One thing it did do, however, began to shed light on various parts of her life as Ellara began to realize why her father had kept their family on the move in her early years.

Realizing she needed to provide herself with more options in life, Ellara began to attend the Dorado Community College for business during the day while spending her evenings at the bar. Impressed by Ellara's new drive, O'Sullivan promoted the young woman, putting her in charge of the managing and stocking the bar.

In the midst of all these changes, Ellara became activated which could only mean her father was killed while continuing to walk the Path. Devastated at the realization, Ellara lost focus and eventually fell too far behind in her studies which led to her abandoning her pursuit of a secondary education. Falling into a depression-like slump, Ellara is now living paycheque to paycheque, barely getting by as she spends the money she earns by slinging alcohol on bottle after bottle for herself. Surrendering to a life of slinging drinks at the Tír na nÓg, Ellara spends each night expecting it to be her last, the night when something finally comes for her.