Lupita was born in a bustling city in the heartland of Vrettonia. Her father was a rather famous elven musician who had decided to settle down for a few years in a place with steady pay. Her mother was a human painter and family friend to local nobility that ruled the city. So Lupita grew up in a better environment than most. From a young age she was taught music and literature and her parents took her along to many social event among the nobility. That is where they made their living after all.

Lupita’s brother, Verzan, was born a few years after her and together they learned the ways of the noble court. Lupita took to it like a fish to water. She was a natural extrovert and had a talent for picking up on the moods of the court. Verzan was more like their mother, quiet, contemplative and extremely talented with a brush. Lupita’s early years were good. Her family became widely regard as some of the best artists in the city and this opened doors all across the kingdom to go and perform.

Lupita took up the violin though her father favored the harp. She thought the violin had a much more grounded sound while the harp sounded too…well, elven. A little pretentious, which always made her father fume when she told him. Lupita spent her mid to late twenties traveling across the kingdom and then the continent, playing for royal families and filthy rich merchant clans. But her fame and skill also made her a target. Among the muscians of Vrettonia there is a sort of unspoken danger. In the nation’s history, many bards had doubled as spies and assassins. This translated over to their…professional life.

Lupita soon found out that to truly be a successful musician, she had to learn to defend herself. There were a number of attempts on her life going into her late twenties and all of those ended with a knife in the throat of the assassin. They were usually some young thing, no doubt new to the business and trying to get a leg up without doing the work. By the time she was in her early thirties, Lupita found she was getting tired of the game. Constantly looking over one’s shoulder didn’t exactly contribute to a relaxing life. Then she met Logan.
A traveling Thaegar warrior. He was all muscle and mystery and they hit it off instantly. Initially he was only passing through town. Then he stayed a week. Then two. Then three. Soon the pair was dating regularly and the wandering warrior was looking for work in the Lupita’s home city. Her father tried to dissuade her from marrying a human. She could understand where he was coming from. Lupita’s mother was graying and having joint pain. Her father looked like he hadn’t aged a day in thirty-one years. And in comparison to a human life span, he really hadn’t.

Still, there was something about her traveling warrior that she couldn’t shake. A year later they were married. Two years and they had a son. At four years a daughter. Before she knew it, Lupita had a whole family. And she didn’t mind it one bit. Life was good again. Lupita performed in her home city for the noble families and her now husband, Rothan, served as a bodyguard for a merchant. They made decent money together and their kids had a good, peaceful life. Occasionally Lupita had to dodge an assassination attempt but by this point she had become skilled in recognizing would be killers and handled the issue before it got out of hand.

For many years Lupita lived with her family without incident but as she got older, she began to truly understand what her father was warning against. By the time their kids were old enough to make their way in the world, Rothan was almost sixty years old. Lupita looked barely a day over thirty. But she ignored it, this passage of time. She still loved him and that was all that mattered. Then before she knew it, she was burying the love of her life. He was seventy when he died. A disease had swept the city. It was over in just a few weeks but it had done its damage.

Lupita was a grandmother now but she looked the same age as her kids. Maybe even a little younger. But she wouldn’t abandon her family. She would look after them as long as she was able to. Which brings us to the cause of her exile. Lupita’s great granddaughter, Elizabeth, was following in her footsteps. She wanted to be a famous musician just like her grandmother. But unlike Lupita, Elizabeth chose to gain fame through more…violent means. Like so many bards who attempted to kill Lupita in her youth, Elizabeth tried to kill a rival. Her target, who was a bard, also happened to be the heir of a noble house.

Obviously Elizabeth botched the assassination and was captured and was sentenced to beheading. When Lupita learned of this she rushed to her friends in the nobility, asking for an audience with the assaulted family. Pouring every bit of charm she had in her, Lupita bargained for her great granddaughter’s life. The best the family could do was exile. Lupita knew the young thing wouldn’t survive on the blood coast. So she offered herself instead. It was a bold move the family had no choice but to respect it. Reluctantly, they agreed to the terms. Elizabeth was returned to the family. And Lupita was put in chains and got on a carriage bound for the blood coast…