Sashara

History:

Sashara's parents were tied to the land, slave farmers like their parents were before them. The subject of cruel masters within the Land of the South Winds. They were complete subject to those above them. Food was always hard to come by and many of those around them died from starvation. The masters above them took the lion's share of what ever they managed to grow and left little for their slaves to eat.

In spite of the conditions Sashara grew up in, she grew to be both tall and strong. The girl was able to steal an extra morsel of food her and there. She always wanted something beyond being a slave. Somehow her parents managed to keep her from being branded as a slave. Maybe her parents saw her as a way out of their own impoverishment.

War descended on the land which she lived. Two local lords went to war with each other on just who owned the lands which their slaves tilled. Farmers were drafted as soldiers and both sides hired mercenaries. They were an amazing sight. Dressed in armor, tall figures carrying swords and spears. Except for those drafted by the lords, none of the slaves were permitted weapons.

Sashara decided to run away and join one of the companies. It never really mattered to her which one she joined. Armies always need fodder for the enemy's spears. The companies would not have passed muster in many lands, ragtag outfits with little quality to them. The officers had little care who lived or died because there was an inexhaustible source of recruits. Many of the other troops were escaped farm slaves and serfs looking for a better life. Equipment was poor compared to that of better mercenary companies and medical care was virtually non existent as well.

She was as tall as most boys her age and had dressed up as a boy. Historically, many women and girls have dressed as men to join militaries. No one though anything of her besides another recruit, another illiterate peasant. She made her mark and she was a member of the company. Luck or fate, the girl survived her first several battles and began to be taught the way of battle by those with more experience. Battle is also an extremely efficient teacher. Either you learn quickly or you die.

Eventually the war ended, neither side really winning. The people who considered themselves the officers of the company simply disappeared when the conflict ended, leaving their soldiers with no money and no other prospects as well. The soldiers scattered to the four winds with Sashara, still in her male persona, finding herself in a bar as a peacekeeper, trying to figure where to go next. Maybe try and find another mercenary company.

A group of adventurers appeared in the bar before she had been there for very long. They were planning an expedition into the Old Kingdom mountains and their had just lost a soldier in their company and needed a replacement. They did not have a lot of money, having used virtually all of it in outfitting the company.

She overheard parts of their conversation and volunteered. Desperate for anyone to join, they accepted her and she was given the dead soldier's gear as the only form of payment initially. It was far better than anything she had before and to her, it was worth a fortune. None of it was new but it was all serviceable. Chain mail instead of crude leather, a good quality steel sword, and even a good shield.

Many groups come back from the Old Kingdom mountains with nothing and quite a few never come back at all. The wealth which the adventurers dreamed of finding never came to pass but they were more successful than most. They were able to find some relics from the times when the world was ruled by Elves and were able to sell them to scholars. The scholars probably robbed the adventurers blind but they still got more than most. Sashara got a share along with more seasoning, fighting Orcs and other creatures who inherited the old Elven lands.

The group scattered after that but Sashara soon joined another adventuring group. She allowed her hair to grow longer and no longer hide in a male persona. Some of her companions liked the "adventure" of having a mercenary woman as a lover. She also reinvented herself to a large extent, ridding herself of the peasant speech and adopting almost a merchant speech style. Some of the group which she traveled with had some remarkable successes, one finding an extremely valuable magic item. Dwarven crafted weapons and armor replaced her old equipment and she learned how to read and write from her companions.

Eventually she headed where had once been her home. She finally had enough gold to set her parents in comfort. Unfortunately, luck was not with her and the hut which she had been born was in ruins. She tried to ask some of the other slaves what had happened but they reacted in fear to her, having changed to a completely different woman in the years which she had been gone. Her speech now was that of an outsider and outsiders were to feared.

A patrol came upon her, maybe called by one of the farm slaves or maybe just more bad luck. She ended up fighting them and slaying two of them. Attempting to outrun the death verdict which was sure to come, she beat a hasty retreat and say goodbye to the Land of the South Winds. She caught a ship to more northern lands.

Over the next few years she continued her adventuring. It was what she knew and she never had any taste for banditry. She also hired herself out as a guard a few days and got to know the ways of the larger cities. Cities have their own share of problems including a whole host of criminal elements your rarely see outside them.

Her whole life then changed. A local lord's daughter was kidnaped by unknown attackers and she was hired along with several others to rescue the girl. At least the lord claims that the attackers were unknown although she now wonders if the lord did not know. It turned out that the kidnappers where a group of vampires and they had already turned the lord's daughter into one of them.

Cold steel was of little use against the vampires and the whole group of rescuers was soon captured. The single wizard in the group was still extremely young and was caught completely off guard. The vampires fed off their prisoners while trying to decide what to do with them. They especially took pleasure in their newly created vampire feeding from her rescuers. Eventually they decided that it would be good sport to turn one of them into a vampire and watch the new vampire feed on the others in bloodlust. Sashara, being the only female in the group, was chosen.

Something happened. She did not become a vampire but instead became something else. A half vampire. She slew two of the four vampires within seconds of her transformation, taking them by surprise. The other two, including the transformed daughter of the lord, escaped into the night. Sashara does not know what happened to them to this day. She freed the others but they would have nothing to do with her.

It was then that she became a vampire hunter. Even though she has only been a Wampyr a relatively short time, she now inhabited the same world as they did and few could hunt them as well as she could. Beside there are few who hate Wampyrs more than true vampires and she found herself often going against the minions of Vald-Tegor. The church is often extremely wealthy and she was able to finally afford to purchase several magic items. Much of her time has also gone into trying to prevent the church from managing to acquire some extremely deadly magic items dedicated to the church.

[Federation of Magic TM, Adventures on the High Seas TM, and Woomwood are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts®, and Nightbane® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

Image created and copyrighted by Brian Brinlee
More Brian Brinlee artwork at Fantasy Art of Elfwood

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 2007, Kitsune. All rights reserved.