Arianna's Beginnings

Ari's memory of her childhood was sketchy and faded. She did not remember her parents, although she had heard that they were poor peasant farmers. They were killed when she was 2, at their home in Nightsedge, by a raid of Orcs upon their lands. She has never known her last name.

For the next four years, Ari was taken in by kind strangers near her hometown who had known her parents. Or at least they told her they were being kind....incessantly. She was consistently chided about how she was a worthless child, would never amount to anything, and how the gods would be so gracious upon them for their good deeds for taking in such a wretched child. Oftentimes she was beaten for no reason at all except for being a burden upon the family that was already struggling to make ends meet. She was simply another mouth to feed. Ari went through many "kind" farmer's homes this way, and would simply be carted off when one family could no longer afford her.

At the age of 6, she had decided to run away. The miserableness of her life made it impossible for her to stay another minute, or take one more beating. She knew not how she would get food or the other things needed for survival but she did not care. For as it was now, she oftentimes went to bed hungry, and slept on a cold, hardwood floor in the family's one bedroom with the other children.

So one nameless dark night, Ari left into the night...never to be seen again by the poor townspeople in Nightsedge. She wandered east, ignorant of directions, just trying to get as far away from the town she had grown to despise. She found herself entering upon a deep forest, which she would later find out were called the NeverWinter Woods. To this day, she calls these woods home.

Ari spent 3 days wandering around these strange, dark woods, eating sparingly the food she had stolen from one of the farmer's houses. She made a makeshift shelter of branches as the support structure...and leaves covering it. Oh, how the nights were chilly here.

On the morn of the fourth day, an old man peered curiously at the young girl washing her face in the nearby stream. He remained hidden behind some trees, as not to disturb her. When she had finished her washing ritual, he stepped out from the trees and said in a low, soothing voice, "My dearest child, whatever are you doing here?".

That was the beginning of the most wonderful years of her life. This old cleric, named Simeon, became a father figure to the young girl although at first he truly had his doubts. He was a holy man and had retreated to these woods to continue his prayers in solitude. But these two had come to love one another...as a father and daughter would. He had taught her all he knew about the holy life and to this day she still felt inexplicably drawn to it. When she felt the call, she would retreat to these same woods and complete the rituals and prayers her "father" had taught her.

He had been gone now for many years and she still missed him. After his death, she wandered around the woods, grieving for her loss. But, alas, the time came when she knew it was time to leave as Simeon had told her she would. His words still could be heard in her mind, "When the time is right...you will leave this place, my child."

She wandered into the neighboring towns...and eventually made her way to NeverWinter..where several truly wonderful kind strangers helped her to acclamate to city life. These strangers she was to find out, were none other than the Knights of the Round Table.......

And now, she was a Knight, sometimes she could hardly believe it, she had to pinch herself to know it was true. She had no idea what being a Knight meant when she first came but she quickly recognized it as a holy calling and that pleased her deeply.