Cathartic
The Lady of Light, Cathartic. She was a follower of Amaterasu Omikami, however she was recently reborn and dedicated herself in service to Sunna. She is the scion of the humans.
Early Life
Cathartic was born Hōjō Masako, daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa (leader of the influential Hōjō clan of Izu province) and his wife, Hōjō no Maki. Masako's parents were still in their teens, and she was raised by many ladies-in-waiting and nannies. Masako was born into a world of war and strife. When she was 6 years old, an invading clan took her as a prize; and since she was too old to adopt and too young to kill, she was indentured as a house-servant until the age of 12. She was released from her indenture, but having no money, she went to work for another clan where her beauty was eventually noticed and she was then offered a substantial pay increase if she served as an escort. She agreed, even with the stipulation that they could sterilize her magically to prevent unwanted complications. She served as an escort until she was 16. One night in her 16th year, Masako was praying to Amaterasu who answered the call. Masako explained her plight and her continued prayers to die with her offerings to Amaterasu. Amaterasu, moved by the words of this girl whose only crime was to be born to the wrong clan at the wrong time, spoke to the ancestors of the capturing clan and the clan for whom Masako served as escort that night. Ashamed to be awoken to the treachery of their descendants, none the less by the very goddess Amaterasu, whom all hold in highest esteem and regard, they beseeched her for clemency and not to exterminate their entire people. They offered to call home all of their wayward kin and to end the bloodlines of those involved with these heinous acts, in hopes that this would be sufficient to assuage the fury of Amaterasu as she considered ending the peoples of the entire island. Amaterasu corrected their ignorance of the depth of her rage: they had until morning to act, and when the first rays of Amaterasu's light reached the island's shores, if she was not pleased with their correction, she would then burn alive anything and anyone her light would touch, and she would level the island, and begin life upon it anew, from the ashes of all living things. In the morning, Amaterasu's light fell upon the island, and She saw that the ancestors of those clans chose to end every one of their bloodlines down to their newborns, leaving the four girls stolen from other clans: Masako (age 16), Liika (age 10), Hitomi (age 3), and Motoko (age 3). Masako collected them all and took some coffers with gold and gems, and left the town, and found a boat which took them to the other end of the Archipelago. They stayed there a short time, until Amterasu urged them to start anew in a distant land, where She saw the greatest light from Masako, and the best reward for Her honored disciples. Wandering on the docks, an elven scout from Sarapadia named Sítha offered her ship for sale, taking only the gold and leaving the girls with their gems as being easier to manage and more likely to buy goods where the coins may be worth less. She showed Masako how to pilot the craft and helped them acquire the goods they needed for their journey, paying for their food and clothing with the gold she got for the ship. The elven ship was small but seaworthy, and very easy to pilot, and its appearance being low and dark made it difficult to spot. Sítha also showed Masako how to navigate in day and night, and gave them a small crystal she called a sun-stone to use for navigation as their polar trip would render a compass useless. When Masako asked why Sítha was helping them leave the archipelago, Sítha replied that it was foretold by Nissa and that they were to sail to Kyrfor in the Middle Kingdom, and Sítha was to carry on and look for a route from the archipelago to the mainlaind in a hunt for a safe route to contact the Elves of Tarisir.
Life in Sarapadia
Masako and her charges arrived with great accuracy and favorable winds in just five days to the northern coast of Sarapadia, making landfall at the shores of the Middle Kingdom. They were greeted by the elves there and Masako told them of her plight and of the message from Sítha, which they took as a sign to
