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.
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Early Life
Cathartic was born Hōjō Masako, daughter of Hōjō Tokimasa (leader of the influential Hōjō clan of Izu province of Wakoku) 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 of Wakoku. 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 Wakoku'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 Wakoku, 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 bring her before Queen Nissa. Nissa listened to their story and suggested they head to Vesuva to be with the rest of their kind, for there were many humans there from all over and they might find a better life and purpose there. When asked about the prophecy, she replied that she felt Masako may yet play some part in it, but that her future was clouded from Nissa's view. Nissa promised to send Masako help, but that it would not come in the forms she would expect. Nissa would eventually deliver Maecas, Sîpanna, and Faeron to Masako's service later in her life, when she eventually adopted the name Cathartic. Masako and her "sisters" then traveled to Vesuva, escorted by a human caravan leaving the Southern Gates the week following her arrival in Kyrfor. Masako and her "sisters" found their way to the Grand Bazaar where Renate Ackermann found them and offered to take them all in. She used a charm to speak to them, and eventually taught them the common speech of the land. Masako took the name Cathartic soon after she arrived as her name was difficult for her adoptive family to pronounce, and she rather wanted to shed her name and her past, and embraced her new family, choosing a name from the common tongue that she liked the sound of, and the meaning behind it, as she found herself raising Liika, Hitomi, and Motoko still as she grew in age and power, and she reminded herself that the gift Amaterasu gave her was a fresh life of comparative bliss by simply listening to her tale, and she ever sought to live up to that paradigm, making a personal spiritual connection to the Sun as Amaterasu, whose power could still be felt in this distant land. When Cathartic turned 18, she enrolled at the Center Temple to become an acolyte there, sharing her time and worship and study with the other acolytes there who served Sunna, the local expression of the Sun. She realized their focus was on the power and strength of Sunna, whereas Amaterasu was more encompassing, a much broader deity. Whereas her practice was generally monotheistic, the polytheistic local folk drew their power from one or many sources, as the individual chose, which seemed such a foreign concept to Cathartic. Her theological knowledge grew, and she began to contact other deities, who eventually hear her call. By the time she was 25, she achieved full mastery in her studies as a Priest of the Center Temple, and Liika had already begun her apprenticeship to the elven artificers in the Grand Bazaar near the Center Temple. Cathartic practiced at the Center Temple until she was approached by Maecas and Jarek to begin the hunt for the lost Dragon Seeds and perhaps even still to find the Black Dragon Egg thought to be lost in the ancient dwarven capital city of Gûuz, and to secure them in a place where The Enemy couldn't find them.
Life with the Original Party
The Original Party traveled in search of the Dragon Seeds and the Black Dragon Egg to no avail. Still, their capabilities grew, and Cathartic became masterful at turning and destroying the undead. More than once her skill saved them from death at the hands of undead dwarves and humans who met untimely demises a millennium past. Cathartic defeated a ghost single-handedly and saved the incapacitated party from certain death. They would eventually all return to Vesuva, defeated, and try to pursue alternate careers. Cathartic eventually bought the deed for Clayton’s Wharf Tavern and based their party from there, creating the first Adventurers’ Guild of Vesuva.
Life at the Center Temple
Eventually Cathartic became the High Priestess of the Center Temple and used her influence there to spread the value of the good gods over the ones which tended to be evil, which eventually created secret guilds that worshipped gods of darkness.
