Background:Korei

The daughter of an extremely wealthy diplomat, Korei spent most of her life sheltered from the outside world. She spent most of her time in the confines of her room, practicing the art of magic. As with most children growing up in the magic capital, she attended an institution designed to refine her skills as a witch. When it came time to determine which School of Magic she was to be, she was found to be a summoner; a rare class of magicians who can’t fight with spells, but rather proxy opponents using entities of pure mana. One day, while alone in her room, she summoned her first sprite; a small ball of energy she named Elvy. Unlike most sprites, Elvy didn’t dissipate back into mana; it retained its physical form, and continued to accompany Korei ad infinitum.

One day, many years later, Korei received a package while studying for final exams. Her father had left three days prior for a diplomatic meeting between her home town of Aznerathe, and their sworn rivals of Imperial City. The package was issued for Korei, and sent by her father. Opening the package, hoping it was a gift from her father, a fulsome, nauseating scent penetrated the air. She looked in horror as she lifted the contents; a severed hand with a tattoo eerily similar to her father's. Days after the incident, Korei decided what she wanted to do; find and kill the man who had assuredly murdered her father. She left Aznerathe with haste, and hitchhiked on the back of a foreign tech-wielding caravan. She rode for three days, and three nights, until the caravan had reached the entrance of the infamous Imperial City.

Being a sheltered mage, who grew up without a hint of technology, her first sight of Imperial City resulted in an extreme culture shock. Everything that her father had taught her was taboo were flaunting around on the streets with blithe; soldiers wielding ranged hand cannons and rifles, mechanized automatons designed to protect the city from crime, laboratories littered with men and women in suits of metal armor. Unable to appear in public for long, due to the outlaw of magic in the city, Elvy communicated with the obviously distressed Korei through telepathy. One of Elvy’s most notable skills were spirit tracking; the ability to detect certain creatures through their levels of malicious intent. Korei walked along the busy roads of Imperial City, gathering the eyes of the confused. Her appearance had differed from the usual riff raff and technologically inclined; a purple robe inscribed with the language of the elven tongue stood out within the swathe of metal and circuits.

Multiple hours of searching led her to the outskirts of the city; Elvy directed Korei to a shack composed of scrap metal and rotten wood. The strangers in this mini town paid no mind to the robed girl. As she entered, she was greeted with two resting faces; one of a young girl her age, and the other of an aged man. Both were resting on opposite sides of the room on slates of metal attached to wooden pegs. Neither looked comfortable. Elvy directed her to the old man; upon inspection, she noticed blood caked on the edges of his nails, and dried crimson-brown stains on his shirt. He reeked of iron.

Korei was seething with anger. The man who had laid waste to her father was sitting right in front of her, and she was powerless to do anything. Noticing the distressed Korei, and wanting to do anything to soothe her fears and worries, Elvy had supercharged the mana in the air, and shot a devastating blast towards one half of the room. The man was obliterated immediately, and the girl had been blown far from what used to be the shack. A crowd gathered. Korei was soaked in blood. Elvy hid. The police didn’t.

Korei was locked in a dank, lifeless cell. Alone. She spent three days in the cellar, without food, without water, without need. Elvy comforted her, but she was unresponsive. Footsteps were heard beyond her solitary confinement chamber, but she was still dissociated. The voice from beyond the cell gave her an offer. Accept her crimes against Imperial City, her use of magic and blatant premeditated murder, and perish at the hands of an executioner; or to fight as a warrior in the Fighter’s Coalition, and submit her earnings to the emperor. After weighing the two choices, she decided.