Sereniel Scribe of Truth I

Sereniel Arnmark perhaps is remembered best for her

associations with the vampire Cariousus and her subsequent demise, but her life was one that spanned decades and began in a way utterly dissimilar to the way in which it ended.

She kept much of her early life to herself, even in her journal entries, but it is clear that around her eighth birthday, in the spring of 380 PC, Sereniel Therianielos was adopted by the Quis family of Rheydin and later took their name as her own. As the adopted daughter of Tamlyn and Torrath Quis, an associate of Master Denethar of the Rheydin Grand Bank, her childhood was one of relative comfort and peace.

Even in her earliest years, she was groomed for the bards

guild through her parents acknowledgement that she lacked the physical capabilities of becoming a Justice and defending the Order of which they were devout followers. Though she could not fight for Order, Sereniels faith in her religion remained a point of strength - and conflict - in her life.

This contention first appeared in her relations with a young

elven paladin, Kylthioras Ardent. His belief in the law being an instrument of evil brought him into direct combat with the Justices - not the least of which was the then Arbiter Shaw Denetheros - and eventually made him an Outlaw. Despite this, Sereniel became engaged to him. She had a future with the man she loved, a career blossoming in the Heralds as the apprentice of Academician Eldrigal Shrythara, a new father in Shaw Denetheros, and this happiest of moments unhappily marks a decline in her fortunes.

Kylthioras spoke with beings he called only -the Winds- and

who he believed guided him in his mission to defend the Light. Sereniel never trusted them, and with good reason, though she would not know it until too late. These spirits, undeniably evil, sought to twist Kylthiorass strength to their own purposes and destroy him. To do this, they divided Sereniel from him. They infiltrated her body and stole her voice, her ability to sing, and led her on a journey far across the seas to a place she knew not where. Once there, they abandoned her, as though for dead, and it was only through a twist in fortune that she survived.

For more than twenty years, Sereniel remained a prisoner of

this place, without a means of returning home. She lived as the, in essence, mistress of a high elven lord, who both loved her, and despised her for her half-blood heritage. She bore him a daughter, and as his treatment of her became steadily more cruel, Sereniel decided to attempt an escape with her child. She was caught, and for attempting the kidnap of the lords daughter, she was brutally whipped, leaving painful scars on her hands and face as a reminder of what she had done.

(Continued in Part II)