Many days ride from Mistwell University, there lies a small unremarkable farming village. This village is in fact so small and unremarkable that it doesn't even have a name, just a dot on a map, and the inhabitants refer to their home simply as The Village. The Village lies at the end of a sparsely-traveled road. Triangular in shape, it is bordered on one side by a vast impenetrable forest, on another side by a dank marshy swamp, and open to rich farmland in the direction of the road. The villagers on the whole are content with their lives of farming, tending to settle down and marry those they have known all their lives, and it is very seldom that anyone ever leaves the Village.

The Village Headman held his position by virtue of having some small talent at leadership, and as such occupied a thatched hut marginally larger than the other dwellings. In his youth the headman won to wife the most beautiful maiden of the village, a delicate lass who was rumored to have wood elf blood running through her veins from an ancestor's interlude in the forest. After several years of marriage, she became pregnant and on a dismal stormy morning she was delivered of their child. During the birth, an old crone who lived on the outskirts of the village near the margin of the swamp came to the center square and prophesied that the child would bring ruin to the Village should she continue to reside there upon 18th anniversary of her natal day.

Unfortunately, the Headman's wife was frail and perished in giving birth. Luckily, the Headman's favorite hound had recently been delivered of a litter of pups, and deigned to suckle the infant. The Headman instantly loved the baby as the sole remaining link to his beloved, and named the girl Kayla after her mother. The Headman heard of the prophesy and immediately banned the crone from the Village proper, consigning her to the swamps where she lived, and she was never seen again.

Kayla's father doted upon her and let her have the run of the countryside. As she progressed in years Kayla found herself drawn more and more to the forest, roaming about for days at a time with a hound at her side, and discovered that she had a natural talent for woodcraft. She gleaned knowledge from any available source to determine what plants were edible and useful for healing. She taught herself to make bows and fletch arrows through trial and error, and became an excellent shot, often bring home meat for the dinner table to supplement the farm produce that was common fare. She excelled in tracking and spent countless hours following and observing the animals of the woods in order to learn their ways. Kayla felt a keen bond with nature, almost as if she could intuitively communicate with the denizens of the forest and the spirit of the wood itself. Though never actively religious, she began to feel a certain kinship with Ehlonna of the Forest, and often wistfully daydreamed of the Lady as a mother figure.

However, as her knowledge of the forest grew, it seemed as if her ability to communicate with her peers in the Village decreased. As Kayla grew up without the guiding hand of a mother, she was never instructed in the gentle feminine arts. The other children of the Village didn't understand her ways -- they were interested in farming, keeping house, finding mates, and settling down. Kayla was interested in wilderness lore, and strode about in an entirely unfeminine manner wearing leather breeches with a deerskin tunic and carrying a long bow she had made herself. In appearance she took after her mother with flaxen moonlit locks that she kept tightly braided and brown eyes the color of the forest loam, though she was fetching rather than beautiful. She was fairly small for her age, at only 5' 0", and was slight looking, but very strong with long lean muscles apparent under her leathers. The boys were threatened by her competence and independence, and the girls made fun of her 'masculine ways'. She was ostracized from Village society and retreated even more to the forest and the animals that were her friends.

And so events continued until the dawn of Kayla's 18th natal day. She was out in the forest as usual, ranging with her favorite hound. When she returned to the Village that afternoon, it was to a scene of ruin and despair. A flight of Unseelie who had lived in the neighboring swamp for uncounted numbers of years without issue, had attacked the Village for unknown reasons and incinerated the fields and many of the homes. With the crops destroyed and no harvest forthcoming, the villagers would have to depend on stored produce to see them through the winter -- it would be a season of famine. People began to remember the prophesy of Kayla's birth, and fingers were pointed. She had brought ruin upon the Village. Her unseemly travels in the forest must have disturbed an evil power, and this was the result. The superstitious villagers formed a mob and called for her immediate death, before further misfortune befell them. The Headman, in anguish, agreed to banish his only and beloved daughter from the Village for all time. The villagers, while not completely content with this ruling, nevertheless accepted it and the mob slowly disbursed. No one noticed the evil chuckle coming from the direction of the swamp.

The Headman advised Kayla to journey to Mistwell University, where she could perhaps foster her natural inclination and progress in skill to become a Ranger. He gave her the small hoard of silver coins which had been his wife's dowry, a map, and what travel provisions he could spare. The only other token he was able to bestow upon her was her mother's favorite necklace -- a murky green gem suspended on a golden filigree chain of delicate but seemingly unbreakable workmanship. The stone was rumored to have belonged to her grandmother, held as an heirloom of her maternal line and passed each generation to the oldest daughter. She would, of course, be accompanied by her favorite hound, and she carried her long bow, several daggers, and a quarter staff. Kayla swore that she would someday return to the Village to delve into the mystery of the swamp crone's prophesy and the unprovoked attack of the Unseelie. She carried an unreasoning hatred of all Unseelie branded upon her heart.

Kayla's journey was uneventful, and she was immediately accepted as a student upon her arrival. She was encouraged to increase her knowlege of wilderness lore, healing, and herbal matters. She enrolled in the fighter's school to extend her martial talents to bladed weaponry where she was introduced to the long sword. She developed her skills at bowmaking and embraced the crafting of composite long bows with an eye to master craft work in that field.

It was at Mistwell University that Kayla discovered a love of learning, and for the first time, friendship with others who shared her interests and passions...