Raamlah Carnelian

Raamlah Carnelian - age 43 - female - she/her - 5’11” - 200lbs - brown eyes - Earth Genasi - Druid - Circle of Wildfire - Far Traveler

Raamlah’s mortal parent was a Wood Elf named Joleth Kalthont and she was raised far from the beaten path in a forest most would assume was just a story, with trees hundreds of feet tall, huge megafauna roaming the wilderness, and various species of plants and animals that are known nowhere else. She liked her life there, engaging in simple pursuits such as hunting, gathering, singing, and storyweaving with her small family group. She was accepted by the wood elves despite her strange parentage and raised as one of their own, though it was hard for some to conceptualize how quickly she grew up compared to her peers and the average elven child. It was hard for her to make friends as a result, and her social abilities suffered due to the feeling of living her life in fast forward.

When she came of age--much faster than an elf would, of course--she wanted nothing more than to find love, but rejected the idea of an elf as a partner. It was rare for her group to see outsiders, but they did occasionally travel through. For a while she had a fling with a half-elf bard named Vickoris that made regular visits to learn stories of the forest. He was the father of her first child, a boy she named Umber born when she was 22. She didn’t expect his father to be in his life, and eventually he moved on to more exciting pastures and no longer visited. Her community supported both Raamlah and her child, and she was happy to raise a son whose growth she understood through her own experience. Ever still, though, she longed for true love. She even broke her own rule at one point for a fling with an elf named Olabella, but it, as she had always expected, did not work out.

Umber was five when opportunity came knocking in the form of a Satyr named Arimi while he was on a typical quest to explore, taste, and experience everything the world had to offer. She was smitten with him immediately, but, knowing the nature of his race, expected nothing to come of it. However, she could not deny a one night fling, and fell pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter named Chatia when she was 27. To her shock, when Arimi returned from his quest deeper into the forest and discovered his child, he chose to stay with her. Because the forest was so unique and dense, he felt like there would always be something to explore while carrying out their daily tasks, and with a partner and family to keep her company, Raamlah agreed to move within the forest occasionally to provide her partner new terrain.

The couple had two more children over the next four years, son Taros and daughter Kinnara. Raamlah loved her life and her family ferociously, and felt incredibly fulfilled in teaching her children how to survive in their unique home. Her connection to the earth as a Genasi made her skilled at traveling and tracking in a way others were not, and they always had enough to eat and whatever other materials they needed. With her skills, the forest provided all they could ever want. Arimi eventually learned several instruments and their days were full of hard work, but also joy and music.

They did not expect the fire to come. Both Raamlah and Arimi had noticed signs of strange animal migration, but were unable to explain it beyond some natural phenomenon like an earthquake too far away for them to feel. If they had ever experienced something like what was truly coming before, perhaps they could have seen other signs, but it was not to be. The Wood Elves didn’t know where the family lived, so they were unable to warn them of the danger that their longer lifespans afforded them experience with. So, one dry night, everything went up in flames. The mast on the floor of the giant forest had caught, and the fire had been smoldering for weeks, perhaps even months under their feet where they thought the compacted leaves were just ground. There was nowhere to run. Nothing to save them, the trees impossible to climb for their breadth and height, even if there had been time to try.

Raamlah cannot remember how she survived, but when she awoke she was in severe pain from burns over much of her body, especially her legs, and everything she knew was gone. There were no bodies to recover, no possessions, not even clothes or bandages. She walked away from everything as a result. Once she was well enough to walk and able to fashion simply garments for modesty, she traveled out of the forest that had been her home for 35 years.

At the first human settlement she came to outside of the forest she asked for their magic worker to seek counsel. That person turned out to be a druid, who heard her story and encouraged her to take the gift of life and become a druid as well, one of the Circle of Wildfire. She agreed, because the only way she felt like she could accept her survival was through the explanation of the cycle of destruction that brought new life. That is not to say that she does not have moments where her past haunts her, but the framework of her path has prevailed for 8 years so far. She changed her last name to reflect her experiences.

Her Wildfire Spirit takes on the form of her youngest child, Kinnara, a cherub-like Satyr, who was only four years old at the time of her death. It serves as a constant reminder of why she must remain committed to the land and its rebirth. Her quest is to facilitate both in forests with the management of fire so that maintenance is done to avoid huge tragedies, and in dungeons and ruins so that they may be given new life. She cares nothing for how old or important something is, only if it is serving a purpose and use to those alive now. If not, it must be changed and adapted. She is willing to revive those she feels have not served their purpose yet, or who died senselessly or in tragedy, but would not go against their wishes. Her demeanor is short and curt; she never learned her late husband’s charm. When an argument is started she will always finish it, even to her detriment.