Razim

Past Life:

   Before she became a merchant, Razim was a very devout member of a church by the name of "The Higher Order." There were 7 total high priestesses of The Order, including herself, and all of them were created by the head Bishop to serve a purpose. They would protect and serve the church, as well as their Bishop, and follow his orders without question to ‘uphold the glory and teachings of their patron deity.’  However, unbeknownst to them, their Bishop was actually a very cruel and corrupt man. His preachings on upholding the teachings of the goddess were all merely a facade. In reality the Bishop craved control and power enough to become like a god himself. He wanted to become a dictator. Leading the church was only the first step in getting people to follow him.

   Long before his rise to power, the Bishop knew he would need an army. A force that could protect him and would remain devoted to him for as long as he lived. As a skilled conjurer, he went into the alter of The Goddess, and with some help from the Goddess’ own magic, he created 7 priestesses, all made in her image. They were varied, but all were nearly as perfect as she, and were given the blessing of life separate from his own magical limitations. 

  The first three priestesses would die in service of the Bishop's will. The fourth, Aoe, was fiercely loyal to the Bishop, believing he could do no wrong. She died fighting against one of her own sisters, who claimed the Bishop was truly an evil man, and attempted to murder him while he slept. 

   Altua, the fifth priestess, after having learned of the Bishops true, cruel, intentions, and having failed to assassinate the Bishop, shared her knowledge with the remaining two, Razim, and Leif, before defecting from the church, and religion, and leaving to find her own way in the world. Altua, disillusioned with the faith, and with the good will of others, believed that no one in the world could be trusted. That everyone had a terrible secret to hide. The only two she remotely trusted were her remaining sisters, but until they had opened their eyes to the Bishops cruel ways, she would not place any faith in them. She ran from her home and found her own way to survive, but as it happened, many unfortunate circumstances would she next face out alone in the world. Things became so bad for Altua, and her distrust for people grew to such extreme extents that she would fall to lying and killing in order to avoid being hurt herself. Before long, she’d become a notorious bandit. Known only for her brutality. 

   Razim and Leif, having been shown the truth of the Bishop, were at first wary and unconvinced, but they would both begin to slowly realize that Altua, even though she’d turned against one of her own sisters, had been very right. With time Razim was made into the Grand priestess, and the Bishop then began trust her enough to speak more freely around her. Allowing some of the more sinister thoughts of his to slip through the cracks in his words. 

   One day on a regular outing to a nearby village associated with the church, Raz, unbeknownst to her at first, met an assassin of the NightCairn, Pidge. The two traveled together for a couple of days before parting, exchanging words and stories, and quickly becoming friends. For several months after that, the two would meet to travel together to the village, only separating when their duties required them to be elsewhere. They eventually became so close that they entered into a relationship together, and every moment that they could spend united was one of great fondness and joy. All the while, Raz would slowly become more and more disillusioned with the Bishop, staying by his side only for the sake of having a home and to watch over Leif, her last remaining sister. 

   Pidge knew that Razim was a priestess of the church. Razim on the other hand, knew very little about the work that Pidge did, only that it often required her to travel great distances from home to meet her clients. So it came as a surprise when, one night the Bishop heard rumor of an assassin coming to his doorstep, and the one who appeared there was Pidge. In a fit of hesitation, Razim let Pidge go, unsure what to do with the situation at hand. She watched as  Pidge stalked the Bishop,  but he was ready for her, and in the chaos of the fight, the Bishop was able to grab Leif and used her as a shield to avoid an incoming arrow that had been meant for him. Pidge froze in shock and looked over to Razim who only watched on, horrified, as Leif pushed the poison laced arrow completely through herself and into the Bishop who stood direclty behind her. Of course by this point they'd both grown to hate the Bishop, which was why Leif was willing to make this final sacrifice. But Razim could only feel great confusion as she watched her sister die at the hands of the fast acting poison. The arrow had not been meant for Leif, and Pidge would never try to hurt either of the sisters intentionally. It was the Bishops fault. He'd used her. Just as he had used the others, but Raz couldn’t help but feel angry with Pidge, and she yelled at her to leave. They would not see each other again for a long while. 

Desperately Razim would try to heal her sister. After all, her healing magics were the strongest anyone in the realm had ever seen, and with the goddess on her side how could she fail? But this poison was too strong. Known as the Hand of Death, it had never failed to take a life. Her sister would die in her arms. After this event, Raz would fully abandon the church and her status as a Priestess, believing that that the gods had no stake in the lives of mortals, and that the only ones who could forge their destiny were they themselves. She would abandon the healing magics and would swear to never again rely on the gods for anything. Even though she'd moved on; however, the goddess never abandoned her.