History

She grew up in Baldur's Gate, raised by priests within the temple of Ioun. She had no memories of her birth parents as she was so young at the time she was left on the steps of the temple. One priest, Adhoc, was the one who primarily cared for her. He was a powerful wizard before he devoted his life to the goddess Ioun.

Vaniesa has always had a thirst for knowledge for as long as she can remember, which the priests who raised her did all they could to fuel. Adhoc took notice of her interest in learning and trained her in the ways of being a wizard, teaching her all he knew about every subject under the sky. One topic she took entrancement in was dragons.

It soon became apparent that she had learned all she could under Adhoc's care, and yet she still needed to learn more. The adviser of the bishop, Ontharr Frume, had been carefully watching Vaniesa's progress for many years. Knowing she had progressed as far as she could in Baldur's Gate as well as her interest in dragons, he asked her to travel to Greenest in search of rumors of increasing dragon activity. This was a perfect chance for her to further her knowledge in something she cared about, and she excitedly agreed to go.

Since that fateful day, life had never been the same for Vaniesa. She found herself getting much more than she asked for when she found herself tangled in the web of the Dragon Cult and their plans to bring Tiamat to the mortal plane.

Her interest in dragons proved to be an asset as well as a curse when her curiosity led to her stealing and hatching an egg that the Cult had intended to use. She somehow needed to figure out how to raise a black dragon hatchling - who she named Illiandrus - while also putting a stop to the Cult's attempts to raise Tiamat. There were many close calls, and the death of a dear companion not once, but twice, affected her deeply in a way she never recovered from completely.

After temporarily stopping the Cult's attempts to bring back Tiamat, Vaniesa decided to travel south to Amn in order to take much needed time for herself, while also doing more research into dragons and anything else that may help. She ended up meeting and stufying with a man who she soon discovered to be a bronze dragon. She eventually fell in love with him and they added to her family with the birth of a half-dragon child they named Ignatia. For a time, she could almost forget about the troubles she had faced, and she was happy.

Peace did not last for long however, with only three years passing before the Dragon Cult would strike once more and come back with a vengance. She had to return to her adventuring life and leave the much safer times behind once again.

Armed with her previous experience in fighting the Cult of the Dragon, as well as allies both old and new by her side, Vaniesa threw herself with all she had into putting a stop to the Cult once and for all. There were many hard fought battles that pushed her to her limits; death was something she grew to fear far more than she had ever before as she realized just how much she had to lose, and her hope wavered. She did all she could to ensure their efforts would not be in vain but she was unsure if it would be enough. Even still, she pushed onwards.

They managed to convince the entire council in Waterdeep to join forces against Tiamat as a united front, even enlisting the help of the metallic dragons. Things were grim, but they had the best chance possible of victory, aided further by the fact that they had managed to keep the black dragon mask from falling into the hands of the Cult. It was unfortunately not enough.

During the final battle within the Well of Dragons, Vaniesa and her party attempted to stop the ritual that was to bring Tiamat to the material plane. She fought hard, and although she and the rest of her party fought with all they had, it was too late. A rift in space opened and the Chromatic Dragon Goddess revealed herself to all. She was weakened from the interference Vaniesa and her party had inflicted on the Cult's ritual, but even if she was not at her full strength, Tiamat had returned.

Vaniesa was more afraid than she had ever been in her life. Allies fell, were revived, only to fall once again. Tiamat's allies too fell as they were one by one killed, and eventually it was just Vaniesa's companions against the Dragon Goddess. Despite her best efforts Vaniesa grew frantic as it seemed her magic would not be enough to stop Tiamat, to keep her friends and her family safe. It seemed as if everything had been for nothing after all, but still she fought. And then... it was done. One of her companions, Bailey, landed one last blow against the Evil Goddess, and in a grand explosion Tiamat was gone. They had put an end to the Dragon Cult's plans. Tiamat was defeated, and their world was finally safe from Tiamat's tyranny.

She has PTSD from traumatic events that took place in her adventure, which then became worse after the final encounter where she faced Tiamat. This is a detriment she struggles with constantly.

She's very prone to guilt for things she's done or said, or things she didn't do.

She has a tendancy to throw herself into danger without too much thought at times, making her way to the frontlines even if she knows she'll get severely hurt. She doesn't care about her own well-being when others she cares about are in danger, caring much more about keeping others out of harm's way.

Her true emotions are something she tries to hide as much as possible, although she's very bad at actually doing this successfully. She doesn't want to bother others with her own problems.

Lying is something she's extremely bad at.

She has an intense fear of death, whether it's herself or others. This fear led her to vow to never to let another die under her care again.

She also has a slight fear of green chromatic dragons specifically. This stems from an incident where she was explicitly targeted and briefly killed by one while fighting Tiamat's cult.

She was homeschooled her entire life, taught by the attendants of Ioun's temple.

When she was very little, she had a childhood friend named Leon who was made to come to the temple. She helped him discover a love of learning and they became extremely close. Because he was human, she watched him grow old and eventually die of old age. This taught her about loss.

She's always wanted to learn an instrument.

The sensation of flight is something she adores. If an opportunity arises for her to fly for any reason, she'll take it in a hearbeat.

Design

Species

High Elf

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Designer

Sadincae

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Design Notes

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• she typically has her hair down, or the back portion braided
• there are faint burn scars on the left side of her face
• there are also faint thin scars across the left side of her face, across the bridge of her nose, and on her chin on the right side of her face
• she wears multiple rings, with at least one on nearly every finger
• the inside of her cloak appears like outer space, full of stars and constantly shifting

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Full reference image here.

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If drawing her cloak, the designs on the inside and outside can be simplified if necessary. The space appearance on the inside is the only thing not optional with her cloak.

Relationships

Illiandrus Lorathon - Daughter

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She loves her very much and is extremely proud of the progress Illiandrus has made to be a good person, especially knowing how much of a struggle it has been and always will be for her to do. However, she does hope that someday it will be for her own want and not to make Vaniesa happy. Despite the challenge it has been to raise her, Vaniesa has no regrets and is grateful she had made the decision to steal that egg away from the Cult of the Dragon. She doesn't want to even imagine how different everything would have been without Illiandrus in her life. She is always happy for her company on her adventures.

Ignatia Lorathon - Daughter

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She wishes she had a closer relationship with Ignatia but she also knows that the fault is her own for not being there when she was growing up. She accepts that there may always be resentment held against her as sad as it makes her. Vaniesa hopes to make amends to Ignatia somehow, no matter what she has to do. She's aware it doesn't fix the many years she couldn't be there for her properly, but she's willing to put in the work to prove to Ignatia that she does truly love and care for her, that she really does want her around, and that she does believe in her.

Rukodyne Akari - Husband

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He was unlike people she had encountered previously in her travels and this intrigued her, helped by the fact that he revealed himself to actually be a dragon. She grew from wanting to learn about him and his kind in an effort for her to properly raise Illiandrus, to having a genuine interest in being together with him outside of simply learning. She loves him and enjoys his company, being able to talk at length with him about things, and having someone who cared about her in return. She had one child with him, Ignatia, and the two of them try to keep both her and Illiandrus safe.

Adhoc Lorathon - Adoptive Father

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He had been the father she needed growing up when she had none, and she is forever grateful for all he did for her. She feels guilty for the trouble she's put him through but always tries to make it up to him somehow, especially once her new family has gotten involved and caused trouble of their own. She wants to make him proud and show him that he raised her right.

Nell - Friend

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A good friend she had met during her journey to stop the Cult of the Dragon's attempts to raise Tiamut again. She still blames herself for his death (both of them), even after he was revived in the end that feeling has never quite gone away. She wishes she could be a better friend and regrets not keeping in better contact with him after their adventure ended. On some level she doesn't feel she deserves to and can only hope that he's happy now that he's been united with his family.

Silver "Sil" Chromwell - Friend

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She was another person that Vaniesa had met when trying to stop the Cult of the Dragon. She feels terrible for all she'd had to go through when she was younger and constantly worries about how she's doing especially since she's aware that Sil isn't always honest about everything. She thinks of her as a good friend, although she wasn't great at keeping in contact with her for a while, something she feels guilty about. She wants to be a better friend on her own part and repair things between them.

Taryl - Acquaintance

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She thinks they're a very talented bard and is very interested in seeing Taryl's shows with their troupe someday once everything is calm again. She is flattered but also rather uncomfortable with the fact that they know so much about what she and her party did in their fight against the Cult of the Dragon, even if Taryl had some details wrong. They don't always get along, especially with how Taryl loves to tease her, but ultimately Vaniesa has grown to care about them.

Bailey Dinoryn - Acquaintance

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She finds him to be an intruging person, but she questions some of the decisions he makes at times and is admittedly off-put by certain quirks he has. He often joins in Taryl's teasing which drives her crazy as well. Despite all of that, he has been a welcome addition to their party that she is very glad to have met and she finds herself wanting to protect him. She hopes when their fight against Tiamat has concluded that he can finally find and help his brother, and she's willing to do what she can to assist him.

Sidrina Syllia - Acquaintance

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Sidrina seems to be quiet but has a side to her that Vaniesa isn't very sure she likes much. Vaniesa does find herself impressed with how capable she is in battle. She hopes that she'll have the ability to get to know Sidrina more in the future.