Natashya
Lady Natashya Dalterein, also referred to in some circles as "The Kestrel," was an assassin and high-ranking Enforcer within the Thieves' Guild prior to her death at the hands of the mercenary Twando. She lead a double-life as a noble within Zoluren following her involvement in the Sorrow War as an assassin, having procured papers establishing herself as the cousin of Edenlaen of Shard and distancing herself from her past, going so far as to have her appearance drastically altered with Shift. She engaged in a number of affairs with various heads-of-state prior to her death, and her motives for doing so are still questioned by most.
The Assassin
Under the moniker of "The Kestrel" Natashya served as Sorrow's assassin, picking off those he felt was a threat to his campaign. Among these was Paschein, who would later rise to Court Advisor of Zoluren and aid Natashya in her attempts to infiltrate Ilithi, Zoluren, and Therengia, by offering her Shifts and leaking valuable information to her.
The reputation she established during the conflict with Sorrow was that of a vicious but efficient murderer. Her name stuck in the mind of many, and she became briefly infamous before fading into obscurity for many years.
The Noblewoman
Natashya's first notable public appearance as a noblewoman was at Prince Vorclaf's coronation ceremony, where she gave him a pair of breeding kestrels. Her transition to a noblewoman was obviously not without controversy, as several remembered the name Natashya from the Sorrow War even if her appearance and mannerisms had changed.
Natashya's political accomplishments include meeting openly with Queen Morganae and negotiating herself an engagement to Prince Fayne, as well as procuring a token made from the bones of the Queen's enemies for some unknown purpose. It was during this time that Natashya was given the Maiden Alrina, who was instrumental in several of her plans, such as keeping an eye on Princess Arilana and preventing the birth of an heir to Zoluren's throne. Among her retinue was the scribe Aguisian as well, who served Natashya loyally from his position in the Keep until her death.
During this time, Natashya carried on romantic affairs with more than one political leader, including Vorclaf himself and Baron Gyfford. She was an accessory in the death of Baron Jeladric as well as being responsible for Vorclaf's prolonged illness many years ago and was responsible for causing Princess Arilana to have a miscarriage of her first daughter.
Her Death
Natashya was poisoned and attacked by a group of Human mercenaries twice during a visit in Therengia. Twando then revealed himself and, via proxy, explained that he was seeking to fulfill a contract with her that demanded the extraction and delivery of one of her eyes to an unknown employer. With the help of her bodyguards and some of her retinue, she managed to evade Twando and return to Zoluren.
Therengia then captured one of Twando's associates, named Farsten, who had been responsible for the poisoning and sent him to Zoluren for questioning. With the aid of Alrina, Majebrad, and Caelumia, Farsten was tortured for information then murdered and reduced to ashes after he was unable to provide any. This act would later serve as Twando's motivation for escalating his pursuit of Natashya to one of vengeance.
Natashya was finally captured when she and Satarra were ambushed near a shrine to Damaris, where Natashya was thinking of building a hoome. Satarra was beaten unconscious and Natashya was killed and her body abducted after a small struggle. Alrina, covered in Natashya's blood and mad with grief, lead a small group of people to the gallows tree north of Kaerna where Natashya's body, mutilated in a manner very similar to Farsten, was hung. Shortly thereafter, one of Twando's men doused the body and set it aflame, reducing her to nothing more than unresurrectable ashes and leaving her friends and companions wondering what to do next.
The Triad
In recent times prior to her death, Natashya had established a group of close companions that often aided her in accomplishing various tasks, everything from serving as bodyguards and spies to aiding her in acts of torture. Included among them were former Court Advisor Paschein, Ambassador to Therengia Pythea, Ragad, Majebrad, Mazrian, Rainea, Quawl, and Caelumia. The majority of these people still work to accomplish her final wishes, using their various political and social stations and connections to drive the tide of things in their desired way.
Included in this were three men referred to as the Triad, meant to accomplish some end of hers: Ragad who was referred to as her Voice and helped her handle affairs within the Thieves' Guild, Majebrad who was referred to as "arn fana" ("my flame") and was her lover, and Mazrian who she purported to call "arn haize" ("my wind") and whose position was established by Alrina following Natashya's death by giving him a brooch that Gyfford had given to Natashya. Natashya left a will to Ragad instructing him to carry out her last wishes and take on the mantle of her position within the Thieves' Guild, as well as leaving several instructions on how to deal with Alrina, who had begun to go mad due to her condition and her grief.
The ultimate purpose of the Triad is currently unknown, but one duty tasked to them will be delivering Alrina to the Mountain and the hands of Morganae, who may have some cure for her condition. Violent visions have been experienced by Moon Mages regarding the Triad following her death which may shed some light on her ultimate goals.
Visions
Your vision blurs, shapes melting into one another around you. The surrounding voices merge into an indecipherable cacophany that sets your ears ringing.
Colors drain from the landscape, shades of grey melding together and shifting against one another until they resemble a finely woven fabric. You try to sort through it with your eyes, but each thread you follow moves from your field of vision before you can reach its terminus.
The pattern undulates before you, just beyond your reach. Shapes form within the taut weave, rolling close to you before fading into the imagined loom. You try to identify each before it disappears: a triangle, a single leaf of clover, a trident, three moons rising and setting in rapid succession, a triskelion. A theme emerges among the spiraling symbols; at no time can you see the entire image before it fades -- one or more components are out of view.
A sense of being incomplete washes over you. You instinctively reach for the symbols to correct them. As your hand moves toward the pattern it shatters as if glass, brilliant spots of light burst searingly behind your eyes. The threads fall apart, disintegrating among a riotous clamor of voices that fuse to sound like hawks screeching in anger.
missing, will recover
A feeling like a band of iron encircles your chest, squeezing steadily. As it closes tighter and tighter you find it impossible to take a deep breath. A sense of panic builds as your air hunger rises. Your eyes tear up and your vision blurs as you teeter on the brink of unconsciousness.
A grey haze fills your field of vision, obscuring the details of your surroundings and tamping down the ambient light so that you lose all sense of direction. A presence moves past you, a dense mist that skims your perception.
Images form in front of you, the details coalescing just long enough for you to pick out one or two before they dissolve. A gleaming trident, a gladiolus with tattered petals, a single white rose dipped in blood, a lotus spinning madly across the surface of a deep green pool, they loom and fade as you hear the sound of an infant crying in the distance.
A tree burns to ash before your eyes, the glowing coals scattering before a gust of wind and winking out along a well-traveled road. The infant's cry turns to the shrieking cry of a hawk. Out of the murkiness a red-eyed raven suddenly looms in front of you. Cawing raucously it flings itself at your face, the wings beat at your face as the talons tear for your eyes, as if preventing you from seeing the rest of the tableau.
An ethereal wind buffets you, pushing the haze back and you find you can finally take a deep breath. A sense of frustration can be felt as the images waver, incomplete and too weak to sustain themselves they dissipate as your surroundings return to view.
Appearance
(post-Sorrow)
She has pointed ears and thick-lashed stormy grey eyes. Her auburn-streaked black hair is very long and wavy, and is worn pulled up in a topknot. She has fair skin and a lissome figure.
She is a bit over average height for an Elf.
She is young for an Elf.
She has a tattoo of a crimson drop trickling down from a bracelet of intertwined briars on her wrist.