Shandril
Name: ShandrilShandril's History:
Shandril can remember almost nothing of her early childhood and has
only the faintest memories of what could have been her mother. All she
remembers is a few glimpses of a female face, who she presumes was her
mother, the glint of light from some kind of blade and the sight and feeling
of red and sticky blood. She has carefully examined those memories and
has come to the conclusion that many situations that could have produced
those memories. It could have been that she was captured in a war somewhere
outside the Kingdom or it could have been that her parents made the wrong
enemy or just have been in the wrong place and were murdered. She remembers
only a few glimpses of her life for the next year or so and her first complete
memories are of being in a slave auction within the Western Empire. The
Western Empire is one of the places within the Palladium World where slaves,
including children, are sold. She was only about four years of age but
was very pretty and one of the likely purchasers would have been the owner
of a child brothel if fate had not intervened to send her into a different
path. A female wizard was looking for an apprentice and purchased Shandril
outbidding all of the other interested parties.
The female wizard named 'Crystaglase' was one of the most powerful female Mages living within the Western Empire and considered herself a scholar as well as a Wizardess. Crystaglase was always a bit bookish as well and avoided most contact outside of magical and scholarly pursuits. She was paid large fees for consulting and was very wealthy and owned an estate outside of the city. The estate was large and was surrounded by several acres of land. She had no children and been unable to find an either a female or male apprentice that seemed suitable. While she had been primarily looking for a female student, she had been willing to take a male apprentice if she could have one to her liking. She had looked in the city orphanage but the children she say were already hardened to the ways of the street and she considered that many of them would just attempt to take advantage of her wealth.
In addition to being a Wizardess and Scholar, Cystaglase was a minor psychic with the ability of Clairvoyance. She had a cryptic clairvoyant vision which drew her to the slave auction one day but with no concrete reason why. She sat in a seat near the back and watched the human merchandise being bought and sold. While disgusted with the slave auction, she was removed a step and considered it simply part of the way life runs in the Western Empire. She knew most of the slaves were criminals or debtors anyway and deserved their fates. She saw a girl child of around four years old that while dirty and in ragged cloths was quite pretty. The Wizardess was drawn to the child as the object of her vision. She read the aura of the child and saw incredible potential in the child and that the child could become the apprentice which she sought. Bidding was fierce but she simply doubled the bid of the highest bidder. This was more that most of the bidders could afford and the few that could have decided that they did not want to make the enemy of someone wearing Mage's robes.
Shandril was lead by one of the auction's guards to an incredibly large and expensive estate. This was the home of Crystaglase and was like nothing the young girl had ever seen. The girl was thoroughly cleaned up by the female mage's servants by order of their mistress and dressed in new clothing. Shandril thought she had been bought as some sort of house servant but the differential treatment by the house servants seemed to contradict this. It was not until the girl was cleaned up that she actually met Crystaglase for the first time. The Wizardess had been unwilling to meet a dirty ragamuffin of a child and so had waited until the child had been cleaned up. The female Mage told the child that she was no longer a slave but she was expected to learn what Crystaglase taught her or she would be put onto the streets. Shandril was allowed the remainder of the day and that night to rest before the education began. It started with the study of proper language skills and learning to read and write. This was some augmented with learning both the written and spoken word of the classical Elven language. More and more subjects were added to the girl's studies including history and mathematics. Shandril was able to barely keep up but the studies would have crushed many adults. Cystaglase could never be considered a loving person but was a good teacher although incredibly taxing. In addition to purely scholarly educations, Shandril was expected to keep in shape and exercise often. In Crystaglase words "A strong mind requires a strong body!"
It was not until Shandril was ten years old that Crystaglase made the offer to Shandril to teach her magic. Shandril was already far along in her scholarly education and was fluent in multiple languages. The Mage made clear that if Shandril did not want to become an apprentice Wizardess, she could still complete her education as a scholar. The girl had long ago been taught magic theory and had wanted to become a Mage herself. The apprenticeship was as brutal as anything she had been through before this time but she was able to keep up with this as well. In addition to her magic studies, Shandril was sent to a local weapons trainer to learn basic hand to hand so she could defend herself if she decided to travel. When Shandril was twelve years old, she began to manifest psychic abilities. This added even more studies because she had to learn to control them but there were compensations. The two talents she developed were Total Recall and Speed Reading which once developed actually helped her studies.
When Shandril was fourteen, Crystaglase made the enemy of a politician because she refused to pay some bribes and both her and her apprentice were forced to flee the city. She settled in another city in the Western Empire although on the other side of the kingdom and a much smaller city. The Mage lost a large amount of her moneys and about a quarter of her library while moving. The house that they settled, while still upperclass, was much smaller and was within the city proper. Because of the large number of books, the house was very crowded. The number of servants was reduced to three from six in the previous estate. Crystaglase could not collect as large a fees for consulting because of being in a new city but still could collect a respectable income from it. As time went on, some of the more minor research work was given to Shandril while the young woman completely her magic training. This is where some of her money came from and funded equipment for her later adventuring.
When Shandril finished her apprenticeship, she decided to adventure for a few years because large amounts of money can be acquired that way and it is one of the best ways to find both magic spells and magic items. She was given a magic amulet by her teacher before leaving for adventuring.
[Federation of Magic TM, Adventures on the High Seas TM, and Woomwood are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts®, and Nightbane® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]
Image by Lisa M. Mower.
By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).
Copyright © 2001, Kitsune. All rights reserved.