Back Story

Monastery of Bianca

Ravenna was raised by her mother with her twin half-sister, who's half-elven, in Bretonia near the Chalons Forest. As a young girl, her mother sent her to study the physician's art at a near-by Biancan monastery. The Biancan order is devoted to caring for others, and the monasteries are also hospitals, open to anyone. Although the Biancans are centered in Bretonia, their monasteries have spread widely. Younger monks often travel widely, ministering to whoever needs it, and collecting notes on any inujuries, diseases, and cures they come across. These notes are copied and left at any Biancan monastery they come to in their travels. Eventually, many of them pick a monastery, or even begin their own new one, to live in and teach new monks the arts of the healer.

The goddess Bianca picks out certain of her monks to be Healer-Monks. These Healers can heal magically with Her power. The other monks are Physicians, and use herbs and their own knowledge and skills that anyone might learn. Their training sees to it that their skills are much higher than ordinary physicians.

Biancans do not believe in fostering violence, but are well aware that others are not so gentle. Students who plan to go about in the outside world are taught to use their body in self-defense or defense of others. They are forbidden to use anything as a weapon, however; a Biancan monk may only harm others with their own flesh.

While training as a physician, another monk noticed a peculiar ability. She can heal magically, yet as a Healer-Priest, he knows she is not performing any magic whatsoever. He thought long and hard what to do about her. This power was strictly illegal, and he wasn't certain she should be doing sort-of-magical things without Bianca's blessing. Yet it was a great gift. So he taught her to use it and hide behind the normal physician's art.

Travelling Circus

Ravenna's sister, Carmella, had left home to travel with a troupe of performers. They were nearby when Ravenna was ready to go out into the world, so she decided to re-join her sister and travel with the entertainers. She was even able to perform herself, because the physical training she had received had made her limber and acrobatic.

The troupe had a manager, but shortly after Ravenna joined, he was carted off to jail and they were left with only themselves and what they carried. They travelled on their own, trying to earn a living. The group was the usual motley mix of people:

• Jason Featherhand, who acted as the leader of the group. He was a very dark, black, hairless man from somewhere far to the south. He wore a well-polished helmet on his head, and was a skilled and powerful pugilist.
• Og, a half-orc. He had a completely unique style of fighting that he called "clown-fighting", and it served well as entertainment as well. He always dressed in fool's motley.
• Eisenfindel, an elf who was equally skilled with bow and lyre.
• Prestly, a very small elf not more than 3 feet tall. He was a hypnotist and prestidigitator. He also had a purely mental skill, like Ravenna, that he took care not to reveal to others lest he be burned at the stake. He was able to see through solid objects; locked doors, wall, and closed boxes were no obstacles to his sight.
• Carmella, who was also acrobatic and sometimes accompanied Eisenfindel as a singer. She had the ability, carefully kept secret, to make small items hot and even catch fire.
• Ravenna.

A Picture of Ravenna

She is small and slight, with pale skin and thick, black, curly hair. She's about 5 feet, 2 inches tall and a scant 100 pounds. Although not strong, she's wiry and graceful. Her eyes are green, and she's lightly freckled.