A bookworms life

(( this is the background of Demetrea ))

Born to a fairly prosperous merchant family young Demetrea had an easy life growing up. She was schooled by scholars in their home in Tarantia and showed a tremendous interest in reading and learning. Her father had many connections threw his line of work and would purchase scrolls and books for his daughter to help sate her thirst for knowledge but in fact it only grew from there. Demetrea's mother however was not thrilled with her desire for knowledge.

With a strong belief that one could learn all they would ever need to know from the teachings of Mitra Demetrea's mother pushed her to study to become a priest. Since Demetrea truly loved learning just about every subject she did not protest and even enjoyed her lessons. And so she spent most of her days split between the Library and the Temple of Tarantia, only going home to eat and sleep.

Though this was not a typical life for a young girl even in the capitol of Aquilonia she was very happy and both the scholars of the library and the priests of the temple grew very fond of her. However, when the Nemedians took control of the noble's district of Tarantia Demetrea's fate would be forever changed. As her father did most of his business in the noble's district the family fell on hard financial times. The head priest of the Temple had just stepped down from his post and the man who stepped up into the vacated position was far less open minded and soon the priest took on a resentment to Demetrea's scholarly pursuits believing that the Scholars were filling her head with blasphemous rubbish. And so they decided that Demetrea would be best off being sent into the countryside to spread the word of Mitra and to get some real practice with her talent for calling upon the divine essence of Mitra to heal the sick and wounded.

Happy to have one less mouth to feed her parents fully supported this idea. Although it would break her heart to have to leave her home, and especially the resources of the library, she was a little excited as well. She could not go on to see all the places she had read about and seen on the maps she studied. She informed the scholars who mentored her that she would be leaving and they were very disappointed, however they lent her a couple books to read on her travels and gave her an old mare to carry her and her things. Demetrea however had never ridden a horse before but was relatively confident that she would be able to do so as she had read about horses before.

She spent most of the next day looking for someone she could hire on as a guide as she was not able to bring any of the maps with her but soon she discovered that the few coins she had would not even cover the cost to have someone show her to the nearest settlement. Luck would shine down upon her as a priest who looked to be in his late twenties offered to guide her to her destination. Being that he was a man of Mitra Demetrea felt that she could trust him and so they set out on their journey, albeit rather slowly. Demetrea quickly discovered that she in fact had very little knowledge of horses and even less of riding and she felt very uncomfortable in the saddle and never let the animal go faster then a brisk walk.

Being of a rather inquisitive nature she would ask the priest and endless stream of questions which over time began to try the mans patience. It also soon became apparent that the two had very different beliefs in their methods of priesthood. Demetrea found violence to be appalling where as the man was of the opinion that the wicked should be punished and Mitra would then pass judgment upon them. She also felt that the consumption of alcohol was sinful as it altered your mind and judgment but the man would drink at every possible opportunity. This was the first time in her life that she felt she discovered something that she had no interest in learning about.

Given an opportunity to work for the ennobled family that the priest she traveled with pledged loyalty to she decided to take up the offer and was determined to prove that violence was not an answer to this man. She was also thrilled to find that the tract of land her new employer ruled over had it's own library and soon she began to spend most of her time there. She would pass the hours not only reading but also organizing the scrolls and books by subject matter. She also became rather close to the head priestess of the temple there and learned many things from her including herbal lore and the art of diplomacy.

She on occasion would travel back to Tarantia to visit her parents and her sholar friends at the library. However upon learning of her studies of herbs and magicks, even though both were for the sake of healing, she was cast out of the temple of Mitra and forbidden to return. She did not really understand the priests reaction but a part of her was in fact relieved to have the freedom to learn anything she wished. But as happens to many of the minor houses of the land the house she worked for fell from power and she found herself unsure what to do. No longer a part of the Mitran temple her quest was over and with her parents having a hard time to even feed themselves of late she was unwilling to burden them with her presence. She began to wonder the countryside where she fell in with Sealladh who attracted her with their belief in protecting the weak from those with evil in their hearts. Though she still spends most of her time in her library she has also begun to cultivate plants and even has her own garden of herbs.