A Voice In The Dark: The Story of Nerysankh-Banoub

Some people are born merely to live. Some people are born to conquer. Some people are born to accomplish much greater things than even they could ever imagine. Nerysankh-Banoub was one such person born for greater things. She was born to an aristocratic family of pure Stygian blood. Her father was a necromancer and a henchman of the powerful sorcerer Thoth-Amon. Nerysankh, like many other Stygians, was raised to worship Set above all else. Despite this, she was always uncomfortable with the ways of Set worship. She felt horribly for those that became the Chosen of Set, even though she had been taught that it was a great blessing. An astute and intelligent girl, she began to follow in her father’s footsteps when it came to necromancy.

As Nerysankh grew into a young teenaged woman, something happened that would forever change the course of her life. While shuffling around in an old tomb she’d discovered and was using to study her necromantic arts, the young aristocrat stumbled upon an old tome about the noble and peaceful heron god, Ibis. Ibis had been worshiped in Stygia before Thoth-Amon had outlawed it and forced the worship of Set. Nerysankh was intrigued by this heron god, whom she felt more akin to than she ever had to the god Set. So, she took the tome and kept it hidden in the wine cellars of her family’s home. Every chance Nerysankh had, she would sneak down into the cellar and study the tome. Soon enough, she secretly began to worship Ibis and forsook the foul practices of Set worship.

As Nerysankh embraced the ways of Ibis she became more and more intolerable to the evils visited upon the people of Stygia and outsiders all in the name of the serpent god. At the age of seventeen, Nerysankh began an underground movement to help the Chosen of Set that did not want to be sacrificed escape the clutches of the Set priesthood. Those individuals were secretly smuggled across Stygia’s borders to begin new lives in other lands. Soon enough the underground movement extended to slaves as well. The underground went undiscovered for a full year until they were betrayed by one of their own. The discovery of this underground rebellion reached the ears of Thoth-Amon himself. Thoth-Amon’s wrath was terrible and public. Torturous examples were made to show what happens to those that crossed the sorcerer and did not succumb to his will. Though Nerysankh’s name had not been one of those revealed she was outraged by Thoth-Amon’s cruelty.

Nerysankh did not go completely unnoticed, though. Her own father had suspected her for some time. After the revealing and public example of those of the underground he pleaded with his only child to stop the nonsense of Ibis worship and to forget her rebellion. Nerysankh refused and, unable to bear turning his daughter over to the cruel hands of Thoth-Amon, her father cast her out of his household. He stripped her of their family name and bid her never return lest he hand her over to the priests of Set.

For several days Nerysankh wandered the streets of Khemi until she met a beautiful young woman who was elegantly dressed even though it was obvious she was not of aristocratic blood. This intrigued Nerysankh so she engaged the woman in conversation. The woman took pity on the dirty and ragged young lady and treated her to a meal. As Nerysankh filled her ravenous belly the woman explained to her that she was an entertainer for a house of entertainment called the Dark Lotus. The woman explained that the house was owned by Madame Hepshumun and had become a home to many of those that found themselves lost and without purpose. Taking further pity on Nerysankh, the woman took her to the Dark Lotus and introduced her to Hepshumun.

Madame Hepshumun took an instant liking to Nerysankh. Within a few months they were almost inseparable. At the Dark Lotus Nerysankh learned the ins and outs of the entertainment business. She learned to dance, sing, and entice. She learned the most exquisite of the erotic arts and how to assess her customers to be able to tell them everything they wanted to hear to bolster their spirits. Hepshumun saw much more in Nerysankh than a simple entertainer, though. So, she also taught the young woman how to handle the business side of the Dark Lotus. She taught her accounting and numbers, linguistics, the different cultures of the world, and even about politics and laws. When Hepshumun passed from illness several years later, she named Nerysankh as the new madame of the Dark Lotus. Nerysankh was twenty-four years of age at the time.

It had been several years since the days of the underground rebellion but that purpose had never left Nerysankh’s mind. Since that time her father, the only person left who knew of her previous involvement, had passed into senility and was no longer a threat to her being discovered. Now, Nerysankh had the financial means to truly make a difference. Not long after Nerysankh became the madame of the Dark Lotus she began the underground resistance anew. By that time there were many in Stygia who were embittered by the tyranny of Thoth-Amon and his priests of Set.

Nerysankh is now thirty-two years of age. For several years her underground resistance has thrived, though have been unable to truly overthrow the current government. They actively smuggle slaves and those unfairly convicted for bogus crimes out of Stygia still. Nerysankh abhors slavery, though she does have a few slaves to keep up appearances. These “slaves” are actually trusted friends and allies that are part of the resistance. As the one who funds the resistance, Nerysankh’s involvement is highly secretive. Only the most privileged leaders of the resistance know from where the resistance’s gold comes from. In the public eye Nerysankh has become almost a celebrity in Stygia because of the Dark Lotus and its success. Because of this, the Dark Lotus is a great means of garnering information to learn who needs aid in Stygia. Despite it being a house of pleasures, the Dark Lotus is known to be a classy place. Nerysankh does not tolerate anyone treating her entertainers as anything less than ladies and gentlemen. It is also one of the few houses of entertainment that caters to both genders and all preferences.

Recently, Nerysankh has joined the Sealladh alliance. She finds the alliance beneficial to her secret cause because it gives her a safe place to send those escaping from Stygia. It also gives her allies should she ever be discovered and need escape and protection from her homeland as well. Also, it provides more business for the Dark Lotus, therefore, more funds for the resistance. Especially if she can convince the magistrate to allow her to build a branch of the Dark Lotus in the Sealladh city. For now, Nerysankh does not trust anyone in Sealladh enough to share her secret with them. Perhaps, in time, that will change.


(Sorry for giving you guys another wall of text to read. I told you she had a long RP history. >.> I hope you enjoy it though.)