Awenis



“Call her not fragile, but fey.

Call her not delicate, but dire.

Call her not snow fresh-fallen in May

For red-hot was her lonely pyre.”

Born in the year 976 A.A., second child to the illustrious Saurivic family of Vaelona, the Lady Awenis has inspired all manner of songs both adoring and tragic. Although her life was as short as it was tumultuous, Awenis Saurivic’s story continues to captivate young noblewomen in every corner of the world. Paradoxically, even though many parents of these same youths would hold it up as a cautionary tale, Awenis’ example has prompted more than one noble-born girl to eschew the safety and comfort of her family estate and strike out to make her own way in the world. For as many girls that give up and return home, an equal measure find employable skill sets, purpose, and possibility amongst the masses. Many hold Awenis up as defying expectations when one considers the capabilities of a “noble maiden fair”. Most do not seem to recall or indeed care that her exploits ended in tragedy; to the minds of the young people of Goran, all that matters is the personal autonomy Lady Awenis claimed—and indeed seized—beforehand.

Lady Awenis Saurivic of Vaelona grew up fairly insulated from the bustling social circles of Goran’s “romance city”, as her parents Lord Jahaelis and Lady Rosarin kept her and her elder brother Jatheryn mostly within the confines of the family estate. As the first officially documented Vaelir in Goran since approximately the 2nd century, Awenis was secondarily affected by her mother’s healing at the hands of a Blue Obad. As a result, the Saurivics limited her public appearances (Lord Jatheryn, who was primarily affected, was so rarely seen in public that some in Vaelona considered his existence to be mere urban legend). Despite Awenis’ cloistered life, the affair which she initiated at the age of seventeen with Lord Darenel Tremaris has provided endless inspiration for youthful lovers of generations to follow. Although their courtship was ultimately ill-fated (many might call it star-crossed), it served as the catalyst which propelled Awenis to not only abandon the Saurivic estate, but to take her elder brother Jatheryn with her.

The defection of the White Saurivics rocked the inheritance of the Saurivic family line. Their disappearance supplanted the proud and unyielding Lord Jahaelis in the succession, and eventually even guaranteed the collapse of the Saurivic line. Although the Saurivic blood continues to survive intermingled in the lineages of other noble houses, the black and gold Saurivic family crest is no longer to be found flying above the skyline of Vaelona. That the actions of a single girl, defiant and uncompromising, could bring down a bloodline descended from the body of First King Amenthis himself both boggles the mind and inflames the imagination.