A daughter of Ginafae deVir, matron and namesake of the fourth house of Mezoberranzan, Verania deVir enjoyed many early years of power and luxury that spoiled her thoroughly. Or perhaps it was more intrinsic; from babehood on she proved impatient and greedy, though not without the lust and ambition to seize for herself what was not freely given. And that she did well on many occasions, through cunning and charm exceptional even for a drow, an expert at manipulation, intimidation, and deception.
Verania deVir
Drow Elf
Neutral Evil
Bard-Sorceress
Performance in general, perhaps because of her incessant desires to be the center of attention, proved both her forte and her primary pursuit. With an unquenchable exhibitionist streak she staged numerous performances, the supporting cast usually culled from thespian slaves, clebrating the glory of her house, her goddess Lolth, or drow culture at large, always with undeniable zeal and talent, and she grew fond of boasting that charm was in her very blood.
She found herself to be right, in a way, for as she reached drow maturity, she found herself exhibiting faint telekinetic powers, and upon demanding answers to her mother, the matron would calmly explain that her father must have been the personal slave that had been a house sorcerer (until she broke him), a male supposedly descended from Synix'llisin'icon, a fabled black dragon that had, the myth goes, flown from another universe with a wraith-knight upon his back many ages ago. Verania kept her talent private, and practiced it in secret, lest it somehow be used against her, and continued with more fervor than ever her obscene lifestyle of so many public performances and personal slaves, and had she been more introspective, which she was not, might have noted the paradox of her nature - an inherent love of attention from anyone, though she despised everyone.
She brushed it all off as her way of getting ahead, but her material and social status would in time diminish with her house's, culminating when one of her sisters, the priestess Viconia, betrayed Lolth. The unthinkable emabrrassment was compounded when their male sibling Valas proved traitorous as well by narrowly foiling his sister's execution. Valas was given a new life as a drider, but Viconia escaped unpunished to the surface world. Not long after, the house finally fell, to the mere ninth house Do'Urden of the city of all things.
Humiliated and enraged, Verania sold much of what (and whom) she possessed, and with her sister Visinia took over a Mezoberranzan tavern-playhouse. Verania was disgusted that she would have to work like a commoner, but found some solace in continuing her theatrical pursuits, which usually starred herself and retained her characteristic blend of provocative and propagandic material. The sisters' entrepreneurial venture earned them much wealth, if only a tiny fraction of what they once knew, and an even paler shadow of their former status, though Verania quickly surrounded herself with choice male slaves once again.
Her favorite was the young warrior Arsenal Za'rath, a male of unknown lineage but rare skill in several respects. A swordsman also of some magical talent, he had just returned from a surface raid with the mercenary company she had purchased him from. Unfortunately, after an all-too-brief time in her covetous and demanding possession, he would mysteriously disappear, and Verania would learn upon angry inquisition of the mercenaries more about that surface raid. Arsenal's squad, engaging a platoon of paladins in a forest skirmish, had had the battle interrupted when both groups were overpowered and captured alike by a horde of vicious wild elves. The few surviving drow and men had languished in remote captivity for days, but some of the drow had eventually escaped, been found by a retrieval party (they had been considered worth the investment) and brought, though starved, scarred, and sunburnt, back to the Underdark. It had since been beaten out of one of the mercenary-slaves, however, that they had omitted from their original story that, despite the deeply ingrained hatreds on both sides, the men and drow had realized they would have to work together to have any hope of escaping. They did so, and apparently, it had been learned, even then parted without ever finishing their fight.
It wasn't long before reports reached Mezoberranzan of a lone male having recently escaped to the surface via the same tunnel the raiding party had used, nor much longer still before a truly wild rumor germinated - that a drow wizard-paladin of Mystra had appeared on the surface world. Verania couldn't have spun a more despicable story herself and was livid. Her worst fears came true when this rumor was popularly connected with the story of her own missing slave, and she was publicly humiliated beyond anything she could have imagined. She decided the only way to regain any shred of respect was to personally make the dangerous trek to the surface and reclaim her rightful slave.
She bad barely gotten to that empty, blinding place when she recieved the worst possible news from below - her sister Visinia had betrayed her, fueling the wildest variations of the rumors that she herself had encouraged Arsenal's traitorous behavior, and gone to the surface to join him and her fellow Lolth-renouncing sister Viconia. The matrons, ready to believe yet another deVir had gone renegade, had the city guard ready to arrest, if not slay, her on sight. Visinia, of course, had thus claimed her sister's stake in the playhouse and her slaves and other possessions.
Verania realized there was no turning back now, even though this was, for her even more than most drow, the worst place imaginable - where she was a pariah, forced to stay out of sight, where the attention she was so addicted to meant death. And yet her skills would be put to the test: she would coax and charm Arsenal if she could, and use her innate powers to forcibly enchant him if she had to. She followed rumors of her quarry to Luskan, for she now had only one ticket out of this accursed sun-scorched world and back to the Underdark: Arsenal Za'rath, subjugated, broken, and enslaved.
Verania deVir
Drow Elf
Neutral Evil
Bard-Sorceress
Performance in general, perhaps because of her incessant desires to be the center of attention, proved both her forte and her primary pursuit. With an unquenchable exhibitionist streak she staged numerous performances, the supporting cast usually culled from thespian slaves, clebrating the glory of her house, her goddess Lolth, or drow culture at large, always with undeniable zeal and talent, and she grew fond of boasting that charm was in her very blood.
She found herself to be right, in a way, for as she reached drow maturity, she found herself exhibiting faint telekinetic powers, and upon demanding answers to her mother, the matron would calmly explain that her father must have been the personal slave that had been a house sorcerer (until she broke him), a male supposedly descended from Synix'llisin'icon, a fabled black dragon that had, the myth goes, flown from another universe with a wraith-knight upon his back many ages ago. Verania kept her talent private, and practiced it in secret, lest it somehow be used against her, and continued with more fervor than ever her obscene lifestyle of so many public performances and personal slaves, and had she been more introspective, which she was not, might have noted the paradox of her nature - an inherent love of attention from anyone, though she despised everyone.
She brushed it all off as her way of getting ahead, but her material and social status would in time diminish with her house's, culminating when one of her sisters, the priestess Viconia, betrayed Lolth. The unthinkable emabrrassment was compounded when their male sibling Valas proved traitorous as well by narrowly foiling his sister's execution. Valas was given a new life as a drider, but Viconia escaped unpunished to the surface world. Not long after, the house finally fell, to the mere ninth house Do'Urden of the city of all things.
Humiliated and enraged, Verania sold much of what (and whom) she possessed, and with her sister Visinia took over a Mezoberranzan tavern-playhouse. Verania was disgusted that she would have to work like a commoner, but found some solace in continuing her theatrical pursuits, which usually starred herself and retained her characteristic blend of provocative and propagandic material. The sisters' entrepreneurial venture earned them much wealth, if only a tiny fraction of what they once knew, and an even paler shadow of their former status, though Verania quickly surrounded herself with choice male slaves once again.
Her favorite was the young warrior Arsenal Za'rath, a male of unknown lineage but rare skill in several respects. A swordsman also of some magical talent, he had just returned from a surface raid with the mercenary company she had purchased him from. Unfortunately, after an all-too-brief time in her covetous and demanding possession, he would mysteriously disappear, and Verania would learn upon angry inquisition of the mercenaries more about that surface raid. Arsenal's squad, engaging a platoon of paladins in a forest skirmish, had had the battle interrupted when both groups were overpowered and captured alike by a horde of vicious wild elves. The few surviving drow and men had languished in remote captivity for days, but some of the drow had eventually escaped, been found by a retrieval party (they had been considered worth the investment) and brought, though starved, scarred, and sunburnt, back to the Underdark. It had since been beaten out of one of the mercenary-slaves, however, that they had omitted from their original story that, despite the deeply ingrained hatreds on both sides, the men and drow had realized they would have to work together to have any hope of escaping. They did so, and apparently, it had been learned, even then parted without ever finishing their fight.
It wasn't long before reports reached Mezoberranzan of a lone male having recently escaped to the surface via the same tunnel the raiding party had used, nor much longer still before a truly wild rumor germinated - that a drow wizard-paladin of Mystra had appeared on the surface world. Verania couldn't have spun a more despicable story herself and was livid. Her worst fears came true when this rumor was popularly connected with the story of her own missing slave, and she was publicly humiliated beyond anything she could have imagined. She decided the only way to regain any shred of respect was to personally make the dangerous trek to the surface and reclaim her rightful slave.
She bad barely gotten to that empty, blinding place when she recieved the worst possible news from below - her sister Visinia had betrayed her, fueling the wildest variations of the rumors that she herself had encouraged Arsenal's traitorous behavior, and gone to the surface to join him and her fellow Lolth-renouncing sister Viconia. The matrons, ready to believe yet another deVir had gone renegade, had the city guard ready to arrest, if not slay, her on sight. Visinia, of course, had thus claimed her sister's stake in the playhouse and her slaves and other possessions.
Verania realized there was no turning back now, even though this was, for her even more than most drow, the worst place imaginable - where she was a pariah, forced to stay out of sight, where the attention she was so addicted to meant death. And yet her skills would be put to the test: she would coax and charm Arsenal if she could, and use her innate powers to forcibly enchant him if she had to. She followed rumors of her quarry to Luskan, for she now had only one ticket out of this accursed sun-scorched world and back to the Underdark: Arsenal Za'rath, subjugated, broken, and enslaved.