Vashi-Ko

Early Life

Vashi was born under the sign of the Ritual, on the nineteenth of Morning Star, in the five-hundredth-and-sixty-seventh year of the Second Era in Lainalten, Western Skyrim, on the border of the Reach.Vashi's parents moved to Skyrim to escape the Knahaten Flu which ravaged Elsweyr and killed many in its wake. Vashi's mother fell ill from travel fatigue and the cold climate of Skyrim and never fully recovered. She died in childbirth two years later with Vashi, her only child. Vashi's father was left to raise Vashi alone, racked with grief from losing his wife, partially blaming Vashi for her death and neglecting her needs.Vashi scarce was given three meals a day, and what food she did get was low quality, stunting her growth. Vashi was never taken proper care of by her father, who had grown to resent her and resent Skyrim. Vashi escaped into the realm of literature to keep her mind away from her life situation, and learned to read and write with help from Mages Guild tutors who her father had reluctantly enrolled her in to keep her out of his hair for a few hours every week.The guild mages however took notice of Vashi's malnourishment and asked if she was getting proper care from her father. Vashi didn't want to answer truthfully in fear of incurring her father's wrath, so she lied and said she was a Dagi Khajiit which are smaller by nature. The guild mages doubted her and began giving her food during her tutoring sessions which she of course gobbled down.Eventually, when Vashi was able to move about on her own, around 12 years of age, she began a series of burglaries to afford to buy herself food and take care of her own needs. When her father discovered she had been stealing, he beat her to the brink of death and locked her in her room. Vashi could not take the abuse anymore and gathered the strength to leave her father and his accursed home forever.She fled to the mages guild, confessing all that had happened to her and apologizing for lying to them. The guild steward, a big nord with a bigger heart, took her in and made her an associate of the mages guild having seen her aptitude for scholarship and magic throughout her years of tutoring in the guild. Vashi's father was reported to the local authorities and arrested for child abuse and battery, left to rot in prison. He was eventually deported from Skyrim back to Elsweyr, ironically reinforcing the Nordic prejudice against Khajiit. Vashi never heard from him again and did not care to.

Up-and-coming

Vashi continued to engross herself in lore and magic, becoming a studied minor historian of modern Tamrielic history, and a practicing novice cryomancer, restorationist, and alterationist. Vashi made friends in Lainalten and liked to show off her new spells she was learning and put on shows for the other kids. Vashi gained her "Ko" Honorific around this time, being well known within the city for her magical spectacles and innocent harmless practical jokes played on its residents.At this time, the Soulburst occurred, which affected all of the mages in Lainalten and all across Tamriel. Vashi's progress in learning magic, much like her early physical development, was stunted for a time, and it took her and the other mages many months to recover from this catastrophe. In the mean time, she continued to read and learn lore. The guild steward allowed her access to more advanced books, some of which taught more about the Daedra in a mostly unbiased way. Vashi became obsessed with the "Demon of knowledge", Hermaeus Mora, and wanted to learn more. The Mages there frowned on her liking to Mora, warning her of the dangers of the Woodland Man. She of course obliged and agreed to put it to rest, but when she was alone, she continued her study of the elusive prince.A few years passed and Molag Bal's Planemeld began. This event didn't much effect Lainalten itself, but it did severely effect the Mages Guild, and Vashi's access to new books and new spells dwindled over the next two years. After two nearly back-to-back stalls of her learning and growth as a mage, Vashi decided to look outside the guild for knowledge, to the Woodland Man, Hermaeus Mora, himself.

Adulthood

at the age of 16, when she gained full legal autonomy, Vashi deciphered old legends of the Pine Forest of Falcrenth to be where Mora cultists once had a presence, and decided to track down where a shrine to the Prince of Knowledge may be. She set out to the town of Oakwood north of Falcrenth to begin her search, hoping she may discover old legends that may pinpoint any notable locations.Upon arriving in Oakwood, she found exactly what she'd betted on, a town of menial workers, superstitious Nord folk scared to death of the daemons of the Pine Forest. Resting for a few nights in Oakwood, she continued to pry the locals for legends before setting out to track down these leads herself.Vashi soon discovered though, that Hermaeus Mora will not be found unless he wants to be found, and Vashi ended up empty handed for the first three weeks of her search. Just as she was about to give up, the woodland man himself appeared before her, a grotesque assemblage of almost fungal looking growths writhing from the trunk of a tree. It spoke to her and identified himself as Hermamora, The Golden Eye, the Gardener of men, Hermaeus Mora, and stated he knew she was looking for him. Hermaeus Mora could use a servant like herself and promised her a reward in exchange for the first snowfall to land on Oakwood in the fall. Vashi asked him why he would want something such as that, and Mora replied simply "Memory"Vashi waited in Oakwood, taking up a small job to earn her keep in the inn, tending the bar, an exotic keeper, serving drinks, in exchange for a room and food. It was only the month of Sun's Height when this arrangement was made, so Vashi worked for many months before snowfall began in Frostfall. When the time came, dutifully, she gathered as much snow as she could in a few glass bottles and promptly returned to the forest where Mora was patiently awaiting her gift to him. In exchange, Vashi's reward would be becoming Hermaeus Mora's willing servant in southern Skyrim, and the shenanigans began.