She walks in shadow. Literally. Wherever light and darkness merge--where neither has predominance--she melds with the shade and traverses the Void to The Tenebrae. But she is not alone in this ability.
Katrina Vatterly is a member of a secret order of shadow walkers known as the Skaen Sisters, a cabal of assassins in league with the Nephreqin. Little is known about these women, for their very nature is one of complete secrecy, and even Nephreqin agents are wary in their presence. Katrina's inclusion in their number is also a closely-held secret.
She was born in the nation of Arvoria, in a small village near the Pineywoods. As the Wars of Attrition ravaged the eastern nations, her family fell in with a column of refugees seeking a more peaceful life along the shores of East Lothania and Trelini. Some braved the more direct route through the Skymounts, but others followed the valley of the Rae Sarcoss, and this proved a fatal mistake. Bandits, seeking a tidy profit from war-torn areas, scooped up the refugees by the hundreds and sold them to the highest bidders, and it was during one of these raids that Katrina, only ten, was separated from her family and sold to pirate lords.
After some months of adoption by a ship's captain, during which time she frequently hid herself while aboard ship so well that no one could find her for days, she was sold across the Cobalt Expanse to the Janwyn Chersonese. There she was methodically abused and broken so that she could be methodically restored and trained according to her gifts. Her natural ability to escape notice was honed and enhanced. And she was granted the knowledge of shadow walking and inducted into the Sisterhood.
Today, Katrina runs missions for the Nephreqin as an independent covert operative. Her acquaintance with The Tenebrae has become her comfort; her family consists of Skaen Sisters and Nephreqin Brothers. She has but one father, the All-Father of Worlds, whom she obeys without question.
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