Tanith Vursur

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TANITH VURSUR

Race: Dark Elf

Born: 1273

Spouse: Icroth Vursur

Tanith Vursur (Previously Tanith Toov and Tanith Gyffard) is a Dark Elf researcher, author, and mage who has been living among humanity from the very early modern period.

Early Life

Tanith was born 1273 to unknown parents in the land of Aegis. She was born in the elven princedom of Malinor under the rule of Prince Native. Tanith’s parents fell into debt with the one of the many bandit lords that plagued Aegis. Tanith was taken from her family as collateral with the promise she would be returned once payment was made. However, the bandits sold Tanith into indentured servitude in Al’khazar, and Tanith would never see her family again.

The White Rose

Tanith was bought by a minor Al’khazar noble lord, then bounced between employers for a period of several years before finally winning her freedom in 1370. Tanith joined the Order of the White Rose very shortly after their founding in 1371, when she was hired by Velwyn Ashford as a cook, gardener, and housekeeper.

Tanith would come to adopt the White Rose's views including their virulent hatred of elves, to the point that one day she carved off the ends of her ears with a kitchen knife.

While working for the Rose, Tanith began a courtship with Captain Baldir Toov. She married him in 1374. They remained married up until the White Rose’s Exodus to Aeldin in 1420. In the confusion and chaos of preparing for the Great Exodus, Tanith was left behind by the White Rose.

She remained in Anthos for more than three decades until 1456, when Peter Chivay returned to claim his title as Emperor. Tanith had been friends with Peter Chivay and heard of his return, but chose to remain in obscurity after learning that her husband Baldir Toov had died abroad in Aeldin.

Petrus

Tanith lived in Petrus during the reigns of Tobias I, Alexander I, and King Andrik Vydra following the Vibian Coup. She worked the fields and lived in a modest apartment in the city. In 1494, he remarried a wood elf by the name of Theo Olora, although it was a marriage born of convenience. Theo was homosexual and feared reprisal from the humans for acting on his feelings, so he married Tanith as a beard. Tanith was aware of Theo’s predilections and consented to a chaste marriage. The two were close friends but not lovers and they ran a moderately successful produce business together. These years were quiet and uneventful up until the assassination of Andrik Vydra at the hands of the High Elves. The kingdom saw a massive spike in anti-elf sentiment and Theo was beaten to death by a mob seeking vengeance for the fallen king. Their marriage lasted 32 years, but was never consummated and produced no children.

Following Theo’s death, Tanith left Petrus and moved to the countryside of Karovia where she continued to quietly work in the fields up until the cataclysm that lead humanity to Vailor. After settling in the Duchy of Vanholm in Vailor, Tanith became a refugee during the Duke’s War. She finally elected to leave society at the conclusion of the war in 1521 once travel became safe again.

Broken hearted and tired of living in fear, Tanith became a hermit from the years 1521 up until 1570. She settled in the far distant north somewhat near Krinfrid after using the remaining money leftover from the produce business to buy a small homestead. In 1570, she briefly left isolation to make the journey to Axios.

Hermit

Upon arriving in Axios, Tanith continued to avoid society and settled in a remote part of Hanseti-Ruska. In 1601, war between Haense and Courland threatened Tanith’s isolation. In an effort to scare military forces away from her lands, she posed as a Frost Witch using her ice evocation magic. Unfortunately, this drew some unwanted attention from local bands of monster hunters, including one group led by a hunter named Reeve Gyffard.

Gyffard decided to hunt down the “witch” in the year 1604. Upon discovering that Tanith was not, in fact, a witch, Reeve took a romantic interest in her. He was among the few people to regularly visit Tanith in her isolation and he often brought gifts. They began a tumultuous and toxic but passionate on-and-off love affair that resulted in a brief marriage. They were together some thirteen years – married for eight -- before Reeve died in battle in 1617. Between 1612 and 1617, Tanith lived with his company of monster hunters – known as the Black Fox Company - at their base of operations in a small village in the kingdom of Haense.

Following Reeve’s death, Tanith returned to live in isolation on her land until the 1644 cataclysm forced her to travel to Atlas. Once safely in Atlas, Tanith returned to living in isolation and avoiding contact with other people.

In 1705, she would once again be forced to break her isolation and move to Arcas, but Tanith would remain stubbornly a hermit up until 65 years later.

The Northern Geographical Society

In 1765, Tanith received a letter from Edward Napier of the Oren Ministry of Civil Affairs. Mr. Napier was interested in conducting an interview with Tanith about her time in the White Rose [1]. Mr. Napier’s correspondence indicated that Oren had changed a great deal over the 200+ years Tanith had lived in isolation. Tanith tentatively made plans to visit the capitol of Helena.

After visiting the cities of Helena and Owynsburg, Tanith made the decision to move back to society in 1767. She sought work in Helena and took up a job bar tending at the Dragon’s Rest, owned by the Carrington family.

In 1772, she was invited to join the Northern Geographic Society as a curator for the Helena branch of their history museum. Tanith happily took the job, excited to share her knowledge of the early Empire with a new generation.

The Helena branch of the History museum opened in 1777 after 5 years of work with Tanith as its curator and lead historian. She publishes her first historical text – an overview of early Imperial history [2].

Tanith and her magical abilities proved critical during the NGS’s expedition into the Nether between the years of 1778 and 1780 – gathering important information and retrieving samples from the realm. She co-authored a study on the Nether with her good friend Celestine Herbert, which was very well received by the Orenian scientific community [3]. In 1786, Tanith published her first full ethnography on the Wood Elves of Siramenor [4].

During this period Tanith met and married the Xannic paladin Icroth Vursur. They wed under Oren’s Civil Union act on the 9th of the Amber Cold, 1781, becoming the first ever non-human couple united by civil union in the history of the Empire.

Haense

In 1788, Tanith was kidnapped and brutally assaulted by Orenian officials Padraig O’Rourke and Ostromir Carrion. The two men took her to a black site where they tortured her severely and forced her to drink a memory-altering potion. Fearing for her life and safety, Tanith and her husband Icroth fled Oren for the Kingdom of Haense.

Later that same year (1789), following an immensely successful publication, Tanith was nominated by Celestine Herbert and Otto Wittenbach to become the NGS Chief of Research. She was also promoted to Head Curator of the NGS Flagship Museum in New Reza and remained there until Inferi attacked the city in 1795.

Later in the year 1795, the NGS mounted a fourth expedition into the Nether with their goal being to reach a Nether fortress and plant their flag in the red realm. Tanith - with her NGS compatriots - managed to delve deeper into the Nether than ever before. They located a safe air pocket where they hung an NGS flag and left behind a plaque to commemorate their successful expedition. Tanith's expertise in voidal translocation proved essential in navigating the treacherous and uneven landscape of the Nether.

In 1797, Tanith and Icroth moved to the Haensi capital of Karosgrad, where they begin sharing a home with Celestine Herbert and Otto Wittenbach. Tanith and Icroth also formally adopted an adult wood elf by the name of James Chapel who changed his name to James Vursur.

In 1802 Tanith partially opened the Northern Geographical Society Museum at Karosgrad to great public fanfare and enthusiasm. Afterwards, Tanith retreated back to her private life and focused on her work with the NGS. In 1812, the NGS fully opened its museum in Karosgrad to the delight of the public.

In 1813, the NGS Karosgrad museum opted to cease all operations in protest after King of Haense Heinrik II burned his aunt alive for the practice of air evocation. While the museum operations were suspended, Tanith and Icroth travelled abroad to study the lands of Yong Ping in preparation for the reopening. In 1815 the NGS resumed operations and opened a new exhibit in their Flagship museum.

Return to Oren

in 1821, the Orenian Ministry of Justice admitted to error after raiding Castle Dobrov and finding Tanith's old glasses, which Ostromir had kept as a trophy after assaulting her [5].

The same year, the NGS announced the opening of their new Providence Branch under the curatorship of Mr. Beryl Carrington. It was the first time in 30 years - since Tanith's brutal assault - that the NGS had established operations in Oren. Mr. Carrington, a new curator, requested Tanith's assistance with setting up the new museum. So Tanith began to work in Providence once more.

In 1822, Tanith published A Brief Summary of Modern Imperial History [6]- a follow up to her early piece published in 1777. These writings featured prominently in the Imperial History Exhibit in the NGS Providence Museum. Three years later in, Tanith published A Brief Summary of Johannian History [7] - which completed her three volume summation of Orenian history.

In the waning days of the Petrine Empire, Tanith and Icroth Vursur disappeared. Her best friend, Celestine Herbert, sought to find her to no avail and thereafter disappeared herself. She and her husband are currently rumored to reside anywhere from the Melanesian Islands, to a landmass in the frigid waters of the north, to the Balian Hinterlands of the sandy deserts.