Melissandre was the first of the Dragonmarked consorts Shaedan encountered, but it took some time for her mark to be revealed. You first met her on the road heading north from Casiere in Fairfield, Roesone. She was accompanying a caravan of wandering halflings that has come under attack by what appeared to be brigands. Shaedan’s intervention saved both the halflings and Melissandre, for even though she and the Halflings had fought bravely, they were badly outnumbered and outmatched (especially as the “brigands” were really the armsmen of a local lord who were out to avenge a slight to heir masters “honour”).

Melissandre has the classic Vos look, tall and proud, with pale skin, raven hair and eyes almost as dark. Melissandre is slender to the point of almost being thin, all muscle and sinew, with not an ounce of fat to her name. Yet she is not without feminine grace; she might not be curvaceous, but there is something definitely enticing about her. She almost always dresses in dark colours with heavy embroidery, but never wears any jewellery. Her clothes are of modest cut, but are invariably of light fabrics and a cut to allow her maximum freedom of movement (incidentally often revealing hidden curves or flashes of smooth white skin).

Melissandra rarely speaks in public, unless she has some very good point to make, preferring instead to watch and to plan. It should not be taken as shyness, but rather as a sign that she does not share her thought with just anybody. What is probably more disconcerting is her apparent lack of any sense of humour; or so it would seem to those who have not taken her to bed, because in that particular setting she is both playful and humorous.

Originally hailing from far-away Vosgaard, Melissandre never knew her parents, for her father died fighting gnolls from the Fell, and her mother was killed when raiders pillaged the village she was born in. The only survivor of the raid, little Melissandre should have perished in the cooling ruins of her home, but somehow she endured. When a Vos priest of Belinik passed through the village and found the girl, he was so impressed that he brought the little girl with him, and traded her to a Krieshan monastery nearby.

Melissandre served faithfully in the temple of Kriesha for many years. Strong and lithe both, she impressed even more with her mental faculties and her unyielding constitution. She eventually came to the attention of the White Sisters, a band of warrior-priests serving the Winter Witch. Never a large society, the Sisters roamed Vosgaard (and beyond) doing the work of their goddess, keeping no company but that of wild beasts. Here Melissandre learned to fight without arms or armor, to endure heat and cold, pain and deprivation, and to call upon the power of the savage beast that roams the wild lands of the north.

One day she found the Mark of the Dragon upon her breast. She did not know its full meaning, except that it was the mark of an Anuirean god, but she realized that she would be killed by her fellow Sisters if the mark was discovered. And so she fled from Vosgaard and into Brecht lands. Several times her life was in peril as her former Sisters sought to track her down and slay her, but each time she managed to slip away. Melissandre eventually ended up in Anuire having determined hat she must learn the true meaning behind her mark. Knowing that the Order was not very friendly with followers of Kriesha, or Vos in general, she wisely chose to keep a low profile – until fate put her into Shaedan’s path.

Melissandre is a hard and humourless woman, who has not fully been able to throw of her Vos heritage or her fifteen years of temple training. Shaedan isn’t sure she has even abandoned Kriesha, although he refrains from pressing the matter. She is utterly dedicated to her master, however, and would give up her own life without regret if circumstances demanded it. She may not understand why she was marked, but she has accepted that she was, and now serves her new master as diligently as she did her old mistress.

Melissandre’s primary task these days are ensuring the safety of the Empress Iliane, a task that she executes with all her usual focus and determination. Indeed, it is a task that she enjoys, for it allows her to speak with the Empress on a regular basis. Melissandre finds these talks intensely stimulation, for the Empress is something very special – a woman filled with boundless mercy and compassion, so unlike Melissandre.

Capabilities: Melissandre is tough, strong and fast by nature and with her drakeform powers she has become a formidable warrior indeed. She has also not forgotten her training at the hands of the Sisters, and continue to commune with nature. She is, however, far removed from the icy wastes of the Vos lands, and so she has learned other uses for her powers unknown the other druids of Kriesha. She is also an accomplished courtier and diplomat, skills aquired over the years.