Gwen Vilaben - Wizard?

[snuffleupagus]

Gwen was born in Thay, most likely. She remembers very little about her first home, or her parents. She does remember that she started using magic as soon as she could speak. Nothing spectacular, not like 'real' magic. But cantrips that could result in bits of light or sound. She remembers the tearful fairwell when her mother hugged and sent her away, to learn to be a real wizard. She remembers being told that she was going to a better world, to become something more than just a peasant, and she remembers arriving at the mansion, the home of Lydevig, her Red Wizard master.

She was to be an apprentice. Somehow her father managed to convince this mage to take Gwen as both house servant and apprentice, confident that his daughter would prove herself to Lydevig. Instead it was apparant that Gwen was not as sharp as the other students. She could not keep up in her learnings and she could not understand the studies as quickly. She would never be a wizard and was quickly relegated to servants quarters and servant jobs.

It was in her teens that her latent magical abilities again manifested themselves. A couple of the older apprentices were teasing her, as they often did, when she let out a slew of curses and, much to her surprise, a bit of flame shot from her hands and lit one of the boys robes aflame. It was only her feminine appeal that kept Lydevig from slaying her after that incident... it was after that that she was no longer a regular servant, but a 'personal servant' for the red wizard. She remembers as little of that time as possible.

For several years this continued, as Gwen attempted to keep her natural abilities with magic hidden, so that none new just how much potential she had. She read what she could, and gleened as many of the apprentice studies as she could. Determined that she was in fact vastly supperior in her use of magic than the fools who studied scrolls and books for days on end. She watched as Lydevig trained foolish bumbling apprentices and sent them on their way. He was so proud of the little snots, who could barely master the most basic cantrips after years of work. Gwen's hatred for these people grew as she remained a prisoner in that house her entire life, never setting foot outside and living in the world only through the books she could sneak into her room.

That was how she learned the ritual for finding and binding a familiar. Mard was a spectacular black panther that Lydevig had caged, along with a myriad of other poor creatures, in the house. Gwen would visit him at night and admire that even while caged, even after capture, this panther kept its pride and looked like it still lived in the wilds. One night when most of the house was away Gwen freed the creature from his bonds. Lydevig was furious, and she sustained a serious beating for that infraction, but it was worth it, and the old fool never suspected that she had befriended the creature in such a way. He didn't think Gwen capable of such things. It was Mard's campanionship, sitting outside Gwen's window in a nearby tree, that kept Gwen going through the worst times, when she wanted to end it all.

Finally she stumbled accross a book that one careless student had left out in the main room. It was a book on poisons. She poured through it until she found what she wanted, a paralytic poison. It was weeks before she could collect the ingredients and prepare the poison, and find the opportunity to slip it into the meal. She hid in the corner, behind a large cabinet and watched in glee has her cruel masters sat paralyzed at the dinner table.

Then, finally, she took her first steps outside onto dirt... she looked to the sky and breathed the fresh air. She watched the imprints her feet left on the soft soil and smiled. Then she turned and lit the house aflame. The occupents burned silently, but Gwen imagined she could hear their screams of agony and that she could see their flesh slowly singe and burn. She hoped that Lydevig had some magical protections, so that perhaps his death took longer than the others.

Then Gwen turned to travel the world. Her youth has left her quite screwed up, although her force of personality and stunning good looks can allow her to get very far, receive favors, special treatment and tend to put people off guard. Something she learned very quickly. While she is convinced that she is destined to rule the world she is at the same time very self conscious about herself, rooted in her inability to be trained as a wizard. Keeping her true sorcerress nature under wraps she tells all that she is a wizard and spends much of her time reading and studying in earnest, in order to keep up the impression of a vastly greater intellect than she actually possessess.