once upon a time, keyria was born in the beautiful and magical feywild and soon abandoned by the mother who feared for her daughter's life. brought back to the material plane by aerdrie faenya herself, she was adopted and raised by a kind and warmhearted human couple. they cherished and loved her as they cherished and loved the nature and animals around them, and they taught her to cherish and love these things too. she blossomed under their care and her childhood was idyllic and happy, with her parents giving her everything they could and everything she wanted. she grew up, slowly, as elves do, eventually blossoming into a beautiful, intelligent, and kindhearted young woman, the pride and joy of her parents. her early years were charmed, so perhaps there is truth to the rumors that her birth was attended by the winged mother, though this is difficult to prove; it is even more difficult to imagine why the lady of air and wind would take such an interest in the daughter of another god, and an evil one at that, even if the girl in question was a purehearted avariel. there were rumors that she was aerdrie's chosen, of course, but such rumors have never been clarified one way or another. keyria buried her parents with an aching heart on a warm spring day, and for a time, she wandered restlessly, her life feeling like it was missing something, or someone, that she couldn't name. years passed, and she was found by the mother who had given birth to her, who had been much changed by the years away, and dragged off to be sacrificed before she was rescued by gorion, the man who would become her second father.
her memory of her previous life was permanently erased, and keyria found herself sequestered in a picturesque yet secluded monastery just as she was on the brink of adulthood. unable to remember any part of her past, she embraced the life she was given as well as she could, her love for her father keeping her within the walls even as she despised the stone for keeping her trapped. the library was beautiful, full of thousands of books, and she voraciously read as many as she could. she was an eager student, taking easily to her studies, though she always found time to sneak out and visit the local pets and animals, much to the monks' dismay. she was thrilled when her father made plans to take her on a journey outside of candlekeep, no matter the reason, but her excitement was quickly snuffed after he was slain shortly after their travelling began. her whole world crumbled once again, but this time, there was no one to save her but herself. after the murder of her father, she set out to avenge him, accompanied only by her sister in all but blood, imoen. she met more companions are she travelled, many of whom would become her lifelong friends; jaheira and khalid, who cared for her as their own daughter; minsc and dynaheir, both of whom she adored in all their idiosyncrasies; coran, who became her best friend in the whole world; aerie, a friend she saw herself in; and kivan, the love of her life.
her life only became more complicated from there, though. she learned she was none other than a child of bhaal, a parentage she wished she could ignore, but it would not be ignored. nightmares terrorized her and new power awoke in her. she had never felt so out of control, and her life was spiralling as she fought to reconcile who she was with the blood that flowed in her veins. she leaned heavily on her sister and her new friends for comfort, and especially on the elven ranger kivan. however, she did find during her travels that she loved helping people, and she solved problems and created smiles up and down the sword coast, finding her heart again, until she finally reached the city where the man who had killed her father lived. though filled with wonderful people, the city was also controlled by a corrupt organization and the leader was none other than the very same man, called sarevok. she tore it down by the roots, determined to have her revenge and do the city some good, and along the way she learned that sarevok was also a child of bhaal and therefore, in a strange way, her brother. it made little difference, though, and she found her vengeance in slaying him, stopping his plan of becoming a god and saved the city, and the world, from his plans. revenge, though, felt more hollow than she expected, and though she knew she had done the right thing, she did not feel vindicated as she might have hoped. her heart was troubled, though she did her best to make her peace with what she'd done.
keyria stayed for a short time in the city, but she had never liked walls and she grew restless, and she and her sister snuck out one night and returned to the wilderness outside the walls, though the freedom didn't last long. they were ambushed, and keyria's next memories are of a dark dungeon and unspeakable horrors committed to her person and to her friends. her sister was able to escape and free her, but by then she had been irrevocably changed, and though part of her remained the girl she had always been, a bit of new darkness edged into the corners of her mind, reminding her that she could never go back to the girl who had lived in a library. she and imoen found a couple of their other friends trapped as well, and while they were able to escape, it was not without great loss. jaheira lost her husband, khalid, and keyria once again lost someone she had seen as a father, or at least father-like. her sister was taken from her as well, and in order to save her, she had to make a deal with the devil, as it were. though she disliked the corrupt new city of athkatla she had found herself in, seemingly caring more of trivial things than the baldur's gate she had come to know, the wilderness outside of the walls was beautiful, and for the first time, she found herself near elven lands.
while raising the money to save her sister, she found friends both old and new, including the love of her life, kivan. she was also able to return to one of the things she most loved: helping people and protecting them from dangers they couldn't know and shouldn't have to. though much had changed, her generous heart never would, and though she had to see to her sister above all else, she could always spare time to help anyone who couldn't help themselves. her deal with the devil, the shadow thieves, paid off, and keyria was eventually able to find her sister, though with it came a new problem. the man who had kidnapped her was there, and had set a trap for her. she learned her sister imoen was her sister in blood after all, for she was a child of bhaal too, and then, before she could truly process what this meant, she was drained of her soul, doomed to waste away unless it was restored. she might have felt free, except that she felt the death creep in, desperate to claim her, as the darkest parts of her heritage manifested themselves in her. with her soul or without, the blood of a god ran in her veins, and she felt its presence more than ever. determined to save herself and her sister, she chased him through the asylum she'd been trapped him and over the sea, though she was eventually forced to a place she terribly feared, the underdark. she steeled herself, though, for she was determined to live, and she would do what needed to be done, even if it meant facing her worst fear. she was not alone, after all, and she had the support of all her friends and her sister as she ventured through its treacherous depths to find a way back to the sunlit world, though she would not get back there before razing an entire drow city and aiding a majestic silver dragon.
finally, she returned to the surface and learned her enemy had plans involving the elven city nearby, but before she would be able to stop him and regain her soul, she had to find a way inside. this was fortuitous, though, for they were able to restore imoen's soul at the same time, and defeat another enemy, the vampire bodhi, who had haunted her nightmares and had hurt many others in her pursuit of immortality and power. her sister was restored, and hope blossomed in keyria's soul again. once in the breathtaking elven city of suldanessellar, she learned the true extent of her enemy's history, and his dark plans to become a god, no matter what the cost. for her own sake, and for the sake of the city, she knew she would have to defeat him once and for all this time. she was able to stop him and save the city, though she found herself dragged to hell in the process and peering inside her own soul. the realm was built to tempt her and test her, but her heart was good and true and she was sure of who she was, and she cast the temptations aside easily and found herself rewarded. she was able to defeat her enemy in the end, standing strong against the demons that aided her foe, and she and her friends were returned to the living world, and keyria, with her soul at last intact. her heart was lighter for being joined with her soul again, and, though avariel, the kinship she still felt with the elves made her feel more whole than she ever had. while she would never be innocent again, she knew that she would always be keyria, gentle and kind, no matter what horrors where thrown her way.
keyria loved the high elven city, so different from all the human cities she had known, and she spent some time there with her friends, a heroine once again, adulated by an adoring public. eventually, the queen urged her to take advice from the old stone heads, and she acquiesced, having never planned to stick around forever, and having had more time than she had ever had before to connect to her elven roots already. she was warned of a storm and a war coming, but she was interrupted before she could hear the full prophecy, though she didn't really need to be told. she had heard the prophecies more than enough times, having grown up in candlekeep, where the prophecies were chanted in a never-ending rhythm, and knew she had to be wary of the travails ahead, as her enemies would only grow in power as she had. she did face many enemies, but first, it is said she even came face-to-face with an avatar of the prince of demons himself and destroyed him, her compassion for others and her determination to destroy his evil stronger even than his power. the cost of war is always high, though, and her worst fear came true when she failed to save one city from the imminent war, and though she defeated the giant who destroyed the city in search of her, the victory felt hollow. she would grieve for many nights, and she would remember the sound of the screams all her life, vowing to never forget the victims and praying that they would find peace.
the most powerful of her siblings were gathering armies, and with no one else standing in their way, it was keyria and her companions who had to protect the world by stopping them and bringing peace back to the land. with no one else able or willing, she once again found herself responsible for stopping a war and a woman who fancied herself a god. the stakes had never been higher, but keyria's desire to end the war before it truly began was even greater, and she was not alone. the drow matron sendai and blue dragon abazigal crumbled underneath her power, their evil eradicated from the realms before they could do real harm. in the very heart of the abyss, she defeated the mad priestess amelyssan and rejected the offer of divinity. she singlehandedly brought her opponents to their knees and at long last, found herself free of the destiny she never wanted and able to begin her own life. it is said that there, in the depths of the abyss, keyria learned her own true name, though it is impossible for anyone outside of her close circle to determine whether or not this is true.
after the bhaalspawn wars were stopped and she rid herself of the taint of her heritage for good, she and kivan were married, and together they formed a noble elven mercenary band, the fierce kestrel, though it was based more on loyalty and honor rather than money, as keyria said she saw no need for it, and those who followed her and her husband agreed wholeheartedly. defending elvendom and other deserving goodhearted people was reward enough most of the time, and keyria enjoyed these days, happy to be protecting the goodness she so loved. still, despite their duty to their mercenary band, the couple would have their own adventures occasionally, sometimes joined by a companion or three from their past adventuring days. keyria claimed, after the bhaalspawn wars, that her dragonslaying days were over, but if the stories are at all true, she faced more than her share of wicked dragons later in her life, as well. eventually, the two of them retreated away from human civilization, preferring instead to raise their family among their own kin, though they would still lead the kestrel from afar for many years before turning it over to their youngest son, lumaris. though keyria's mother was long gone, and kivan's family deceased as well, they had made several new friends along the way who were eager to be aunts and uncles to their children.
she would, eventually, find and visit the avariel settlement upon mount sundabar where her mother had been born and lived, but she didn't stay long, finding that this place was not her home, and that the family she had found for herself was worth so much more than blood. despite this, she would still be thrilled to learn some years later that she had an older brother, tsaerin, and though their relationship was tempestuous at first, he would eventually come to be as important to her as a brother should be, becoming a part of her life that she couldn't imagine being without. keyria finally had the freedom she wanted, but for her, freedom was whatever she wanted it to be, and while she would travel again throughout her lifetime, finding a home to return to at the end of it all was the most wonderful freedom she had ever known.
