Mash Dardellan-Lochatlan

Mash Dardellan-Lochatlan is a member of House Lochatlan, a noble family in Anglunia.

Childhood
Mash Dardellan-Lochatlan was born in the town of Norstaeyya in the winter on 138 TE. Her mother was Hadanna Alsey-Lochatlan, the onsyr of Norstaeyya at the time, and her father was Dardellan Yinower-Nuwan, a noble from the prominent House of Nuwan. Their household wasn't as big, since her older brother Erendryel had already grown up and left for his own adventures by the time of Mash's birth, so for a while it was almost as if she was the only child altogether. Hadanna was a busy mother, and oftentimes Mash would find herself left to her own devices. The only sibling she could play with was her younger brother Hadon, who was born when Mash was 6, but as she got older, she grew disinterested in simple childish joy and preferred to pursue other ways of entertainment, on her own.

Mash learnt to read and write pretty early in her childhood. By the age of five she could already engage in conversations on different subjects, read and recite long passages in Yirsi'tal. As a matter of entertainment she indulged in reading old books, tattered manuscripts that conveyed knowledge of the olden times, and, of all various fields of study one could find, she soon became interested in alchemy. The cellar of the family house was quickly turned into a place for the young enthusiast's experiments and there, down in a dusty old basement, she would spend many nights sleepless, working on mixtures and concoctions she had learnt to brew.

When Mash was about 10 years old, she was baptised into Soleviel and admitted to the local temple in order to receive historic and spiritual education as an apprentice. There she was taught theological disciplines and the ways of Solaris, and as she grew up over the years, she would soon make a diligent scholar and a purposeful pilgrim. In the age of 14 she embarked on her first pilgrimage to the monastery of Saint-Auberion, where she would meet the Patriarch of the Church of Soleviel Yorg Aulian, who then officially initiated her as a member of the Soleviel clergy.

Adolescence
After Mash turned 16, she was proposed to by Warrie von Fyra-Tjugo. It wasn't long before they decided to arrange a wedding ceremony, and in the spring of 154 TE they were married in the temple of Norstaeyya. The occasion brought together a lot of guests including yirsidan Zehros Elzar-Rezuraia, who personally expressed congratulations and best wishes to the newly wed couple.

A few years passed, and in the summer of 157 TE the family tree of House Lochatlan acquired a new member when Mash gave birth to a daughter. The family was shaken by surprise as the child came into this world with snow-white fox ears and a large tail. She was a kumiho, and no one had a clue what was the reason for it. The child was named Silikko, which in Yirsi'tal meant 'cornflower', her mother's favourite flower.

In the summer 159 TE Mash and Warrie adopted a five year old orphan by the name of Fluff, who had previously lived in the streets of Norstaeyya. The child was admitted to House Lochatlan, thus not only acquiring a new family, but becoming a full-fledged Anglunian noble. As the time passed, the child grew naughtier and naughtier, and Mash quickly regretted that she admitted him into her family. Fluff wasn't acting up deliberately, but he proved to be quite silly a child, and Mash, being a strict and austere mother, found herself feeling nothing but disdain towards him, deeming him an insolent fool, who was never going to achieve anything. In the summer 164 TE, Mash and Fluff had a livid quarrel, and, in her wrath, Mash disowned her adopted son. The moment realisation of that hit Fluff's mind, he was deeply hurt and ran off. The following day the household learnt that that night Fluff committed a suicide out of grief. Everybody was shocked, yet Mash, on the other hand, didn't feel anything about the death of her ten years old son.

Cleric
Mash began her career as a cleric after she was initiated in the winter of 152 TE. In the spring of the same year she performed her first baptism ceremony as she baptised the player Dragonoid2015 in Norstaeyya. Her effort and determination were soon acknowledged by Hadanna, her mother, the onsyr of Norstaeyya and the deacon of Norstaeyyan Soleviel Church, so she decided Mash will be representing Soleviel on the forthcoming festival of the Augurs of Unity, where she was required to deliver a speech, preaching the ways of Soleviel for people of all different faiths of Anglunia, who would come to the town as guests.

The festival took place in the summer of 152 TE. Many people from all around the kingdom joined it to give praise to their gods, in particular, the gods of Arternaia, Solonism and Soleviel. It ended with success, and after most guests had left, Mash and a fellow cleric Warrie von Fyra-Tjugo held prayers and burnt a communal sacrifice of Norstaeyyan citizens dedicated to the All-Father. Mash served the clergy as best she could and in 153 TE she was promised to be appointed as the priest of Ashenvale after its upcoming conversion and mass baptism. The same year she had a missionary trip to there with Warrie von Fyra-Tjugo and the deacon of Norstaeyya Hadanna Alsey-Lochatlan. Following the trip, they invited the onsyr of Ashenvale and all willing citizens to the temple of Norstaeyya, where they then held a solemn ceremony together. Whilst Mash was delivering a prayer, the denizens of Ashenvale prayed with her in their minds, as though they were already part of the faith. Three years later the new temple in Ashenvale was finally open for service and Mash was ordained its priest by the patriarch Delta Aulian-Drake.

Ever since the manifestation of Azeras during the Augurs of Unity Mash had been wondering if she was heading the right path, serving Soleviel. Fellow disciples of Solaris chose to believe that it was nothing else but a manifestation of Akheras, the draconic spirt of the Ultimare, yet Mash was not as certain about what happened. She began to collect information about the state religion of Anglunia - Arternaia, and immersed herself into a dozen of antique tomes of ancient yirsi scholars. It was difficult for her to believe that besides the main gods of Soleviel could exist some other deities, as she had always been taught the complete opposite.

It took her a while to make up her mind. In the year 161 TE Mash met the future prophet Yizawan Eliyawin-Nuwan, who told her a lot about the religion and gave her a scripture of Arternaia. Although she knew that her mother was a follower of this religion before, Mash supposed that, perhaps, at some point Lochatlans had strayed in a wrong direction. This finally made more sense to her mind, and the following year Mash took a final decision - she was going to convert into Arternaia. Her conversion was part of a mass baptism ceremony in the temple of Klarien near Nuwan Farm, and, to her surprise, the tye'yantha ordained her as Vacheth nei Lannan, the priest of hope, for a reason no one could know. It must have been something only the eyes of a saint could see in her that caused him to make such a decision.

Writer
When Mash was 16, she found that she was no longer satisfied with plain reading old manuscripts. The idea of putting her own thoughts and skills to use started popping up in her mind more and more often, and one day, tormented by a strange mood, she got down to writing a book of her own. It took her a season to finish it, her first ever piece of literature, a manuscript featuring a short story she had come up with in one sleepless night. As she was close to finishing the book, she decided to name it The Fang. To her own opinion, though, the story didn't come out as good as she imagined it to, yet, as her first experience in writing, it was decent. The Fang was soon kindly put on display in the library of Ashenvale by onsyr Torinn-Delmierev.