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Piraya Baradel was born simply Piraya in the city of Liram on the Ejderha nation of Filela-Liram. One would expect that any pregnancy would be considered a blessing among the Ejderha, but for young unwed Merihmah, it was far from that. She found herself raising a small child by herself, as her own parents had both fallen to illness in years prior. As for the father, when Piraya was very young, her mother used to tell her that her father was a very important man in the military, and as a result, the young girl romanticized the military at an early age. The truth, however, was that her father was a luckless sailor who had merely been looking for a good way to pass his time while he tried to find himself work. Long before Merihmah discovered her pregnancy, he had abruptly left without a good bye.

Trying to make ends meet as well as raise a child alone was not an easy task for Merihmah, and Piraya's childhood memories consist primarily of frequently moving between cheap housing and her mother's seeming inability to hold down a steady job. Despite this, Mehrimah was determined to provide everything she could for her daughter even though Piraya's wardrobe almost always consisted of clothing she had long outgrown. Though no single event sticks out, Piraya's childhood can easily be summarized as hard times that left her as a toughened woman.

Long before she was of age, Piraya (like so many Ejderha) had taken interest in the military arts and her entrance into the military at the required twenty-two years of age couldn't happen fast enough. Though only required to serve for three years, Piraya chose to make the military her career and found it very easy to take to the lifestyle. The frequent location reassignments in particular were no trouble as it had become her nature to not become emotionally attached to anything or anyone but her mother. (Her comrades often noted that while she was very nice to talk to, she didn't actually have any close friends.)

Piraya was not part of the military coup that placed Ceydon, the current Ejderha leader, in power -- in fact, she was stationed no where near Filela at the time. The change in power was somewhat troubling to her at the time, but as the chaos of regime change settled down, Piraya found that her position in life had made little change as she was of no concern to the newly-in-charge. In the years that followed, she made her way through the ranks, attaining the title of Aluf Mishne, placing her just below senior military personnel.

As an Aluf Mishne in the years prior to the major human invasion, Piraya was placed in charge of commanding other soldiers along the border of Filela-Liram and occasionally engaging in skirmishes with humans crossed onto Ejderha soil for ill reasons. Battle, however, was typically a rarity and she acted far more as a keeper of the peace than a battle commander. This, however, all changed when an army from Cerastes crossed the Sea of Adhara and landed on the coast of Filela-Liram.

Piraya's skills on the battle field were truly put to the test in that first year of combat. Fighting hard along the coast, Piraya and her troops held off the human advance but made little headway in terms of causing a human withdrawl. It was during these early skirmishes that Piraya's path crossed with Cleph's for the first time. Following a particularly heated battle, Piraya got word that a human healer had taken in one of her top soldiers who had been wounded. Though reticent with her enemy, she was left impressed with his actions and gruffly thanked him before reclaiming her soldier.

The event was of little significance to her at the time. She certainly hadn't been swayed in her opinions towards humans, which, at the time, were logically not very favorable. She also certainly wasn't expecting to meet him again, this time on the battlefield. Had her recognition of him taken a few seconds longer, things may have turned out entirely differently. As it was, against everything she had been taught as an Ejderha, she stopped just short of attacking the healer and instead told him to get the hell out of there. If anyone saw that she had allowed him to pass unscathed, they thankfully kept it to themselves.

Piraya's military career ended at the bloody Battle of Nasaja. In charge of protecting the city from being captured from humans, Piraya failed miserably in her task and many of the soldiers under her as well as innocents were severely injured or killed. The city fell in a massive military blunder and the Ejderha retreated, being completely overpowered by their human adversaries. While the humans claimed a glorious victory and renamed the city to Sovya, Piraya was disgracefully dismissed from the military and generally ostracized by the Ejderha as a result.

With little skill to support herself except as a fighter, Piraya was not out in the world for long before she came across a flier for the Asterion League and decided to pursue the life of a soldier of fortune. Though she was accepted into the ranks, in her first year she seemed far more interested in getting to know the tavernmaster than making a decent living for herself. Dwelling over an event she blame solely on herself, Piraya was highly unapproachable and rarely interacted with her fellow guildmates.

As it would turn out, the same human healer she had spared some years ago was a member of the League, in fact, he was one of the leaders. Cleph and Piraya formed a strange bond that eventually turned into romance and a marriage. At the same time, Piraya cast aside the shell she had built around herself and quickly reemerged as the strong, confident leader she once was. Within the past six months, the former Melee Weaponry Division Head, a human man named Laico Siegmyrth, retired and Piraya, a relative newcomer within the guild, was appointed his successor. Unsurprisingly this has caused some degree of dissent within the ranks as many believe that she was only selected due to who she is sleeping with.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE It is well-known within the Asterion League that Piraya arrived roughly five years ago and spent far more time drinking than she did slaying nasty beasties. Where she came from prior to that is unknown and she has only shared this information with close confidantes, but it is logical to assume that she is from Filela-Liram at some point. (If your character is an Ejderha/was involved with the Battle of Nasaja and you would like to recognize Piraya, just PM me and we'll work something out!) More recently she engaged in a seemingly whirlwind romance with guild leader Cleph Baradel that resulted in what many say is an inevitably doomed marriage. Roughly six months ago she was chosen to become a guild leader herself, which has resulted in some hard feelings and nasty rumours regarding the reasons for her appointment.