Ardira Tinume

Orphaned at a very young age, Ardira knows little of her parents, nor from which of the two she inherited her tiefling attributes. All that is known is that they were possibly a Calishite or from a surrounding location in the south of Faerûn, as her earliest memories are of Calimshan's busy streets and bazaars.

As a four and a half year old girl scavenging for scraps in the local markets, her childhood was a bleak one. Thus the distant little tiefling learned nothing love, fun or friendship. There were no such things as 'games', only life and the ruthless, spiteful people within it. Due to her 'abomination' of a heritage, as many would tell her, she was as likely to be fed scraps as a stray animal; perhaps less so.

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From such a young age, Ardira learnt much about the art of stealing and hiding, for it was the easiest (and sometimes only) means of survival when kindness was non-existent in the bulk of the city streets. Were it not for her demonic appearance, someone might have taken her in, but this was not the case.

It wasn't until she unknowingly attempted to steal from a reputable thief that her finesse first became recognized; before the man could do more than knock the poor girl unconscious (she nearly had away with an entire pouch of gems he'd just stolen minutes before), his companion found such humour in the act that he insisted on introducing the girl to their guild, instead of wasting such raw potential.

The man's name was Drake Tinume; member of the Venturi thieves guild in Calimshan. One of the more adept members of the guild, he was soon to climb to a position that poised many daggers at his back. He was also the only member of the guild who bothered to give Ardira the time of day, seeing talent in the kid that not many others bothered to identify. Inevitably, it was this weakness that was to be his downfall; having overseen Ardira grow up into a skilled rogue, his death plagued her greatly. The young tiefling had grown into an adept teen under his wing (earning the Venturi title for herself), and she essentially viewed him as the father figure she never had.

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Upon learning that it was the thieves guild itself that had been Drake's downfall, Ardira took up his true surname, Tinume, as her own; disowning the Venturi name that most of the guild's renowned members had rightfully earned the title of. She viewed the 'honour' as the poisonous, callous name it truly was; the thought bitter to a youth that had for so long viewed the surname as a thing of pride. She spent those next couple of years turning her emotions into revenge; practicing the art of assassination on those that had done so to Drake. During these years, she lost touch of that human side to herself; vowing to never again allow herself to be so "weak".

The bittersweet success of her revenge on many in the guild saw Ardira turn her sights outside of the city; the guild had essentially caved in on itself, and was replaced by another title - another power hungry fool, in Ardira's eyes. Whether she escaped the torment of her past by leaving the city, or out of caution should any of the old guild remain is uncertain. She had yet to learn the name of her deity at this point in her life, but her dogma rang true in the cold place that was once her heart.