Lydia

What you know about Lydia, and what is the truth, may not be one and the same.

She once said she was born into poverty, her parents worked hard for minimal pay. Their lifestyle was harsh and eventually they succumbed to sicknesses leaving Lydia to fend for herself at a young age.
She scraped by for a time, clinging to the edges of society before drawing the attention of a wandering mage. From him she learnt the fundamentals of the magical arts, until he left.

It was shortly after this that Lydia and Lucian first met, he saw a sister, and she saw a guardian someone to help her survive.
This relationship barely changed over time. Lucian always viewed her as family, whilst she saw him as someone to help her get through life, a useful asset at best.
On the fringes of the empire Lydia began to research and learn about the magics and methods of the undead.
Eventually her research lead her to discovering the location of a potential cache of knowledge within an old castle.
She sent Lucian and some others to explore the castle, but her manipulations where revealed.
Lydia had previously traveled to the castle and set up a diabolical trap, in which Lucian and the others would inevitably fall. Their deaths would be the fuel for a ritual she had long prepared for.