Thora Tavin

She is a deadly killer, utterly devoted to her cause, and if she is evil, it is because she will do absolutely anything to protect those who bear aberrant dragonmarks — even if it means killing innocents. She truly sees all who bear aberrant marks as being part of an extended family, and she will not allow her family to be exterminated.
Thora Tavin created House Tarkanan and structured the criminal organization in mockery of the dragonmarked houses, though she isn't actually related to them. Thora’s residence, a spacious mansion nestled among the towers of the house enclaves, serves as the secret headquarters of her organization. From here, she personally directs a range of criminal and questionable activities throughout the city, with a particular focus on burglary, assassination, forgery, and loan sharking.
Toward the end of the Last War, the Brelish King’s Dark Lanterns assembled a team of spies who all bore aberrant dragonmarks, hoping to harness their powers in the work of espionage. The experiment was a failure, and half the group ended up killed. The King’s Dark Lanterns tried to silence the remnants of the group, but its surviving members fled to Sharn, led by a human woman named Thora Tavin.
Drawing from her extensive education, Thora took up the name of Lord Halas Tarkanan, the warrior who united the bearers of aberrant dragonmarks during the War of the Mark, and formed House Tarkanan as a mockery of the dragonmarked houses. She continues to seek out others who bear aberrant dragonmarks, as well as other skilled spies and criminals, to expand the ranks of her organization. She is driven to learn more about Lord Tarkanan and the aberrant marks that were exterminated during the War of the Mark, and spends much of her organization’s resources funding expeditions into the ruins beneath The Cogs.

In our story:

Thora Tavin met the party at the Boromar Ball, and demonstrated an immense amount of interest in young Rare. Her date for the evening Silaena Cazal, seemed to help keep the conversation short.
Thora has taken Zae Tarkanan as her ward.