Born within a minor noble family with ties to the Imperial College of Arcana, Ara’s path seemed preordained – a life of comfortable privilege within Aetheris’s gleaming walls, a career dedicated to upholding the approved narratives of the Empire's glorious history and unwavering order. But her curiosity led her down a different, more perilous path.
She excelled at the College, not in the practical applications of magic or the flashy demonstrations of power that earned others accolades, but in the quiet pursuit of historical truths, buried beneath layers of embellished accounts and politically motivated redactions. She was drawn to the whispers of the Old-World, a fascination that her professors dismissed as an eccentric distraction and an obsession unbefitting a lady of her lineage.
Her life changed when an unmarked crate, sealed with runic wards and heavy enough to hold several men, arrived at the college bound for Emperor Thorne’s private library. Driven by her hunger for understanding, for piecing together the mysteries of her world's origins, she circumvented security measures with a clever mix of illusion magic, forged documents, and more than a dash of aristocratic arrogance that none of the lower staff dared to challenge.
Within that crate she uncovered an archive of uncensored information - journals, logs, technical manuals filled with indeciperable script and strange schematics. A few scraps had been translated, mentioning a "Project Haven," and references to technology far beyond the talents of even the greatest mage. These records not only challenged the official histories but offered hints of a civilization far more complex and potentially dangerous than anyone within the current world had truly acknowledged. Amongst those papers she discovered evidence that within the depths of the Aetherium was an artifact that could translate this text in full., something that would bring her both recognition and absolution from the accusations that haunted her.
Her discovery and fascination caught the eye of her instructor, Archmage Severian - the enigmatic and powerful mage she believed would understand the worth of this long-lost knowledge. When it instead sparked alarm, she realized the enormity of her error. Despite the fact that she'd stolen from the Emperor himself, the Archmage took pity upon her and allowed her to flee the College with her life intact.
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