Ireena Kolyana
Ireena Kolyana
History
Ireena Kolyana was born in the dread plane of Barovia. Her fate was to be a cursed one as the dark powers that exist to torment those within their domain had made her the reincarnation of a woman named Tatyana, the woman whom the vampire, Strahd von Zarovich, desired more than any other. As her reincarnation, Ireena would never be able to avoid Strahd as he would always hunter her down once he learned of what she was. She was born in the city of Vallaki to two unknown individuals. Her older brother, Izek Strazi would be the one to protect her for some of her early childhood. Before she could really know who her family was, Ireena wandered into the nearby woods and became incredibly lost. Through the help of the traveling Vistani, she was guided to the village of Barovia where they thought she was from. Ireena would be found and adopted by Kolyan Indirovich, burgomaster of the village. He and his son, Ismark, would be the ones to raise Ireena and this would be the only family that she would recognize as her own. This adoptive family would do their best to keep Ireena protected from anything the harsh land of Barovia could send after her. What they did not expect, however, was for the lord and master of the land itself, Strahd, to intervene during a routine visit in a disguised form. Strahd recognized immediately who Ireena was, the reincarnation of Tatyana, and knew that she had to be his. He had tried this in the past and knew that he had to be slow and meticulous in accomplishing his goal. Eventually, Strahd would hypnotize Ireena into being calm in his presence and began to preform a slow ritual in an attempt to break the curse placed on the girls soul. That being that as Strahd was approaching his goal of getting Tatyana to fall in love with him, she would tragically die. This ritual involved biting Ireena on the neck on three separate occasions and then marrying her in a lavish, though private, ceremony. While giving Ireena the second bite, he was discovered by Kolyan and Strahd fled. In order to remove the obstacle in his way, Strahd poisoned Kolyan until he died, paranoid and afraid. Before Strahd could continue however, a group of adventurers passed through the mist and met Ireena and Ismark. With Ismark's assistance, the group agreed to take Ireena to Vallaki, where he hoped that she would be safe. Ismark's death by wolves sent by Strahd meant that Ireena was now alone and had to trust these adventurers with her life. The journey to Vallaki was difficult and Ireena had no real knowledge on how to protect herself, always relying on Kolyan and Ismark. She was taught rudimentary fighting skills with a rapier by the group though she would only be of minor assistance in combat scenarios. While in Vallaki she would meet her long lost brother, Izek Strazni. He had been transformed after losing Ireena and now served the town's burgomaster as a loyal servant. He had convinced his master to let him keep Ireena and away from the adventurers. He even killed one when they tried to take Ireena back while he slept. Ireena's relationship with her brother would end when he was killed protecting her from the vampire spawns left by Strahd to destroy the town. The actions of the group she accompanied caused Ireena to become warry and suspicious as they committed many crimes she was witness to including murder, arson, destruction of property, and robbery. She made sure to keep her distance after Vallaki itself was destroyed. She was however, able to find companionship with two people she met afterwards, Brooke Seawall and Ezmerelda D'Avenir. These two were significantly more level headed and were able to give her more ease of mind while adding more manpower as they traveled to Kresk. Upon arriving to the next city, Ireena learned of a temple in mountain ranges south of Kresk that she believed could assist her in fleeing Strahd. Afterwards, she met the enigmatic figure known as the Abbot who wished to remove Ireena's face in order to make a flesh golem replicate. This horrified her enough to cause Ireena to flee and make her way to the temple herself. She thankfully did not have to go alone though as she met with another adventurer named Mikai and the dusk elf named Kasimir, whom she met previously. They were also headed to the temple and were glad to have another hand join them in the treacherous journey through the mountains. Their arrival would spell doom as Strahd took the opportunity to his advantage. He whisked down as they approached the temple and, avoiding combat against the others with Ireena, simply took her away to Castle Ravenloft. While in the castle Strahd would continue to prepare his ritual and bring latent memories of Tatyana's out from the mind of her reincarnation. By the time a squad of adventurers led by Brooke Seawall and Darunia Faerun arrived to rescue her, Ireena's mind was muddled and in a daze. Brooke was able to snap her out of this trance and brought her to the safety of the invasion group they brought with led by Rudolph van Richten. While she was protected, Strahd was defeated. With his death, Ireena's curse along with Barovia's were broken. The land was returned to the material plane and Ireena was free to leave if she so choose. Ireena instead choose to stay with Ezmerelda in ensuring that Barovia and it's people would be able to integrate themselves more smoothly into a world they were disconnected from for over seven hundred years. She was inexperienced with such work but was enthusiastic with the idea of helping her people in any way she could.
Alternate Barovia
After the original Barovia as split from the dread planes and returned to the material plane, the dark powers needed to fill the void that was created in the Shadowfell. They created a near identical copy of Barovia with all the inhabitants of the original, though with a few changes. Ireena was mostly the same as her original counterpart though was slightly more naïve and no longer the sister to Izek Strazni. She was instead an only child who was kidnapped by the Vistani while wandering the forest. She would wander from them and make her way to the village of Barovia where her story remained the same until Strahd's discovery of her. Another group of adventurers arrived and greatly enjoyed Ireena's company. They readily agreed to Ismark's request of escorting Ireena to Vallaki. The half-elf Dalian would go as far as to try romancing Ireena, though that was short lived as he would be killed in Vallaki by the vampire spawns left there by Strahd. She would gain a fast friend and confidant in the tiefling named Zeyis. They would converse personally during travel and guard protect each other as much as they could during combat. If anyone was the closest to Ireena it would have been her. Not counting Zeyis, she was much closer to all of the adventurers in this Barovia than she ever was in the original. She would trust and stay with them longer than she ever considered remaining with the original adventurers. When this group received an invitation to join Strahd for dinner in his castle, Ireena was brought with as was his demand. While at the dinner, Strahd gave the adventurers the offer to give him Ireena and he would let them free and if he declined then they could leave but he would hunt down and kill them eventually. They choose to not let Strahd take Ireena and one of the adventurers, Arlo, tried to stake Strahd when his back was turned. This was ineffective at best and Strahd made quick work of killing the half orc. Ireena and Zeyis cried on the carriage ride out of Castle Ravenloft. Eventually the group made their way to a cult that was attempting to create a corrupted tree with a special gem. The bride of Strahd named Volenta was also there and, with her flaming nightmare, took Ireena from the group before they could properly react. The wizard in training, Victor Vallakovich, tried to rescue her with a fly spell but was knocked unconscious by a kick from the evil horse. With this, Strahd now had Ireena in his clutches. Upon arriving at Castle Ravenloft, Strahd quickly went to work on trying to make Ireena his. However, with her newfound determination and hatred for the vampire, she was able to resist his charms much longer than her original incarnation. When the adventurers stormed the castle it took much less to snap her out of the trance she was left in. She tried to convince the group to let her join them in fighting Strahd but they denied her the opportunity. She argued with them but eventually was forced to remain with the other invasion group, once again led by Van Richten. Strahd would be defeated but at the cost of the adventurer Aramil taking his station as dread lord of Barovia. The land remained in the dread plains but would be open for others to leave with Aramil's permission. He and the adventurer Nephi would remain in Barovia to oversee it and Ireena chose to remain with them to stay in the only land she knew. A heartfelt goodbye would be had with Zeyis and the others as they left the dread plane. Occasionally, with the help of the mage Mordenkainen, Zeyis and the resurrected Dalian would visit Barovia to see how their old friends were doing and to catch up on how they have been doing. Ireena greatly appreciated these visits and would await the days that they would return. Without Strahd to constantly hunt her down, she finally felt safe. For the ten year anniversary of Strahd's defeat, Ireena, Zeyis, and Victor Vallakovich joined each other in a journey outside of Barovia to explore as much of the material plane as they wished to. She was witness to Zeyis discovering her true heritage and both her and Victor both confessing their feelings to one another. After their journeys she would return to the alternate Barovia as she wanted to stay in the place she called home.
Ireena Kolyana was born in the dread plane of Barovia. Her fate was to be a cursed one as the dark powers that exist to torment those within their domain had made her the reincarnation of a woman named Tatyana, the woman whom the vampire, Strahd von Zarovich, desired more than any other. As her reincarnation, Ireena would never be able to avoid Strahd as he would always hunter her down once he learned of what she was. She was born in the city of Vallaki to two unknown individuals. Her older brother, Izek Strazi would be the one to protect her for some of her early childhood. Before she could really know who her family was, Ireena wandered into the nearby woods and became incredibly lost. Through the help of the traveling Vistani, she was guided to the village of Barovia where they thought she was from. Ireena would be found and adopted by Kolyan Indirovich, burgomaster of the village. He and his son, Ismark, would be the ones to raise Ireena and this would be the only family that she would recognize as her own. This adoptive family would do their best to keep Ireena protected from anything the harsh land of Barovia could send after her. What they did not expect, however, was for the lord and master of the land itself, Strahd, to intervene during a routine visit in a disguised form. Strahd recognized immediately who Ireena was, the reincarnation of Tatyana, and knew that she had to be his. He had tried this in the past and knew that he had to be slow and meticulous in accomplishing his goal. Eventually, Strahd would hypnotize Ireena into being calm in his presence and began to preform a slow ritual in an attempt to break the curse placed on the girls soul. That being that as Strahd was approaching his goal of getting Tatyana to fall in love with him, she would tragically die. This ritual involved biting Ireena on the neck on three separate occasions and then marrying her in a lavish, though private, ceremony. While giving Ireena the second bite, he was discovered by Kolyan and Strahd fled. In order to remove the obstacle in his way, Strahd poisoned Kolyan until he died, paranoid and afraid. Before Strahd could continue however, a group of adventurers passed through the mist and met Ireena and Ismark. With Ismark's assistance, the group agreed to take Ireena to Vallaki, where he hoped that she would be safe. Ismark's death by wolves sent by Strahd meant that Ireena was now alone and had to trust these adventurers with her life. The journey to Vallaki was difficult and Ireena had no real knowledge on how to protect herself, always relying on Kolyan and Ismark. She was taught rudimentary fighting skills with a rapier by the group though she would only be of minor assistance in combat scenarios. While in Vallaki she would meet her long lost brother, Izek Strazni. He had been transformed after losing Ireena and now served the town's burgomaster as a loyal servant. He had convinced his master to let him keep Ireena and away from the adventurers. He even killed one when they tried to take Ireena back while he slept. Ireena's relationship with her brother would end when he was killed protecting her from the vampire spawns left by Strahd to destroy the town. The actions of the group she accompanied caused Ireena to become warry and suspicious as they committed many crimes she was witness to including murder, arson, destruction of property, and robbery. She made sure to keep her distance after Vallaki itself was destroyed. She was however, able to find companionship with two people she met afterwards, Brooke Seawall and Ezmerelda D'Avenir. These two were significantly more level headed and were able to give her more ease of mind while adding more manpower as they traveled to Kresk. Upon arriving to the next city, Ireena learned of a temple in mountain ranges south of Kresk that she believed could assist her in fleeing Strahd. Afterwards, she met the enigmatic figure known as the Abbot who wished to remove Ireena's face in order to make a flesh golem replicate. This horrified her enough to cause Ireena to flee and make her way to the temple herself. She thankfully did not have to go alone though as she met with another adventurer named Mikai and the dusk elf named Kasimir, whom she met previously. They were also headed to the temple and were glad to have another hand join them in the treacherous journey through the mountains. Their arrival would spell doom as Strahd took the opportunity to his advantage. He whisked down as they approached the temple and, avoiding combat against the others with Ireena, simply took her away to Castle Ravenloft. While in the castle Strahd would continue to prepare his ritual and bring latent memories of Tatyana's out from the mind of her reincarnation. By the time a squad of adventurers led by Brooke Seawall and Darunia Faerun arrived to rescue her, Ireena's mind was muddled and in a daze. Brooke was able to snap her out of this trance and brought her to the safety of the invasion group they brought with led by Rudolph van Richten. While she was protected, Strahd was defeated. With his death, Ireena's curse along with Barovia's were broken. The land was returned to the material plane and Ireena was free to leave if she so choose. Ireena instead choose to stay with Ezmerelda in ensuring that Barovia and it's people would be able to integrate themselves more smoothly into a world they were disconnected from for over seven hundred years. She was inexperienced with such work but was enthusiastic with the idea of helping her people in any way she could.
Alternate Barovia
After the original Barovia as split from the dread planes and returned to the material plane, the dark powers needed to fill the void that was created in the Shadowfell. They created a near identical copy of Barovia with all the inhabitants of the original, though with a few changes. Ireena was mostly the same as her original counterpart though was slightly more naïve and no longer the sister to Izek Strazni. She was instead an only child who was kidnapped by the Vistani while wandering the forest. She would wander from them and make her way to the village of Barovia where her story remained the same until Strahd's discovery of her. Another group of adventurers arrived and greatly enjoyed Ireena's company. They readily agreed to Ismark's request of escorting Ireena to Vallaki. The half-elf Dalian would go as far as to try romancing Ireena, though that was short lived as he would be killed in Vallaki by the vampire spawns left there by Strahd. She would gain a fast friend and confidant in the tiefling named Zeyis. They would converse personally during travel and guard protect each other as much as they could during combat. If anyone was the closest to Ireena it would have been her. Not counting Zeyis, she was much closer to all of the adventurers in this Barovia than she ever was in the original. She would trust and stay with them longer than she ever considered remaining with the original adventurers. When this group received an invitation to join Strahd for dinner in his castle, Ireena was brought with as was his demand. While at the dinner, Strahd gave the adventurers the offer to give him Ireena and he would let them free and if he declined then they could leave but he would hunt down and kill them eventually. They choose to not let Strahd take Ireena and one of the adventurers, Arlo, tried to stake Strahd when his back was turned. This was ineffective at best and Strahd made quick work of killing the half orc. Ireena and Zeyis cried on the carriage ride out of Castle Ravenloft. Eventually the group made their way to a cult that was attempting to create a corrupted tree with a special gem. The bride of Strahd named Volenta was also there and, with her flaming nightmare, took Ireena from the group before they could properly react. The wizard in training, Victor Vallakovich, tried to rescue her with a fly spell but was knocked unconscious by a kick from the evil horse. With this, Strahd now had Ireena in his clutches. Upon arriving at Castle Ravenloft, Strahd quickly went to work on trying to make Ireena his. However, with her newfound determination and hatred for the vampire, she was able to resist his charms much longer than her original incarnation. When the adventurers stormed the castle it took much less to snap her out of the trance she was left in. She tried to convince the group to let her join them in fighting Strahd but they denied her the opportunity. She argued with them but eventually was forced to remain with the other invasion group, once again led by Van Richten. Strahd would be defeated but at the cost of the adventurer Aramil taking his station as dread lord of Barovia. The land remained in the dread plains but would be open for others to leave with Aramil's permission. He and the adventurer Nephi would remain in Barovia to oversee it and Ireena chose to remain with them to stay in the only land she knew. A heartfelt goodbye would be had with Zeyis and the others as they left the dread plane. Occasionally, with the help of the mage Mordenkainen, Zeyis and the resurrected Dalian would visit Barovia to see how their old friends were doing and to catch up on how they have been doing. Ireena greatly appreciated these visits and would await the days that they would return. Without Strahd to constantly hunt her down, she finally felt safe. For the ten year anniversary of Strahd's defeat, Ireena, Zeyis, and Victor Vallakovich joined each other in a journey outside of Barovia to explore as much of the material plane as they wished to. She was witness to Zeyis discovering her true heritage and both her and Victor both confessing their feelings to one another. After their journeys she would return to the alternate Barovia as she wanted to stay in the place she called home.
IREENA KOLYANA
Alignment
Lawful Good
Current Status
Alive
Species
Year of Birth
1480 AN
40 Years old
Birthplace
The Village of Vallaki, Barovia
Children
Current Residence
The Village of Barovia, Barovia
Gender
Female
Eyes
Brown
Hair
Auburn
Height
1.64m / 5'4"
Belief/Deity
The Morninglord
Family
Parent(s): Biological Parents Unknown Kolyan Indirovich (Adoptive Father) Siblings: Ismark Kolyanovich (Adoptive Brother) Izek Strazni (Biological Brother) (Original Barovia)
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