Akari Isendor

Akari grew up in an orphanage in Grenburrow, where she was bullied for her inquisitiveness and the weird magical abilities innate to kitsune, an upbringing which forced her to learn how to defend herself. She got into many fights with the other orphans over the years, culminating in her being thrown out of the orphanage when she was 16. In the decade that followed, she turned to odd jobs and thievery, leading to several run-ins with the Violet Brigade and time spent in Quilport's jails. She would find herself regularly employed by the Four Families, where she experienced firsthand how their organizations used intimidation and violence to maintain their stranglehold on the common citizens of Quilport. Her trajectory changed during an attempted burglary of the Institute of the Intangible, where she was apprehended by then-headmaster Farlen Quackenbush. The young gnome saw promise in Akari and gave her the option to enroll in the institute under his supervision, rather than being turned over to the authorities.

Akari proved adept with her studies, earning the respect and admiration of her fellow academics within the institute. She graduated from apprentice to full member of the Quilport Arcanist Society, the kitsune having found a place that was both accepting of her uniqueness and able to intellectually stimulate her. She would spend nearly a century mentoring her own students and furthering the goals of the QAS, assembling a small fortune for herself through adventuring expeditions into the Zandrazil Jungle.

In 747 ME, Farlen approached her with a secret plan to wrest control of Quilport away from the Four Families. For her part in his plan, Farlen tasked Akari with joining the Violet Brigade with the intention of creating an alliance between them and the Institute, giving her permission to offer access to the magical artifacts and skilled arcanists of the QAS. Akari rose to a position of prominence during her time with the brigade, during which she rooted out those officers who were under the bankroll of the families. She used her influence and connections to oust corrupt officers, either by shedding light on their corruption to authorities outside of the city or turning subordinates against them. Her ambitions put her in the crosshairs of the families, who spent the intervening decades attempting to bribe, undermine, or kill Akari while she rooted out the corruption within the Brigade.

By 818 ME, the Violet Brigade had gone from a corrupt mercenary outfit to a proper city guard under the control of the Doge. In 821 ME, Alexander Zhenkaro, the then-current Doge of Quilport, assigned Akari as his personal arcanist. Publicly, this was recognition from his administration for her anti-corruption efforts. In reality, Alexander wanted to keep a closer eye on the kitsune at the behest of the Four Families. However, an upshot of this action was giving Akari increased access to other Aubergine League members who could be sympathetic with her cause.

During a meeting of the Dogi in 830 ME, Akari brought forward accusations of corruption and bribery against Zhenkaro. After nearly an hour of heated debate, the other Dogi voted to strip Alexander of his title, which triggered an immediate election to find his replacement. Akari returned to the city a hero of the common people and a symbol of justice, unsurprisingly leading to her being selected as the next Doge. In a private meeting with the heads of the Families following her election, Akari laid out the stalemate into which she and the QAS had maneuvered their organizations—should the Families attempt to remove Akari, Quilport would forfeit its charter with the Aubergine League, effectively cutting off the inter-city commerce on which their organizations relied. She allowed the Families to advise her on new policies moving forward, the kitsune respecting each organization's role in maintaining the city's economic stability, but her independent wealth, close ties to the QAS, and bolstering of the Violet Brigade allowed Akari to operate independent of the corrupting influence of the Families.