Mara

Healthy but small, with a wiry strength from running barefoot in the grove. Appears fragile, yet her aura hints at greater power within.

Soft brown hair, green eyes with faint bioluminescence, often faintly dusted in dirt or moss.

Her green aura manifests when she is afraid or upset. This glow bends plants toward her, a mark that others quickly recognize as unnatural.

Wears simple tunics, often adorned with small forest charms. Keeps her mother’s recovered charm — a symbol of her survival and loss.

Mara’s life has been brief but marked by tragedy and wonder.

Early Childhood (Ages 0–6)

• Born within a secluded druid grove, the daughter of a half-elf mother and an unknown father.
• Her earliest years were spent among druids, animals, and the whispering forest, nurtured by the balance of the wild.
• Learned to speak to animals and plants before she fully understood the Common tongue — an instinctual connection rather than a taught one.

The Grove’s Fall (Age 6)

• Mara’s mother was murdered in front of her during an attack tied to a curse festering in the grove.
• The grove withered under the curse’s influence, its guardians fracturing into fear and distrust.
• The party helped Mara locate her mother’s charm — the key to lifting the grove’s corruption.
• Instead of gratitude, the grove’s elders cast Mara out, declaring her a cursed child and an omen of imbalance.

Exile and Adoption (Age 6–7)

• Homeless and grieving, Mara was taken in by Zythera, who adopted her and gave her a semblance of family again.
• Mara bonded quickly with the party, who became her protectors and surrogate siblings.

The Feywild Sojourn (Age 7–11 in appearance)

• Traveling with the party into the Feywild, Mara experienced accelerated growth — nearly five years passed for her in what seemed like only months.
• The Feywild awakened her latent aura, causing her green radiance to flare whenever she was distressed.
• She began to unconsciously manifest divine-like abilities, hinting at a destiny far beyond mortality.

Witnessing Zythera’s Death (Age 11)

• In the Feywild, Mara watched Zythera die before her eyes. The trauma reopened her deepest fear: losing every parent-figure she clings to.
• Zythera later returned, but the wound of that memory still haunts Mara’s heart.

• Rejected by the Grove. After helping cleanse her birthplace of its corruption, Mara was branded an outcast rather than embraced. She carries the shame of being seen as an unwanted child by her people.
• Power Out of Control. When distressed, her aura has frightened allies or caused plants to overgrow uncontrollably. She worries that she is more danger than blessing.
• Helplessness. In the moments her mother and Zythera died, Mara was powerless to protect them. She internalizes this as failure, though she had no means to prevent it.

• Mother’s Death. Witnessing her mother’s murder is a wound that never healed. It left Mara fearful of sudden violence and deeply distrustful of authority figures in druidic circles.
• Grove’s Rejection. Being cast out by the very place that birthed her instilled a deep fear of abandonment and convinced her she must earn love to be worthy of it.
• Zythera’s Death. Watching her adoptive mother die confirmed her greatest fear: everyone she loves will eventually be taken. Though Zythera returned, Mara lives with the haunting memory.
• Burden of Power. Her aura manifests uncontrollably when she panics, reinforcing her belief that her very existence may harm others.

• Kindness as Survival. Mara believes kindness is the only way to endure suffering. Even when wounded, she extends compassion to animals, strangers, and allies alike.
• Cycle of Renewal. Influenced by her grove-born roots, she believes all things die and bloom again. Her philosophy is not about avoiding loss but about carrying seeds forward.
• Hope in Family. She clings fiercely to her found family (the party and Zythera) and sees them as her anchor. To Mara, love is the truest magic.
• Divine Innocence. Though unaware of her destiny, she embodies a proto-goddess’s philosophy: that all creatures, no matter how small, have a sacred place in the weave of life.

To find belonging and protect those she loves. Secretly yearns to grow strong enough to prevent further loss.

• Savvies: Empathy, survival in nature, calming animals.
• Ineptitudes: Combat, manipulation, deception, and adult responsibilities.

• Likes: Animals, plants, songs her mother once sang, stories, being included.
• Dislikes: Cruelty, separation, being treated like a burden.

Compassionate, hopeful, resilient despite trauma.

When upset, clutches her mother tightly. Sometimes speaks to plants and animals as if they were people.