Benilla, a simple peasant girl, born at an insignificant plantation called
Rothstead, by those who remember or care.

As a child, Benilla had always been sensitive, and quite shy. Prone to
frequent nightmares, she was believed to have a bit too much of an imagination.
As Benilla gradually entered her pubescence, she started seeing strange things
happening while awake too, believing herself delusional. But as time wore on,
more and more occurances took place. Piles of hay ignited in her presence,
stones on the field lifted, rainshowers suddenly broke upon a target of her
anger.

Benilla was in utter despair to explain what was happening, and her parents
were equally desparate - talk in the plantation was turning from 'gifted' or
'enchanted', to 'accursed' and finally to 'demonspawn'. That night, waking
from a terrible nightmare, Benilla found her house aflame around her. Bolting
through the back door to escape, she realised her parents had succumbed to
the flames behind her, ignited by her subconscious powers. Knowing the
other workers would stone her to death if they found she had survived,
Benilla fled her past for her life, scrambling from Rothstead.

A girl alone and unequiped in the wild would normally not live long, but
Benilla had proven herself unusual before, and made it through the ordeal of
her life, after uncounted months coming out of the wild, wiser in the use of
her skills, yet not in the cause of them. But as her simple, rustic life had
deteriorated behind her, she grasped for something new - who or what was she,
and how was this connected to her powers.

Having few encounters with real knowledge or wisdom, except the simple
farmers code of generations before her, she had experienced the unfathomable
scholarhood and experience of the village priest. With this as her only clue,
she came before the gates of Sasserine, with the purpose of seeking the
wisdom and knowledge of the priesthood and their divine benefactors. But she
came not as Benilla, for she had died, and her name was forever buried. She
from then on always wore the name Celene.

She wandered around the great city for some time, by sheer luck avoiding
Shadowshore and other sure death traps. It was the closest major city to her
birthplace, but she had never been there before. Still penniless, her
immediate aim was to find food and shelter, and the religious orders were
her main hope. After a most unfortunate run-in with a group of beggar monks,
she walked from doorstep to doorstep, beseeching the various orders. Some
turned her down, some frightened her off, but finally she was taken in at
the Temple of Wee Jas in Noble District. There she had a fortunate meeting
with Lady Eseriel, a venerable and experienced cleric, who took a keen
interest in the girl. She appreciated both Celene's quest for understanding,
although not a voluntary one, as well as her desparate situation - and
perhaps as well her naívely charming personality. She was at first admitted
as a destitute, and allowed to work at the temple for her food and lodging.
At the same time, she was helped through meditative comtemplation to master
both her fears and her powers, as well as pondering their origin.

Lady Eseriel of course had some experience in the ways of sorcery. She knew
that the the girl's powers were likely rooted in either her past or the
past of her lineage, and Lady Eseriel could give her the first little strands
of knowledge in her black hole of ignorance. From here Celene's search began.