Tatyana was born in Flint to a Yala, a woman from the countryside who had been lured away by the bright lights and excitement of the city of Flint. Yala abandoned her family and their traditions in "The Old Faith" to lose herself in the 'big' city. And, as has happened to many other young women, the city chewed Yala up and destroyed her. She fell into the sex trade as a way to keep fed and alive, working taverns and inns to support her young but growing daughter Tatyana. Tatyana never knew her father, and was convinced that her mother truly didn't know who he was either.

Her mother did the best she could, but Tatyana was more than a handful for a single mother. She was willful, stubborn and rebellious, and it just got worse as she approached her teenage years. She began spending more and more time away from her mother, and was for all practical purposes estranged from her by the time she was thirteen, living on the streets with the urchins and pickpockets.

Tatyana continued to grow on the streets, moving from a harmless street urchin to the 'muscle' for a gang of girls. Their exploits grew less legal and more problematic as the girls grew up, and eventually the scrounging for treasures became petty theft and violence. Tatyana is basically a good person, but if the choice was watching her sisters-of-the-streets go hungry or lifting a brooch from a pampered noblewoman, she chose her sisters every time. It was her downfall. And her redemption.

She was caught in a theft by a constable in the RHC, and given a clear ultimatum. If she was caught again she was going away for a long time.

As a young criminal who had drawn the eyes of the law, Tatyana was lost for a while. She found her salvation in the old faith of her grandparents and ancestors. She went straight and found an old druidess to take her on as an apprentice. Tatyana had no talent or temperament for the life of a druid (mechanically her wisdom score is low!) but had a more intuitive relation to the faith. Her earlier life and her mother's influence is a curse holding her back from progressing as a sky seer, but she manifests powers of the night intuitively rather than through prayer and introspection.

But apprentice seers have to eat, and Tatyana finds that the RHC has great use for her talents. She's joined them and uses her knowledge of life on the streets, her abilities as a sky seer oracle to help others who are in situations like hers. She's gone straight and like many former criminals, she values the order and structure of an order like the RHC.

Connection hooks:

- Former criminals/urchins who might have crossed paths with her 5-10 years ago
- Other followers of the old faith