Thaleia

Tales of a mysterious bard resound throughout Belleron. She uses her songs to protect soldiers on the battlefield, but no one has seen her true face. All they can do is make their best guesses using her singing voice: some say she is an old woman, others, a long-haired Elf. It's a hot topic among tavern customers: how can the same person sound so different with every song she sings? "Nothing strange about that," replies Thaleia earnestly. "When people have lost all hope, they hear what they want to hear most." The tavernkeeper thinks for a moment. Didn't all this talk about a mysterious singer start just around the time Thaleia showed up?

The tavernkeeper had discovered Thaleia by following the sound of her voice. At the time, she wore a tattered old cloak, shivering in the cold street as she clutched her lute and sang. Onlookers gathered around her, occasionally throwing coins and bread. But when one strong gust of wind blew the hood off her head, the mood suddenly changed. Whispers spread through the crowd: "A Satyr! She's a Satyr!" They fled in a panic, but her song did not waver, remaining beautiful as ever. Once her performance had ended, the tavernkeeper brought her back to the tavern, and she became a rising star known throughout Belleron.

In southern Belleron, there is a mysterious place some call the "Land of the Lost". Travelers enter by accident, and go missing for days, re-emerging with only fragmented memories of their time there. The only thing they can vaguely remember is that a group of Satyrs lives there; unlike other Satyrs, their faces bear no magical markings, and they harbor no vengeance in their hearts. For years, no one could find this place—until the year 1188, when the Frost Dragon tore apart their magical barrier... As more and more trespassers came, their Matriarch took it upon herself to wipe their memories. "Forget it all," she would say. "Forget Arcadia, forget that you ever came. You shall not defile this holy place. You shall not take her song away from us."

Mu Hsiang enjoys cooking, and incorporates her medical skills into her recipes to create dishes that are highly nutritious. Unfortunately, most who try her recipes find them rather hard to swallow—and it's probably better that they don't know what's in them.