Kuraja Nottsdottir, Human Cleric of Selune (Patreon)

An awesome human cleric I drew on commission recently! 

Character: Kuraja Nottsdottir, Human Cleric of Selune

Kuraja's childhood was one of extreme hardship - all too common among the poor of large cities like Luskan. Her parents, Ylva and Asmund, loved her and worked hard for what little they had. This was not enough to save Kura from being orphaned at seven years old. One day, her parents went to the local temple to get help for a health issue Asmund was experiencing. They never returned. When she went to look for them, the temple attendants told her they were very sick and needed to stay awhile. Confused, she stayed in their shanty of a home waiting for them, until the city came to repossess it. The people who came to do so said only that her parents had died of a plague. They ignored her pleas and in the end, she was forced out on the streets with whatever she could carry.

She learned to survive through stealing and pickpocketing. She learned to fight to keep her scant possessions, becoming good enough with fists and improvised weapons that some of the other children decided she would be good to have around. She became head of a small band known as the Children of the Moon for their seeming tendency to move among crowds and in and out of vacant houses by moonlight. They also preferred finding rooftops to sleep on, Kura in particular taking comfort in falling asleep with the moon as the last thing she saw each fair-weathered night.

Not long after her tenth birthday, she accidentally discovered some skill with healing magic while trying to help one of her band. A few of the others pointed out that the clerics at the various temples could do what she was doing, though they valued Kura even more now that they knew of her healing powers. She knew it, too, but the idea that she might be able to go to a temple, show the clerics what she could do, and possibly start on a different path would not leave her alone. One day, she found herself slipping into the Temple of Selune to do just that. Though dubious at first, they witnessed the truth of her abilities and took her in. She managed a hasty goodbye to her band before finally leaving the streets, vowing never to forget about them and help them when she could.

In the fourteen years that followed, she became immersed in the church, finding her faith in the Moonmaiden despite the hardships of her childhood. Being an orphan, she took on the surname Nottsdottir, "daughter of the night", to honor the church that had taken her in and the discipline she had chosen. She also found the more martial aspect of clerichood appealing. As she trained, she made certain to save her gold, sending it along to those she could find of her band so that they might make their way off the streets as she had. However, as time went by, she realized that she could not remain in the temple any longer, for the lawless nature of the city was beginning to chafe at her.

She left and eventually fell in with a band of adventurers called The Ravens of the Waves who traveled by longship along the coast. However, ill luck ran the longboat aground halfway between Luskan and Neverwinter. Most of the adventurers were disheartened, taking their shipwreck as a sign that such a life wasn't for them. They dispersed into the city to seek different paths. Kuraja, however, continued on, not keen on returning to Luskan in favor of the freedom she felt, despite the inauspicious start.

One day, while in Neverwinter to investigate the disappearance of some old members of her band, she was suddenly carried off by a mysterious mist. She found herself in the ever-changing Dread Realms, where she now works with a group of fellow captives of the Mists to discover a way back home.

What do you think? :)