The gods created the world, all the forests, rivers, and valleys, so they love the world best. But the goddesses created humans, each endowing them with an aspect of themselves, so they love humanity best.

Four hundred years ago, Princess Lara was born in the Dukedom of Korrobora. She would go on to unite the Larian Empire after many trials and quests, but although she was brave, compassionate, and creative, she was not the chosen child of the goddess of courage, or the goddess of compassion, or the goddess of imagination. She was chosen by the goddess of luck.

When Lara slept for the first time, her maid sang to her of the deserts in the west, where the fiery Sirothon dwelled. She sang of the winged wolves of the north and the finned lions of the east.

On Lara’s first birthday, she slipped free from her sling and fell into the Remiri River. The current swept her away from her family, who mourned her loss.

But in that moment, the goddess of luck proved her favor. For Lara did not die. Instead, she was pulled from the water by a family of panthers, who chose not to kill her but instead to feed and shelter her.

Thus was the early childhood of our empire’s esteemed founder. The panthers taught her the ways of the forest, how to hunt and read the moods of trees and wind. But luck’s blessings are often strange at first, and she had many more in waiting.