<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Character Backstory for Priestess Tiandria Amaranth</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/TbJRrSc.jpg)</div>The story of Tiandria Amaranth d’Arutur begins almost a decade before her birth.  Her mother, Queen Leniteree d’Wailish, wife of the King of Ardhom, the powerful Mikal ir’Arutur, was unable to conceive her husband’s children.  Faced with the prospect of the end of the royal lineage, the couple considered two options.  The first was bringing in a surrogate wife or a handmaiden for King Mikal who would bear his children.  This, being somewhat uncommon but not completely unknown was of course their first action.  But it bore no fruit for it seemed that both the king and the queen were lacking in the ability to conceive.  Their second option was one that seemed extreme at the time, but did work out for the good.<br/><br/>A small religion at the time was that of the faith in Shoni, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.  The high priestess Mikana, of their faith approached the king and queen and struck a deal with them, claiming she had been guided to them by the goddess herself.  In exchange for making Shoni the realm’s matron deity, and taking Mikana as the royal religious advisor, the priestess would bear Mikal a single son.  But the Queen wanted a child of her own, and so an even deeper deal was struck.  In addition to the other agreements, the high priestess promised that the goddess could restore the fertility to both king and queen in exchange for any daughters that the queen bore.  Any royal princesses would enter the faith as priestesses thereby further strengthening the bond between the kingdom and the faith.<br/><br/>They agreed.<br/><br/>Within a year the Queen gave birth to her first child, a son, the royal prince, Chandar Flag ir’Arutur.  Within a year, a second.  In the coming years this was followed by her first daughter, another son, and finally a second daughter.  That first daughter, the princess, destined to become a priestess of Shoni, was named Tiandria Amaranth d’Arutur, a beautiful and optimistic child with wavy raven hair.  Often called Tia by her family, including her “aunt” Mikana, the priestess who lived with her parents, she knew from an early age that she’d be following in her aunt Mikana’s footsteps and serving the goddess Shoni.  So when she had her first moon cycle, at the age of twelve, she was hugged and kissed fairwell and sent off to live in the convent, to be trained in the faith of Shoni.  It was difficult at first, for while she was allowed to learn the ways, teachings, and rites of Shoni, she was not allowed to participate until declared an adult.  Those hidden fertility rights with the muscled and oiled men fueled her young desire as she counted the years till she could become a true priestess.<br/><br/>Three years later her younger sister Ruby joined her there, and it was a great comfort to both of the princesses.  Tia glad for the chance to be older sister to Ruby, and Ruby glad to have a familiar face.  The training and teaching continued, and both princesses were wise and curious, but finally Tia’s name day came around that said she was a full adult, and ready to take on the role as a priestess of Shoni.  She was allowed to leave the convent and return home to celebrate her eighteenth birthday, and was able to see how much her eldest brother, Chandar, had come along in statecraft.  He was ready, though not eager, to take the role of king when his father decided to step down.  Her other brothers had found their paths as well.  The middle brother finding talent in the arcane arts and having begun his training.  Her younger brother, still not yet an adult, was fond of warfare and the military, and everyone thought he might grow to be a great general to lead the kingdom’s forces some day.  Her mother and her aunt gave her much guidance during that vacation, talking about her role as a priestess of Shoni.  Aunt Mikana even suggesting that she might some day take the role of high priestess.  A shocking statement since that meant that she’d have to share a bed chamber with her eldest brother and his eventual wife once he took the crown.  But her mother agreed that such a thing would be a great honor.<br/><br/>Still it never set easily on her mind.  She loved her brother, her family, but not in that way.  While she was eager to lose her maidenhood and begin participating in the sexual rites of her faith, she felt strange about the idea of mating with her brother, of carrying his seed.<br/><br/>She returned to the convent and in the ritual deflowering orgy that followed, she was welcomed, and fucked, into the priesthood finally in a night long bachinallia of lust and bliss.  The next few years she trained and advanced in rank inside the priesthood.  Then her sister Ruby came of age.  Like Tia, Ruby returned home for a week, and upon her return, she pulled Tia aside to talk.  She told how excited she was at the prospect of becoming the high priestess, and wasn’t their eldest brother so handsome, and how much an honor it would be to become the high priestess for their kingdom.  She also pouted that Tia, three years older, would likely achieve the rank of high priestess before her, and she’d never achieve that dream.<br/><br/>Tia kissed Ruby and assured her that it was not the position she wanted.  Tia believed that Ruby was destined for the role by the goddess herself, but admitted that meant she didn’t know what her role was to be. <br/><br/>The next few years saw Tia grow into a fine young woman, and excellent priestess of Shoni.  Her favorite duty was that of aiding life, the ritual of transference.  Every month when her womb was most fertile she would lay with a man and take his seed.  The union when sucessful as it usually was, always brought her great, almost divine, joy.  Then in the ritual of transference the life in her womb would be gently taken by the goddess and gifted to another member of the faithful.  It was special to her because she was doing the same as her “aunt” Mikana did for her parents.  She was giving a child to a woman who was not able to do so herself.  Even though she would likely never meet the family that the goddess decided to bless with child, she knew that she was carrying out the role of a priestess.  Her life as a priestess was fulfilling, and she enjoyed serving the goddess, but always over her head hung the sense that there was more expected of her.  Several times conversations were had with her taking greater roles than that of a priestess in the faith, and every time she denied them, knowing she did not wish the role of high priestess, nor what it entailed. <br/><br/>Her sister Ruby took to her duties with a similar zeal, and Tia knew that the younger sibling felt as if she were racing for the post that Ruby coveted, and Tia didn’t want.  It strained their relationship somewhat, especially as rumors of their father, the king Mikal ir’Arutur’s health was on the decline.  It seemed that the time for the crown prince Chandar to take the throne was looming.  With that he’d need a queen, and as per royal pact, a new high priestess of Shoni to serve at his side and also warm his bed.  Of course one of the other priestesses of the faith could serve this role, but none wanted the job as much as Ruby.<br/><br/>Thankfully the night before her twenty fifth birthday, everything changed for Tia.  In a dream she was visited by the goddess Shoni herself.  Blindingly glorious and radiant with beauty that made her shed tears in her sleep, the goddess told Tia that she was indeed destined for other things, and touching her stomach, granted divine blessing upon Tia.  The next morning she awoke and called all the priestesses together to tell them of what had transpired.  She was to set off, in search of a long lost artifact that predated the founding of the kingdom.  The all seeing eye, a gemstone set in a necklace that bestowed upon it’s wearer true sight beyond sight.  All was laid bare to he or she who wore it, no lie would be believed, no illusion seen, and the wisdom of foresight granted when decisions needed to be made.  It was a legend, but it was believed that the original King Arutur had used it to claim leadership and found the kingdom originally.  But what had happened to it had been lost to the mysteries of time.<br/><br/>She explained how Shoni had appeared to her and granted her a divine blessing along with the information that the All Seeing Eye had resurfaced somewhere in a city far away known as Melvaunt.  She needed to go and retrieve it before anyone learned what the ancient jewelry actually was. There were some in the convent that doubted her story, dismissing it as a simple dream.  But then Tia cast off the robe she had been wearing.  Beneath she wore bangles of gold and strands of golden chain links that wrapped around her mostly nude body.  They ran criss cross and around her body, red silk hanging and barely hiding her sex, and linked to golden piercings in her nipples.<br/><br/>The eldest priestesses gasped, for they recognized from description alone, the changing shifting jeweled chains as the battle chains of Shoni, granted by the deity herself to those who were sent on a holy mission.  While none alive had ever seen such a thing, the way the chains shifted across her body and shaped into new patterns at Tia’s will gave credence to the magical nature of her garments.  Since none had been in the Convent, nor even seen in living memory, and Tia hadn’t left the convent in months, it was clear that they were a gift from the Goddess Shoni herself.<br/><br/>She set out at daybreak the very next day, determined to fulfill the wishes of her goddess. <br/></div></div><br/><hr/><div style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 24pt;">Early afternoon, the mountains west of Melvaunt</span></em></div><hr/><div class="floatright"><div align="center"><sub><em>Click images to enlarge</em></sub><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/fkvgkfR.jpg)<br/><em>Tia</em><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/cFl5eBF.jpg)<br/><em>Tia's 'travel garb'</em><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/GexHruJ.jpg)<br/><em>Cerys</em></div></div><br/><br/>The caravan driver pointed down the path as the treeline broke and opened a view down into the valley that they were descending into.<strong>“There priestess, that be Melvaunt.”</strong><br/><br/>The raven haired woman on the bench next to him leaned forwards in her seat, straining to see through the trees as the path twisted through and the view opened up.  Her full breasts strained at the gold Lamé silk of her outfit.  The garment covered perhaps a third of her generous breasts before dipping down in a V towards several strands that met around her hips and wrapped around her privates before looping back up between pert butt cheeks to meet the cloth at her hips.  Gossamer silk fell from her hips down to her feet where it met golden high heeled boots of an open design.  Along with armets, bracelets, and a golden headband, she wore little else, practically nothing, leaving the vast majority of her body on display.  But to Tia, it was far more than she’d choose to wear, had she not reached an agreement with the caravan master to this minimum level of modesty.  Frankly she didn’t see why, so what if she inflamed the lusts of every wagon driver and guardsman in the caravan?  She was a priestess of Shoni, she’d be glad to bed them come nightfall, if they accepted Shoni’s love and blessing, she’d be glad to share her body with them and bring them pleasure.  But of course he pointed out that many of the men were married, and belonged to other faiths, and their wives might not appreciate them ‘worshipping’ while on the job.  Still it hadn’t stopped almost every man from slipping into her tent at least once over the last five weeks since the long journey from her homeland here had started.<br/><br/><strong>“It’s larger than I thought,”</strong>she said as she saw the city and farmland that spread out across the valley ringed by mountains.  Beside her the caravan master simply grunted.<strong>“The way you described it, I expected a mining town, an outpost, not a full blown independent city state.” </strong>She glanced at him and saw that he was again eyeing her breasts, as he had thousands of times over the last few weeks.<strong> “I’m used to men describing things as much larger than they actually are,”</strong>she jibed.  That got his eyes to snap up and scrutinize him, followed with a harumph and then his eyes snapping back towards the trail.<br/><br/><strong>“Yer gonna want a guide I’m thinking,”</strong>he said a few minutes later after a particularly large bump in the road jostled her half out of her seat.<strong> “There’s always some locals for hire at the trading outpost we’re making for at the fringes of the city.”</strong><br/><br/><strong>“Can you recommend anyone specifically?” </strong>she asked.<strong> “I don’t need some toothless old man, nor some wet behind the ears street punk.  I’m going to need someone who can handle themselves in a fight as well as knows the lay of the land.”</strong>She didn’t explain why.  It wasn’t the caravan master’s business, but she expected that finding the all seeing eye would be the hard part, but that likely it might take more than wealth to purchase it.  It might take some physical prowess, some persuasion that might include a heavy hand.<br/><br/>He shrugged,<strong>“I know a few, but I ain’t been back here in two seasons, so depends on who’s abouts.”</strong><br/><br/>Tia nodded her head and the pair lapsed back into silence as the wagon bounced along down the mountain path into the valley.  Tia focused her mind in on her prayers and thinking over the holy texts.  She remembered that Shoni had said that her womb would become fertile field once again when she’d reached this city.  A small part of Tia would be glad of it.  She’d always enjoyed the feeling of being bred, of giving that fertilized life to the goddess to put in the belly of one of her faithful.  It had felt very strange, alien, the last few weeks being unable to be impregnated.  It had felt almost as if she’d been cut off from her goddesses love.  But with every mile that the wagon descended, she could feel that love returning.  She could feel herself blossoming again, as if winter had passed and her body was returning to life.  She could feel her womb tingling, anticipating the return to her priestly duties.  Her nipples hardened and her sex tingled and grew slightly moist and warm just thinking about it.<br/><br/>Suddenly the bumps and dips in the road were no longer annoying, but in fact, quite pleasant.<br/><br/>She smiled.<br/><br/>Three hours later as the wagon train finally pulled into the trading post on the outside of the walls just as dusk was beginning to set.  Tia hopped down and stretched and took the time to walk around and stretch out her legs.  She moved around the wagons speaking with the men and few women who had been her companions on the journey these past few weeks.  Some sad to see her go, and a few who were sad to see her go, but glad that their trysts would go secretly with her.  Again this was men and a few of the women.<br/><br/>She was interrupted by the caravan master who tapped her shoulder,<strong>“Priestess Amaranth?  This is Cerys En Craite.  She’s a battle hardened veteran and knows the city well enough for your purposes I think.”</strong><br/><br/>Tia turned to see an extremely busty woman wearing plate gauntlets and vambraces that ended in high heels, a single metal pauldron, stockings, and not much else save a belt and a bikini.  Tia liked her already.  Her curved and luscious body was muscular but also soft and feminine, and the priestess in Tia immediately thought that it was a body made for breeding, much like her own.  She couldn’t help but let the genuine smile spread across her face.<br/><br/><strong>“Nice to meet you, please call me Tia, I’m sure the caravan master explained what I’m looking for.  So lets test you out right away.  Is there somewhere we can go to get a good meal and a bottle of wine, over which we might discuss terms of your employ?  I’ve been on the road too long and would relish a good meal, a better drink, and a pleasant conversation.”</strong>