![]() ![]() The abomination was a master unlike any other - except her father. To make things worse, Kyros banished her from the court into the service of the Voices of Nerat. She would no longer be able to exert total control over people, merely persuade them with her voice - and if anyone was aware of her powers, they'd naturally resist her. Through various magics, it suppressed her power. Instead, Kyros and Voices of Nerat fitted her with the headdress. She awaited her execution, but it never came. The official version was that she was cheering Sirin on, but the Songbird knew what happened. The spell broke and the Overlord screamed. Kyros asked her royal guardsman for a blade as Sirin sung and held it in her arm, when Sirin lost her cool. So during the peak of her performance, she added a counterpoint, suggesting that the Overlord drive a sword through her own heart. She did not have to voice commands, merely think them. Years of training made her power subtle and discreet. Her popularity grew unabated, until one fateful day when the twelve year old Sirin was called to perform before the Overlord. Her last memory of him is the dagger cutting through the jugular, as the reality of killing his wife and selling his daughter into slavery sunk in. She retaliated, slowly weaving a song of melancholy and depression, driving him to suicide. Their meeting was one of apathy met with a faked attempt at reconciliation: He hugged her, after arranging for the death of Sirin's mother and her own sale into Kyros' service. She had enough influence to track down her father after five years and have him brought to the court. Providing entertainment for the receptions hosted by Kyros, she was the star of the evening and had an ambiguous position in the power structure of the court. At ten, she was taken to Kyros' capital as a courtier and entertainer in her personal employ. She trained for four years, two of dedicated training, and a further two with field work, performing miracles in Kyros' name. ![]() Sirin considers this the Overlord's one kindness, given that without her tongue, her magic is not even a fraction of its power. Kyros denied the request, but increased security was put in place: Two teachers with her at all times, with two deaf guards protecting and controlling her to boot. The mages were furious and demanded her tongue. She dominated his mind and caused him to look out the window, leaning out just a bit too far. The bored Sirin started wordlessly singing, gesturing as she performed, and slowly wormed her way into the teacher's mind. The heat of the summer day was immense and the room had windows wide open. At eight, she found herself alone in a class with an older teacher. She was tutored by the finest mages in the Empire, skeptical of her powers. She was taken into Kyros' custody and put into training. She was at the center, crushed by the weight of her dying mother. Her powers drove the villagers to madness and they slaughtered each other with whatever was at hand. She also remembers her screaming, crying, and the slaughter that unfolded around her. That little bitch killed my crops! Sirin remembers how the first rock hit her mother, how she curled up around her child, shielding her from the rocks thrown by the crowd. They seethed with anger, ready to pounce on their prey. By the time they returned, the village was waiting for them. When Sirin and her mother were away, he sowed seeds of discord among the people of the village, stoking fear and hatred. In exchange for her power, he would be paid a handsome sum. The power of her voice made her a valuable commodity and unbeknownst to either his wife or daughter, he made a pact with Kyros. Though she blamed it on nature, she never really forgot the circumstances and feared her daughter's voice - but loved her all the same. She killed her first person at five, forcing her mother to miscarry through a song. Her powers grew too, unmoderated by wisdom. For five years she grew, torn between her role as a singer and the desire for a normal childhood. Sirin's mother accompanied her on these excursions, the one person in her life who did not treat her as an instrument to be used. Her father, a callous person seemingly devoid of emotion, immediately saw the profit in her skills and toured her around the villagers, selling her voice for rings. Her parents quickly learned anyone who heard Sirin’s voice was compelled by the emotion behind it. Her magical abilities manifested at a very young age, when she cried for the first time. Sirin was born in 416 TR, in an anonymous farming village in the North, 20 miles from Shadow's Rest. ![]()
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