A series of stories that take place in the towns and cities that surround Shelter Forest: Willowridge, Coleville, Red Landing, Tandale, Chesterfield, Dulmountain City, and the Shoreton Ruins.
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Growing up in the Temple of Lilith had been an interesting way to spend your childhood. The Daughters of Lilith believed that she was the original feminist, refusing to be bent to the will of both Adam and God. Where many considered her a demon, the Daughters saw her as the model of womanhood: strong, self-reliant, and rejecting the notion of living under the thumb of any man, mortal or immortal.
Having been abandoned on their doorstep when you were only a few years old, they had taken you in and raised you, as they had many young women over the years, despite your condition. There was something wrong with your nerves, which caused tremors, spasms, and twitching in your body. Sometimes, you experienced a temporary paralysis of your feet and legs, which made walking difficult. The Daughters had commissioned a special chair for you from the local wood carver, which had wheels so that you could be pushed along during your episodes of muscle weakness and paralysis. There were also special canes they'd had made for you so that you could walk unassisted when you had the strength to do so.
You often experienced pain, especially when trying to sleep, and the local apothecarist's typical medicines didn't seem to help. Luckily, there was a traveling physician who came by regularly that sold more potent tinctures, which helped tremendously. The Daughters seem to distrust him, though in fairness, they had a natural distrust for men in general.
He'd been coming every few months since you could remember, and the Daughters would hide you away when he came to sell his wares, fearful of some awful thing they refused to share with you. You'd grown up with a curiousness about this man, wondering if you'd ever meet him, if he was as nefarious as the Daughters insisted he could be, and if he perhaps could do something to help you walk better. He was a doctor, after all.
You caught your first glimpse of him when you were fifteen. You managed to sneak out of your room while the Daughters were at prayer, dodging past Daughter Liana who was charged with caring for you, and saw him through a stained-glass window coming up the secluded path that led to the convent. He was punctual, always coming on the first day of the new season, always in the morning as prayers were being said. He waited patiently for prayers to conclude and for the Eldest Daughter to greet him at the steps, never entering until he was invited. You watched him as he waited, standing still as a statue, one hand on the strap of the large back slung over his shoulder and the other behind his back.
He was an extremely tall, willowy person, almost inhumanly thin and lanky, with an androgynous appearance you weren't used to seeing. He had incredibly long, white hair pulled into a practical braid down his back, and dark, nearly black eyes. His skin was equally as pale as his hair and, in the sun, seemed to have an almost iridescent sheen to it, though that could have been an effect of looking through the colored glass. You couldn't determine his age; he seemed older than his smooth, angular face and lithe form would suggest but still quite young. He wore a plain, black suit and coat, similar to what a priest might wear, except that it had no priest's collar. Instead, a physician's symbol was embroidered on the left breast. He had no other adornments or decoration.
