Pronounced: "am-BEE-ree"
Height: 7’3”
Age: 27
Race: Ramnian Darklander

The world called Ramnus is home to three anthropomorphic races: the Serpentfolk, who are little bipedal creatures evolved from snakes; the carnivorous bats; and the Darklanders.

The Darkland is a roughly 900-square-mile region of Ramnus which came to be when a tremendously powerful evil sorceror named Kaunath made the area his home--a shroud of magical darkness covered the land for miles around. The sun itself struggles to peek through the dark veil. Kaunath's power was such that even now, centuries after his death, his darkness still curses his erstwhile domain. The curse of the Darkland not only dims the sky, it also causes bizarre mutations in every living creature there and imbues many of them with Kaunath's evil. Darklanders are the mutant Serpentfolk of this tainted region. Ambiri and her family members are Darkland mutants. Their particular mutation is that they have grown to roughly twice the size of normal Serpentfolk; other than that, they are exactly like normal Serpentfolk.

One day when Ambiri was still a child and she was out in the forest picking fruit, she encountered a strange young Darklander girl, with gray skin and all-white eyes. Her name was Subu. She didn't have a home and had no idea who her parents were. Ambiri offered her friendship to her fellow mutant, who was happy to have a friend at last. But when she brought Subu home to meet her family, her mother made Subu leave and told Ambiri not to associate with Subu. Darklanders believed they had a sense of which of their own were "the bad ones"; that is, the ones who carried Kaunath's spirit and were inherently evil. Ambiri's mother felt that Subu was one of these. Ambiri disagreed--Subu couldn't be evil. She was always nice to Ambiri and always willing to play with her.

Ambiri decided to continue meeting Subu in secret. They always had lots of fun when they got together, and the secrecy made their friendship that much more special. Ambiri had no reason to regret her choice until an occurrence several weeks later. Subu, after remarking that she was hungry, slipped into a trance-like state. Suddenly, she darted into a nearby thicket. Ambiri followed, and found Subu clutching a small rat-like animal in her hand. She lifted the animal to her mouth and pressed its lips against her own. And with an unnatural, extremely powerful suction that originated from within her body, Subu sucked the creature's innards out through its mouth. The collapsed carcass fell from her hand to the ground. Taken aback by this horrifying scene, Ambiri began to realize why Subu's parents had abandoned her. She also started to wonder if her mother hadn't been right about Subu all along. Still, she remained friends with the strange orphan. Subu was still quite pleasant most of the time, and Ambiri didn't want her to be all alone again. Besides, it was possible that Subu could outgrow this bizarre behavior. Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the case. Subu continued to "feed" in this manner; in fact, as she grew to adulthood, she started doing it to larger and larger animals. What was once disturbing now became quite alarming, as Ambiri knew what the next logical step was.

Finally, Ambiri's worst fears were realized. A Darklander was found dead on the outskirts of Ambiri's village. His torso was concave; his internal organs were gone. While her neighbors speculated as to who or what could have done such a thing, Ambiri stood by, silent and sad. She knew the truth.

Ambiri found Subu in her favorite hiding spot in the woods. Near tears, she tried to explain to her the seriousness of what she had done. But Subu didn't seem to understand. Just then, a bright, unexplained glow began to filter through the trees. Subu froze and went into her trance-like state. Then she sprinted off toward the glow. Ambiri chased her to the edge of the woods and as the trees thinned out, she finally saw the source of the mysterious light. A rift had opened up not thirty yards away! The swirling, volatile magical energies of the Darkland often caused the fabric of reality itself to crack. Ambiri's heart nearly stopped as she realized that Subu was walking directly into the rift! She almost ran right in after her, but she remembered that some rifts led to nowhere, resulting in the obliteration of anyone who stepped in. Quickly, she went to consult a seer. The mystic informed Ambiri that Subu had survived her trip through the rift and was now in a new realm. But she would soon be in deep trouble there. Ambiri sighed. She didn't want to go to a place she knew nothing about and might not be able to return from. But she had been Subu's only friend and protector for seventeen years, and she couldn't abandon her now. And she had to prevent Subu from harming anyone on the other side of that rift. Ambiri hurriedly gathered her traveling gear, then set off for the rift, which was already beginning to close.

Standing in front of the crack in reality, Ambiri reflected upon the lengths she would go to for a person most others wouldn't even want near them. She stepped through the shrinking rift into a distant part of the universe.

A huntress by trade, Ambiri will need to use those skills to track her friend down in an unfamiliar land. But she won't be the only one in pursuit...

Notes:

-I sure hope the foreshortening on Ambiri's right arm (the one pulling the sword out of its sheath) doesn't look crappy.
-That glowing crack in the sky behind Ambiri is a second rift--one that doesn't figure into the story. Most rifts that open in the Darkland are in the sky and are inaccessible to everyone except flying creatures. But as a result of mutation, some Darklanders do have wings.