Ava was born in the harsh reaches of Norrsprak, where she lived as the daughter of a lumberjack. Her mother died giving birth to her, and her father remarried soon after. Ava spent most of her early life on her maternal grandparents' pig farm, where she learned the trade of a swineherd. From the beginning, death seemed to follow the girl. When she was two, one of her maternal aunts died giving birth to her first child. When she was seven, her maternal cousin Sven was eaten by an Owlbear while the two of them were playing in the woods. Sven's parents were killed when their fishing boat capsized soon after. At age eight, her paternal aunt was burned at the stake for witchcraft. Ava's uncle was so distraught over his wife's death that he drank himself to death that fall, and his young children died from lack of care before anyone knew he'd passed. At age ten, her paternal grandfather disappeared without a trace. That winter, lacking proper knowledge of how to tend the hearth, her paternal grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin died when their house burned down. When she was twelve, her maternal cousin broke her neck and died falling off a cart. The girl's father died a year later when his hand was crushed at the lumber mill and became infected. When Ava was fifteen, her maternal grandfather was killed by a dire boar while foraging in the woods. That summer, her maternal grandmother was kicked in the head by a horse and died as well.
Her immediate family was not spared from this, either. When she was seventeen, her half-sister fell into a frozen lake when the ice broke. Her father attempted to dive in after her, but they drowned together. That summer, her half brother was hunting to try to support what was left of the family. He was killed by a deer. This left only Ava and her stepmother. Ava should have been the one to inherit her grandparent's pig farm, but her stepmother claimed stewardship, and instead forced Ava into marrying a carpenter called Gorm who would keep her under control.
Ava lived in constant fear, thanks both to her husband and stepmother and the idea that her own children would fall prey to whatever curse was following her. Her first son, Sven, managed to survive, but the next two were stillborn. Ava thought one was all she could hope for until her fourth pregnancy, when she had Molly. The birth left her unable to have any more, but it was enough for her. She was determined to keep the child safe and healthy, to give her the life she'd wanted for herself.
In spite of this, tragedy struck when Ava was in her thirties. Her now adult son, Sven, had always hated his father. He hated the way he abused Ava, but Ava had always told him to listen to his father and that Sven's and Molly's love was enough for her. But Sven would not have it. After a particularly vicious beating, Sven had had enough. He beat his father so brutally that the man died the following day from his injuries. Sven was hanged for murder the next.
This left only Ava, Molly, and her stepmother. They could have lived off the pig farm, if Ava's stepmother hadn't frittered away the revenue from it, saddling her with debt which Ava could only pay off by selling the property, slaughtering the last pig for a Jarl's feast. She worked odd jobs to make ends meet, but even this meager existence would not last. A plague came to her village that winter, finally excising her stepmother from her life. Unfortunately, it took Molly as well.
Lacking anything else to tie her down to this place, Ava left. She went to the nearby town, where a fortuitous encounter made her into a scholar's assistant. He made her literate enough to sort and keep his material, but with time he saw her potential. He taught her languages, knowledge, all sorts of things. He expanded her knowledge to the world beyond the cold reaches she knew. And then he asked one of his old friends, who'd retired, to teach her magic. Even starting so late, in middle age, her talents were clearly extraordinary. He offered to make her his apprentice, to pass down his teachings, but Ava refused.
For in those books she'd poured over during her time working for the scholar, she'd found an old and dusty tome titled “The Path of Blood”. A treatise on the teachings of Xel. And now everything seemed to fit into place. The death and despair she had known all her life, it all suddenly had meaning. If she wanted to avoid losing those she cared for, or even losing her own life, then the only way was to ensure that she was the one dealing out the death. She swore her allegiance to Xel, but knew she would never be accepted for who she was here. She traveled as far as it took, until eventually she reached the Ohm Basin where her views would at least be tolerated.
==== Adventuring in the Ohm Basin ======== Paragon ====
