DevaStatingSL

‘Deva’ was originally born Eva into a long-established noble family in the North of England. Her Father was the second-born and entered the diplomatic Service. Both parents traveled the world before Eva was born. Once Eva came along, she spent school holidays with her parents but most of her life was spent at boarding school which she found incredibly boring.

She developed skills in languages, a trait from her parents, and also art, excelling in all media. An outstanding skill though was as a part of the fencing team, which sparked an interest in bladed weapons of all kinds.

Her peers originally thought her to be a strange girl, but her years in that environment allowed her to learn to try and blend in with people, to seem to be like-able. By the time she left school, the quirkiness had been forgotten by them, and she was seen as a no more than a fun, party girl.

At all times, when in public, she maintained the exterior of being well-mannered, as she was expected to be when with her parents and in their social environs, knowing this was what was expected of her future as well as her present, but aged 18, she managed to convince them to allow her to have a year off, a year to try and live in Bremen as an artist.

Thinking this a whimsy, but knowing her Father had friends in the city, should she need them, they agreed to let her go. Eva really found her feet within a community of artists and socialites in the city and was soon known as Deva, due to her seeming enjoyment of the finer things in life. Her one year out, soon turned into many years away and before long she had built a life for herself there.

Her paintings and pictures found a market and she soon was supporting herself financially and finding more strengths to herself than her upbringing had allowed her to. She proved someone that people sought the company of and her art, under the name of Deva soon had a following amongst young and trendy art collectors.

A new club scene started up, and although she didn’t enjoy the music as much, she joined her friends now and then, until over time a couple simply disappeared. One of her closest friends, Andreas then was the next to disappear without a trace, but she had had enough and determined to find out what had happened.

Using her camera as a cover, she started to visit the places he had been known to go and was soon aware of being followed. She started to see a small figure in crowds, but it was always out of the corner of her eye and as soon as she turned, it was gone.
This small and pale girl then started appearing to Deva in her dreams, causing such nightmares of terror and blood and she would speak to her there. She said words that Deva didn’t always remember on waking, but one word came over and over again…. Tavnoc.

This was more than enough to prompt Deva to go back to find the diaries of her Grandfather. When she had been a child, he would tell her stories of a different life, dark creatures that lurk in the same world as us. Many of the family dismissed his words, but not her parents, nor her. There were things all three had seen in different countries that defied explanation.

On his death, he left her his diaries and those of his Father before him. He also left her a boxed, ornate pair of daggers, a matching pair of short swords and a katana. All are antique and have been altered and worked by many skilled hands to render them perfectly balanced and best suited to their designated purpose.

Still plagued by dreams of a distant place called Tavnoc, Deva was prompted to research it and did indeed find it existed. She wondered if this might be a place where Andreas had gone, so she minded to travel there and see if she might conquer the Czech art market a little but at the same time covertly look for him.

Her group of artist friends back in Bremen would miss her, but promised to keep in close contact as they came to the station to wave her off. She also knew her parents’ thoughts would very much be with her as she embarked upon this challenge.