Forty five years ago Lonagin's grandparents were part of a group which traveled north seeking a place where they could renew their relationship with the world around them. The group discovered a small valley in the mountains where the air was clear and cold. Although the mountains to the north contained dangerous trolls and orcs, these settlers decided to stay when they saw the runes written in the air each evening by the sky gods. Some of these folk even claimed that they could read these runes and communicate with the sky gods with their prayers and songs.

When her grandparents told Lonagin tales of those days she was skeptical. Not that she disbelieved in the sky gods, for the runes were still visible each evening for all to see; rather, she found it impossible that the people in her small valley had ever sought to strengthen their ties with the earth below and the sky above. They certainly spent no time now caring for or even looking at the world around them, they only wished to wield plow and axe. No one claimed to be able to read the sky runes, no one but Lonagin even looked at the sky unless it was to forecast the next day's weather.

The valley people's dissociation from the joy-giving elements of the natural world seemed almost frightening to Lonagin, but no one of her or her parents' generation shared her sentiments. And as the original settlers began to die of old age, she felt ever more alone. In their last years, her grandparents took special care to share their gifts with her. Her grandfather showed her the uses of the wild herbs of their region. Her grandmother taught her what she knew of animal care. In additional to taking care of her grandparents' mountain ponies, Lonagin spent a lot of her time training dogs for sledding and herding. When her grandparents died, she knew it was time to go.

Not north, for she was not so foolish as to brave the orcs and trolls in their lairs, but rather south. Travelling traders had told her tales of the vast oceans far to the south, which Lonagin thought she'd like to see. So armed only with her grandparents' knowledge and accompanied by her dog Aurora, Lonagin left the valley for the sea.

Lonagin is 19 years old. Like everyone else in her family she is tall (about 5'10"), her long limbs accustomed to a long day's work. She is fleet of foot, often running with her sled dogs. Like all her family she is blonde, with eyes that change from green to blue. Her clothing is of undyed wool, from the sheep in her valley. Her shoes are of leather.