Kariath Melishet exemplifies Madam Zemithar’s philosophy of recruiting courtesans who are talented at more than simply sex (although Kari is hardly deficient in that area). She is almost as renowned as a sorceress as she is as a whore. She is skilled in a variety of magics, from the charms of love and lust that are common amongst whore-mages to wild earth magics to dark spells that would get her burned alive in many kingdoms. She has particularly worked to master the art of storing energy generated during sex, and using it for arcane purposes.
Few who now beggar themselves to buy the services of the dark haired, dark eyed enchantress would guess that she was once an innocent, sweet-natured farm-girl in a village on the edge of the Wilds which separate the Greatlands from the Empire of Shadows. Her fall from grace came when she was seduced by a lovely girl named Liolai. Although it was well known she was the village slut, it was a secret that she was also a witch, the leader of a small coven that practiced their arts in the area around the village. Although initially attracted by Kari’s beautiful face and budding young body, Liolai quickly noticed her new lover’s developing magical talent, a talent that would soon dwarf her own.
She brought Kari into the coven, and for years she performed minor magics with her sisters, drawing power from the untamed lands around them by frantic, naked dances under the moonlight or lustful, orgiastic rites. They ruled the surrounding villages in all but name, no man daring to cross them for fear of curses, and their love charms ensuring they found their way between the legs of any they desired. But then a woman came through the village, the Wizardess Lywena. Like the witches before her, she saw potential in both Kari’s magical gifts and beautiful young body. She offered her the pleasures of a skilled older woman and the advanced arcane tuition that could only be found at the College of Light and Shadow, where Lywena was about to take up a teaching post. Having learned ambition and manipulation during her training as a witch, Kari instantly agreed. The jilted Liolai and the rest of the coven were appalled at her betrayal, and swore revenge, but Kari didn’t care.
It was quickly clear that her wilderness trained magic and temperament was unsuited to the disciplined structure of the College. Not that any of the teachers would have dreamed of commenting on it – at the slightest hint of disapproval, Kari eagerly offered herself to them, ensuring she got good grades no matter her actually progress. This continued until she made the mistake of siding against Lywena in one of the intrigues of staff politics that were common in the College, using her place in the Potion-Mistress’s bed to betray her as she had done with Liolai before.
But Lywena was far more experienced than a peasant witch, and quicker in revenge. She drugged Kari with a potion that removed her already limited inhibitions. Even the College’s lusty faculty couldn’t ignore the public acts of indecent depravity, and had her expelled. As a side effect of the potion, her already strong libido was raised until she was addicted to sex, an addiction she still struggles to keep sated today.
It was this addiction that drove her to prostitution as she wandered south, and Madam Zemithar eagerly offered her a place at the ‘Lover’. The brothe-mistress is wary of Kari’s scheming nature and tendency to betrayal, but so far the witch has proved an asset. |