Kasinik's [1] father was a successful horse trader, who sold warhorses to the nobility but could never be of them no matter how successful. He was unsuccessful in having a son, and mostly ignored his daughter. My the time she was 6, he realised he wasn't going to have any more children and decided to marry his daughter into the nobility. As she was already a tomboy, this seemed like it would be less than successful. In a brainwave, and at some subtle urging, he applied for her to join the temple of Morn.
During the application the 6 year old Kasinik went into the stables to play. They found her asleep at the feet of a war horse, which sealed her application.
She trained at the temple, rarely seeing her parents and slowly becoming distant from them. She only returned home for family duties.
Kasinik was an outstanding student at all aspects except archery. She ignored all other possibilities to persue the path of mastery of melee combat. In later years she wondered at Malebrode's influence during this time. After 6 years at the temple she was soon due for a horse of her own. Her father provided her with the finest blending of stallion and mare he could, and she was lucky enough to see the delivery. She named the horse Silver for it's beautiful coat.
At age 13 Kasinik encountered an apprentice mage delivering a continual light coin to her parents stables. She meet the same apprentice, Alamark by name, when he picked up blessed strips of leather from the temple a month later. This sparked a friendship which has endured for decades.
Alamark was not interested romantically in Kasinik for many reasons. He found her too young, he was set on the mage path and afraid of being tied down, he found her too pushy, and lastly he harboured the faint hope of being powerful enough to marry into the royal family. She was focused on paladinhood, and any romance would lead to her forced retirement.
The two became fast friends as Alamark found her surprisingly intelligent - but not more intelligent than him, important to his self-image. He gave her insight into the world outside of the temple and was a charming conversationalist.
By the time Kasinik was 15 she was being presented at balls and fetes to the nobility as a representative of the temple. Mostly she was required to stand around and be decorative in armour.
She soon graduated as a paladin and immediately applied for service on the wall. Trained for war, she wanted action. She was accepted and placed in command of a small unit of soldiers guarding the border from the orc hordes.
After 8 months on the wall she was feeling very much alone. She was unable to have meaningful conversation with her troops, being uninterested in the local trollops. The other officers attitude varied from friendliness to distain. Her 16th birthday was spent walking the rounds of the guardposts in the freezing rain.
Alamark had recently completed his studies and suggested they form an adventuring party. Kasinik resigned her position at the wall and the two looked for an additional member. Some asking around led to a druid at loose end, Vinnik. Cue the first session!
[1] Kasinik later changed her name to Kasin when she renounced her knighthood.
Glenn Butcher / knight