Jerusha Fjoldan was found orphaned in a derelict cabin just north of the Black River in the Aelvinnwode. Discovered and then raised by a merchant in the now defunct Seven Costers guild who lived in Nowelton, but traveled on business from Leivika to Stormpoint. Once she reached the age of eight years, she began to travel with her father. While she enjoyed seeing so many places, her true joy was music and she always excelled at singing. During her eighteenth year, while in the city of Tariene, where the Seven Costers was based, Jerusha met her father’s old friend, Jobhel Bhainhael. Jobhel was a member of the Seven Costers, and leader of one of its member guilds, the Illustrious Minstrels’ Consortium. Jobhel was impressed by Jerusha’s talent and the beauty of her voice. He offered to apprentice Jerusha under his star performer, Isolde Caulton. With the approval of her parents, she joined the Consortium.
Jerusha traveled from town to town with the Consortium through Talinie, Boeruine, Taeghas, and Tournen. It was becoming clear that Jerusha would be a magnificent singer of tales and balads, and she learned many of the songs in Jobhel’s repertoire. They traveled from courts ducal and templar, to county seats and guild halls, even performing publicly in the more prestigious taverns in the larger cities. She greatly impressed Uther Boeruine, who offered to pay Jerusha handsomly if she would join his court as a singer of songs. Jerusha was interested in persuing this excellent opportunity, but was warned away by Isolde, who told her that the Archduchess Maelle opposed the move and would make Jerusha regret taking a place at court.
Several years later, Jerusha’s fame and renown was exceeding that of Isolde, and Jobhel promised to press for a vote in the Consortium to make Jerusha a master. However, Isolde, who was privy to certain facts which could destroy Jobhel’s relationship with the Duke of Tournen, persuaded him to delay any move to make Jerusha a master indefinatly. Somewhat confused by Jobhel’s delays, Jerusha found other patrons to nominate her for consideration for her place as a master in the guild. Again with skill and subtlty, Isolde prevented the issue from passing the guildscouncil. For some months, Jerusha remained ignorant of the machinations of her mentor, but in his attempts to win the heart of Jerusha, the lutist Alan Corentin promised to discover the nature of the obstacles to her acknowledgement by the guild of her masterwork. Alan uncovered both the blackmale of Jobhel and the bribes and threats that blocked the guild council from honoring Jobhel. Further, Alan identified Isolde as the source of these obstacles. Jerusha sought out Isolde and confronted her in her apartments in Khorien Castle in Stormpoint. A physical struggle ensued during which Isolde grabbed a dagger and stabbed Jerusha in the leg. However, Jerusha got control of the weapon and more ruthlessly, stabbed Isolde in the belly. Isolde died within minutes.
Recognizing that such a crime would be punished, Jerusha fled Taeghas and took refuge in Boeruine, where she sought the patronage of the Archduke Uther. She attempted to again win her position of master in the Consortium, but the scandal around the murder of her mentor and rival prevented her from winning full membership in the guild. Jerusha was only in Seaharrow fom a few months before medlers, perhaps friends or admireres of Isolde, began to stir rumors of an affair between Uther and Jerusha. Such talk inflamed Archduchess Maelle, and Jerusha found herself excluded from the court’s move to River’s Hall in Rivien. She resigned her post and began to make her way back to Nowelton in Ice Haven. After crossing the Black River into Talinie, she encountered a Lore Master who spoke crypticlly about the death of her father and mother. Intrigued, Jerusha struck a bargain with the scholar to learn the secret of her parent’s death.
Her father, Ågot Fjoldan, a druid from Halskapa and a scion of Newtonor, had come to Talinie with missionary zeal to spread the teachings of Erik in a land where Fitzalan and Janna Many-Tounged had turned a land of Haelyn toward reverence of nature. Ågot made enemies among the guilders, who though far less powerful, took issue with his teachings. One guildsman who was almost certainly involved in the murder was Angus Killmartin, scion of Scalpay in Ice Haven, and owner of the Chalktop Hill Miners. On a fateful night at Chalktop Hill, Jerusha planned to confront Angus, but this time intended from the start to kill him. Unaware of who this woman was, Angus was easily persuaded she found him attractive, and let his guard down. Had she attempted to attack him, Angus might have proved to have the reflexes to avoid her blows and kill her instead, but his willpower proved unable to resist her power to fascinate, and he was entirely taken in. She seduced him and while he slept, she recovered her dagger and stabbed him in the heart for his hand in her family’s death. She did not realize it at the time, but this bloodtheft augmented her own birthright and her Divine Aura began to manifest.
She returned to her adopted father in Nowelton, and attempted to win favor in local performances. She was instantly a hit in the best venues in the North Market District where courtiers, guilders, and other notables flocked to her performances. One night during a performance before the Thane, the court, and other great figures, Jerusha found that she held the whole audience captivated. She began to suspect that her powers were wasted on mere art, and began to look for a better outlet for her talents. One ballad, Lament of Hamish Swathraen, refered to a wizard with the powers to bend the minds of others to his will. Intrigued by mention of this arch-enchanter, Jerusha wondered if he were a real figure or some lyricists invention. Indeed, the wizard, Rorie Durness, was a real figure who was reputed to have held Thane Edrand IV under his power for some time and is thought to be the source of some of the great injustices attributed to that reign.
Jerusha organized a troupe of adventurers and began to seek out the truth of Rorie Durness. They adventured several times and found some inscriptions in ruins that were thought to have been connected to Rorie, and then spent some time in Thurazor building their power as adventurers. While there, Jerusha took a hand in influencing goblin politics and entirely re-organized Thurazor’s politics for no other purpose than to test her power. By the time Jerusha’s party left Thurazor to continue to seek for Rorie’s lost knowledge, Jerusha had deposed the ruler of Thurazor, merged two tribes under the leadership of a ruthless hobgoblin named Hoeckt, and changed the crown from an ancient one of silver to one of brass encrusdted with cheap rubies which the goblins payed her a huge sum to obtain.
After some exciting and interesting adventures which would fill their own pages as lyrics to great sagas, Jerusha found a spellbook of Rorie’s, a diary of his, and one of the notebooks of his student, Sinead Dhoesone. From this she we now well on her way to discovering the secrets of enchantments which Rorie had so mastered. However these succeses were marred by the death of the party’s warrior at the hands of the giant Old Lotan, and the breakup of the romance of Jerusha and the party’s rogue, Alan Corentin. Jerusha convinced Alan that without her, he would find his life so empty that he would kill himself, and indeed he did.