Leonora Zarovan

Profile and History

• Basic Info

  • Name: Leonora Zarovan
  • Gender: Female
  • Nicknames: Nora
  • Race: Vampire (Formerly Vistani)
  • Class: Battle Dancer
  • Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
  • Deity: None (Formerly Lathander)
  • Age: 290 (Appears 25)
  • Size: Medium
  • Body Type: Slender
  • Height: 5'6
  • Weight: 125 lbs
  • Complexion: Marblesque
  • Hair: Dark Mahogany
  • Eyes: Pale Blue
  • Handedness: Ambidextrous
  • Scars: None
  • Relationship Status: Single
  • Personality: Dour, but occasionally playful.
  • Mannerisms: Unnatural stillness.
  • Likes: Nice clothing, seeking redemption, and being a thorn in Strahd's side.
  • Dislikes: Strahd, Eva, what the Vistani have become, other vampires, et cetera.

• Description

  Immediately noticeable are her piercing, pale blue eyes that seem to stare on without blinking. Her pale complexion is luminous and reminiscent of bleached bone. While beautiful, her features are sharp and angular - and her mouth falls into something of a natural frown. Her thin frame is generally covered in conservative black gowns of the typical Barovian style, though she has little problem moving fluidly under the heavy, beaded fabric.
  
  Her thick, wavy hair is usually pulled up and carefully pinned. Her hair usually appears black, but in a well-lit room it is revealed to be a very dark shade of mahogany.
  
  Characters with a high enough perception check will realize that her angular features are Vistani. This is despite her Barovian-style hair, clothing, and lack of the typical olive skin found among Vistani.

• Biography

  Leonora was one of the first Vistani to cross the mists and enter Barovia in the year 470. As a member of the Zarovan tribe, she and her fellow Vistani followed their raunie, Madame Eva, onto the Demiplane of Dread. This was done without question, as a tribe will generally follow their raunie blindly.
  
  Once in Barovia, however, there were objections from some members of the Zarovan. Loudest among the detractors was Leonora. She particularly objected to the alliance with Strahd von Zarovich, as selling her people into the service of a vampire lord went against her religious beliefs and personal convictions.
  
  Leonora tried to stage a coup against Eva on three different occasions, and after the third attempt was given to Strahd himself. Rather than kill her, he made her into a vampire, as "eternal damnation" was a more fitting punishment to the pious Leonora than actually ending her life outright.
  
  In the subsequent 265 years since becoming a vampire, Leonora has wandered Barovia (in order to maintain her Vistani Sight), occasionally being a thorn in Strahd's side when possible. Over the centuries she has aided adventurers pulled through the mists, but after their countless deaths has become progressively disillusioned that any of them will ever bring an end to Strahd.
  
  Three decades prior to the current adventure, Leonora was locked in a sarcophagus to desiccate and "think about what she had done" after killing one of Strahd's spawn. Having only recently been released and allowed to rise from her long torpor, she is considerably weaker than she once was. She planned to wander Barovia alone like usual, until a vision called her to Vallaki...