Diane Firalel was born in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Showing Arcane talents, her parents made the difficult decision to send her to Absalom for wizard training at a magic school there. While she took to her studies mediocrely, Diane made fast friends with other students from the far north, a group of girls from frozen Irrisen.
Unfortunately for Diane, the Irrisen girls were descendants of Baba Yaga and paid reverence to their ancestor in a cult. They quickly inducted Diane in the ways and traditions of their cult, while keeping secret the true object of their attention. Diane, eager to fit in and be accepted, joined them in the rituals. She even ignored her wizard studies to focus on the cult. Eventually, the Irrisen girls arranged to give her an Irrisen baptism--by ice.
While underwater, Diane had a vision. An old woman speaking, telling her she was now and forever more cursed, placing a winged cat in her arms. Diane emerged from the water, grasping a wet, angry cat. She fled the wizard school for the portal to a strange, unknown land, seeking only to get away. Now, she adventures to better understand the curse she was placed under.