Maeryn Vasha was the leader of the first bandits to join Elgyon’s cause in Forging a Resistance. Her authority was not sudden, nor borrowed. It was inherited. Maeryn descended from a Yisean man once conscripted into Quen’s army during the Mushkinek Uprising who settled in Vidora. Her bloodline carried rebellion like a craft passed down through generations. For more than two centuries, her family knew no honest trade. Survival came through mountain routes, hard bargains, and the rough order of bandit life.
Maeryn had heard of Captain Belle’s company long before Elgyon approached her. The stories spoke of discipline among outlaws, of those who punished the worst of their own kind. She respected that resolve. When the offer came, she listened. Her own crew carried familiar vices. Drink, dice, and occasional theft followed them wherever they roamed. Some lines, however, were never crossed. Women and children were not targets. That rule was absolute.
Even in her sixties, Maeryn could still draw a blade quickly enough to enforce it. The years had lined her face, but they had not softened her will. Among her people, she served as both matron and executioner. Mercy and punishment came from the same steady hand.
To those who followed her, Maeryn represented continuity. She was the last living fragment of a soldier’s code long thought extinct in Vidora’s wilds. When she aligned with Elgyon, it was not out of desperation, but recognition. Order, even among bandits, was worth preserving.