Jessemia (and, limited, Janeka) backstory

Jessemia Hanson wasn't always on the figurative run.

Before--back before the lies and the jeers and the shame and all that--she and her twin sister Janeka had led perfectly normal lives in one of Andoran's port cities. Their parents were cartographers, old hands at sailing, people who'd seen and done a thing or two in their youths before settling down to start a family. The mapmaking business was doing well, especially when commissioned by the Andoran navy--detailed maps of the Inner Sea coast, especially Cheliax's shores, were invaluable for the protection of their ships against beaching and getting caught on reefs or sandbars. Indirectly, their parents were responsible for a number of daring, successful raids that liberated a large number of serfs and slaves. The twins came along soon after the business opened, and the two white-haired girls were a common sight in the shop for many years, running around and under tables and climbing shelves. As they grew, it seemed like Jessemia had either preternatural luck, or a guardian angel, as she escaped one dangerous situation after another without a scratch--falling out of a tree but landing on a conveniently-placed hay bale, stooping to pick up a copper piece off the ground while block-and-tackle swung through the space her head had just been, finding a pile of unclaimed gold pieces in a crowded public venue...

The incident happened after the two had been sent to a finishing school for girls further inland.

Jessemia had a connection to the divine, especially Shelyn, while her sister was far more talented in arcane arts, and Janeka favored the sword while Jessemia was a fair shot with a bow instead. Their schooling aimed to further their individual talents; the end results would be similar enough, even if the "power source" was different.

Back home, her parents were, quite literally, minding their own business when a number of rumors sprang up about them--that they were in secret deals with Cheliax and Qadira, that they sold their maps to enemies of Andoran as well (this bolstered by captured slave ships actually having their maps onboard), that they were aiding in funneling fresh bodies to the slave-hungry nations to make money on both sides of the slave transactions. The Argravin Trading and Navigation Company, the girls' parents closest competitors, publicly put themselves above the rumors, but it was only a facade, and everyone knew it; still, the stink of supposed collusion with slavers was enough to strip the girls' parents of nearly all their customers and certainly brought such public shaming that they dared not show their faces outside. They had to sell their store, taking on small, menial jobs around the city just to stay in their home. A few trusted old friends who still believed in them made use of their map-making talents, but by and large they became persona non grata, vilified by the community around them.

News reached the girls at school quickly, both to their own ears and in the form of the rest of the student body--and, indeed, most of the faculty--quickly shunning and ostracizing both of them. Jessemia was accused of consorting with devils for her unnatural luck; that Shelyn tended to bless her followers with luck was completely ignored in favor of slander and innuendo. Never the most charismatic, and distracted by the plight of her family, Jess didn't really fight back against the rumor-mongering, preferring instead to simply try and weather the abuse until she could graduate and get to work on fighting back.

Unfortunately, the moment never came; stripped of customers, her parents couldn't afford the final tuition costs, and both girls lost their attendance...one semester shy of completing their studies. Being young, the sudden and precipitous drop in standing affected Jessemia greatly, and she grew bitter and disillusioned, clinging to her faith in Shelyn as the only thing giving her hope that people could be better than they were certainly behaving. Still, while not exactly the smarter of the twins--Janeka had long since demonstrated her superiority in that aspect--Jessemia had the far cooler head, and it was she who counseled her sister to avoid dropping a series of grease spells and fireballs on the school's actual graduation, instead saving her wrath for the people who really deserved it: those who had begun the rumors in the first place. After all, the people at school were merely reacting, and doing anything to them was like a healer treating symptoms but not the disease.

The girls spent many months together after, taking any odd job they could find, hunting, going as far as registering as a small mercenary band. After all, it's hard to stage a comeback without funds. It was perhaps a year and a half after missing graduation that Jessemia approved of Janeka's idea: they would present themselves as candidates to join the Eagle Knights, prove their incorruptibility, and use that standing to restore their parents' names and go after the ones who'd ruined them.