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In the terrible battles that waged during The Guild Wars, countless lives were lost. Each day, the number of orphans grew. So it was not a great suprise when a simple farmer's wife, looking for some pretty shells to decorate her mantle, found a young baby floating along the river near Ashford Village. The woman took the child in her arms and carried her to the nearby Abbey. There, the monks examined the child. Miraculously she had no wounds, despite having floated down the river dominated by territorial Skale. The monks also found no clue to her identity but a simple yet beautiful crescent-moon pendant. The head of the abbey called this mysterious child Lunaeris.
The monks decided it would be in the best interest of the child if she stayed under their watchful eyes. However, this strange girl in the care of the good monks was quickly adopted by the entire village of Ashford. In such a small village, it seemed natural for them to accept the charge of the Abbey as a member of their extended family. The good people of Ashford made sure she had plenty to eat, clean clothes to wear, and even toys to play with. The monks had intended to pass the girl on to a foster family in time, but, truly, the village was her family. On her 8th birthday, the head of the Abbey gave her a gift she cherished. He gifted her the name of her family - Ashford.
As time passed, Lunaeris Ashford grew harder with the times. As Grawl and Bandit activity increased, life in the village became tougher, and Lunaeris realized the village could not support her if she could not pull her own wieght. She decided to take on odd jobs around the village. She ran errands for the monks, escorted people along the monster-infested roads, anything that would keep her moving. She enjoyed using her strength of will and sheer determination to support those in need. She was invited to attend military training and serve in King Adelbern's army, but she refused. She did not want to fight for nobility, their laws, or her kingdom. She wanted to fight for her people, the people whose kindness made her the person she had become.
It was just past seventeen years from the day she was found along that river that it happened. Armies of Charr stormed down upon the human kingdoms like Aziure's fire. The Guild Wars ended abruptly as Ascalon's heroes banded together to fight fiercely against the Charr along The Great Northern Wall. Sir Tydus, a friend she had made during one of her many jobs, tried to convince Lunaeris that a future of glory and adventure waited for her in the military. Once again Lunaeris was asked to join the military. Again, she refused. With so much of the King's forces focused on a new offensive against the Charr, the people of Ascalon needed heroes to protect their homes from the monsters already roaming the lands of Ascalon. During these hard times, Lunaeris Ashford took on many quests from her people for the experience, the profit, and, most of all, the chance to help those in dire need. While many of her friends left their homes to join the battle on the front lines, Lunaeris fought to keep the way of life of those small villages that made up the heart of Ascalon. One day, all of it changed in an instant.
Lunaeris was on an errand to Fort Ranik when it happened. The sky turned an ominous black, great flashes of light bursting through the clouds. Then it was as if the sky itself began to fall to Tyria. Great burning crystaline objects rained down upon Ascalon. Hysteria and disbelief broke out among the people. Lunaeris quickly reacted to the imminent danger and rushed everyone nearby down into a dungeon below the fort. There they were able to weather out what would later be known as The Searing. Once the ear-splitting crashes and violent quakes settled, Lunaeris, with the help of some of the garrison, dug a way out of the rubble that had blocked the way out of the fort. When she looked around, Lunaeris knew the people around her needed help, and there was only one place she could think of to turn - her family.
She had no idea just how devastating the catastrophe really was. The land was scorched and war-torn. If she had not traveled the path so many times before, she would not have been able to find the road, much less follow it. When she finally came upon her home of Ashford Village, she fell to her knees in shock and disbelief. The Abbey was burning. There was hardly a trace of the village itself. The only family she had ever known was gone. She dropped her head, only to have her eyes catch sight of a puddle, the remnants of the very river she had been found along so many years ago. When she looked into her own eyes through this puddle, she could see only one thing - the same look she saw in the eyes of the people she had left back at the fort. She had to be strong. The people of Ascalon needed heroes, and she was destined to be one. She stood up and, walking over to the wreckage of one of the houses, dug through the debris until she found what she was looking for - a bear hunter's axe. Ashford was gone. Her family was dead. Once again she was a mysterious girl without a family name to rely on...
But Lunaeris Strongarm lived on.
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