Ryleigh Harker

"'At this point I have more akin with elves than I do with my own brethren.'"Ryleigh Harker is a human noblewoman native to the realm of Hamar, who currently lives in the town of Clemen.

Appearance
Ryleigh has long, light brow hair that she often ties up in a bun behind her head. She wears brown, green and golden elven garb and stands fairly tall for a female human- nearly six feet. She is lithe and graceful like the elves she keeps company with.

Personality
Ryleigh is resolved and somewhat isolated. Not one to make much attempt at outreach to others, she is largely content to let others come to her and takes a while to warm up to a newcomer in her circle. She tends to favor the company of elves.

History
Ryleigh was born in Hamar around 1230 ATN as a member of the Harker family, who served as figureheads for those that still respected the nobility of Hamar. For reasons yet unknown to the party (except that they involve the revoking to the Harkers' noble status and subsequent banishment to Narada), her family was relocated to a private estate within 15 miles of Nesseri.

Ryleigh eventually befriended the nearby elves of the Anorian forest, and during her visits to Nesseri she became increasingly outspoken about the deforestation there as well as the poor treatment of urban elves. Her activities attracted attention of all kinds. Ailar Havendell himself began taking action on her words, and in turn the Regents acknowledged her influence by padlocking her home with the Harkers inside and burning it to the ground. By a stroke of good fortune, Raleigh had gone to the forest that evening with her brother Jamon, although their parents, Silas and Renelle, perished in the fire.

Raleigh eventually relocated south to Andron isle away from the cutthroat political scene in Nesseri. By 1273, she was well-established among the elves of Arvel forest to the point that she was even in a position of authority. But she hardly got to rest easy, since the elves were shunned by the people of Clemen even as the forest was being cut down as Nereen struggled to maintain its fleet during the blockade of the island by Melnark's Men. Raleigh began orchestrating highly secretive and coordinated raids on Clemen during the late simmer and early autumn, to the point where although food and supplies were going missing, Lord Mayor Liddel Averri had only a guess that the elves were involved, and even his theory was not founded in evidence.

Averri thought he had encountered a stroke of good fortune when the party of adventurers were landlocked on Andron by the pirate blockade. He offered a reward in exchange for the elf leader's head to the party, but after they had consulted with Ryleigh personally, the party took a new course of action with her aid: ousting Liddel from office. Ryleigh herself had documents forged to incriminate Liddel and one of his comrades with conspiring with the pirates, and even staged a final raid to draw people to where the "evidence" could be found. The plan played out smoothly, and even too well, as the resulting mob of townspeople killed Liddel in front of his own home.

In the aftermath of the riot and fully aware of the power vacuum left in Clemen, Ryleigh went on to negotiate with Marius Avender, the steward of Nereen, to make arrangements to save the forest and provide her own elves in a mission to alert the Ailar to Andron's plight. Among the courses of action agreed to was to request that Ryleigh be reinstated with noble status, allowing her to take up Averri's old position among the tradition-minded townsfolk.

Recent Activity
Ryleigh was reinstated to nobility by Ailar Tallow's orders on the 24th of the Rotting, 1273. Up until that point she had been living in Clemen anyway, establishing better relations between the humans and elves in the area. She had already solidified her own reputation in the eyes of the people by repelling a number of attempted raids by Melnark's Men, who had finally landed on the isle to collect tribute from the locals.