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On an early golden morning in the southernmost Saffron Isles, when the breeze of the coolest season refreshed the sultry air, an infant was discovered beneath a tree along the shoreline, swaddled in seasilk and peacefully asleep. The Shav'Arvani tribe who inhabited this island were, reasonably, perplexed. She was speculated to be everything from a gift of the shamanic gods to a runaway couple's unwanted, and many spread word of the abandoned child, but no claim was made and no lead could be found on her origins. So into their fold she was taken, bestowed to a pair of young newlyweds. Her newfound caretakers deliberated with their fellow tribespeople around the nightly bonfire on what to call their charge, the most noteworthy suggestions that of Little Sun for the hue of her eyes and Freedom for the circumstance of her discovery. Thus, her name in full and in their native tongue became Ilira the Little Sun, which she would one day reinterpret as Ilira Starling. These were the inauspicious if mysterious beginnings of the woman who now occupies Arx, much of her life spent beyond the Compact and much of her story unknown to most. She came as a literal shadow of herself, wearing blacks and grays where color once prevailed and speaking low and soft where vivacity once brimmed. Her first order of business upon arrival was to claim an apprenticeship with the Whispers, leveraging her connection to a former Radiant who took her on as protege during her studies in Setarco more than a decade prior. After a year of service and another few of full membership, she, in a move that still surprises many, retired amicably from the house and reclaimed her original name: Starling. She's done her own thing since, establishing herself as an icon in both modeling and designing, reconstructing a home gifted her by Natalia Elwood into an opulent villa, and gradually emerged as a public performer. Despite the contentment and luxury in which she now revels, she remains in search of the answer to her greatest mystery, her heritage, for no story is complete without its beginning.

A mere five feet from head to toe, she brims with boundless energy, fire in her azure irises and freedom in her effortless movements. A full, wild mass of raven curls cascades luxuriously about her dainty form to brush the taper of her waist, spun with the richness of velvet and the luster of silk. Fringed lavishly by sable lashes, her deep, crystalline eyes are a melange of blues, immense and softly canted with fiery gold starbursts at the pupils. Her fresh-faced radiance belies the years behind her gaze, with a rosy flush at the apples of her cheeks and a pert little nose above heart-shaped carmine lips which part to flash her pearly teeth. Skin the color of snow glows with undertones of sun-soaked gold, while a silvery hint of scarring laces her collarbone and left palm. Despite her petite delicacy, the generous swell of her bust and the luscious curve of her hips enrich her silhouette, each flow and sway of her lissome body evoking the lean, fluid musculature at her core and throughout her shapely limbs.

Ilira Starling unequivocally loves to be Ilira Starling. From the passion and whimsy of her nature to the pure vivacity of her demeanor, she strives to enliven the world around her, for its sake as much as her own. Seamless in her dynamism, she might be quirky and fanciful in one breath and devastatingly sensual in the next or the same. She exults in beauty and luxury of every form, be it the decadence of riches and rarities, or the wonder of artistry, or the euphoria of intimacy--or the act of pampering her hair! Too empathetic and genuine for any true self-absorption, her detriments arise more from insecurity, in herself and in others. There is peril in the sincerity with which she engages people, and she tends to trust too quickly, fantasize too deeply, and idolize too highly, leading her to mini heartbreaks when someone disappoints expectations or shatters illusions. This, at its most adverse, transforms her desperation to see the best into a propensity to see the worst. She can be excessively sensitive, so the simplest misunderstandings or disagreements are liable to throw her off. But never for long. Resilient to the point of defiance, Ilira no longer worries about life breaking her down from the outside; she has been dealt a tragic hand or two and will cheerfully throw her middle finger at anyone here to challenge who she is. Self-confidence is both a strength and a weakness, for outward struggles are easier to defeat than inner fears. Though hers are numerous, she faces each day with her heart in her smile and her soul in her eyes, unconquerable in vulnerability.