Isolde

Isolde of Belhaven is a young witcher of the Bear School, and the only known female witcher. She was trained by Eirich at Haern Caduch after surviving the Trial of the Grasses and set off on The Path in 1171. Isolde was also brought under the tutelage of sorceress Jade Glevissig, who desired to study her unique nature as the only female survivor of the Trial.

Early Life and The Infestation
Isolde was born to Attalus and Eira in the city of Belhaven, their second child and only girl. Attalus being a simple farmhand, they lived in a small cabin out in the fields just beyond the city walls, where they lived poor but had enough to scrape by. Isolde often accompanied her father and older brother, Rolande, out on hunts, where she kept watch for any guards, as they tended to poach on noble land where the deer and rabbits gathered with more ease. Once Rolande had turned eight, he was ordered to begin hunting on his own, but Isolde secretly knew that her brother had a softness within that made it incredibly difficult for him to take the life of anything, from a tick on the wall near the hearth or a rabbit necessary for supper. Wanting to spare him from the rod and ridicule, and being quite spry for the tender age of four, Isolde would hunt small game instead and attribute the kill to Rolande.

In 1157, a group of miners accidentally struck a chain of ghoul's nests in the area, which caused a cavalcade of the monsters to swarm the region. Belhaven proper refused to lift the gates for those who lived outside, and Isolde's home was ravaged by the beasts. Both Attalus and Eira were killed, and Rolande was bitten. Isolde, thinking quickly, set a fire in the hearth and lit up the entire house to trap and kill the ghouls inside. They then looted what they could from the rubble of Belhaven's outer limits and rushed off, not quite sure where two newly orphaned children could go.

Haern Caduch
Gazing upon the destruction of everything they once knew at the claws of ghouls, Rolande decided that they needed the help of witchers. He had heard tales of a keep up in the Slopes of the Amell Mountains where they lived, and wanted to ask their help in ridding the Belhaven outskirts of the ghouls. With nothing more to lose, the siblings set off to the mountains, with very little to guide them to the actual stronghold. Isolde attempted to use her tracking skills to find any signs of travel on horseback, but became preoccupied with taking care of Rolande, who worsened from the bite each day.

After several days with no luck, they stumbled into a cave infested with the very creatures they had attempted to escape -- ghouls. Rolande and Isolde endeavored to hide from the cold, but instead were surely about to die. It was fortunate, then, that the ghouls were pushed back by a powerful gust of energy as a man appeared inside the cave. He summarily slaughtered all of the ghouls, and when he turned to look upon the children, Isolde realized they had found a witcher at last. This witcher, named Skyllane, had tracked them after growing curious about the tiny footsteps scattered about the mountain. He carried the siblings on horseback to Haern Caduch. Isolde had never seen a larger structure before in her life, and marveled at the near-dozen mutant men scattered about the keep. Witchers had passed through Belhaven before, but she had never had the opportunity to see any up close.

Skyllane separated Rolande and Isolde. She was told not to go wandering around, but Isolde decided not to listen and crept into the main hall one night to hear Skyllane and another witcher named Eirich arguing about his decision to bring the children into Haern Caduch. Eirich caught Isolde fairly quickly before she could sneak away, and asked her a very simple question -- should they try to save Rolande's life, or not? Isolde, already certain that her brother's injury had been fatal once it started to pus, asked them why they thought they could save his life. Skyllane replied that they had potions that could fight the disease, but these potions were very dangerous for normal humans to imbibe. It could either save Rolande's life with a number of unknown side effects, or condemn him to a very painful death. Isolde responded that her brother didn't deserve any more suffering, and that the potion's side effects may make it impossible for him to live in the outside world anyway, as orphans with conditions typically died in the streets since no one would want to care for them. Isolde then surprised both of the witchers by offering to end his suffering herself, since she knew how to quickly kill various types of game without causing them pain. She went on to say that he was her responsibility, and wanted him to be with someone he knew and loved in his final moments. Eirich refused the offer, but did have her at Rolande's bedside, holding his hand, as they gave him something to help him pass peacefully.

The next morning, they buried Rolande just outside the keep, and Eirich asked Isolde to come to the training grounds immediately after. There, he told her that he wanted to make her a witcher. She had survived a ghoul attack, successfully killed one, knew the basics of tracking and hunting, and had survived the inhospitable mountains while caring for a dying brother. While no one had ever successfully created a female witcher in the few attempts it had been possible, he thought that she was a perfect candidate for the transformation.

From that moment on, Isolde's training began. She and six other boys aged five to seven were looked after by the other witchers while they were subjected to grueling training regimens that ran the gamut from hours of sword training, horseback lessons, bomb construction, and swimming in pitch-dark caves to physical endurance lessons which involved taking punches and hits from various types of blunt weapons and fists. One of the boys caught fever during an all-day trek to the top of Haern Caduch without wearing any warming clothes and died, while another broke his neck falling from a horse. Isolde and the remaining four boys made it through the initial training, and soon after they were deemed ready to undergo the Trial of the Grasses.

Transformation and Tutelage
Isolde and the six boys were brought to the Trial chambers, where each were strapped onto an operating table and hooked up to various tubes. For three full days, they were subjected to indescribable pain and torture as Eirich and Skyllane injected them all with various poisonous decoctions meant to melt the body from the inside and allow it to be reshaped through magical means and mutations. One of the boys died immediately, having vomited up his own entrails, while the remaining four continued their suffering. By the third day, two more had passed on.

On the sixth day, they ceased to move, minds feverish and skin boiling. All appeared as still as death, save one -- Isolde had begun bleeding from her pelvis, and showed no signs of stopping. Eirich and Skyllane worked for a full day to attempt to stem the flow, but were forced to call upon sorceress Jade Glevissig for advice. Jade recognized that the Trial had triggered Isolde's menarche and all subsequent bleeds she would ever have in her life. The sorceress worked tirelessly to save Isolde's life through blood transfusion and spellwork.

Finally, on the seventh day, Isolde and the others woke with new eyes, like a cat's; with new bodies, strong and sturdy; with senses heightened like they could have never imagined. Two of the boys died in the week that followed from post-Trial complications, leaving the final survivors: Isolde and Brandt.

There was no celebration to ease them into their newfound life -- instead, they were subjected to many more years of brutal and unforgiving training to prepare them for the Path. Brandt and Isolde quickly developed a bitter rivalry, which only fueled their vigor to outdo each other at every turn. Jade also remained at Haern Caduch for a time, tutoring Isolde in culture and the art of being a lady, since the world would not only see her as a witcher. She also experimented on her further, including removing most of her extraneous body hair. She and Eirich often argued over Isolde's training, and this gnawed heavily at both Skyllane and Brandt. The former wanted Jade gone, while the latter felt Isolde was receiving special treatment due to her gender. Oftentimes, these accusations were met with a fight and subsequent punishment from Eirich. Nonetheless, at the age of 20, Isolde was deemed worthy and allowed to leave Haern Caduch to embark on the Path.

The Bear's Path Begins
Isolde's first year on the Path was rife with difficulty. Ealdormen were not accustomed to leaving the fate of their village in the hands of a woman, even if said woman was a witcher. In truth, the first contract she ever completed she had stolen from another. The Bear School did not consider this to be an underhanded tactic, as the entire point of their existence was to kill monsters, not to wait for the permission of regular humans to be allowed the privilege.

She continued through Sodden and then Cintra, where Isolde caught the eye of a local lord, Thomas Strett, who wanted her to accompany him on a hunting trip in Erlenwald. Though this would not involve the destruction of monsters, Isolde, being low on coin, accepted the offer. On their ride, they came upon a hidden ruin, which the lord hoped to clean up and use as a vacation spot when he tired of the capital. Isolde cleared the upper levels of ghouls and wraiths, but the basement proved to be quite a challenge. They accidentally disturbed a fire elemental who had been placed as a protector by the previous occupants. Isolde, entirely unprepared to face such a creature, was nearly killed by the elementa, suffering several burns across her face in the aftermath. Lord Strett refused to pay her the full amount he had promised since he couldn't call the ruin his own, but did help her to a hospital and oversaw her recovery.

Isolde returned to Haern Caduch that winter, embittered by her poor performance and low funds. Jade's constant poking and prodding did little to ease her, and she threw herself deeper into training to ignore the sorceress. Eirich, unlike Jade, was pleased with her progress and informed her that everyone's first year came with difficulty -- in fact, she had completed more contracts with Brandt, though she had not made as much money. Eirich and Jade both taught her how to better negotiate contracts.

During Isolde's third year on the Path, Skyllane, fed up with Jade's presence at Haern Caduch, accused the sorceress and Eirich of treating Isolde like a child, and said she would be dead in a few years because of them. The outburst turned into a fight between Skyllane and Isolde. When Eirich attempted to break them apart, someone -- to this day, neither of the witchers know who -- struck him in the face, resulting in irrevocable damage to his eye. Isolde and Skyllane, both guilty and angry, stopped speaking to each other, while Jade decided it was best to depart the keep.

In the summer of 1175, Isolde took a contract in Maribor requested by one Sybil Maison-Valentina, a bard and daughter of Castellan Hubert Maison-Valentina of Rozrog. Preferring to go by Buttercup, the bard claimed that someone had been stealing her music and putting on shows under her name. Though Isolde at first did not believe this the work of a witcher, Buttercup offered to pay good coin, and write a ballad about the contract. Isolde later discovered that the impersonator was a doppler who yearned for the spotlight. Buttercup pitied the creature, and convinced Isolde to let the doppler escape unharmed, as long as it promised to leave Maribor and never impersonate Buttercup again.

Wanting to keep the doppler safe, Buttercup decided against writing a ballad about it. Disappointed, Isolde nonetheless struck up a friendship with the bard, and promised to stay in touch.

As such, when she received an invitation to the Yuri Paladan Poetry Poetry & Song Tournament of 1176, in Vizima, Isolde hastened to arrive with time to spare.