Growing up in Melrath, life was easy for this noblewoman. Niece to Jarl Sam Namdalen Phlox was taught the ways of hunting alongside his own children by the finest teachers in Melrath. It was her dream to become one of the Ydalir Rangers and it was almost assured that she would be. Like her uncle she was never interested in balls or other powdered wigs affairs, but knew she was best serving Melrath as a whole by protecting its spirits and the forests they reside in. That said, Phlox had a manicured seductive air about her in life, knowing her beauty, knowing her stature, and knowing that with a turn of the hips or a light caress she could get nearly anything she wanted. This is how she became a scout so quickly, she was sleeping with "all the right people". That's not to say she couldn't have done it on her own, she was capable, passionate, and driven-- but where's the sport in that?
Stationed in Noatun it was time for her to get the qualification she needed to become the third rank in the Ydalir Rangers. She needed an animal companion. This would be easy enough, many of her fellows had chosen dogs, falcons, one person had an owl but she wanted something different. It was this entirely foolish mistake that would make her meet her untimely demise. Our fair Phlox had decided she wanted to ride a stag. There were rumors of a thirty point stag in the woods and that was going to be her mount. Being a boastful woman she told everyone this, about her journey, and not to wait up for her, that the hunt and the taming would take a long time. Prepared to live in the wilds for a few tentrials, she set off.
After the two tentrials of tracking she did indeed find the stag. It was beautiful, grey colored in its age, and with a rack like she had never seen. She prayed to the anak of luck that were said to guide those on harrowing journeys to mentally start her mission of impressing the beast. Unfortunately the stag spotted her as well. While gathering provisions to survive on the stag charged at her, kicking her and goring her over and over with its mighty antlers. Phlox was able to drag herself away but eventually died in a meadow from her mortal wounds.
Upon death she was met with Pier and Pre, like all on Idalos, until eventually finding her way to Vri and her Judgement. Now, it's worth noting that as a Melrathi she had been taught against the gods. She, in life, believed so fully and so simply as to think, perhaps they weren't even real. Deluded, is what Vri told her in regards to that. Phlox begged her to take her back, begged her to let her stay, and refused her judgement by telling her no Melrathi would accept Judgement by any Immortal. Vri finally told her,
"Fine, go back. Find your way home young girl, but here is your secret. The first thing your eyes rest on will be your utter obsession, the thing that binds your ghostly form. I won't tell you good luck but I will say this, next time we meet-- your soul is mine."
And so she left the Beneath, left the Judgement, and returned to her body through the small vergence of an anak. When she first woke up all she could see were flowers, the next thing she noticed were her fingers rotting away, skeleton exposed, and the most curious daisy growing between them. When she went to pick it she saw that she was no longer solid and was two separate entities, body and soul. She stood vigil here until her physical body was nothing but bones, scaring off creatures who wanted to snack on her corpse. Vri was right, this become her obsession and the first schism in her psyche.
Why did no one come looking for her?
Would anyone find her body?
Why were flowers so... beautiful?
And how many flowers were there?
Wandering through the woods was easy for the woman but her body was becoming weak, there was something she was missing. After long she made it back to her family's estate where she was greeted immediately by her twin cats, Soona and Yoona. She touched them and for once her body hit something solid, the connection was made and she had her first anchors. Indeed, her family was kind enough but she could tell they wanted the ghost woman to go. She spent most of her time begging them to find her body and all they told her was the path she took was too dangerous. Eventually they confessed as well that the area she died in was guarded by an Induk. They would not go, but she didn't stop asking. Already she was changing enough as she discovered more and more about what it meant to be a ghost-- losing her previous humanity in the process. Finally, unsatisfied, she left with Soona and Yoona, doomed to roam, consciously shunning her family and the memories they brought to her fragile mind.
She took up residence in a cemetery in Noatun, now a full fledged Phantom, and preyed on the lesser spirits there who would return to Idalos. She also enjoys going to the beneath, though this is a new thing for her that she's figuring out how to utilize.
