Kyra is a wemic, similar to a centaur but with the lower half of a lion. She was raised as a servent for the noble Sarrefy clan, known for their well-trained war horses and fine sapphires. They were a rather arrogant and war-like clan that fought under the lion symbol, hence the desire to have the half-lions as servents. The lion clan had many enemies due to their power and wealth, but the clan had most of their enemies due to the series of conquests of land and other clans. While not the nicest of clans, the lion clan was known for their strength and sense of honor.
As always with such things, there were enemies of the lion clan meeting in the cloak rooms and hatching fine plots to break the clan and take their wealth. As it happened during the rule under a particularly inept clan head, an oddly well-planned attack by the eagle clan succeeded in ousting the lions. The clan's power was broken and nearly all of those connected with them were slaughtered, as a symbol of the permanent eradication of the lion clan. The only ones to survive were the war-priest and one of the girl servents.
The priest and the wemic fled from the eagle clan-breakers, hiding in the many small cloisters in the surrounding area. Once he was sure they had lost their eagle trackers, the priest led the servent to an abbey of his following. He was, he said, far to old to undertake a quest of ritual revenge, much as he would like to, and he would far better serve his clan and his faith by training a successor to take up the burden of honor. This was agreeable to Kyra, for she loved the clansfolk as the only members of her pride, and she choked with rage at the mere thought of the eagle clan on the lion clan's grounds.
Kyra's training at the hands of the entire abbey went slowly and painfully from her point of view and rather quickly from the priests'. The idea of being a natural talent at war did not ease Kyra's aching muscles at night, though. Still, she perservered and learned the art and the philosophy of war. War is a natural product of civilization and it has rules. Battles are fought to be finished and stopped, not to prove some kind of sick idea. Hopeless battles are stupid and are to be avoided. Warriors of the faith are to fight tirelessly but not recklessly and are to respect people of all callings. Commanders are to be professional and train their soldiers well, and they are to arm well as many fighters as possible. Those who died well are to be honored and preserved in memory, and the weapons of the valorous are to be kept and treasured.
After many years of mercenary training outside of the abbey, Kyra underwent the painstaking process of breaking the eagle clan by herself, through single armed combat at first, and then by raising a small mercenary army to storm the House. Kyra had worked with many of the mercenaries before she began her quest and had assembled her company with hand-picked warriors of integrity and skill. With the breaking of the eagle clan, her quest was fulfilled. She had no plans to live after seeing the eagle clan broken, but her compatriots convinced her to stay and help them rebuild the lion clan. With a warrior of her repute raising the lion clan's banner, they were sure to attract the attention of several of the more noble yet unaligned families of the area.
With the start of the clan assured, once again Kyra took to the mercenary life and continued adventuring and fighting with old friends. She had learned many skills during her war with the eagles. She fashioned a set of plate armor for herself as well as a glaive. With her quest fulfilled and her clan avenged, she could look to the rest of the country for wrongs to right. Her reputation as Kyra the Red was spread mainly by the rumor that when she killed the clan head of the eagles, her tunic and armor were so drenched in blood that they appeared pure red.
