This is the story of Rhatha of Shar Vahl.
I am Rhatha, Khati Sha of the Vah Shir. I have lived in Shar Vahl for my entire life, learning the ways of our people. From an early age, I have had a sense of distance from many of the citizens of Shar Vahl, a feeling that I did not belong in a city, grand as it is. I wrestled and played with the other cubs, and I listened to the storytellers and lorekeepers tell tales of our people from times long part, always referring to our moon: your world Norrath.

I began my training as a Khati Sha, a master of beasts, after an elder Animalist bade me go into the palace, and I learned what my people required of me. I trained in the pit around the city. I trained in the Thicket outside the south gate, and later in the bandit camps and winding tunnels across it. I met many companions during this time who have traveled with me often in recent days.

Perhaps some of you do not know what it means to be Khati Sha, at least, I must imagine so, knowing naught of any other profession myself. Khati Sha have a connection with the spirit world, as do shamen, but whereas they converse with the spirits of our ancestors, we understand the living spirits that abound in nature. Both of our guild can channel the energy of the spirits into "magic" to aid us in our journeys, with Khati Sha enhancing their companions and warder and the shamen healing and protecting their companions while smiting their enemies. The warder is our greatest manifestation of the living spirits, and a Khati Sha without his warder is a Khati Sha prepared to die.

It was in my early years when I met many of my companions that are now with the guild, around the time I had the privilege and joy of summoning a warder of my own. We fought together on many occasions in the tunnels of Shadeweaver's Thicket and the Paludal Caverns beyond. One day, we were particularly far in, sneaking past many of the fiends that dwell in the caves, when we found the entrance to a city: Shadow Haven, last bastion of the hairless ones of Luclin, the ones you call "the Combine Empire." Having heard rumors that the Nexus beyond the city was becoming active after decades of disuse, we proceeded through the city to investigate. And when we reached it, lo and behold, portals to Norrath were opened once more! We were waiting for one of these to open, so that we could explore this strange new world, when we met Lady Waylo, another in your service. After conversing for a while in the Combine tongue about some of the things to be found in your world, she gazed at me and asked why I did not have a family to support me. I replied simply that the wild was my home and my warder was my companion, that I had never been asked to join a larger group before, that I was new to the world. And she extended an offer that I had never received before.

That is how I came to be here.

I traveled on with my friends into Norrath for the first time that day, and we saw many strange things.... wolf-like creatures that fly, blue-skinned monsters that thirst for blood, and elves of all sorts, tall short, black, light, and even some very small elves with hairy slippers. Norrath is an interesting place. After problems with communication, however, I returned to Shar Vahl to continue my training as befits a protector of the Vah Shir.

- This was written long ago, when I joined the 1st Fist of Light.

I realize that I have been vague about my past until this point, a situation that shall now be rectified. My memories are not of difficult times, struggles, or honor, as are many of those here. Indeed, I was well cared for throughout my life, and have not been through many hard times until now. My past, however, is full of confusion about who I am and what I am meant to do. Here is my story.