Ruyo was a small-time merchant hauling her wares east through the forest. Near a stream, she discovered a cave containing the forgotten shrine of a water deity. An ancient spirit named Nusina made contact with her and begged her to "claim" the place. Ruyo agreed, but didn't realize quite what that meant: becoming the replacement water goddess! With just one barely-working shrine to power a small set of magic powers, Ruyo set out to find help -- and people willing to pray to her.

By rescuing a noble family's kidnapped boy in the city of Averell, Ruyo began to earn some renown. Ruyo and Nusina returned to the shrine to make further plans. The slave woman Tulia pledged to serve as a priestess, in return for trying to stamp out slavery in Averell. It seemed that Ruyo's obligations were going to grow as quickly as her skill and power -- and hopefully no faster.

Behind the scenes, Ruyo was written using RPG rules from "Fate Condensed". Her stats at this point are:

-Novice Water Goddess

-Short Temper

-Former Wandering Peddler

-Nusina, Companion Spirit

-Shrine of the Ancient Wellspring

Flashy 3 / Sneaky 0

Clever 2 / Forceful 1

Careful 2 / Quick 1

Her world doesn't literally run on RPG mechanics, though we'll see some echoes of that.