History:

Tsuraine's mother, Katasu Aterix, spent most of her life asleep, dreaming about the past and future. She had a great deal of trouble giving birth, and named her first and only child after the drug that saved her life and [somewhat dubious] sanity. She had never been strong, an exaggerated case of Enlightened weakness, and never really recovered from her daughter's birth. She woke only seldom, speaking in her sleep the visions she saw in her dreams. She never told her daughter the name of her father.

Tsuraine grew up among the Enlightened Ones, born into the elite ranks but a failure at complicated magic. She could master the spells that all of the Atlanteans could use—and more, if she really concentrated—but given her lineage, she was a disappointment. It was whispered that her deficiency was the result of her mother's illness and lack of sanity, but Tsuraine was fiercely protective of her mother, even though Katasu was neglecting everything but her dreams. By the time she reached adolescence, Tsuraine was the one taking care of her mother, rather than the other way around. Her other relatives ensured that she was educated, but were reluctant to pay for more when she continued to fail at magic.

The other students in her class made fun of her—for her comatose mother, for her lack of magical power, and the fact that she was never dressed as well or as clean as they were. Finally, when she was fifteen years old, it came down to a fight, and she won--against three boys. Magic for purposes other than study was prohibited on the school grounds, so Tsuraine's physical strength gave her an advantage she didn't know she had. After that she was expelled from school (the guys just got a reprimand), a disgrace to her family. She sat by her mother and cried, holding her hand as Katasu slept peacefully. Her mother told her to be strong and face her fears, and hinted at her father's origins. (see story).

Katasu was well known as an oracle by this time, and Tsuraine stayed by her side for three years, interpreting her mother's dreams for those who came to hear their futures. It was a tenuous position, disapproved by other members of her family or ignored. By the time her eighteenth birthday was approaching, she knew she was no longer welcome to live as a dependent on her family's dubious "kindness".

Tsuraine was pretty sure that the father she had never known had been one of the Earthbound ones, and heard stories of an Atlantean missionary who was trying to bring help to the poor, magic-less Earthbound ones, and set out to go down to the surface and find this missionary. She had hoped to find a stronger, more noble people on the surface—after all, if her human father had given her strength, how strong must his relatives be? In all, though, she was disappointed. The Earthbound Ones had different weaknesses than the so-called Enlightened, but they were still slaves to superstition and other imperfections.

When she finally found the missionary of whom she'd heard, the lady was dying in childbirth, too weak to survive without the magic assistance she would have received in the floating world. The child she bore would have likely died as well, and Tsuraine did not know enough of magic to save him. She cried out for any help at all, and when she had given up all hope, a mysterious priest entered town.

Marduk took the child into his hands and saved him, to the amazement of the villagers. After his performance, he spoke to Tsuraine, sensing her disappointment with humanity and offering her an opportunity to do something about it. She agreed to follow him. Her "disappointment" soon twisted into anger and disdain. She also adopted the orphaned boy, naming him Thasen and raising him as her own. Her current life revolves around serving Marduk and caring for her son and mother. Beyond that, she couldn't care less.