Nana

Not all great mages come from ancient bloodlines or forbidden academies. Some come from curiosity, a stolen spellbook, and an absolutely catastrophic amount of free time.

Nana is a Leonin — one of the cat-folk who inhabit the forests east of the Imperial City — and she discovered magic entirely by accident at the age of seven when she found a wizard's abandoned satchel in the woods. The wizard had apparently fled in a hurry, leaving behind three spellbooks, a collection of enchanted trinkets, and a very confused magical familiar named Molina.

Molina, a small magical creature of indeterminate species, became Nana's teacher, companion, and frequent victim of her experimental spellcasting. Over the following years, Nana developed a unique magical style: cheerful, unpredictable, and devastatingly effective. Her signature technique — the Molina Smooch — transforms enemies into helpless versions of Molina, rendering them temporarily unable to fight while looking absolutely ridiculous.

The magical academies, when they eventually heard of her, were divided. Half wanted to recruit her. Half wanted to confiscate her spellbooks before she accidentally unmade something important. Nana, characteristically, ignored both factions and continued doing exactly what she wanted.

She joined the battles of the Land of Dawn not out of ambition or destiny, but because Molina thought it would be interesting. So far, Molina has been right.