Ripplefur was an NPC created for a single plotline, but as things tend to do in roleplay, she morphed through player interactions into a full PC. After the Kretonian occupation, Demaria had been blasted back to a more primitive age, where the fragmented remnants of the native populations had either taken up a nomadic tribal life in the deserts or built cavern-hidden cities ruled by clans within the mountains. There are still enough stories to remind them of their glorious past and the magic of their technological prowess, but even their language has drifted enough that only a select few are still able to converse intelligibly in the modern dialect.