Zuri was born in the small village of Anapata on the Ben-Daya River, near Lake Khonsu- deep in the Chisisi Desert of the Talaina'Vao region of Tolara.

When she was born, she was born into turmoil between her family and another in the village: The Baka family, who had been fighting with her family any chance they had for generationsl the initial fight was over trading a goat for some water, a precious comodity in the early days of the desert. The Golzar’s where not willing to go any higher than a few gallons for said goat, while the Baka wanted more. It ended with one member on each side dead... Ever since, one family does something to the other every generation it seems, and each one sees at least one person dead or injured on either side.

Her unnaturally red hair was the first sign of something wrong at her birth, though- and it made her a target for the older son of the Baka, Lullaya; it was too much like blood. Too much like the other God of those other people of the desert. And worse still she ran warm. Far warmer than she should be, even in the desert- and it only got worse as she aged; even her own family looked at her differently, but Lullaya's torture in particular was often relentless.

At 16, however, she started to show promise in the Druidic Arts just like her mother, and her mother, and her mother's mother had before her. And so she began her training, then, as any child of the Isma'il line would if shown to have such promise... But her ability quickly proved to be just as twisted as she was when, instead of becoming the small Cat she was supposed to, she summoned a great fire spirit; it nearly burned down the tiny village in its rampage.

After that even, she was banned from using her abilities. Her parents tried to force the flames from her, even- sometimes in horrific ways; they attempted to drown her, took to beating her in the moonlight, and even tattooed Netamesphut's signs upon her. When none of it worked she was shunned by the village and ostracized to the outskirts as a pariah.

As she aged she only grew in the power she'd come to hate- unti finally she was exiled into the desert and told never to return; though none of them ever said it, her village, and her own family, secretly hoped she died out there. So she walked alone for a long time in the desert.

Eventually she became so tired she sat down in the sand and began to cry. WIthin moments, though, lightning struck the ground right in front of her- but instead of scaring her, all it did was make her laugh; she thought the sound that boomed through her chest was such a wonderful feeling. And when she crawled over to the area it struck, she found that the immense power of the strike had created a crystal.

Even though it was still hot to touch, she felt able to pick it up and dust it off- revealing an intricate natural design. It was soft enough to just give it a little shape... Not too much- but just enough to mark it as her own. The item became her Druidic Focus: Beautiful and strange, but holding so much power within it; she became determined to teach herself to control her abilities, practicing as she wandered, then, and set out towards Baruti now, with her head a little higher.