Katrina (Hero-U)

This article or section contains information from Lori and Corey Cole’s (Transolar Games) extended Hero Universe (Hero-U Canon and/or Apocrypha).

Details may include information from Hero-U and Summer Daze, other published sources (pre-QFG & later) including books, comics, documentation and DnD supplements. It may also contain information from unreleased novels (and games), notes, concept materials, and developmental ideas from Quest for Glory outside of the original series canon.

Katrina was a character taken from the Quest For Glory series which was utilized and given backstories for the Cole's defunct School For Heroes website as well as additional material from Hero-U and its development. She is based on the original Katrina.

In School For Heroes the Hero (in this case Owl the Wizard) (with possibly the help of his brother Falcon the Paladin) had went to the Underworld and freed both Erana and Katrina bringing them to the world of the living. Katrina married Owl.

Background

A Shadowy Past

Katrina was originally born in a city called Wien in the kingdom of Sangerhafen. She was the daughter of a Knight’s mistress. She was born beautiful, but very poor.

Her family moved east, and Katrina grew up in the city of Slava in the kingdom of Vakia. Katrina grew up on the edge of poverty, never knowing if her father would continue to support her and her mother from month to month. She hated to see fear on her mother’s face when the knight did not show up to pay her bills.

However, when the knight did visit, Katrina soon realized that her father was as charmed by Katrina as he was by her mother. Katrina learned how to wrap him around her finger with just a smile, a hug, and “I love you, Daddy.” Her father wasn’t the only one. All the older men in the neighborhood enjoyed her friendly smile and cheerful greetings. Sometimes, the old men would give her an apple to share with her mother.

For Katrina learned from her mother – You do whatever it takes to keep from being helpless and hungry.

She learned quickly how cruel the world could be, for when Katrina was thirteen, her mother became ill. The knight had not been to see them in months and there was very little money left for food. Their landlord was threatening to evict them for back rent. Katrina cared for her sick mother, but there was no money to buy her medicine. There was nothing Katrina could do to save her mother. She could only watch her mother die.

Then Katrina wiped the tears from her face. She brushed her hair and put on her mother’s best dress. She kissed her mother’s cheek, put two of her remaining coins on her mother’s eyes to pay for the ferryman, and then Katrina walked away, never to return.

She would whatever it takes…and so she used every skill at her means in order to survive. She hated the feeling that comes from being a penniless woman, and promised herself that she would find a way so that she would never be powerless again.

The Wizardess of WIT

Katrina had a series of ‘boyfriends.’ These were older men who were thrilled to have a sweet young thing to flirt and cuddle with. While she was a courtesan, she attracted the attention of one of these older men who was a Wizard. He was surprised when Katrina showed an interest in his magic. He was even more surprised that she had a talent for magic. Soon, she learned all that he could teach her.

Katrina saw magic as a means of taking control of her own life. No longer would she be dependent upon others for food and shelter. She had the power to take charge of her life. She would never be helpless or hungry again – or so she hoped. With the Wizard's sponsorship she went to WIT. However the wizards were conservatice old farts who had a difficult time dealing with a beautiful and very ambitious woman in thier midst. When a demonic invasion threatened the very halls of WIT, Katrina didn't hesitate to use a forbidden destructive ritual that repelled the demons, but also killed several wizards, which is why she was kicked out. She was too ruthless for them.

While she was a courtesan, she attracted the attention of a wizard. She learned magic from him. With his sponsorship she went to WIT. When she applied for the Wizard’s Institute for Technocery, the Wizard Council did their best to discourage her.

The wizards were conservative old farts who had a difficult time dealing with a beautiful and very ambitious woman in their midst. They set the hardest of tests before her. They explained that Wizard magic was a man’s skill. She should go off to learn how to be a healer. Healing was woman’s magic.

(Yes, Erana had been there before, but she wasn’t quite human. Nor was Erana a seductive young woman who seemed determined to have her own way.)

Katrina did not let the old fools in the council keep her from the chance to learn more magic. She excelled in her classes. Most Wizards and TA’s were delighted to have someone lovely in their classrooms who actually listened to their lectures and learned their lessons. It was a novel experience for them.

Katrina spent her nights in the library learning about magic that the Wizards didn't teach at WIT. There were some spells that were considered too dark, dangerous and unpredictable for sensible Wizards to ever learn. Katrina believed that magic was neither dark nor light. It was all a matter of how the magic was used.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Then came a demonic invasion of Russ which threatened the very halls of WIT, caused by an unfortunate former graduate of WIT. To avoid the bad publicity towards Wizards and the institute, the Council sent graduate students to deal with the demons.

Unfortunately, these demons had the ability to possess Wizards. The situation was getting steadily worse.

Katrina offered to go and stop the demons. She had studied the old books and even older spells. She wanted a chance to prove that she was a true Wizard.

The council had a long conference about sending her. On one hand, it seemed wrong to send a woman to do a Wizard’s job. On the other hand, it would get rid of this troublemaker. There were far too many besotted Wizards at the Institute with her around. Besides, she was making the other students jealous because she was the teachers’ pet and got good grades just by blinking her eyelashes. Or so they assumed; it did not occur to most students that one could actually succeed by studying and practicing magic.

So the Council decided to send Katrina off to deal with the demons. It never occurred to them that she might succeed.

However, succeed Katrina did. Katrina didn't hesitate to use a forbidden destructive spell. Using a variation of the ‘Thermonuclear Blast’ spell (one that did not involve suicide as a major component of the spell), she destroyed the demons and the portal. She also disintegrated all of the possessed Wizards and grad students. She felt this was a fair trade-off. They knew the job was difficult when they took it. She successfully repelled the demons.

Horrified that Katrina had accomplished what much greater Wizards could not do, and that she used ‘forbidden’ magic to do so, the Wizard Council banished her from the Institute. She was too ruthless for them.

Katrina was furious that WIT wouldn’t even acknowledge that she had just saved a land and WIT’s precious reputation. However, it didn’t really matter that she had been kicked out. She had learned about as much as she wanted to from the Institute. It was time to find a new, more powerful teacher.

Spurned by WIT when she felt she should have been lauded a hero, she travelled a great deal in search of spells of power. So Katrina went off to seek the legendary Dark Master.

Dark Mastery

The Dark Master was a former Wizard at the Institute many decades before Katrina’s time. He had the reputation of being very learned and powerful. It was rumored that he had found the secret of agelessness.

So she had been to Silmaria, but didn't stay long. She met the dark Wizard there who promised her eternal beauty if she followed him. Since that was her first and greatest weapon, she accepted the offer.

Katrina thought it would be easy to become apprentice to an elderly old gentleman. She had charmed every other teacher and would do the same to him.

What she did not know was that the Dark Master was no gentleman. Nor was he alive. He had managed to conceal the fact that he was a Vampire from all of the Wizards. He had no need for an apprentice. But he did have a need for a Vampire slave.

It was far too late, she learned the price of eternal beauty was death, and so she became a vampire. The Dark Master delighted in the cruelty of turning Katrina into a Vampire and forcing her to do his bidding. At the young age of 26 she died, and was forcibly brought back in undeath.

Katrina hated him and hated being helpless to disobey him. She hated the fact that she had to return to her grave before dawn. She hated the fact that she was totally defenseless in the light of day. Being a Vampire sucked. She didn't willingly turn into a vampire. And she hated being one. To be totally powerless during the daylight hours was abhorrent to her. And yet, that became her fate. It was many years until she found the means to destroy the dark wizard who was her Master Vampire.

Katrina was a servant of the Dark Master for many years until, one night, she seduced a naïve young man. She easily convinced him to stake her evil Vampire master, something Katrina could not do herself. Pity that the hero perished in the process…

Katrina became the new Dark Master. With the Dark Master gone, Katrina simply took over his place, title, and reputation.

For all her magic and power, Katrina still had to fear the dawn. She feared that one day some fool would find her coffin during the day and destroy her while she was helpless.

There had to be some way to stop the day from dawning. There had to be some way to end this helplessness. She would do whatever it took, if there are consequences – and there always were – she would deal with them later.

Then one day, a brash young Wizard who called himself Ad Avis came to call upon the Dark Master. Katrina met him, but Ad Avis insisted that he was a great Wizard and had no interest in dealing with maidservants or mistresses. And so she was amused when Ad Avis sought her out to learn the secrets of eternity.

Despite the fact that Ad Avis obviously despised women, he had heard rumors of the dark master of magic, and assumed Katrina was a man. Ad Avis was the sort of man that Katrina had known in the past. Needless to say, Katrina was not impressed with Ad Avis. For a “great Wizard,” his powers of observation were lacking, and his manners were worse. So she was glad to get even.

So after teaching Ad Avis a valuable lesson that gurrls can be Wizards, too (by trashing him in a magical battle), Katrina bound Ad Avis to her will with her Vampiric Charm. Ad Avis would either be useful to her as a servant, or he would pay for his arrogance the next time Katrina needed a meal. So she enslaved him with her bite rather than just killing him, and played cruel games with him until she grew tired of him.

As it turned out, Ad Avis actually had some useful knowledge about summoning demons. Katrina had read about a Dark One called Avoozl, who had the power to shroud the lands with eternal night. If Katrina could summon and control Avoozl, then she would never fear daylight again.

Even as a servant, Ad Avis was arrogant and annoying. He despised women in general and Katrina in particular. He treated Katrina’s servants like they were, well, monsters. Although he was always subserviently polite to Katrina when she was around him, she knew that Ad Avis would love to drive a stake through her heart.

Unfortunately for Ad Avis, destroying Katrina would also destroy the vampiric bonds he shared with her. As a Vampire’s personal servant, he did not age and he had the same ability to charm mortals as a Vampire had. So while Ad Avis hated Katrina, he loved power too much to give in to his resentment and fury towards her.

Eventually, Katrina soon grew tired of Ad Avis, and his snide superiority and sarcasm. At which point she let him go, and sent him back to his homeland of Raseir knowing he was bound to her at his death.

Moving to Mordavia

Continuing her research, Katrina learned of the land of Mordavia. The Dark One’s cult had come very close to unleashing Avoozl upon the world. So she brought her monstrous servants to Mordavia and took over the abandoned Borgov Castle.

From the Borgov library, Katrina read about the Cult of Avoozl and the role that Erana had played in banishing the Dark One from the land.

Mordavia was a haunted land, marked by death and dark rituals. The villagers were mostly frightened fools huddled in their walled town. Some sort of spell emanating from Erana’s staff protected the town. To her annoyance, Katrina couldn’t even enter it. She had to use her crystal ball to spy on the town. Katrina in Mordavia

Innocence Lost

One day, she saw a lonely child named Tanya playing in the garden that grew around Erana’s staff. The child was singing a lullaby to a faded ragdoll. Katrina watched as Tanya cradled the ragdoll and said plaintively, “I wish we had a friend.” Something about the child’s innocence touched Katrina’s heart.

She sent one of her servants to a distant city to bring back a fine china doll. Then she ordered Toby, her most trusted monster, to hide the doll in the garden for Tanya to find.

Toby was monstrous, but he was not evil, so Erana’s spell did not affect him. He easily climbed the town wall and hid the doll. While Katrina slept in her coffin, Toby waited in the gate tower to see what would happen.

When Tanya found the doll, she was delighted. She had never seen anything as beautiful as this doll before. Tanya danced merrily with the doll, and even Toby smiled to see Tanya so happy. For days and nights, Toby and Katrina watched Tanya’s joyful fun with the doll.

Then Tanya’s mother saw Tanya playing with this strange doll. Bella took the doll away from Tanya. Bella was afraid that the doll was magical and dangerous since it had clearly enchanted Tanya. Even though Tanya begged for the doll, her mother kept it hidden.

Bella made Tanya stay in the inn so that Tanya would be safe. Tanya cried to herself as she looked out the open window at the garden where she loved to play.

Toby felt sorry for Tanya and tried to comfort her. He climbed up to the roof and sang her a growling lullaby through the window. When Tanya saw Toby, she wasn’t afraid of the big, hairy monster who smiled back at her. She somehow knew that he was the one who had given her the doll. She knew that he was the friend she had wished for at Erana’s Staff.

Leave No Child Behind

When Katrina found out that Tanya’s mother had taken the doll, she was angry. Katrina was even angrier at the idea that Tanya could no longer go outside to play in the sunshine. Tanya’s cruel mother did not deserve such a lovely daughter. If Katrina had a daughter like Tanya, she would give her child all the toys and gifts in the world just to make her smile.

Then Katrina got an idea. Tanya was a lonely prisoner, locked away from the daylight just as Katrina was. Katrina could make Tanya happy again. Tanya would become Katrina’s darling daughter and never have to be afraid again.

So Katrina had Toby “rescue” Tanya from the inn. Katrina had a way to make sure that Tanya would never have to fear the dark or bad things again. Katrina made Tanya her very own Vampire daughter. Together they could be happy forever, afraid of nothing but sunlight.

Katrina had an answer to that too. All she needed was to summon and control Avoozl. Once eternal darkness came to Mordavia, Katrina and Tanya could go anywhere any time of the day or night.

Of course, there was a slight complication in the form of Ad Avis, who was only mostly gone. Katrina had sent him to Raseir and thought she had seen the last of him. That suited Ad Avis as well.

Living on the Raseir's Edge

For a while, everything in Raseir went as planned. Ad Avis had taken over the city. He brought law and order to the land and put women in their place – harems. He had all the information he needed to bind the Djinn Iblis to his command.

All Ad Avis needed now was someone gullible enough to enter the Forbidden City and retrieve the statue of Iblis. Sure enough, a hero arrived right on schedule. He made it through the Forbidden City as the prophecy had foretold. Ad Avis took the statue and left the hero trapped in the ruined city.

But Ad Avis underestimated his victim. Not only did the hero escape, but he interrupted the summoning ritual for Iblis. Ad Avis was furious. All those years of being Katrina’s slave, all those years of research, all his plans for world domination destroyed by one stupid hero.

Oh, and it got worse when the hero defeated Ad Avis and sent him falling to his doom from the tower of Raseir. It’s a sad day when you can’t even trust a hero to stay in the ancient ruins and die.

Mordavian Plights

With his dying breath, Ad Avis called out to Katrina through the magical bonds of Vampire and servant. She had no choice but to summon him to her side and return him from his death as a fully-fledged Vampire. Oh well, maybe he could help out with the ritual of summoning Avoozl.

Except that he couldn’t. The final secrets of the ritual were hidden in the old monastery in town. As Vampires, they couldn’t get past Erana’s spell to reach the monastery. They were also barred from the Dark One’s Cave. They needed some gullible fool who would do those things for them.

Ad Avis knew exactly who to use…

It was decided that Falcon the Paladin was the weakest of the four heroes, and the least likely to pose a threat alone. They began the ritual of summoning for him, pulling him from Tarna. Leaving his siblings behind in shock. But Falcon was lost to the Dark One's Cave along the way.

Out of the Darkness

Katrina was indeed surprised and relieved to see the hero was still alive. She hated it when a magical spell went awry. Her magic had summoned the hero to Mordavia where the hero was supposed to arrive in the Borgov castle. Instead, the power of the Dark One's cave interfered.

Falcon was either very lucky or very skilled to come out of that cave alive. Either way, Katrina knew that he would be very useful to her.

For once, Ad Avis had given her good advice when he suggested that she summon his murderer there. This was not a matter of petty vengeance. This would have world-altering consequences.

And Falcon seemed just gullible enough to do the job for which Katrina brought them there. She met him outside of the cave warned him to stay in the local village at night, because of dangers that roamed at night. He didn't listen to her suggestion however, and one night he left the village to explore putting himself into danger. This annoyed Katrina. She watched in her magic mirror as he was ambushed by a revenant ghoul in Mordavia's cemetery. She chose to travel to the cemetery to save him, and watched from the shadows as he fought and was injured by the creature, but showed no fear.

Meanwhile, Falcon's siblings mounted a rescue, finding their own ways to Mordavia they reunited with their brother, and all worked to stop Katrina's and Ad Avis' plans. Katrina would end up turning on Ad Avis, in order to defend Falcon and his siblings. Allowing Ad Avis to destroy her.

Much Later

The four heroes rescue both Katrina and Erana from Hades. Katrina who was saved by Owl, falls in love with him, and they are happily married.

Katrina and Owl would later go on to form a new Wizard’s Council separate from the Wizards of Wit. Her former 'daughter' Tanya Markarov (Hero-U) did not fit in well in Mordavia, and later left to join Wizard's Institute of Technocery (Hero-U). Their relationship remained... strained... and strange, as the organizations tended to be at odd's with each other.

Personality and traits

Katrina learned it was not easy being a Dark Master.

It requires a delicate balance. If you piss off the neighboring rulers, they declare war on you. Terrorize the locals too much? They call for a Hero to take you out. Not oppressive or scary enough? The peasants revolt and slaughter your monsters. Don’t get too soft, or they start calling you “Nice Master” and expect you to be the Godparent to their kids. Like I said, it’s delicate.

She had been used, and had used others in return. Yet despite all the unhappiness she had in the past, some part of her still believed in love. And that part eventually leads to her redemption.

Titles and nicknames

• Dark Master
• Mistress of Darkness
• Daughter of Darkness
• Shady Lady

See also

• Katrina (Quest For Glory)
• Mistress of Darkness
• Katrina's Story
• Women of Glory 4: Dark Mistress
• Women of Glory 4: Daughter of Darkness
• Shady Ladies of Shadows of Darkness

Behind the scenes

While kernels of this story may have existed at the time of QFG4, and apparently there was much more about her backstory conceived before Mishell Baker started working on her unreleased novels.

One account told during an interview around the time of development of QFG5 (April 1998), she actually was the one who turned herself into a vampire, out of a desire for eternal life.

Katrina was banished from WIT because 1) she refused to stay the years they wanted her to and 2) she sought after magic that was forbidden

The fact that she was better than any of them didn't make her too popular either, especially since she became Archmage in record time.

The magic of the Vampire was one of the avenues of Forbidden Magic.

It was her ticket to eternal life, or so she thought. She hated death.

Katrina did seek out a Vampire. He became her master for a while, and she hated being a slave. So like Ad Avis, she continually sought to destroy her master.

Katrina was born very poor and very beautiful. She learned early that beauty gave her power, and she used all the power she could. More than death, she hated being weak and powerless.

Death and aging took away her beauty, and she didn't want to lose any power.

Much of these expanded Katrina stories probably originate out of the design process for the How to Be A Hero books.

The first basic accounts of Katrina's backstory are roughly mentioned in the QFG4 Hintbook, HERO Magazine, and some small snippets mentioned in the game itself. But for the most part the pre-QFG4 time period is left vague.

There are roughly two expanded accounts written by Lori Cole as representing the history of the Dark Master Katrina. These were written or explained long after the release of Quest For Glory V, and in some cases may be intended to add backstory to unreleased products such as the How To Be A Hero novels or the School For Heroes & Hero-U.

One account was given by Lori Cole (and given around the time that QFG2 fan remake was in the works). It was apparently given to the fan developer during private correspondence (or was utilized by developers of the game). The exact original source of the references is not clear and what exists comes from second hand reposts of information said to have been given elsewhere. This material incidentally would have probably existed after How To Be A Hero books had been written. Lori Cole has confirmed having written the original post.

The second version was published on the How To Be A Hero website, and includes further changes or expansions from the first. It may represent a further evolution of the backstory.

The two accounts more or less seem to fit onto the 'single hero' universe. Obviously the version that Cole's presented on How To Be A Hero website only refers to the single hero for whatever reason. It's possible because the details of the four heroes wasn't completely revealed to the public at the time, even if the characters may have indirectly shown up in the materials (Falcon for example appears in Paladin class content) completely under the noses of the players, but would have been confusing if they had been too specific (as very few people knew about the backstory). Hero-U itself exists in the 'convergent'/How To Be A Hero unvierse where four heroes exist, and several of these characters are now officially confirmed in the game.

About the only details confirmed about How To Be A Hero's backstory related to both Katrina and Erana being saved, and a great hero who became a King of Silmaria. Most of the focus of materials if the hero was brought up, focused on him, again leaving the illusion of a 'single hero' (though his siblings might have ben nodded to without context in other materials)..

Differences between the original QFG stories

There is much more detail added in Version 2, although certain details may differ from the more limited accounts that occur in the HERO: The Journal of General Job Adjusting: Issue 1, QFG4, Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness Hintbook, and QFG5.

These backstories (especially version 2) and possible the Cole's new story for Erana suggest that WIT is chauvinistic. There is no direct indication of this in the previous QFG games and indeed that Zara, Aziza and Erana (are all possible 'sponsors') all seem to argue against this idea (all three are members or former members of WIT in QFG2). However, Ad Avis was definitely said to be chauvinistic, and that was treated as one of the unique aspects of his storyline (and not  attached in anyway to the WIT).

Version 2 might suggest that the dark painting in QFG2 is actually an image of the original Dark Master whom Katrina apprenticed herself to, rather than to Katrina herself (Katrina was banished but she left while still in training, before becoming a full fledged member of the institute). It would be unlikely that she would have gotten a 'sponsor' painting. In QFG universe, the painting was actually Katrina (or strongly implied to be), and its strongly suggested be by Erasmus commentary in the HERO magazine. Presumably having been blotted out after she betrayed the rules and ideals of the Institute. Note, its not quite clear why they still gave Ad Avis a pass despite there is much evidence he was working with dark and forbidden magics as well.

In the original Quest For Glory series there may be hints of an earlier Dark Master in QFG4, and related material, but nothing to indicate that that original Dark Master was a member of WIT. This version suggests that Ad Avis came to meet the original Dark Master, but he was already dead and met Katrina instead. The QFG4 hintbook however suggests that she was the Dark Master, and he didn't like the idea that a Dark Master was a woman. This version suggests she went to Silmaria and didn't stay long, and then went to meet the Dark Master elsewhere. Whereas in QFG4 hintbook she was the Dark Master and took up residence in Silmaria, when Ad Avis came to her. In Version 2 Ad Avis is cursed by some kind of Vampire Charm, in Who's Who in Mordavia he was cursed by biting him, and being forced to drink her blood, thus putting the Life Eternal after Death "gift" on him.

Version 2 suggests that Katrina sent Ad Avis away as she grew tired of him and his behaviour, whereas QFG4 hintbook suggests he ran away to try to obtain his own freedom (part of that would involve summoning Iblis).

Of course version 2 gives a different order of events of when Ad Avis in Raseir/his return to the castle vs. Tanya's kidnapping according to the QFG4 hintbook. In this Tanya was kidnapped while Ad Avis was still in Raseir, in QFG4 hintbook Tanya was kidnapped after Ad Avis had already died. This is already a difference between the Long timeline and the Short timeline of the QFG series.

Another change is concerning homeland of Katrina. In QFG4 Hintbook suggests it to have been Silmaria originally. Indeed, Katrina is a Greek name, and she seems to know the islands well, choosing Zante as her Retreat (and her soul is tied to Hades). Version 1 and Version 2 set up two new homelands for her where she grew up, either placing her in essentially the region of Austria (see also Tyrol) but later story moves her east to Slavakia.

That's not to say that the two stories cannot overlap... She could have been born in Austria, but grew up Slava. The years of being a courtesan could taken place after she left Slava and indeed it does talk about her 'boyfriends' during that time in Version 2 story.

Russ appears to be a rename of Surria.