Shikaya was brought up in Bridaja, a town in the distant north, close enough to the pole of air that ice was a preferable building material to earth. Shikaya was originally a reasonably happy and inquisitive, if quiet and sometimes taken to wistful melancholy, child who studied the arts of Bridaja's shaman-priests and prepared to one day join their number.
Shikaya was a teenager when the one known as Yurgen Kaneko came to their village. Shining gloriously like the sun and bearing with him an army he had gathered from across the northern plains, Yurgen came to the village and began to try to draw the town into his crusade, making impressive speeches and speaking of the glorious victory the united nations of the north would have over the Realm. Yurgen targeted Shikaya especially, attempting to charm her into influencing the leaders of Bridaja to join his cause. Though not without uncertainty, Shikaya spoke on his behalf.
At first, after the town committed itself to Yurgen's cause, things went well -- the army's first strikes against Realm outposts were one-sided victories, and brought new wealth and freedom to those who had participated, and at first Shikaya was enthusiastic. But as the campaign wore on, Yurgen -- who previously set an optimistic, cheerful tone that put his followers at ease -- grew increasingly obsessive and displayed flashes of cruel anger. On the night before a surprise attack against the Tepet legions sent north to advance against their army, Shikaya saw a brief vision -- of a black shadow passing over Yurgen's golden aura. She tried to speak up and convince Yurgen to cease the attack, but he flew into a rage, struck her, and left.
The battle was disastrous -- almost everyone on both sides perished in the horrible magics unleashed upon the battlefield. Almost every youth from Shikaya's town was slain, and the other shaman-priests were driven mad. In a last-ditch effort, Shikaya made a pact with one of the demons summoned to aid in the battle, that he would act to save those who remained from her village. She charged into battle, the demon at her heels, and met the commander of the Tepet legions in battle, but he was too much for her, and a single sword strike sent her to into blackness. She awakened after the battle, bleeding in the midst of a field of corpses.
In the aftermath of the battle, Shikaya turned back to Jugartha, the demon who still stood laughing amidst the field of corpses. Directionless, she offered to trade every scrap of her human compassion for a new direction. Laughing still, Jugartha touched her forehead with one massive thumb and slew whatever part of Shikaya had once cared. He told her to journey south to the city of Estoc, and that she would find what she sought there.
Wrapping herself in funereal scarves and the traditional veil of mourning from her village, Shikaya readied herself for her journey south.
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