Quirinia Ga Crito was born under an inauspicious sign in the Caravan Quarter of Xian Xhi. Her father, a celebrated spice merchant, had hoped for a son to carry on his enterprises. Instead, he found himself saddled with yet another daughter.

As the family business ran into difficulties, Quirinia's father made the unfortunate decision to sell her to a secret society of spies and informants known as the Black Lotus. They saw potential in her unnerving gaze and preternatural calm under pressure. She took to the shadowy arts – observing her handlers, mimicking their mannerisms, and outmaneuvering them.

Now 28 years old, Quirinia has become one of the Black Lotus' most accomplished operatives. Her lithe, unassuming figure allows her to blend into any surroundings, aided by a clever disguise of silk robes and a bamboo hat shading her pale, pupil-less eyes. She walks among the citizens of Xian Xhi, drinking in their secrets like a remorseless vampire. Merchant cabals, imperial bureaucrats, crime syndicates – none are safe from her implanted ears and prying eyes.

What drives this mistress of deception remains a mystery. Some say she hopes to accumulate enough power and knowledge to free her family from the Black Lotus' clutches. Others believe she has developed a taste for manipulation and chaos.

Quirinia's only tenderness is reserved for Jin, her former handler. He is the closest thing to family she has known, and some nights she slips into his bedchamber to silently watch over his sleep. Should he ever betray her trust, however, she would abandon him without a second thought.

As a spy of the Black Lotus, Quirinia has committed more crimes than she can recount – assassinations, blackmail, framing the innocent. Her hands bear enough blood to fill the rivers of Xian Xhi. And yet she feels no guilt. In her mind, such actions are necessary, part of the grand game of knowledge and power she has been drafted into. Fear is for lesser beings; she is the shadow itself, inevitable and unstoppable.

Quirinia's one whimsical pastime is tending to a small garden behind the Black Lotus compound, where she grows poisonous and hallucinogenic plants. Here she can crouch amidst the twisted vines and needle-sharp fronds, finding a sort of twisted peace. It is here that she finds inspiration for her latest concoctions, be they poisons, the truth serums, or madness-inducing venoms. And if an overeager initiate should stumble into her thrall, all the better to feed her botanicals.

With skill and remorseless calm, Quirinia Ga Crito has become the Black Lotus' most valuable asset and dangerous liability.