Hessia was press ganged into the infamous Grey Maidens of Korvosa as a starry eyed youth, unprepared for the harsh realities of the world by her former life as a baker's daughter. Hessia was honed by the Maidens into a mercilous lady knight, her mind muddled by the dark sorceries of Vavana Dhatri, the so called Arbiter of Allegience. In the dark and bloody years that followed Hessia committed heinous, shameful acts in service to Mad Queen Ileosa. Hessia was fortunate enough to be on a patrol outside the city gates when the corrupt regime fell. Her unit fanatically attempted to regain the city but were rebuffed. Forced to retreat, for months they lived rough in the wildlands of Varisia looking for other surviving Maidens. But eventually Hessia's mental compulsions to obey faded and she began to regain her own sense of identity and purpose. Finally she slipped away one night and abandonned her unit to seek a new life for herself. Haunted at times by her remembered deeds and the even worse things she witnessed, Hessia struggles to find a better path, but regardless of her inner conflict she is determined to survive and fights with a fierce intensity that has taken many a foe by surprise.

Hessia has never really gotten her feet under herself financially and is always a couple of weeks away from being penniless, forcing her to go from job to job as a mercenary or to seek her fortunes as an adventurer. Currently she has 12 gp, 24 sp, and 9 cp to her name.

However she is very well equipped in the tools of her trade, sporting a magical suit of spikey plate armor she bought several years ago after trading in her Grey Maiden gear and putting down a lump sum of coinage acquired from her first big score as an adventurer. She also carries a cruel looking blackened blade of excellent craftsmanship she gained in another quest; she has been told that it has a faint aura of necromancy by a former associate, but has yet to notice it doing anything special.

She also has a trail pack with rope and pitons, some powdered chalk, possibly most of a lockpicking kit stashed in various seams and crannies that a former adventuring companion and 'special friend' taught her the basics of how to use, a couple of blankets, and so forth. She also owns her own light saddle with reinforced stirrups to bear her armored mass which she lugs around whether she currently has a mount to put it on or not; it seems to have some sentimental value to her.