Ren — later known as Ren Sawada — is a curious catfolk spellblade who became Lightwatch's most famous artificer, discovered immortality, and presided over the Grand Inquiry in Trayalon.
Ren first entered the record as a catfolk champion of Lightwatch: a quick, curious mage-warrior who trusted agility and spellcraft more than brute force. She carried a wakizashi and shortbow, but her lasting importance came from the things she learned and made. After surviving exile from the prison plane and losing family and friends to the Blazing Hood, she carried both an enduring grievance against the dwarves and a determination to master the older craft of the Hesh.
At the rebuilt Forges of Bourdain, Ren developed into a master crafter. With Yolich's assistance she forged Hesh items and took responsibility for a promise to restore the dead daughter of two powerful Hesh wraiths. That combination of restless inquiry, technical ambition, and willingness to accept impossible obligations became the foundation of her later reputation.
Added in Legends of the North: Northfringe and Ascension
By h-172, Ren was known as Ren Sawada and had made the arcane discovery of immortality. Her friends aged while she did not. The long separation changed her: she became increasingly suspicious that others meant to steal her knowledge and the power of the Forges of Lightwatch. Although the forges continued to operate, Ren spent much of her time below them in study and relied on an aging Barton to maintain contact with the outside world.
Ren's creations had meanwhile spread far beyond her control. She cursed soul-trapping gems after one stolen from her study was used in an attempt to recreate the forges and drew its user's soul into the well. She also worked with Veronica Flair, a researcher of the Cassius Guild. Her achievement made her one of the continent's most celebrated artificers, while her secrecy and the dangers surrounding her work made her equally infamous.
Added in Brave New World (Silver Edge + magical kids)
In h-282, Ren appeared in the Nix journals under the variant spelling Ren Sawari. She ran a magic school at Lightwatch and was rumored to have carved the great land-moat around it. At Honor Day she sold wares incognito and gave Nix a love potion “for love,” but her interest turned threatening when she learned that a weapon-child had survived Headwater: Ren attempted to read Nix's mind without permission and demanded the child.
Ren later presided over the Grand Inquiry in Trayalon, where evidence exposed the Cassius School's role in creating Silver Edge and killing Ghost Squad rather than allowing the weapon-children to defect. After the inquiry, she personally questioned Revena Cassius to trace the school's programs. The same immediacy and fearlessness that once made Ren a formidable explorer and craftswoman had, across the centuries, become harder to separate from recklessness and intrusion.