Marishka Taltos, née Merss was born in the Fenarian town of Burz.
The Merss family was originally named Saabo, but a distant patriarch, Matyawsh, had changed the family name in order to indicate his willingness to acclimate to being a worker in the paper mill of Burz ("merss" meaning "pulper"), which had been constructed at that time by the man who was then Count Saekeresh.
Her father brought her to the Dragaeran Empire when she was very young. There, she met and married Pishta Taltos.
She had a certain knowledge of witchcraft, which made her husband unhappy. She was educated enough to send a note written in ancient and arcane runes to her father-in-law, Noish-pa, some months before she gave birth to Vlad Taltos.
She apparently died when Vlad was about three or four.
Relations[]
- Vlad Taltos (son)
- Baronet Pishta Taltos (husband)
- Noish-pa (father-in-law)