The story in short
Ambessa Medarda grew up in a powerful family that wasn't one of the old noble houses. As a child she watched the fighters in the arenas and learned early that death is something to respect, not fear. When her grandfather Menelik died without naming an heir, she beat her rivals within the family and became its matriarch.
While she was pregnant with Mel she nearly died defending Rokrund, but that only hardened her resolve and her ambition. She tolerated neither weakness nor dissent around her. Her son Kino would never have a warrior's heart, and her daughter Mel she sent far away, to Piltover. Later she went there herself, to see whether hextech could give the Medarda family even more power.
