Sierra Knight was born to a humble family who owned a trading post in a port town on the Cortosi coast. When she was around 5 or 6 strange things started happening. Those that came to trade with her father suddenly decided to be extra generous, emptying their pockets of coin and walking out of the store. Her father was elated. They were beginning to grow their wealth. These extra generous patrons became confused and eventually complained to the Vel Anir authorities, describing where they lost their coin and what they remembered. It always ended at the trading post of that one strange family in that one small town. Authorities investigated at once, sniffing out a dreadlord apprentice potential.

Sierra's family tried to hide her when they came. They did not want to let their daughter go. Her family didn't stand a chance. Her father was immediately jailed and her mother quietly accepted the payout for fear that she'd meet the same fate. Sierra tested highly with potential, particularly with empath magic. The young girl was immediately relocated to the Dreadlord Academy where she began her re-education and indoctrination.

The time at the Academy was unforgiving. Her first night they were made to line up in the rain for the entire night. She remembers a mixture of tears and rain running down her face and a taller boy with dark hair and piercing blue eyes reaching out to entwine his fingers with her own. Even as it brought the wrath of the whip on him later.

When she was ten, she and the rest of her class were dropped into the Falwood. She can't remember how it happened but herself, that same boy with the blue eyes, Hal, Talus, and Luther bonded together and defended against the rest of the class to become the sole survivors that the proctors dragged back.

Sierra grew in her empathic abilities and general magic use. She never bought entirely into the dogma the Academy was trying to shove down their throats. She never stopped missing her parents even if she could barely remember them. And even though she did unspeakable things in the name of Vel Anir. In order to survive, she knew she'd never want her children going through this.

At one point in the Academy, she was being targeted by a Proctor's son and older classman, Igot Crane. He was known for being a lecherous bully and doing whatever he wanted with whomever he chose. She reluctantly shared this information with Hal, Lucien, and Talus who immediately stepped in to help her. Together, they killed Igot and framed another of their class, escaping the ire of Igot's father.

Sierra and Hal drifted closer and closer together. And soon, they found themselves separated from Hal and Talus, stranded on an island and abandoned from a mission gone wrong. Banding together, they survived and fell in love. Just before trials, Sierra became pregnant. While no one at the Academy was happy about this, they never found out it was from another in her class. Or another dreadlord. Therefore, Sierra was able to keep her child and her life. And she passed trials without incident even as she watched Hal murder Luther.

Sierra and Hal's daughter is named Rose. She has Hal's dark hair and Sierra's stormy blue eyes. After trials, Sierra immediately joined the Underground as she chose to work at the Academy, shocking those almost as much as when Talus chose the guard instead of a house.

The Underground is a group of rebels smuggling the recruits out of the Academy before they become indoctrinated. Any children who wanted to escape and leave. Sierra dreamed of a better Vel Anir as Hal became more and more distant. The few times he came back to the Capitol, to their home, she didn't recognize him. He was changed. And one day, he never came back at all. And even if he had, Sierra knew her Hal had been long gone.

Sierra was left to raise Rose by herself even as she became the head of the Underground and her responsibilities at the Academy continued to grow. Using her empath abilities she's able to escape suspicion and detection but she knows she walks a fine line.

"Knight is also a strange one. It is no surprise to me that she and Bauer formed an early connection. I've observed very similar personality traits in them. They are caring, kind, and possess strong wills. She is an Empath, and in her class, there is none that matches her skill with a bow. It's worth noting that they are particularly close. They do well to hide it, as none of the other Proctors seem to be aware. They spend ample time together," a proctor informing Selene Avar.