Clara’s early life was difficult. As an infant she was left on the doorstep of a nunnery by unknown parents. She was fostered by several families as a child but always remained close to the Catholic church. Much of her youth was spent in the home of a newly retired professor of religious history. Here she learned of the Catholic church’s past and found herself infatuated by the story of Joan of Arc. She even took the last name of Joan’s mother’s hometown, Vouthon.
In her early teenage years Clara began testing the bounds of her independence, taking on a darker gothic or almost even medieval persona. It was decided she should attend a Catholic boarding school. There she learned discipline and excelled in both her studies and athletics. Fencing was her sport of choice, and her skill with the Epee sword (as well as her continued interest in all things Joan of Arc) gained her the nickname “Clara of Arc”. She attended college on a full fencing scholarship, pursuing a degree in theology. For her final semester she joined a study abroad program and graduated from a university in Northeastern France.
Clara Vouthon returned to Colorado two years later. No one knows exactly what occurred in the years following her graduation. Rumors speak of time spent deep in meditation amongst the most devote nuns of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in the south of France. Some heard of an internship with Catholic archeologists at Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy as well as at the Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois cathedral in central France. Others have heard of time spent as far away as the Vatican, helping train the Swiss Guard in bladed weapon combat.
Now it seems she is on a quest of sorts, having moved from student to researcher to teacher and now on to practitioner. Whether this mission is her own or has been bestowed upon her by the church, or even something (or someone) greater, is a mystery. When asked she simply states: “I am the Light, the Sword. I am sent to defend the meek from Darkness. All Evil fears me, for I am its end.”