@Lelianawas born in @Orlais, and though she is culturally @Orlaisian, her mother was @Fereldan and so she considers herself as such. Leliana's mother, Oisine, was a servant of Lady Cecilie Vasseur, an Orlesian noble. One of Leliana's earliest memories is the scent of her mother's linen dress as they held hands on the terrace of an Orlesian villa with a view of the @Waking Sea and gardens of sweet orange and lavender. Though Leliana is uncertain if this powerful memory is real or not, she cherishes the image of her Fereldan mother.
Following the Fereldan victory in the Rebellion, Oisine followed Lady Cecilie back to Orlais. When Leliana's mother died, shortly after her fourth birthday, she was raised by Cecilie (though she did not likely legally adopt her), and in her care Leliana learned much about the royal court and Orlesian culture.
Oisine's death cast a pall over Leliana's normally sunny disposition, however, and in an effort to cheer the girl her new guardian gave her whatever she asked for; Leliana only ever wanted books. As a result, she quickly developed an obsessive interest in Orlesian and Fereldan stories, ballads and songs, as well as any tales she could learn from Cecilie's elven servants. Tutors were soon called for by Lady Cecilie to foster Leliana's passion. Leliana often practiced her dancing on the stone terrace of Cecilie's villa on the Waking Sea, as well.
At sixteen, Leliana made her first trip to Val Royeaux, to attend a soiree with Lady Cecilie. There she met and was impressed by Marjolaine, a wealthy widow and patroness of the arts. Marjolaine began calling upon the aging Lady Cecilie shortly after the soiree, who often left Leliana to entertain the dazzling visitor.
Leliana was fascinated by Marjolaine's worldliness and daring, and the two became close friends. On a hunting trip, Marjolaine gave Leliana her first bow. In teaching her how to use it during that trip, Leliana wounded (but did not kill) a hart the hunters were tracking. Too upset to end its suffering, Leliana watched in amazement as Marjolaine efficiently killed the animal.
That same summer, Leliana visited Marjolaine at her Val Royeaux estate, and the widow began to teach her the way of the bard: manipulation, subterfuge and combat. Always her teaching was subtle and disguised, easily assumed to be merely a lady's idle amusements.
In Marjolaine's company, Leliana met Tug and Sketch, and traveled with the pair across Thedas. Leliana's enjoyment of the freedom of these days dovetailed Marjolaine's increasing fear of her student's growing skill and potential to strike at her. Consequently, Marjolaine struck first and had the trio framed, arrested and abused.
With the aid of Orlesian Revered Mother Dorothea, Leliana escaped her captors. She and Sketch, as well as a Fereldan named Silas Corthwaite, sought revenge against them and Marjolaine. Upon securing a new, if uncertain life, Leliana found purpose in the Chantry and Dorothea's calm advice.
In memory of Tug, who perished during their arrest, Leliana toasts his memory every year with Antivan plum brandy, pouring some out as well and intoning "Atrast tunsha, salroka." Her relationship with Sketch remains rocky due to Leliana's embellishment of the past, though she seeks his aid to translate messages left by Tug in dwarven.
Ultimately, Leliana ended up in the village of Lothering. To atone for her sins and to hide from Marjolaine, who survived the original encounter, Leliana joined the chantry there as a lay sister, becoming intensely religious.
There, her confession of a vision from the Maker, and discovery of an impossible white rose on a dead bush in Lothering, both made her an outcast and spurred Leliana's passion to aid the Warden in the Fifth Blight. No one could shake her determination to stop this evil and bring hope to the world.