Dema Charafi was the fourth child in her family, a family with a long history of nobility with its roots among the first of the Dari in ancient times. Her early life was easy despite living in an occupied city, but nevertheless she felt the oppression as she got older. Unlike her dearest two friends Kathra and Jere, Dema wasn't orphaned. She had her parents' full support and love when she entered into Nari's resistance camp, to make a stand for her people. And she was good at it too. Within a few years she was Nari's prize pupil, and as the upper ranks of the Dari fell gradually to the Seekers of Syrani, Dema rose to become Nari's second in command and the unofficial master of operations throughout the city and surrounding area. It was a life she loved and a cause she felt was worth the greatest sacrifice she could make. During the Khursinhi Uprising, Dema was left in command after her mentor and the resistance leader Nari was almost killed by the brainwashed Seeker Rieka Tashlion, but not for long. Thanks to information provided by the traitor Benai Cirisa, the Seekers ambushed the Dari at a secret meeting, destroying the building with a missile salvo. Dema, Jere, and Kathra were seperated, and it was the last the three friends would see each other. While Kathra was making for Syrani Palace in an attempt to capture the Dromi's Son and Jere was assisting the other Dari in their escape, Dema confronted the Seekers. She took out quite a few of them before being forced to disengage to rescue a pregnant renjiri woman caught in the flaming trees beneath the meetingplace. Though she managed to save the woman, the tree snapped in two and the blazing leaves struck Dema full on, knocking her from her perch and sending her plummeting alongside the inferno over a hundred and fifty feet to the forest floor. The pregnant woman, Izina, named her daughter Dema in honor of the gallant warrior who saved both their lives.