Developing Guinan's backstory from Star Trek on-the-fly

Guinan first graced the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation in season 2's episode "The Child". While that episode was lacking, this new warm and fascinating character, portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg, was not. She was an enigma from the very beginning and her origins were unknown. Certain moments of conflicting canon didn't help when it came to how she came onboard the Enterprise. One of her deepest connections onboard was with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and she once described their relationship as "beyond friendship, beyond family". 

But what else is there?

We start at the beginning and work our way forward speculating on who she was, where she came from, and how she really met Picard.