Character profiles.

[Shefaia]

Full Name: Shefaia Windblade
In-Game: Shefaia
Nickname: Faia by preference, and to her family; annoying people in Stormwind have started calling her Shef (even though she's a skinner). In Ashenvale she was once known as 'Shefaia the Cold', but very few people know this, and it would be a very bad idea to mention it to her. Also in Ashenvale, she is known to the Orcs as 'The Dead Eye', and used as a night-time story to frighten their children, but she is unaware of this.

Guild: Rhyme and Punishment
Title: Rhymer

Race: Kaldorei
Class: Hunter
Professions: skinning/leatherworking

Age: Not counting, thinks she's somewhere around 950. If forced to work it out would realise she's 1012.
Sex: Female
Hair: Blue/black
Eyes: 1. Glowing.
Weight: 17 tons.
Height: Short for an elf.
Garments/Armor: wears armour only to fight, leathers only to hunt. Otherwise simple but stylish clothes, usually trousers and shirts.
Other: Faia's otherness index is quite high, especially in Stormwind.

Alignment: Neutral

Personality: Lots. Oh, really a lot. Friendly, fun-loving, naïve, affectionate; solemn and merry by turns. Hidden capacity for utter ruthlessness. Direct in her speech, to the point of embarrassing almost everyone around her. Shefaia is an extremely loyal and loving friend, and accepts people as she finds them, with an open mind and heart. She is, however, a cultural chauvinist, believing her own people's customs and practices to be superior to all others; she sincerely believes that everyone should adopt the lifestyle of the Kaldorei, and that they would be much happier if they did.

History

Short version: Since the Kaldorei were drawn into the Third War, Shefaia has seen a horrible amount of violence, and lost almost her entire family. She lived in seclusion for a while, unable to deal with the pain of loss, but eventually recovered enough to regain her curiosity, and is on a mission to see the world.

Long version: (this is very long).

Shefaia’s parents met during the War of the Shifting Sands, when the qiraji were confined behind the Scarab Wall. Both came from humble origins on Sardor Isle in Feralas, but because her father, Troyas Runethorn, came from a family of smiths, his family felt themselves to be of higher status than the family of her mother, Lyshaerya Windblade, and disapproved of the match. For this reason Troyas and Lyshaerya moved away to the remote northwest of Kalimdor, making their home in the then tiny hamlet of Auberdine.

As Shefaia grew she became known for her carefree, happy nature, but also for her great reverence for nature, and for the druids of the Cenarion Circle. She has always been either solemn or merry, with few shades of grey in between.

Though young among her people, her life has been long, and she has had many lovers, though perhaps fewer than a human would imagine. Three in particular have been great loves, though she has not borne children. She parted from the last of those lovers some fifty years ago, and has been content to be alone since that time, taking much pleasure in her many friends and loving family.

Shefaia was fortunate to live most of her life in the long peace of the Kaldorei Empire, the Long Vigil in which they guarded Nordrassil and the secret Well of Eternity which it concealed. She learned her mother’s trades of hunting and skinning, becoming adept at both. She lived in many of the Kaldorei lands, not counting the years as they passed, but moving from place to place as the will took her, though Auberdine was always the home of her heart. Eventually, moved to serve the great woodland society of which she was a part, Shefaia joined the Sentinels as an archer in the Shadowleaves, led by Shandris Feathermoon.

When the Third War brought Kaldorei society unwillingly back into contact with the wider world, members of Shefaia’s family flocked to join the fight against the orcs in Ashenvale. Her sisters Dendrythis and Velia were killed in early skirmishes, before the true strength of the orcs was known. Shefaia was devastated by the loss of her sisters, and became an implacable enemy of the orcs. During this time she became renowned for her courage and was rapidly promoted to lead her unit, which harried its enemies beneath the trees with ruthless efficiency and terrifying stealth. During the battle in which Grom Hellscream slew Cenarius, Shefaia’s unit was wiped out, along with almost all of the Shadowleaves. Shefaia herself was sorely injured, and was found unconscious after the battle, missing an eye, and with a terrible wound to her stomach. She had distinguished herself in the battle, as the few survivors could attest, and was regarded as a hero by many of her people.

She healed quickly, some said through the sheer force of her desire for revenge, and her stomach wound left no more than a long silvery scar, though her empty eye-socket is not pleasant to see. On her recovery she was assigned to the defence of Mount Hyjal, as were her parents, her two remaining sisters and her brother. The story of the battle has been told many times, and does not need repeating here, but suffice it to say that Shefaia’s parents were killed, as was her sister Cordressa.

After the defeat of Archimonde Shefaia did not return to her earlier life as a hunter and a guardian of the woods, although she took an extended furlough from her duties as a Sentinel. Instead she made her home in Ashenvale, and lead an irregular unit of Ashenvale Scouts, hunting orcs in the woods as though they were beasts. In this time she was utterly without mercy, killing any orc she could, combatant or non-combatant, adult or child, and summarily executing any that surrendered to her. Even the archers she led became afraid of her, and she came to be known as Shefaia the Cold, a name she hates. She admits no regret for her actions at this time, regarding the orcs as a form of vermin that must one day be removed from the Kaldorei lands.

Then came the Cataclysm. Shefaia’s home of Auberdine crumbled and was lost - her sister Melea was killed by a collapsing building. Her brother Fyldan fled north to Lor’danel, and took up arms in its defence. Shefaia was recalled to the Sentinels, given a more senior combat command, and sent back into battle. No glimpse of the carefree, merry elf she had once been could be seen in her, and she fought with steely resolve, demanding absolute devotion to the cause from those that served under her. Her reckless disregard for her own safety, combined with her complete dedication to the welfare of her subordinates made her a well-respected commander, and the loyalty of her unit was legendary. After the successful defence of Maestra’s Post and Astranaar, Shefaia returned north, to see the ruins of the town that had been her home for nearly a thousand years, and went on to Lor’danel. There she received the news that her brother had been killed fighting the Shatterspear Trolls.

And she broke. Shefaia, who had not bent or compromised through all the terrible bloodshed she had witnessed, and all the losses she had suffered, could not stand the loss of her baby brother, the youngest and gentlest of her family. She broke her bow, and cast it on the ground, and without a word she went and boarded a ship for Teldrassil. In Darnassus she presented herself to the senior Sentinel officer, and tendered her resignation. Then she walked out of the east gate of the city, and did not stop until she reached Dolanaar. There, she found a place as a hunter and skinner, and lived alone on the fringes of the settlement, seeing no-one and speaking to no-one.

After six years alone, rarely even speaking to the other residents of Dolanaar, Shefaia came to town one day with some hides she had tanned, and found a stranger speaking animatedly to her cousin Kyra, who also lived there. She listened silently to their conversation as was her habit, but after a while, for the first time in many years, she felt herself moved to contribute. The stranger was a traveller and explorer, visiting family, and Shefaia listened with amazement to his tales of the wider world. She had never left the lands of the Kaldorei, and she felt a spark of curiosity awaken within her.

The cloak of numbness which she had worn since her brother’s death lifted from her, and she found that her pain had subsided. She returned to Darnassus, and dwelt there for a while, seeking out travellers’ tales and enjoying the cultural life of that beautiful new city. The merry and playful elf of old returned from wherever she had been hiding. After a while Shefaia found that she needed to see the world for herself. She asked friends and acquaintances what opportunities to travel they knew of, and word reached the Sentinels of her wish.

Shefaia was regarded as a war hero, but she had no desire to ever speak of her experiences, and she had refused every honour or decoration that had been offered to her. If anyone mentioned her war service to her she would respond with angry disavowal, and the Sentinel leadership had been scratching their heads, wondering how they could reward her for her service. They saw their chance. What remained of the Sentinel detachment that had been based at Auberdine had been assigned to guard the quay at Stormwind at which the ship from Rut’theran Village docks. They offered Shefaia the command of the dock guards, assuring her that it was an honour posting, and that her duties would be purely ceremonial - providing a guard of honour for visiting dignitaries and so forth. She considered her options, and accepted, thinking Stormwind as good a place to start as any.

Shefaia has absolutely no interest in her reputation as a war hero, and hates to even think about the war. She is also completely dismissive of any honour that accrues to her as commander of the Auberdine Sentinels. She keeps both things a secret from the new friends she has made in Stormwind, and would be genuinely upset if they were to find out. She is not quite the elf she was before the Third War, but she is as friendly and as merry as ever she was, or nearly so, and looks on the world now with eager curiosity.