Kalira

Information

Player: TadanoHitoshi

Character Full Name: Lady Kalira Lornyiss

Character In-Game Name: Kalira

Nicknames: (none)

Associations: The Undercity, (formerly) Strathholme

Race: Forsaken (human)

Class: Rogue

Age: 32 at time of death

Sex: Female

Hair: Raven black, worn long and loose to hide the holes in her ears.

Eyes: Bilious yellow

Weight: 50kg

Height: 5ft 7in

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Appearance

Usual garments: Kalira, as she did in life, favours high fashion. Boned corsets (the origin of the bones being best left uninvestigated), voluminous petticoats, fine silk gowns and long gloves. She usually wears fine jewelry to display her wealth and (former) status (as well as a ring that is said to contain poison), plus one of several fine capes or cloaks as the season and vagaries of fashion dictate.

Other: though she adorns herself with jewelry, she keeps her ears without ornament and hidden under her (once silky) hair in order to hide a single large hole in each.

She carries herself with regal bearing, her back always straight and her head held high.

Personality

Born and raised in high society, Kalira whole-heartedly believes herself better than all but those with titles or considerable status. She was spoiled as a child and never grew out of getting exactly what she wanted. Thus she can be spiteful to those who disagree or oppose her (resulting, in extreme cases, in a stiletto betwixt the ribs, a drop of poison in one's claret or an exorbitant price upon one's head).

Even in death (or perhaps especially so) she is a greedy, devious and spiteful bitch, with her husband holding a special place (of bitterness and malice) within her dark heart.

History

The second child and only daughter of viscount Seros and viscountess Orbani Lornyiss, sister of the late Drathden, Kalira was born in old Stratholme: a port town on the northeast edge of Darrowmere Lake famous as the chief source of Alliance oil in the north. It was in oil that the Lornyiss' made their money and it was with the Horde's destruction of old Stratholme and the oil refineries that the family's fortunes took a turn for the worse.

The construction of a new Stratholme saw the building of a far smaller Lornyiss estate: no more than a modest townhouse (though furnished as well as possible with what could be salvaged as the family had evacuated the old city), and an attempt by Seros to restore the family fortunes. Seros' string-pulling and back-scratching got his son Drathden into the city guard with a decent retainer and good standing, though he was eager for his young daughter to come of age so she could be married off to someone of wealth and good blood. While the family coffers were shallow, the Lornyiss name still had some clout in higher social circles. Thus viscountess Orbani dutifully raised and schooled their daughter to be a refined young lady, though the mother could not help but spoil her. It was during these years that Kalira was taught embroider and sewing, art, poetry, the appreciation of (and avarice for) jewelry and -giving in to the willful young girl's imploring- the very basics of fencing. She also learned, both via her mother's tutoring and firsthand at society parties, the backstabbing and gossiping that went on between those of status. She soon learned who opposed her family, who feigned support and who truly were their friends.

She was in her mid twenties when a suitor was finally found for her in lord Barthume of Stormwind. The Barthumes had fought in the first and second wars, and it had been during those conflicts that the patriarch of the family had made the acquaintance of Seros Lornyiss. The young lord and heir of the family was introduced to Kalira at a grand dinner held in the Lornyiss residence, the young, svelte lady and her silky raven hair catching the eye of the strapping Barthume scion. They shared a love of music and cards, and she introduced him to the fine weed of Fras Siabi's tobacco shop in the city. He whispered sweet nothings into her ear as they danced before their relations at several parties and soon enough they were wed.

Married life was not quite the dream-come-true that she had anticipated, for it quickly became evident that her husband was a gambler and a philanderer. Two maids had to be fired and paid off to seal their lips after being found in the master's bed, while Kalira herself was unable to bear a child. Things came to a head when, while a female friend of of lord Barthume's was visiting the couple, Kalira overheard the two making pillow-talk, that if the lady were to beget him an heir, he would be able to end his sham of a marriage with Kalira and make her his new wife.

Filled with bile and rage, Kalira went on as if she had not heard the exchange, dutifully entertaining the lady over the following weeks. And preparing. She eventually spiked the (now pregnant) woman's food with a foul concoction, but not one that would kill her, merely abort the life within her and render her as barren as it appeared Kalira was. Unfortunately her anger had blinded her and she did not cover her tracks, for her husband soon discovered what she had done. Over the short months of their marriage the staff of their house had gradually been replaced more and more with members of the Barthume household rather than that of the Lornyiss and Kalira found herself dragged, holding her head as high as she could (though only after spitting venomously into her husband's face), to a pillory within their small estate. Not only was she locked within it humiliatingly but also iron spikes were driven through her ears, pinning her head to the oak of her restraints.

It was at this time that a terrible plague had been spreading across the land. Many said it originated in Andorhal. As more and more news and tales of the dead rising from their graves made its way to Stratholme, lord Barthume, his distraught lover and their household upped sticks (taking what money and valuables they had) and fled back south to Stormwind. Still imprisoned in the pillory, Kalira could but watch as they left.

Days later, swooning from dehydration and starvation, Kalira witnessed the culling of her home city's populace along with the undead that had begun to rise up there by prince Arthas and his soldiers. She herself only escaped execution due to the fact she appeared to be already dead, and after seeing the butchering of Stratholme's citizens she dared not cry out for help even after the soldiers had departed. When the Scourge came to claim the city she was unable to resist infection and found herself given both freedom from her restraints and a new lease of life, after a fashion...

Never a warrior, the ostentatious-dresser found a niche within the undead army as a lure. She would lie prone upon the roadside appearing to be a ravaged noblewoman clad in what she could salvage from her abandoned home, and her flesh-hungry accomplices would break cover and assail any of the living who came to her aid. Though she had never been a killer in life, the sight of human troops reminded her of the lord Barthume and ignited the rage within her, she eventually moving from being a simple lure to sliding a poisoned dagger into those whom she managed to deceive. Her only hope, the only desire that remained in a mind awash with the Lich King's will, was that the Scourge would push all the way south and take Stormwind itself, for she was sure that was where her consort had fled. She would have her revenge.

And yet it was not to be. Released from her master's power she found herself a member of the Forsaken. With her home city of Stratholme still in the Scourge's grip she has no home, nor means to exact vengeance upon her foe. Thus she must make allies with the new undead nation she finds herself a citizen of. And deep down, her grudge festers.