Sherl

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Information

Player: ProjectRandom

Character Full Name: Sherl Firehearth

Character In-Game Name: Sherl

Association(s): Alliance

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Age: 25

Sex: Female

Hair:' Black

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 130lbs

Height: 5'7" (1.0)

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Sherl usually sports armor, be it chainmail or plate, depending on the need for mobility. Her casual wear usually consists of a simple tunic and jacket along with plain denim pants. She generally doesn’t like to wear dresses, not only because she was forced to wear them as a teen, but because they restrict her movement too much, a hindrance in combat.

Personality

Sherl’s outward demeanour usually consists of a “tough girl” warrior archetype, though she maintains good manners around those who don’t anger her. While she is very much a tough girl and a tomboy in truth, this attitude is also partially an emotional wall she puts up to hide her insecurities from others. She hates being treated as a damsel in distress or needy, even if she sometimes acts like she is. People who treat her as weak or incapable are likely to incite anger in her, due to the fact she wants to be seen as just as capable as a strong warrior man. It’s also because she knows her weaknesses, and is afraid of them showing.

Behind that emotional wall she puts up is a sweet and caring girl, though her short temper still remains a core component under the right stress. She enjoys good company and good humor, and has a fondness for honey mead, something a Goldshire resident introduced her to, and she especially enjoys it alongside plain steak or something similarly practical, not much liking foods that are too fancy or have too many flavors at once. She enjoys reading, something she cherished as a child due to her limited access to literature. History fascinates her, especially that of war and conflict, but she also has a soft spot for fairy tales and love stories. She is very protective of anyone she cares about, and will do anything to secure her good standing with them, her paranoid side often making her worry about what they think of her or if she’s done something wrong. In her free time, she can often be found with her nose in a good book or practicing her swordfighting skills, as well as exercising to keep herself muscular and fit.

She hates the Scourge, plain and simple. She hates them more than the average person hates a giant army of undead killers, because they took her home from her. Home was a hard place for her, but it was all she had. The Scourge took it from her, and she is fueled into her warrior personality even further by her desire to destroy the Scourge, even after the death of the Lich King. She feels similarly about Orcs, due to their collaboration with the Scourge, though not to the same extent as the Scourge itself. She also dislikes the Forsaken race, due to their occupying her home after it was rebuilt. She is suspicious of most Death Knights, but will wait to see if they are trustworthy before making any rash moves.

She also particularly dislikes being told what to do, having had her parents do so to the greatest amount for most of her teenage life. She dislikes being commanded at all, preferring to make her own decisions. She will become frustrated and irrational as soon as control over the situation is taken away from her, feeling trapped and helpless without control over what she does. As such, she’s often prone to instigating conflict with her refusal to back down in an argument or when she disagrees with something.

Lastly, Sherl is not always a masculine tomboy. She is curious about her feminine side and what it could be like without controlling parents managing it. Over time, she tries to move on from her inhibitions and try a dress on every now and then, no matter how many bad memories it brings back. She is dreamy and often makes up hypothetical scenarios in her head, like going on great adventures, or getting married, or slaying a dragon and battling Orcs. She might be found daydreaming about such things, momentarily forgetting her tough-girl front.

Alignment: Neutral Good

History

Sherl was born in Andorhal, before it was razed by the Scourge in the Third War. She was born to controlling and heavily traditional parents, though mostly through her father, who was just as controlling to his wife as he was to Sherl. Her own personality conflicted against her father’s plan for her, which was to raise her as a dainty wallflower and arrange her in marriage for the dowry. He was a very angry and temperamental man, often having outbursts of yelling and occasionally, hitting, and then minutes later acting as if none of it happened. Because of this, Sherl often rebelled against him, getting into fights with other children and reading books where she could. When her father was away or asleep, her mother would sometimes take her onto the balcony of their home and sit her on her lap, and told her stories about adventurers and Orc, of the history of Azeroth and the First War. All this fascinated her greatly, but not as much as the sheer fact that all this was actually real events, happening without her outside her isolation.

Sherl’s constant day-dreaming about adventure and discovery was a cat-and-mouse game with her father. He’d fit her into a fancy dress, and she’d come back home covered in mud from pretend sword-fighting with a stick. She was scrappy and mischievous as a girl, and often got into fights with the other children. Her mother would always have to cover up for her by putting makeup on her face every time she came home with a black eye. Truth is, though, they bullied her. They made fun of her for her dreamy aspirations, and she had to put up a tough act to survive their relentless teasing. She had to be strong like the adventurers in mother’s stories, no matter how hard it was, and no matter how much she wanted to break down and cry. She couldn’t let anyone see the vulnerable, neglected self that her selfish father had turned her into. To her, he was the scary Orc from the books she read.

By the time Sherl’s sixteenth birthday approached, her father had already planned out her marriage and decided who it was to be with. His name was Arian, and he was just as uncomfortable with his life as Sherl was. Sherl’s father had advertised her to Arian’s mother (Sherl suspects he had an affair with her, too), the woman was quick to fancy up her reluctant, awkward son to meet his “bride”. They turned out to be good friends, but both agreed that they weren’t attracted to each other in the slightest. Later on that day, Arian let Sherl in on his secret plan: to run away from the marriage. He suggested she do it too, to avoid the retribution from Sherl’s father when she finds out she let her groom get away. She had far more reason than just that, so the plan was made: she was going to escape, and come back to help her mother as soon as she had the means.

The night before the wedding was to occur, Sherl was ready to spring her plan into motion. She’d just overheard some adults asking where Arian was, so she figured he had already left. She grabbed the bag she had packed for her adventure. Adventure. She played the word over in her head several times. She was to be an adventurer now at last! Using some tied bed sheets, the teenage girl slipped out her second story window late into the night and stole away. She soon found herself in the vast space of Lordaeron, swallowed by the night. She was going to make her way to Hearthglen first. She figured she could pass for an adult and buy some real weapons. Or maybe a cape, too…

But that thought was cut off when Sherl was suddenly startled by something; she couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but it was as if the entire world had come to a deadly silence. Nothing moved, or made a sound. It was eerie, and she felt as if something was wrong. But she had to keep moving. She had to get as far away from that blasted town as she could manage. Then she saw it.

A few yards away, she saw a figure. She couldn’t make out the features, but it was definitely a person. They seemed slouched over, somehow, leaning against a shadowy tree. She called out to them, but garnered no response. As she drew closer, and what it was became clear to her, a scream escaped her lips, which she muffled by biting on her wrist. It was Arian, eviscerated and skewered into the tree with a vicious, gnarled spear. He had a horrified expression frozen on his face, dead. She crawled into the hiding of the shadows cast by the tree and watched as an army of horrid creatures charged towards the direction of Andorhal. She didn’t know it at the time, but the Battle for Andorhal was about to occur, as the dawn of the Third War unfolded before her. She ran and ran and ran, frantically tripping over herself every now and then until she escaped Lordaeron.

Sherl was alone now. It was just her for the first time, and she didn’t like it as much as thought she would. She didn’t know what had become of mother and father, or if they were like Arian was. The terrified, shocked girl was discovered by a caravan early that morning and hitched a ride to Stormwind. She had no way of providing for herself, but managed to find a rusty old sword laying in the grass just outside the gates one day. She trained with it rigorously, vowing to build herself up to a point where she could destroy those who took her home. She was filled with regret. She abandoned her mother. She was the reason Arian ran. She felt responsible for their deaths, and she alone had to make it right. She knew who they were now. The Scourge. The orcs of the Horde. They all had to die. She had to work with the Alliance, and perhaps even some members of the Horde, usually goblins, to fight against the Scourge and those who were responsible for all her losses. She had to find her place in life, too. She felt directionless other than this revenge mission. The adventurer fantasy wasn't a fantasy anymore. It was real now, and she was finally and very suddenly faced with the decisions that would decide her future.. She was afraid, but she had to overcome, overcome her feelings lest they're exposed to others. She had to be strong, like the adventurers in mother’s stories.

After spending a long time looking for somewhere to begin and make money, Sherl came across a noticeboard with a piece of paper nailed to it in the Trade District. It read…

“Looking to hire capable fighters. Will pay well.”

And so it began. Sherl's long career as a mercenary would start from there, and she would continue to wander and look for her purpose in life, though never forgetting her true goals, always keeping them in the back of her mind. For mother.