Thaura

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Information

Player: flammos200

Character Full Name: Thaura Shatterstar

Character In-Game Name: Thaura

Nickname(s): Thau', Commander. (By close associates of equal rank, and subordinates respectively.)

Association(s): The Shattered Sun Offensive; Shattrath and the Sha'tar; The remnants of the Sons of Lothar.

Race: Blood Elf

Class: Paladin

Skills and Abilities: Thaura differs a little bit from the usual Paladin Skills & Abilities.

Never Unarmed: Thaura's armored fist is considered a weapon for the purposes of spells and skills that require one, such as Crusader Strike, Divine Storm, etc.

Sword of the Stars: Not really a skill, but a much-loved personal item, Thaura's sword is a blessed blade made out of meteoric iron, inscribed with prayers and symbols quite similar to what Naaru look like. Melee attacks are considered to deal Holy damage.

Holy Word: Holy Wrath works just the same, only instead of tossing bolts of Light at everything around the Paladin, it's a bit of shouted Light-scripture anathema to Demons and Undead.

Voice of Command: Thaura is capable of delivering her Blessings via voice. This generally serves in buffing up comrades-in-arms.

Age: 181

Sex: Female

Hair: Light blonde and a little messy, if fairly long, reaching down to the small of her back.

Eyes: Fel-green.

Weight: 94 Kg, most of which is muscle and calcium-heavy bone.

Height: 2,03 m.

Appearance

Heavy full-plate armor. It's noisy and not very easy to move in, but quite protective.

Other: If Escher drew in scars, Thaura would be his canvas. Her skin is flecked with patches of white scar tissue, though the most remarkable – and visible ones when she's wearing armor are one that splits her lips on the left side of her face, and another that goes from her eyebrow, splitting it, up to her hairline on the right side of her head.

Thaura also keeps a towel under her cloak at all times. A Paladin's job is a messy one, especially when fighting the horrors of the Nether, and she finds it quite useful to know where her towel is. Not to mention hygienic.

Personality

Alignment: Neutral Good.

Thaura is a no-nonsense militaristic individual. Devout to the Light and to the Three Virtues, she sees the purpose of her existence to be the never-ending struggle against the forces of evil, most notably the Burning Legion. Simply put, she's a demon slayer with a vengeance, her hatred of corruption and fel-taint compensated only by the care that she affords everyone she works with... in various ways. Whether barking orders or engaging in quiet conversation, Thaura is a person capable of showing great respect for those with whom she forges bonds in the fires of combat, but can sometimes resort to solving problems with her fists, where she sees no other viable, immediate solution.

Outside a military context, Thaura may come off as imposing, but somewhat socially awkward, and it quickly becomes obvious that during the course of her lifetime she has forgone interpersonal interaction in favor of tactic, strategy and the craft of war – as well as matters of faith. She is devoted to the Naaru, whom she sees as the saviors of the Sin'dorei, and indeed, the entirety of the races, as well as the physical embodiment of the Light.

Of the races, Thaura cares little overtly. Having fought alongside Humans, and the occasional Dwarf, and following the tenets of the Holy Light, she's come to tolerate most races in her presence. This courtesy does not extend to Night Elves, whom she sees as narrow-minded, and Gnomes, which she secretly finds disgusting little creatures, nor to Orcs and Trolls, the former of which she despises due to the events of the Second War and its aftermath, and the latter she sees as heathens. In general, she can find a measure of respect for the Light-wielding races, but her preferred company is resumed to other Blood Elves and Draenei.

In combat, Thaura enjoys the thrill of melee, and often gets into the thick of things, as the clash of steel and flesh, and the righteous vengeance of the Light only further her concentration.

History

Born in Quel'thalas, as the majority of the Quel'dorei of the time, Thaura was the second and last child of the Shatterstar family, having one older brother named Chryos. Her early years were typical for Farstrider children, and she was an extremely physical child, delighting in tests of strength, endurance and speed. Thaura, unlike her brother, showed little to no aptitude for the Arcane, and never grew to study the magical arts, whereas Chryos defied family tradition and grew into a fine mage. Thaura's childhood was spent either in the company of her brother and their parents, or in the wilds, honing her physical skills.

Thaura grew to take a fairly rare path for the Quel'dorei – That of the warrior. As she matured, her size began standing out among her peers, and after a series of medical examinations, it was concluded that she suffered from a relatively light form of gigantism. This meant that unless she constantly strived to gain in muscle mass and bone strength, she would suffer from skeletal and circulatory problems later in life. Her fate was thus sealed, her path was set to that of the warrior, and she took it without complaint, despite the fact that the majority of the Quel'dorei looked down on their non-Arcane wielding members.

Thaura's constant training took up the majority of her time, and the few moments she had to spare were devoted to scholarly pursuits. She enjoyed reading treaties on tactics and the military, for instance. It was not a surprise to her parents nor to her brother when she enlisted in the military, as one of a small handful of reserve melee troops, simply furthering her training, even during the course of the First War.

As the Second War dawned upon Azeroth, and envoys from King Terenas the second reached Quel'thalas with news of war, and requests for aid, she was one of those that answered the call. Though the elves sent a mere pittance of their forces, the brothers in arms that they found in the Alliance of Lordaeron were many. It was in this time that she met Vianna, a Ranger that would later grow into her best friend throughout the course of the war. Also during the Second War, Thaura came into contact with the Knights of the Silver Hand, an order of Paladins comprised of Humans, Dwarves and Elves, to which she adhered, her yearning for a meaning greater than mere combat being fulfilled by the devotion she displayed towards the Light.

The Second War proved to be a trial by fire for Thaura and her beliefs, as it was as much training in the ways of the Paladin as engrossment into the craft of war. She'd never taken part in large-scale conflict before, and this was as big as it would get. It wasn't without leaving scars that the War passed, and the battles that she took part in, of which the most notable were the Assault on Blackrock Spire, and the Battle of the Dark Portal.

Reforged and tempered in the fires of war, Thaura felt that she could not stop there. As the Dark Portal was destroyed, the rift between worlds remained in its place. Convinced that the Horde would strike again if left unchecked, she and Vianna both took part in the Alliance Expedition sent beyond the Dark Portal, to the Orcish homeworld of Draenor.

Though the Expedition did manage to shut the Dark Portal from Draenor, just as the Shaman, Ner'zhul, unleashed magics that were ripping the planet apart, the Sons of Lothar – the surviving members of the force, were stranded on the alien world in the midst of an apocalypse. During the cataclysm she was separated from Vianna and though this left her spirit aching, she survived. Thaura spent her days almost in seclusion, braving the dangers of the dying world, and witnessing the horrors of the Burning Legion's forces that were swarming the broken planet.

To this day, Thaura counts herself as lucky to have lived through the turmoil, up to the coming of the Sha'tar, the Naaru which would inspire the Draenei to reconstruct Shattrath. During this time, she encountered the Scryers, other elves from which she learned to siphon Fel energy from demons to sate her aching thirst, and indeed did so, becoming a Blood Elf. As the Scryers marched upon Shattrath, she lent her blade to their cause, only to drop it alongside the defectors at the city's bridge. She was happy to be accepted into the City of Light, and thought she finally found a home, whilst Azeroth remained a distant memory. The constant struggle against the Legion's forces on Draenor's remains, now dubbed Outland, gave her skill in combat and the Light a use, and she found comfort in the fact that she could once more serve a cause greater than herself.

As time passed, the Sunwell, the ancient fount of power of the Elves, came under the threat of the Burning Legion, Kil'jaeden himself being poised to enter Azeroth. A new organization, of Draenei and Blood Elves alike, was swiftly formed under the guidance of the Sha'tar, to fight back the demonic menace, named the Shattered Sun Offensive, and Thaura was a part of it. Rapidly rising through the ranks of that organization during the course of the campaign to retake the Sunwell, Thaura's lessons in tactics and strategy finally paid off. Before the final blow was struck against the Deceiver, she'd been named Commander, and given a small troop to serve with in the struggle, alongside the rest of the Offensive's forces. After the battle, she, alongside the rest of the twin army, witnessed the rekindling of the Sunwell, with the heart of a Naaru by the Prophet Velen of the Draenei, and the resulting flow of Light coming from the fount brought hope anew to both Thaura and her people.

After the struggle at the Sunwell, Thaura returned to Shattrath, where she has remained to this day, fighting against the remnants of the Burning Legion, with on and off trips to Azeroth for various reasons. It was recently that fate played a final card against Thaura, taking from her Chryos, her brother, and returning her long-lost friend, Vianna.