Yolande

Yolande Cerryn
Player	Scout
Title	<Countess of House Cerryn>
Gender	Female
Race	Human
Class	Warlock
Age	34
Height	5' 9"
Weight	137 lb.
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Long, black and flowing; greatly cared for.
Affilliation(s)	The Alliance, Stormwind House of Nobles
Occupation	Noblewoman
Relative(s)	Nicodemus Cerryn (deceased), Lauressa Cerryn (deceased)
Companion(s)	Darius Cerryn (husband, deceased)
Alignment	Neutral Evil
Status	Alive

Appearance

Tall and slender, Yolande carries herself confidently. She has the poise and elegance of a noble woman, and dresses herself in expensive finery appropriate of her status. She is rather pale of complexion, and her eyes are watery blue. Every aspect of her appearance seems delicately tuned toward both power and elegance, from the subtle red shade of blush on her cheeks to her dark eye shadow and the vivid colors of her dresses. She is calm and attentive, but she does not seem to hesitate to express herself, often allowing a smile or frown to grace her lips.

Personality

Yolande is a calm, cunning and thoughtful individual. Never an advocate of hasty action, she takes the time to consider all possible options whenever possible, and hates being rushed. Her relative freedom and lack of responsibilties in her youth has led to a bored, detached and indulgent demeanor. She often feels as though she shouldn’t work for what she wants, being used to manipulating others into achieving what she wants for her; however, she isn’t so naïve as to think that she can always get away with it.

History

Yolande was the only child of a military strategist and a noblewoman from Stormwind. Nicodemus Cerryn was a greatly respected military commander that played key roles in the First and Second Wars. She was brought up under his wing, even brought with him onto the field of battle, though never onto the front lines. The young girl was heavily instructed in the art of war and strategy, and learned from her father first-hand, able to watch the battles play out before her in reality.

In peacetime, Yolande resided with her father and mother in Lordaeron, while Stormwind was rebuilt. When she was still a young girl in her early teens, Nicodemus took her to the orc internment camps in Lordaeron. The proud man that he was, he showed the imprisoned orcs to her, to remind her of the place that humanity now held. The orcs had once threatened them, but they now were held under Lordaeron’s thumb. He said that it proved the strength that humanity now possessed, and proof of the perseverance of the human spirit. Yolande was at once both mortified and impressed by what she saw, and by what her father told her. The image would remain in her mind for years.

Once Stormwind’s reconstruction was complete, Nicodemus moved his family back to the city. His house was among the advocates that suggested the Stonemasons should not be paid their dues for the work they did on constructing Stormwind. At around the same time, Yolande was married off to a paladin of the Silver Hand named Darius. Nicodemus hoped to maintain the military tradition within his house by marrying Yolande to him. She was not ecstatic about the arrangement, but she did not particularly object either. Yolande herself was not paid a great amount of attention at this time. Her father had already educated her a great deal in her youth, and so he set his eyes on Darius, treating him like the son he had never had and educating him in strategy and tactics. Yolande, meanwhile, turned her interests to literature, studying history and other fields of practical knowledge, including magical power.

With the coming of the Scourge and the Third War, Yolande’s father was once again called to battle, this time against the undead threat. Nicodemus and Darius both served with Uther against the Scourge. Ultimately, however, they both died in the war against the undead masses, while Yolande and her mother were helpless to do nothing more than sit idly in Stormwind as they received news of their deaths. Yolande turned her sights inward, often locking herself in her room at night with a stack of tomes while her mother grieved the deaths of her father and husband. It wasn’t long before her mother also died, albeit from illness instead of violence.

Yolande was forced to take up the mantle of her house, now rather small, though still commanding respect and influence with her mother and fathers’ names. Fortunately, her mother and father had prepared her well for a life of politics. Her cunning proved her capable of standing on her feet among the other nobles of Stormwind, and she skillfully evaded several attempts to have her house absorbed into other noble houses, as well as several assassins. She hired a team of bodyguards to guard her estate, and a personal assistant to protect her wherever she went. To re-establish her family’s power and influence, she delved into mercantile, providing funding to companies in exchange for cuts of their profits.

With the stability of her house assured for the time being, she turned her gaze back to the pursuit of knowledge, and soon delved into more esoteric and forbidden lore. Fel magic enticed her, but despite her studies, she did not allow herself to become sucked into the practice of it. She knew the consequences of abuse of fel magic, and she was determined not to allow herself to succumb to it. Instead, she approached it from a much more scholarly perspective. Rather than the practice of fel, she focused on the theory behind it, in an attempt to understand exactly how it worked. Fel magic had not been documented as well as well as arcane magic; understanding of the energy was limited to anecdotal accounts, at least in common and scholastic lore.

With this in mind she began a more scientific attempt at understanding fel, making observations in attempt to gather facts. However, her studies were not meant for the betterment of society—she came to the conclusion that, armed with her knowledge, she may be able to find a way to control fel energy. Whether or not she will succeed at this remains to be seen.

Skills and Abilities

Yolande has a good degree of theoretical knowledge of fel magic, but in practice, she has not used very much of it. She knows how many spells work, but has either no desire or no need to practice them. Her power lies more in words and influence than in spell work.