I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons for (Now that I think about it, it has been ten years. Scary.) close to ten years now , so I can pull backstory out of nowhere when needed. However, I figured it was soon time to start writing some things down. Now that I’ve moved to Sentinels, I have an actual outlet for my need to RP as Poetry on a (fairly) regular basis.
> Born to a quiet couple in Dawnstar Village, Poetry was a bouncing baby high elf girl with curious forest-green eyes. Born to an accomplished Magister and an agile Farstrider scout, Poetry spent much of her early years quietly learning to read with her mother Athena under the shade of the majestic oaks behind the family villa. When she reached the age of twenty-five, her father Artisan (by name, not by trade) began to take her along to Magisters’ Terrace, grooming her to follow him in the mage’s path of mastery of the arcane. Ever-curious, she spent much of her time finding ways to slip away from her father and watch the boats come in to port at Sun’s Reach Harbor. Poetry also became enamored with the Sunwell’s radiance, and ate most of her lunches with her father in the western courtyard.
> To her father’s dismay and her mother’s delight, Poetry never had much talent with arcane magic. She found it brash, coarse, and lacking grace. Her father was shocked by this discovery and began to distance himself from her as her mother began teaching her the art of literature, painting, and ironically enough, poetry. Poetry studied the liberal arts diligently for years until she was old enough to take the entrance exam for Silvermoon’s premiere political science academy. She excelled on the exam and her studies at the academy, enough so to earn her an internship with Prince Kael’thas’ political staff. She served as apprentice to an elderly scholar named Anester up until the time of the Second War, when she found herself asked to serve with the advisory staff in the field during the war on the undead forces.
Life of adventuring
> With a recent graduation from Silvermoon’s own political science academy and a place in Kael’thas’ retinue of advisors, Poetry was sent to parlay with Lord Garithos for the release of and dismissal of execute-on-sight warrants against Kael’thas and his troops following Kael’s acceptance of help from Lady Vashj and the naga. This would also be her first experience with the sweltering amount of legal red tape, as she never reached Garithos himself. Instead, she ran headfirst into his retinue of advisors and never delivered the missive to Garithos, but it would prove inconsequential as Kael had already escaped from the Dalaran prisons with Vashj’s help. This particular encounter was her first step out into the world. (…… of Warcraft.)
> Returning to Anester empty-handed and feeling like a failure, he comforted her and told her he would begin looking for Kael’thas at once. However, Anester’s scrying returned no results, as Kael’thas had already ported to the Outlands with Lady Vashj. Anester, troubled by this absence, quickly penned a report for Poetry to deliver back to Silvermoon. On her way back to the city, she learned that the advisory council in the field was attacked by undead forces near Dalaran. With Garithos’ removal of the Alliance’s military aid, the entire party had been slaughtered at the hands of the undead. Fighting back tears, she made her way back to Silvermoon, delivered the missive to the Sunfury Spire wordlessly, and collapsed in her home on Quel’danas.
> Even indirectly witnessed, the merciless slaughter wrought by the undead shocked Poetry. Her mother urged her to seek out a path that would allow her to right the wrongs of the war and aid the victims that were needlessly suffering. Poetry made up her mind and returned to Silvermoon to pledge her services to the Church of Light. She trained there as a healer, learning to mend the wounds suffered by high elves in the field fighting the undead.
> Fast forward a few decades. An accomplished healer and court politician, Poetry served as Lady Liadrin’s representative to the other high elven organizations. She met often with her mother Athena, now a Farstrider ranger commander, on official business as liason to the Farstrider Enclave. Her father joined the High Nethermancer of the Magisters’ Terrace, Zerevor, in the high elven armed forces. Both Poetry and her mother would see less and less of Artisan as his duties in the field prevented him from returning home often.
> With the capture of M’uru and the creation of the Blood Knights, Lady Liadrin approached the members of the Church of Light, specifically calling upon the priests and priestesses to join her in the fledgling order of paladins. Poetry, influenced by the teacher and friend she found in Liadrin, took up arms with her as a Blood Knight. She was initially uncomfortable with draining the power from another being but she felt subconsciously that M’uru was secretly at peace with events, and so, she trained diligently with her sword and shield, travelling all across Azeroth to hone her skills. She began to meet the member races of her new allies, the Horde. The tauren awed her with their mastery of the natural world. The trolls and orcs frightened her with their seemingly barbaric and brutal customs. The Forsaken held a special place in her heart once they told her of their similar betrayal by the Alliance, and she began to rapidly forge friendships with notable Forsaken contacts all over Azeroth. This eventually led to her proposal of a formal confederacy with Silvermoon to the leader of the Undercity, the Lady Sylvanas, an ally of her mother’s. As her skills as a paladin grew, so did her knowledge of the Forsaken and her prowess as a negotiator and ambassador to the races of the Horde.
((Forgive me for being so brief here, but this section covers levels 1-80 in-game, and since we’ve all seen it, I don’t feel the need to explain it again. I’ll probably touch on specific events during this time in little ficlets in the future.))
> With the secession of Kael’thas from Silvermoon proper, Poetry’s father was asked to join his superior, High Nethermancer Zerevor, in the Illidari Council situated in the dread fortress now known as the Black Temple. Zerevor did not want to lose such a crucial supporter to Kael’thas’ growing popularity. Upon Artisan’s refusal, Zerevor attacked him in a fury, initiating an arcanists’ duel that left both combatants disfigured and badly injured but ultimately claimed her father’s life. When the new reached Silvermoon, her mother was heartbroken, distraught, and enraged. Poetry called upon her mother’s closest friends at the Farstrider Enclave but by that time, Athena had already broken down. Poetry accompanied her mother back to Eversong, where she situated her in Fairbreeze Village to live under the close watch of her dearest friends. Poetry herself dealt with the death of her father quite well. By this point, she is no stranger to war, betrayal, and loss. Her mother hasn’t said much since the day she found out about her husband’s death, and rarely leaves Fairbreeze. Poetry always visits her when she passes through Silvermoon and often brings her mother tiny trinkets and keepsakes from her travels.
Life at level 80.
> Poetry currently works for the Regent Lord Lor’themar Theron as the Silvermoon City consular to the Undercity. She maintains close ties with the Royal Apothecary Society and works to clear their name after the treachery of the former Grand Apothecary Putress. She maintains a permanent room in the residential quarters surrounding the Sunfury Spire. She continues to use her privileges as Ambassador to the Horde to smooth over misunderstandings and conflicts between the various races and political groups within the Horde. Since the death of her father, however, she has forsaken the healing arts and instead taken up a sword and shield, leading her allies into battle as an Ardent Defender of the Blood Knights.
