Saphelii (Main Universe)

Saphelii the Zealous (Born August 10th, 6625 B.W) is a Lightforged Draenei in the service of the Army of the Light and the Grand Alliance. Formerly a Captain of the Sha'tari Defense Force she was little more than a humble, yet passionate military woman until she was elevated into the ranks of the Lightforged during the long war against the Burning Legion. With the Burning Legion now defeated, Saphelii has finally left Argus behind and travelled to Azeroth where she hopes to aid her long-lost kin, many of whom she has not seen in a thousand years.

Appearance
A Lightforged Draenei with over 7000 years of life under her belt, Saphelii is more or less average among the ranks of the Lightforged. Curved yet muscular, she is a soldier at heart, and it shows in the way she presents herself both on and off the field.

Saphelii is almost always seen in a set of plate armour, as she has spent over a thousand years fighting almost non-stop against the Burning Legion. Her life as a member of the Light's Army has ensured that she remains on guard unless in the company of those she trusts and the ranks of those trusted are few and far between. The most common set of armour she wears is the armour that was issued to her by the Army of the Light, a standard set of light imbued plate armour, although she can occasionally be seen wearing armour created using other styles now that she has arrived on Azeroth.

Personality
Saphelii is aggressive and blunt, especially when it comes time to hunt demons across the twisting nether. This has given her the title 'the Zealous' and has often caused her to stumble into situations that are incredibly dangerous, creating great risk for herself or her team. Sadly this same level of bluntness has transitioned into her time on Azeroth. For over a thousand years she has only had her fellow Lightforged for companionship, so she lacks the social graces and mannerisms of other races that were born on the unfamiliar planet.

Faith
Saphelii is, like all Lightforged Draenei, a follower of the Light although she does not subscribe to the tenants of the Human and Dwarven versions of the faith, instead preferring to see the Light as a weapon to be wielded, rather than a benevolent force for good.

Early Years and Education
Saphelii was born in the Genedar 6625 years before the First War to Marsaan, an artificer, and aspiring artist, and Kaluusa a former soldier of the Argus Military. From a young age, Saphelii learned how to survive and the importance of escaping conflict, as the Burning Legion was constantly chasing the Genedar and it was imperative that she learn to be able to drop everything to escape should the Legion assault their homes. She was a middle child, with two older sisters, and two more younger siblings which would be born many years later. This place in the middle of her family gave her a protective yet admirable stance toward the rest of her family. On the one hand, she wished to protect her younger siblings, as an older sister should, but on the other, she respected and looked up to the sisters who were older than her, learning from them to the best of her ability. She was given a modest education in her early years which focused on the practical side of all things, rather than the philosophical, as life skills were what mattered given their constant state of peril.

It was when she reached the age of adulthood, that her mother Kaluusa began to instruct her in the art of the combat, as she instructed all young Draenei. As a former soldier of Argus, Kaluusa was well versed in tactics and combat techniques as she was expected to defend her people against any threat, even from ones that came from within. It was this training and a few private lessons here and there which were passed on to Saphelii. Every day she would rise early after no more than six hours sleep and begin a strict regiment of endurance, strength and weapons training, at first learning how to swing a practice blade made from wood but soon she learned how to wield the real thing, as well as shoot a bow and crossbow, weapons which the Draenei considered invaluable for both hunting and defense.

Early Military Life
By the time the Genedar crashed on Draenor, Saphelii was very proficient in the use of the blade and the bow, enough so that she could teach the generation below her, including her younger siblings and her skill with said training, attracted the attention of the leaders of the Draenic military who asked her to serve in the defense of their people. Saphelii proudly accepted, and became a part of the Draenei Military from that day forward, although her exact role in the hierarchy had not yet been determined.

That role would be finalized shortly after the city of Shattrath was constructed. Raised to be a fine footsoldier and leader, Saphelii was placed in command of a squad of Draenei soldiers who she called 'Kaluusa's Warhawks' in honour of her mother who had perished when the Genedar crashed on the planet and was responsible for training either partially or fully, every member of the squad. Over the years that followed, other soldiers joined her squad, most of them serving in utility roles until they were tried and tested on the native wildlife rather than any of the sentient, battle ready races, something Saphelii understood at the time, but would later come to regret when the Orcs began to fight against them during the rise of the Horde.

The War Against the Horde Begins
When the Horde initially began their assaults on the Draenei people, Saphelii and the rest of the Draenei were, for the most part, caught completely unawares. The once primitive, and mostly peaceful, clans soon became a force to be reckoned with, and they began to revel in the mass slaughter of entire villages regardless of whether they had military targets within them or not. They used foul magic, the likes of which the Draenei had seen before, the power of the Fel that had been used against them time and time again during their attempts to flee from the Burning Legion. Knowing that their unchecked aggression had to be answered with equal force, Saphelii and her squad pushed into Nagrand where the Warsong Clan ruled supreme. Their goal? To eliminate one of the key leaders of this new horde, Grommash Hellscream, and potentially collapse the Warsong Clan in on itself and cripple the Horde before it could gain a greater advantage. Their plan ultimately failed, and the Warhawks suffered incredible losses, with only two of their number escaping the disastrous operation, Saphelii and her second Kaltessa who later perished from her wounds in the city of Shattrath.

Defending Shattrath
With no squad to back her up and no chance of leading an assault against the Horde on her own, Saphelii remained in Shattrath to help man the defences. Already Karabor had fallen to the Horde's manipulation of the Dark Star, but Shattrath had thus far managed to endure. The Orcs had, of course, probed their defences, a few daring raiding parties had tried to breach the city walls, but they had been cast back easily enough. All the Draenei had to do was maintain the defences long enough to formulate a plan of counter-attack, and Saphelii knew that while the Horde was powerful, they could be beaten if they could just hold out for a short while longer. Sadly the Orcs returned in greater force and this time they were enhanced by a dark power which made them even more unstoppable than they already were. Still, they did not directly assault the walls, even though they had the numbers and the raw force to do so. This gave Saphelii some hope, but it was hope that was soon dashed against the rocks as the Horde unleashed the Red Mist against her people before pushing forward into an all-out assault. The magical attack on her people crippled and killed many, their light-based powers failed them when they were needed most and many of the defenders were cut down by Orcish blades during the chaos. Shortly after the red mist was used against them, the jewel of Draenor, the Draenic City of Shattrath fell and was destroyed by the Horde leaving only ruins and dead bodies behind. Saphelii herself got separated from the rest of the Draenei and was forced to flee in whatever direction she could, which ultimately took her into the region known as Hellfire Peninsula.

The Alliance Arrives
For the next 11 years, Saphelii struggled to survive in the desolate wasteland that was the Peninsula. She hunted boar and purified the meat with the power of the light but sometimes she was forced to steal or launch raids on the Orc camps by inciting wild beasts and using the chaos to take what she needed. As one of the few Draenei living in the region, she was witness to the creation of the Path of Glory and the opening of the Dark Portal. She saw the Orcs leave to whatever world lay beyond, and there was a temptation within her to find a way through the portal herself. Clearly whatever world the Horde was going to had to be better than what was on offer here right? But she never found out, as the Portal was too heavily guarded for someone of her limited skills to get through. So instead she watched and waited, trying to record whatever information she could so that when she met up with her people again, she could perhaps give them an advantage against their enemies that they did not have before.

It was during one of these observation sessions, where she was paying close attention to the Dark Portal when she saw her first glimpse of the Alliance forces, many of whom she would not meet again for another thousand years. It was a small force, led by several talented individuals, that much she observed from a distance, but she learned no details, choosing to keep away in case they were as hostile, or perhaps more so than the Horde was. Instead as before she took notes, observed patterns where she could. An enemy of the Orcs could be a valuable ally for the Draenei, or at least that's what she thought at the time.

Joining the Army of the Light
Saphelii's chance to join the Army of the Light was born out of sheer luck, rather than the use of anything that would pass as skill. During the final months of the war that the Alliance had been waging on the Orcs, one of the Orc leaders, Ner'zhul, attempted to open far too many portals to other worlds and the resulting strain on the planet caused major geographic disturbances. The land cracked and shuddered and it almost felt like the entire planet was about to explode, which, in some ways it did. The resulting fracture destroyed most, of the world as she knew it, and left her scattered on a portion of the terrain which even now floated through the air, a strange byproduct of the explosion. It was perhaps by sheer luck that Saphelii had ended up on the same rock inhabited by two of the leaders of the Alliance Expedition, Turalyon and Alleria and while she felt that the two knew she was there with them, she did not reach out to them, and actively avoided Alleria when she attempted to scout the area. Of course, she knew deep down that there was no way that she would be able to avoid them forever. Either they didn't know she was there, or they were toying with her and pretending not to notice her, either way, she would be discovered or the ruse would end, it was only a matter of time.

If only she knew how little time it would be until that happened.

Not long after the destruction of Draenor, the Army of the Light would arrive on the doomed planet, specifically, a force led by the former Nathrezim, Lothraxion. He had arrived on the remains of the planet to recruit Turalyon and Alleria, and yet, he was also well aware of Saphelii's presence and sent several Lightforged to find her and offer her a place within the Army of the Light as well, one which Saphelii accepted, as there was little to no future left for her on a rock floating through space and perhaps even time.

Upon her arrival on board the Xenedar, Saphelii was finally introduced to the elite among her people, those who became one with the Light, a group of Draenei known as the Lightforged. Told that one day, should she wish it, that she too could become one of these elite warriors, Saphelii remained on the Xenedar, fighting where she was needed as she began the long war against the Burning Legion, one which she would fight for the next thousand years until she finally ended up on Argus. Along the way she finally confided in Alleria that she had been on the floating rock with the pair for the entire time they were stranded, to which Alleria confessed that she already knew and that she and Turalyon had been waiting for Saphelii to show herself, rather than attempt to force her into an unwelcome confrontation.

Five hundred years after she joined the Army of the Light, Saphelii undertook the rite which transformed her into one of the Lightforged that she had come to admire, and five hundred years after that, she would take the fight to the Legion on the homeworld of Argus, which finally reunited her with many of her brethren that she believed to be dead following the destruction of Draenor.