Azra

"The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest."

 - Azra

Azra is a wanderer from Draenor (AU) and an ex-member of the Iron Horde. Having cut ties with her clan long before the arrival of the Alliance and Horde she was a hermit in Nagrand, offering her knowledge and skill in combat to a few who wandered too far off the beaten path.

This came to an end however when she was captured by a slaving ring and brought back to Azeroth. Having little love for the brutish Horde she chose the Alliance.

Early Life
Life within the Iron Horde was always a matter of "do or do not, there is no try". Born to two grunts, Azra was destined for much of the same. Much of her training was endurance and strength based. Becoming highly proficient in axe wielding, at the tender age of fourteen she was brought in to the mines to assist in maintaining control over the Draenei population. It was here it was discovered that she was a polyglot, capable of learning languages with ease - providing a line of communication between the Orc slavemasters that didn't care to learn Draenic and the Draenei.

Crowd Control
Assignment in the mines was always tough. They were sweltering, noxious and miserable conditions and the sounds of suffering was never far off. As a brash fourteen year old, Azra was almost offended at having been assigned to such a low-brow position, knowing that her intellect could be better used elsewhere.

Throughout her assignment she found that she eventually began figuring out what the various Draenei slaves were saying - even determining that they were planning a revolt in their native tongue. As she learned more and more of their language she deciphered their plans in the uprising and when it occurred she had all the warning she needed to be able to stop the uprising in its track - ensuring that while some Draenei were injured they weren't maimed or killed.

When she had a more complete understanding of the Draenic language she was able to converse with the enslaved miners until such a point she was completely fluent in both written and spoken Draenic. When the Mine Overseer discovered her ability to communicate with the Draenei effectively she was made his right hand woman - giving the responsibility of ensuring the Draenei were well instructed and compliant.

Second in Command
As second in command in the Mine at only fifteen years of age she was heavily looked down upon by the other grunts. Clearly more intelligent than them she was able to outwit them verbally and outsmart them in combat, maintaining some kind of hierarchy by sheer force of will and wit.

However under her thumb the Draenei population, though significantly more compliant, became sick. Over the next three years she struggled for an answer as to why as, though they were able to mine, they were beginning to stop moving all together.

While she was punishing an errant miner after an interrogation, she couldn't help but notice how his body sagged against the chains. The whip felt heavier and heavier within her hand with each strike until she could no longer lift her arm and could only stare at the completely still back of the large, once proud Draenei. Having been harbouring progressively more and more strong feelings against the Draenei enslavement the dam was broken. Unable to cope with the realization she had caused so much damage, the young adult orc fled the mine.

The Nagrand Outcast
Fleeing the mine was first on her mind, but what started as distaste for enslavement turned into a desire to right a previous wrong.

After a few days she was able to stomach returning to the mine, axes in hand to find that in her absence the brutal treatment of the other grunts had increased, while the Draenei slaves were steadily becoming more lifeless. Even as she began cutting down the grunts she had commanded for three years the miners weren't rousing despite her desperate pleas.

A punch to the face knocked her to the ground, her nose crushed and wind knocked out of her. It was only then a Draenei turned away from his task to embed his pickaxe into the chest of the grunt standing above Azra. In a tense moment, the young Azra couldn't tell if she was to be murdered or not - especially looking in the eyes of the Draenei she had just been punishing. Yet as she was pulled to her feet, and her axes were returned to her, she could finally understand the sickness the Draenei were suffering. Hope returned to the now ex-slaves as she liberated them; light returned to their eyes as they witnessed her cut down the Mine's Overseer.

Removing the chains that shackled the Draenei together and to the mine walls with her axes she finally discarded them before guiding them outside. Though the Draenei were weak, Azra was able to spur them out into Gorgrond and into the sun for the first time in years - for some, over a decade.

Knowing that she couldn't spend much more time with them given that she was barely able to look any of them in the eye, she made sure that they were able to safely return to Shattrath City. Knowing that she couldn't return to the Iron Horde with her new viewpoint, Azra turned to the west and left for Nagrand, living as a hermit and honing her skills as a weaponless fighter. It was here she began developing her appreciation for all forms of life, and then further, her three principles for sentience.

The Alliance in Gorgrond
With the Iron Horde war machine attempting to overtake Azeroth, Azra was now twenty five. She first came into contact with Alliance at Telaari Station.

Though she was relatively far removed from all news of the invasion she still understood what was happening and would assist those that got stuck in her neck of the woods and guiding them to safety - especially with the Warsong Clan about, though she had no direct hand in finishing them off.

Eventually, however, she was captured by some Blood Elven bounty hunters. While unconscious, she was brought back to Azeroth, where she was to be sold as an "exotic pet". To her great fortune, however, the woman was taken in by an Alliance loyalist, whom she eventually struck up a relationship with who took her out of Blood Elven lands and into Stormwind.

As Allison Carter
Given the name of Allison Carter, Azra chose to hide herself in plain sight - pretending to be half elven, given that her size and imposing stature wouldn't lend to the idea of her being a full elf. She butchered her ears to make them smaller in the event someone would see them and has hidden half of her face with a thick cowl, hiding her mouth and her tusks.

Spending more time within Stormwind the orc finds herself more and more enamoured with it and the people - though she takes a very harsh stance against the corruption she has seen in several guards, she refused to get herself involved and potentially found out, if arrested.

Absorbing as much of Azeroth's history as she can from historical documents and books, she came to the conclusion that though flawed, the Alliance's principles and morality was significantly better and more alligned to hers than the Horde's are, as such, she chose to stay at great personal risk, finding Sylvanas and the Forsaken, though tragic, to be less worried about preserving life than she is.

Now an Alliance loyalist, she staunchly defends the Alliance and has even taken to the Broken Shore, understanding that though Azeroth is not her original home it is her new home and she must defend it. Her size, strength, fighting style and intellect have made her quite the impressive fighter - especially since she often has gone toe to toe with Man'ari and other demons.

Religion
Agnostic, Azra understand accepts that the Light, of which the Church of the Holy Light was created to worship, exists. However, she chooses not to believe in it as she finds that anything that could allow such pain and suffering in the universe to be unworthy of her faith.

She instead chooses to trust in the principles of sentient life. There are at least three that she can so far discern. There are probably more, though, but she hasn't gotten that far yet.

Understanding
The first principle of sentient life, as Azra understands it, is understanding - the capacity for a life form to absorb information, whether that be knowledge, sensory input, events, etc and understand that knowledge. This is characterized from an ability to grow and change. It is with this principle that she also understands when others do bad things... because of a sentient's capacity to learn and grow, they can be redeemed, be made better.

Enlightened Self-Interest
The second principle of sentient life is the endeavour to improve oneself. Continuing on from understanding, one must understand what can be improved with them, and then further what can improve others - thus, in improving one-self, you are improving those around you.

Capacity for Self Sacrifice
The third principle of sentient life is the capacity for self sacrifice: the conscious ability to override evolution and self-preservation for a cause, a friend, or a loved one.

Main Universe Azra
Main Universe Azra, if she is ever to be found is a beserker, a battlehardened warrior and Horde loyalist. Where Azra's skin is brown, her red hair is cut short and she refuses to pick up a weapon, Main Universe Azra is green-skinned, her red hair is a regal-looking mowhawk littered with baubles, bones, tokens and teeth and she dual wields large, angry looking axes. Main Universe Azra is not to be approached.

Trivia

 * She is astonished by music. While growing up to be a grunt and working in the mines she was never exposed to much music other than dirges the grunts used to sing to combat boredom.
 * She loves a good philosophical debate.
 * She has an intense exercise regime which, if you're up early enough, you can see her lugging around a huge leather bag on her back, trudging around Stormwind each morning.