Qienna Songsteel

Qienna is a human priestess, currently in service to the Order of the Silver Hand.

History
Qienna Slade was born near Tyr’s Hand to Catrin and Naham Slade. Her parents were zealous Scarlet Crusaders and it is believed Catrin suffered from mental illness. The result was an extremely abusive and neglectful childhood. She lived her life in fear of her next transgression as it would result in her being punished by her parents and then being sent to the Scarlet priests for confession and a violent penance.

When the Scarlet Crusaders left for Northrend, Catrin urged her husband to also go, leaving Qienna in the care of the clerics. Her parents had been making plans to marry Qienna to someone who could mould her into a ‘proper Scarlet priestess’ but they never returned from Northrend and were assumed dead. When the Scarlets in Tyr’s Hand started turning into scourge, Qienna stole money and used it to escape to Stormwind.

Qienna arrived in Stormwind with nothing but the clothes on her back. She had no confidence in herself and was terrified of the Church and the Light. Her parents had never told her when she was born and she thought she was twenty. She didn’t believe herself to be skilled in any manner and lived on the streets, eating what food she could find and selling her services in Old Town on the worst nights. A year later, when she was noticed by Junjei Halfhill, she had become a cynical, bitter, untrusting, foul-mouthed young woman. He had noticed her yelling at someone in Cathedral Square, yelling a stream of profanities. It took some urging for him to convince her to follow him into the Cathedral with the promise of food with ‘no strings’.

Once Junjei had left Qienna in the Cathedral kitchen, Bishop Lilith Olethos came down and found her there. After a lengthy conversation, Qienna found herself in the very situation she was trying to avoid. She was confessing to the Bishop! She was too terrified to refuse to confess. The Bishop informed her that her guilt and suffering was penance enough and offered her a place in the Stormwind Arch-chapter of the Silver Hand. Qienna couldn’t turn down the offer of a bed and free food, not after she had just endured confession, so she said yes.

Her first few weeks in the Silver Hand was very turbulent for everyone involved. She managed to upset and anger nearly everyone she encountered and earned herself a slap from one of her new Sisters. She was terrified that Lilith would realise her mistake and kick Qienna out, that moment never came. When an ex-customer didn’t like Qienna’s refusal to take his money anymore, he began attacking and harassing her. She was left near-death twice at Lilith’s feet and Qienna was forced to spend her time hiding in the Cathedral. During this time, Lilith’s husband Sereuve started as her therapist, teaching her about trust, hope, patience and other important qualities and she slowly started to improve. When her foe was caught and imprisoned, Talarman and Shior Songsteel invited her to move into their home and she continued to flourish under their and the Olethos’ supervision.

She was ordained as a priestess by the Council of Bishops on the 5th April 624 K.C. The following day, Lilith recommended her for the position of Order Lector of the Silver Hand, she had been waiting for Qienna to become ordained so she could take up the role. Qienna had been a very quick learner as a Novice and had already learned a significant chunk of the Holy Scriptures by rote before she had even joined.

In April the unexpected happened. Catrin Slade appeared in Stormwind and began harassing and mentally wearing down her daughter’s defences. Qienna was moved into the Olethos house during this time in an effort to protect her and she grew even closer still to Lilith and Sereuve. This went on for a week until Catrin kidnapped her daughter, tortured her and attempted to kill her, deeming her too sinful to be saved. The Silver Hand rescued her and she began her recovery.

Qienna admitted to Lilith that she didn’t know her birth date while resting in bed and Lilith learned from the records at Tyr’s Hand that Qienna wasn’t twenty, she wasn’t even eighteen yet. Lilith thought changing Qienna’s surname would help her to move on and now that she knew Qienna was still a minor she wanted to protect her legally so she adopted Qienna, making her Qienna Olethos.

Qienna has since met a man called Mariek Parker. They fell in love and with the approval of Lilith, he proposed to her. She continues to teach classes as Order Lector and was made a Prior to the Council of Bishops under the Congregation for Education so is now responsible for making her classes accessible to all students under the Council of Bishops.

Qienna believes strongly in the Light’s grace. She’s always telling people if the Light can forgive –her- past then surely it can forgive their problems too. Her goal in life is to do everything she can to attempt to pay the Light back for everything it’s done for her. She knows she’ll never even come close but it gives her motivation when she thinks about her lost childhood and great responsibility as a teenager. She also believes no one should be left as ignorant as she was and endeavours to do her best to teach her students and give them a well-rounded education. It was her pushing that encouraged the Council of Bishops to include history and culture in their approved curriculum.