| Gwenhwyfarr Mavourneen Lochlainn Thorn | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Race |
Afflicted Human |
|
Year of Birth |
16 L.C. |
|
Place of Birth |
Gilneas |
|
Title(s) |
Formerly Heir to House Thorn |
|
Occupation(s) |
Pickpocket |
|
Affiliation(s) |
The Devilclaw (Currently) |
|
Faith |
Worshipper of Elune |
|
Family |
Thomas Lochlainn (Father, deceased) |
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Alignment |
Chaotic Good |
|
Status |
Alive |
Description[]
A very young looking girl usually found wearing dresses, more often than not with high-collars.
Human Form[]
Little Gwenhwyfarr is on the short side standing at five feet, four inches tall. More often than not her hair is in some state of growing back in after she rashly gets it all cut off. It doesn't usually reach much further than her shoulders before she gets the impulse to sheer it all off again, at which point she wears it in a very tomboyish style until it starts growing back in. On any given day, one can never predict what color her hair is either. She has a penchant for deciding, once again on a whim, to dye it any of the natural colors, and even a few unnatural ones. Raven or jet black, strawberry blonde, fiery red, bleached blonde, light lavender, even once teal. Very rarely does she go long enough without dying it that her natural hair color, a tawny brown, shows at the roots.
Her face is a narrow oval with just a small scattering of freckles at her cheeks, a short and thin nose, and pouty lips. Her eyes are a rich hazelnut color and tend to stare at you through her long lashes. Her ears lay flat against her head and are both pierced in two places, in which she usually keeps two simple gold loops.
Like most things about Gwen, her chest is on the small side. Depending on whether or not she's going through a phase of not eating, it can usually be measured around a 30-b. She possesses a stringy muscle mainly around her long arms and supple legs. Her fingers are long and thin and she wears just one ring on her left ring finger. It is an intricate golden band, etched with roses and a jade serpent throughout. On top rests a large, flawless diamond, sparkling brightly with the surrounding lights. Gwen keeps her nails meticulously short and well groomed.
Though only a young girl she already has an impressive selection of both scars and tattoos all over her body. A long and ragged rope scar surrounds the entirety of the girl's neck. On the palm of her right hand is a small scar out of which seems to grow a vine and thorn tattoo. The tattoo curls around the back of her hand, with just one lavender flower blossom on the back, and then curls back around her wrist. It then crawls up and around her arm, wrapping around several times until it reaches her back where it wraps down around her right shoulder, around the left side of her torso, and ends with a small curl right where her heart is on her chest. Another tattoo of a jade cloud serpent winds around her left forearm, its head resting on the back of her hand. She’s got a puckered scar on her lower torso, a second one on her gut, a third on her left shoulder that is mostly obscured by a tattoo of a bear's claw, another two more precise and surgical looking scars on both of her feet, and the most serious looking scar is just mere inches from the right-side of her heart.
Wolf Form[]
When Gwenhwyfarr shifts into her Wolf form and stands up straight she gains a good two feet in height and around eighty pounds of solid muscle. This is where one would see her hair color for real as the fur all over her body is the tawny shade of brown, except for her unruly mane which amusingly enough keeps whatever color she'd decided to dye it. Her tattoos are just barely visible under the fur, easiest to see under her arms where the fur is thinnest. Her ears flare out to a thin point on the top of her head and her snout is more canine than lupine. Most noticeable are her eyes where a rich gold color shines through the natural hazelnut.
History[]
Youth[]
Thomas and Caitriona Lochlainn were living off a modest miner's income, settled in the poorer section of the Military District in Gilneas, when they discovered Caitriona was pregnant with their first child. They decided to name her Gwenhwyfarr Mavourneen after a particularly beautiful ancestor. Shortly after her birth, the mine's veins dried up and many of the workers there found themselves without jobs. They lived for a while off of their savings and the odd jobs that Thomas could garner, but things went even further south when Caitriona became pregnant with their second daughter Morgana. Caitriona's health deteriorated during this pregnancy and she ended up confined to a chair for the rest of her life, unable to do much more than sew without terrible hardship.
Though they tried desperately to not let the children become aware of just how poor they really were, it quickly became apparent to a younger Gwenhwyfarr that something was not right. She put two and two together one night when neither of her parent's stew bowls had anything inside. The girl, not much more than seven at this time, started wandering the streets grifting and begging for coin without her parents knowledge or consent. It wasn't too much later, during a particularly cold winter, that her sticky fingers made their first grab stealing fresh blankets for the family.
The family Lochlainn lived like this, paycheck to paycheck, job to job, theft to theft, for many years. Thomas worked in the mine whenever a new vein was found, which was not very often. Caitriona took on odd mending and sewing jobs for the neighbors. Gwenhwyfarr was always the one out in the city, up to no good, taking what she needed to provide for their family. And Morgana was the one who tried to keep Gwen safe, normally by tattling on her older sister.
The Incident[]
Not too long after her fifteenth birthday something happened that changed her life forever. She was walking through the streets of the Merchant Square when a particularly red and juicy apple caught her eye. The girl made a grab for it, confident at this point in her skills, and was promptly spotted by the vendor who yelled for the Guards. Gwen had evaded capture many times in the past, so it was with a laugh in her voice that she turned and ran through the alleyways, quickly losing her tail in those twisty backstreets. All her attention was behind her to make certain she was now alone, which was why she did not see the dark, hulking form skulking in the shadows and ran headfirst into it. The Worgens had returned to Gilneas and Gwen had collided with one of the first.
She did what any little girl would do in that situation, faced with a giant beast of fur, claws, and teeth. She screamed and ran away as fast as she could, but not before it snapped its jaws around her arm. Swiftly kicking it in the groin, she freed her arm, and made her way panicked the rest of the way home. The apple was long forgotten.
Her parents had been worried sick. Gwen had been out much longer than normal, and when she burst through the door white as a sheet with her arm bloodied, they got into a large argument. As the Lochlainns yelled at each other, Gwen found herself feeling hotter and hotter, the sweat beading her forehead by the time she decided to stomp off up the stairs and lock herself in the door. Little did she know she was already well in the throes of the curse now coursing through her veins.
Morgana knocked on Gwen's door to see if her sister needed help. The youngest Lochlainn was answered with a deep, inhuman growl. Scared by what she heard she made her way back downstairs and it wasn't too much longer before a loud crash came from the upstairs. A monstrous creature burst through Gwenhwyfarr's door and cleared the stairs in one leap. She'd shifted for the first time, a bloodrage blinding her as she crossed the distance between her family members.
Their neighbors, including the district's Priest Father Abrachaim, came through the front door to a gruesome sight. Caitriona lay dead, Morgana choking on her own blood next to her, and Thomas in the clawed grasp of his Worgen daughter, though they could not possibly hope to recognize her in this form. They were able to subdue her, toss her in ropes, but it was too late for Thomas as well. Father Abrachaim was able to just barely save little Morgana's life and he ordered the perpetrator hung from the nearest tree.
A very small part of Gwenhwyfarr's mind was still her own and it watched on in horror at the despicable acts she carried out. It came quickly to grips with what she'd done and was relieved at the sentence of death. As they tied the rope around a sturdy branch her mind was at peace. She remembers falling, she remembers blackness, pain around her neck, and then more falling. The inner peace she felt calmed the rage within her enough to shift her back to her human form. The rope they used was found lacking, no longer tight enough to hold her up as she slipped through and fell to the ground. One of the onlookers - a farmer from outside the City proper - took pity on her, gathered her up, and carted her away through the City's gates. It was there, as they were passing through the gates, that Gwenhwyfarr woke up. Ashamed at what she'd done and the fact that she'd survived, she ran away at the first chance she got.
Running From the Law[]
Gwenhwyfarr made a lonely run for it, wandering the Eastern Kingdoms and trying to find places to stay that did not ask too many questions. She believed that the Guards were after her for murdering her family and this is when she first picked up the habit of dying her hair. In her mind it helped deflect attention from her. And through her wanderings she fought very hard against the raging wolf inside her. Her force of will was strong enough to keep it in check most of the time, however inevitably it would break out in a time of weakness. Extreme duress, both emotional or physical, usually brought on this change when she was awake. Or simply sleeping her subconscious would let go and the wolf would come raging out. In either case, a trail of blood followed behind Gwenhwyfarr's trek with the girl remembering nothing of the time she spent as a wolf.
She made her way from small town or village, barely able to settle any roots, before another fit would happen and she'd have to run again. She knew somehow that the mysterious disappearances had to be her as she'd wake up with blood under her fingernails and around her mouth. For the most part Gwen avoided the major cities, though she did briefly venture into Ironforge to hop a gryphon further South.
After two years of wandering, the young and exhausted girl found herself in the Scarlet Raven of Darkshire. Her control over the wolf was slipping even further, the fits were coming more and more often, and she was starving. She sat on the hearth, watching the rowdy occupants of the common room, searching for an opening to grab some coin from one of them to be able to pay for dinner elsewhere. A mark became apparent to her as a woman walked down the entrance stairs, seeming blind in her left eye and showing signs of stiffness on that side. Gwen tried to pull a classic bump and grab, making it as far as the fountain outside the Scarlet Raven before she was discovered. Unfortunately (or fortunately) she was too tired to run very far when the shouts came from inside.
The group she'd been watching quickly surrounded her, arguing loudly amongst themselves what to do with this bold little thief who dared tried to steal from one of their members. One of their members suggested cutting off her hand. Another suggested beating her. But a more rational voice was the one they ended up listening to. One Phaedra Thorn demanded that Gwen be given into her care, an unwilling apprentice, until she could work off her debts to this group known as the Devilclaw.
Time With the Devilclaw[]
If Gwenhyfarr thought her life before was chaotic, it was nothing compared to her time with the Devilclaw. Phaedra Thorn taught her many things of poisons and blade work, even improving on Gwen's natural talent at pickpocketing. They soon formed a mother/daughter bond which ended up with Phaedra officially adopting Gwenhwyfarr by blood ritual soon after she discovered Gwen's curse. Phaedra was also a Worgen and was able to pass on and help the girl get a rough handle on her wolf.
She formed a few tentative friendships, especially with a Draenei named Azaerl and a human named Johais of whom she developed something of a schoolgirl crush on. But it wasn't until Azaerl went missing one night that she found out where her true feeling lie. Gwenhwyfarr went to Northrend after Azaerl and they bonded there after a long adventure, falling in love along the way.
Their relationship fell apart shortly after their engagement, leaving the girl morbidly depressed. Over the course of the next few days she tried many different ways to end it all, only to be stopped by the other Devilclaw at each turn. One Alnarra Stargrove in particular watched over the girl and they soon formed a kind of mother/daughter bond almost as strong as the one Gwen had with Phaedra. She hadn't realized just how many friends she'd gathered within the group. It was during this time that she finally decided to take the Worgen cure and undergo the ritual under the Howling Oak, ending her internal struggle with her wolf.
Her relationships grew much more complicated for a time as she gave her fragile heart, barely put back together after Azaerl, to whomever paid her any affection. One of these was her soon to be bride Caliopae, another Draenei, who treated Gwen like a princess. Complicating this fact was her growing relationship with the Devilclaw leader Araane. For a time, the girl tried to keep the other two unaware, but things came to a head as they usually do. The end result was for Caliopae and Gwenhwyfarr to agree to an open relationship which they've been living with happily ever since.
She rose quickly through the ranks of the Devilclaw, now one of the longest standing Eavesdroppers in the organization. As Heir to the House Thorn, which at the time consisted simply of Phaedra and Gwen, it was up to the girl to start a new family. She's currently eight months pregnant with the twins, whom she's decided to name Caitriona after her birth mother and Conall, her little strong wolf.
Personality[]
Gwenhwyfarr is, at first glance, a quiet and shy girl unless with a group of her friends. She tends to keep to herself otherwise, quietly observing everything. Rarely will she make the first move towards getting to know anyone, preferring to be approached first. But once she is comfortable around someone she revels in their presence.
Though quiet, if anyone threatens her or anyone she holds close to her heart, the girl will go to any length to protect them. She is fiercely loyal and very affectionate, enjoying the touch of those she's close to and not afraid to show it.
She tends to try very hard to hide her native Gilnean accent and this has the side effect of making her sometimes sound more formal than most. It isn't unless she's extremely agitated or around close friends that it starts to become evident. One can usually tell just how comfortable Gwen is with them by how much her accent shines through.
Beliefs[]
Though raised in a household that had a strong belief in the Holy Light, Gwenhwyfarr quickly became disillusioned with that idea after The Incident. Now, thanks to influences from her adopted family and Kaldorei friends - and a vision seen while undergoing the Howling Oak ritual - she now is a very staunch Elune worshipper.
Quirks[]
Gwen's hands are always doing something. They can never seem to sit still, even if she's made aware of what they're doing. Occasionally it's something simple as clenching and unclenching her fists or rolling a coin along the back of her knuckles. She likes to take one of Cali's tendrils and twirl it around her fingers. She'll sit on a fountain and trail her fingers through the water watching the ripples she creates. Nervous twitches like that.
Relationships[]
Azaerl - Her first love and fiance. The Draenei broke her heart by dissolving their engagement and now, although they are tentatively friends again, Gwenhwyfarr has moved on.
Caliopae Lochlainn - Her wife. They are currently happily married holding each other in the highest standing of an open marriage. They work very hard to maintain a balance in their relationship. Gwen worships her wife above all others.
Araane Stormwarder - After Araane helped convince Gwenwhyfarr to continue living, the girl latched on to the affections Araane sent her way. What grew was a surprising and deep love which continues to this day.
Sarynth Startender - What started as the girl harmlessly flirting with the seemingly uptight and racist Kaldorei Sentinel Sarynth quickly turned into something else entirely. The more Sarynth denied her, the more Gwen pursued the Sentinel. Their bond is one that grew into a mutual affection.
Kyndi Scarmaiden - The two had been friends for a while when Kyndi revealed she had feelings for Gwen. Though things have not progressed very far at this point they have been seen spending more time together these days.