About | Personality | Appearance | Armaments | Siege of Tirisfal | Shadow in the Sands | Relationships | Music | Art |
Rilennia 'Riley' Shattershard CSC, CV | |
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Race |
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Birth Information |
Born: 30 July, 11 L.C. |
Positions |
Dalaran City |
Affiliations |
The Grand Alliance |
Relatives |
• Mal'arbane Sunshard (Paternal Uncle) |
Awards & Commendations |
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Military Service |
The Highguard |
Notable Events |
Appearances War Against the Lich King
Hiatus within Acherus
Hiatus within Alterac |
Ranks | |
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'Rilennia (raɪ lɛn ni ɑ) "Riley" Shattershard is your quintessential half-high elven orphan turned world-class mage-priest and persistently nagging, well-meaning personal assistant.
She died once, and got better. Life's weird that way.
Riley currently serves Shindo Malphur and his lands of Owlhearth in Alterac as his chatelaine, though he is, to this day, confused as to what that is and what she's actually doing. Taxes have never been higher and Morku's population has never been more populous! This is good! Right?
This page is a rework in progress for the nth time.
"Ama noral'arkhana."[]
Nothing is known about Riley's early history, even to her most treasured companions.
The most she will state is that she spent most of her childhood in the rebuilt Dalaran, shielded outside of Alterac's mountains, under an unknown tutor.
Those that would look into the elven name of 'Rilennia' may, oddly enough, trace back to one daughter among six brothers, registered in a Silvermoon census - but underneath a family tree designated 'Sunshard'.
The Sunshards were a common family of no noble lineage, their eldest sons Spellbreakers in training. However, through dedication and natural talent, they were renowned as banquet hall decorators through generations of practiced ice magics; Anasterian's house rarely went without at least one of the Sunshard ice-carved dragonhawks perched on a tableclothed surface, enchanted to maintain its pristine form without melting - occasionally flapping its crystalline wings and emitting a burst of flames to applauded effect.
There is no known record of the Sunshard family existing following the fall of Silvermoon City and the subsequent rise of the Dead Scar.
As far as traditional schools of magic go, Rilennia favored an offensive style of abjuration, clever slight of hand, portal-ripping and, most importantly, a burgeoning specialty in divination and runeweaving. Rilennia mostly practiced alectryomancy with her pet chicken, aptly enough named Alectryo - having had performed a strange ritual known only to her of what appears to be a cross between a tarot reading, arcane scrying and literal chicken scratch observation. That particular chicken, oddly enough, is claimed to have been covertly instrumental in the defeat of the Burning Legion's operations on the Broken Shore; what was seemingly a common barnyard fowl served as a divination tool that could go uncorrupted by the Legion while scrying on its commanders, due to its pea-sized brain and comical attention deficit. Appointed as Chief Chicken Caretaker, and after a series of escalating events and unbelievable circumstances in which the beloved chicken finally exploded in the sewers of Dalaran, Rilennia acquired her own personal 'divination chicken' - named Alectryo II, but designated Alectryo for convenience's sake - when her prior mentor artificially aged up an arcane-imbued egg with the powers of the Nightwell, in the same fashion as a Nightborne would casually age a bottle of arcwine. Post-resurrection Riley has forgotten about the events that transpired regarding the first chicken's exploding - involving a polymorphed archmage and a stolen hat - and refers to Alectryo as the first of his breed, and the one that truly assisted against the Legion. Only three people know the truth behind the real Alectryo; one is now undead, and the other two have vanished into nothingness.
Rilennia saw the most combat during the course of the Burning Legion's third invasion of Azeroth on its Broken Shore - having served a tenure as a drafted Kirin Tor Peacekeeper, she assisted the Thalassian-based Highguard in their station of the elven city of Suramar against both allies of the Burning Legion and Horde forces alike, attempting to secure the city for the Silver Covenant against the Horde-aligned Sunreavers. She was previously stationed at the Broken Shore as an Invoker, putting out fel fires with her cryomancy - and talent for seemingly unending blueberry-flavored slush summoning.
Upon her release from the service of the Highguard, following the Suramar insurgency and rebellion in which all Alliance forces were pushed from the city, Rilennia had been assigned to work in the region of the Alterac Mountains, alongside the members of the Citrine Eagle. Assigned to the mountainous region through the mageocratic city's attempts to keep an eye on a resurgance of void energies and Ren'dorei immigrants to Talongrab, near the conflict grounds between the Stormpikes and Frostwolves in concern due to the proximity of the Dalaran Crater, Riley quickly fell in step with the Eagles and, most notably, their matriarch Zaria Blackmoore.
While her attitude was, at first, more uppity and holier-than-thou than the hardworking salt of the earth people of Alterac, Riley found herself wavering on ideals of maintaining a brusque, businesslike mentality towards the denizens of Talongrab after continued interactions with establishing allies and mentors alike. This conflict of interest extended to burgeoning tensions and outright participation in the war over azerite, before the elf was re-re-assigned back to Dalaran to reinforce and maintain her neutrality - and a growing concern by the Magus Senate's upper echelons that she was not embodying the staunch morals and desire to maintain peace that the organization had taken upon the Legion's defeat in the Archmage's leave of absence. This Alliance-leaning support of the Silver Covenant still burned brightly within the Quel'dorei's blood, and this was to be her undoing. Upon hearing of the news of the Matriarch's capture by Horde combatants, Riley willingly snuck into the prison camp in which Zaria was held, disguising herself with a poorly held illusion of the camp's overseer. In the midst of freeing who she was able, the illusion was broken, and, while fulfilling her mission of rescue, Riley was dispatched as though she were a member of the Alliance's own, with little regard to the Kirin Tor's involvement in the escalating battles.
After her violent murder and subsequent forced resurrection, Rilennia had been mostly sequestered away in Acherus for training and "re-education" following her admittance to the ranks of the Ebon Blade under a granted amnesty as an undead without a host.
[ WIP ]
Behaviors & Personality[]
She's a reformed former greedy vendor gremlin. It's complicated. [ WIP ]
Appearance and Chronologically Acquired Injuries[]
Rilennia sports a cherry-red mane, slashed short to hang around her half-elven-sized ears. Her waist is slim while her hips are wide, giving her an appealing pear-shaped silhouette; while fully clothed and under the indemnity of heavy alloys, any femininity is long removed from Riley's overall appearance. Anyone with a modicum of physical strength can - and has - picked her up over their shoulder with little to no effort while she is unarmored.
[ WIP ]
She was dead, once! Her body was pretty busted up and broken from her murder in Tirisfal and years of indifferent care while dead. Given a soft reboot in every sense of the word, Riley's soul now occupies a chronologically-torn compilation of several Rileys from other timelines.
Armaments[]
Riley's Armor | |
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Rilennia was, prior to her first death, outfitted in a specialized Kirin Tor-issued set of armor, the bulk of which was localized entirely within the arcane-resonated pauldrons borne upon her shoulders. These special cups housed the energy needed to manifest and maintain her silkweave armor composite; created from Crystalsong Forest shardwood, one could easily imagine them appearing when summoned as the arch-typical magical girl style of armor in the way that they would erupt from the depths and ensconce her body once called upon. It was rare to see the half-elf out of her armor, as past events rendered her constantly on a heightened guard - unable to relinquish control over the protective armaments, constantly believing she needed them both as a physical barrier and visible social status symbol.
It was one of these specialized cups that ultimately assisted in ending the elf's life; Arthalden Lightshard, during the Siege of Tirisfal, swung his spiked ranseur towards Riley's midsection, but missed due to her abjuration being shattered by a warhammer, sending her staggering forwards. The weapon instead connected with the fragile wood arcing over the arcane-housing cups, driving the splintered shards into her collarbone and neck. The sprawling wound remained on her person, hidden by layers of cloth or plate.
On her raising and return to Acherus, Riley was 'gifted' armor befitting that of an Ebon Blade grunt; not fully graduated to Saronite, despite her time spent around the Knights, she instead stuck to imposing armaments constructed of a trillium and ghost iron alloy.
[ WIP ]
Siege of Tirisfal[]
"It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention." [2] |
Rilennia met her untimely demise on the eve of the fourth day of conflict during the Siege of Tirisfal, whereupon she had attempted - without superior orders, disregarding the Kirin Tor as a whole's refusal to participate in the conflict, and due to her remaining loyalties to the Matriarch of the Citrine Eagle, Zaria R. Blackmoore - to sneak her way into a Horde prison camp in order to free as many captured Grand Alliance prisoners as possible while under an illusionary guise of the director, one Seleste Felsorrow. Unfortunately, due to the untimely intervention of her doting husband, Ivan Sibelius Felsorrow, Riley was found out - illusions never being her forte - and her attempt was seen through almost immediately.
Before her ruse was completely dispelled, through time purchased through the confusion of the Horde jailers, Riley diverted her remaining innate arcane energies towards encapsulating the unshackled captives in shimmering pink shields; ripping portals open beneath them to deliver their payloads to the awaiting Alliance army stationed at the nearby Scarlet Monastery. All told, Zaria Blackmoore, Illithyl Harkon, Janewell Broadbent, Alyserah Helstrom, and Cedric Elengarde were sent to safety - five lives soon to be in exchange for her own.
Riley was then savagely dispatched by the surrounding members of the Horde guard; Rekfar Axefury's warhammer first shattering her weakened abjuration, its energy spent towards the protection of the captives; her remaining shield removed, Riley was then shot at point-blank with buckshot by one Jimlok Thunderroar; followed by having her own sharpened Kirin Tor pauldron driven into her collarbone by the sin'dorei traitor Arthalden Lightshard - who had previously served alongside her with the Eagles - severely weakening her and rendering any hope of escape impossible. She was finally and meticulously stabbed to death by the irate Ivan with a favored scalpel for insulting his wife's countenance with her poorly crafted illusion. Her mission completed, Riley peacefully passed away, despite the murderous rage the Forsaken carried out through the workings of his blade.
That was hardly the end of Rilennia's suffering. She was quickly made an example of in front of the remaining prisoners, risen into undeath with her soul dragged back to her body by the real vengeful Seleste, interring the elf as a weakened banshee. Riley's wracked wail echoed through the prison chamber, nearly deafening those still locked within. The forced occupation of Riley's soul back into her malformed corpse immediately caused a minor schism between the members of the Horde present; some disagreed with the forced raising, claiming it was not the Forsaken's way, and others encouraged Seleste, saying that the high elf had it coming.
Left to her devices with the remaining prisoners, Rilennia, after much trepidation, gradually opened herself to the merits of amateur hemolurgy; relying on the blood of her own corpse and those of the willing injured to maintain sanity and control of her body.
It was during this adaption period that Rilennia attempted to attack the remaining guard Arthalden with her new talents for hemolurgy for physically lashing the bishop Kimberly Sweete. This was very untimely as a rogue Forsaken agent by the name of Josandus Hartchorde, looking to defect, had falsified release documents and arranged for yet another illegal prison break. With help from an unexpected change of heart by Arthalden, who also ensured that the elf's chicken Alectryo was safely returned, Rilennia escaped with the others and ended up back at the re-appropriated Monastery, where she met with Wey and had her wounds stitched by a strange man claiming to be a doctor.
The following morning, Rilennia was addressed by the Forsaken defector Josandus and the Master Sergeant Soreka Blackblood; she was given the option of being indoctrinated into the Ebon Blade for the protection of herself and the citizens of the Alliance both, instead of being slaughtered for her resurrection by a Forsaken. The hold on the quel'dorei by Seleste was brought to light, with no real plan in place to free Riley from any residual control; discussions were made to bring Riley to Acherus for safekeeping, to bring her out of the range of the necromancer. So far this option seems to have succeeded, as there have been no known attempts to control her by the nefarious necromancer or her faithful husband.Rilennia was taken to Acherus by a small escort of Ebon members overnight, whereupon she was given the armor of an initiate - not full saronite, but cheapened ghost iron armor, inlaid with kyparite to assist in the sonic resonance of her banshee-like shrieks; the amber material having been proven during the events of the Pandaria campaign to be used in Mantid technology - assisting with the reverberations and direction of such sonic-based warfare. The following night, the elf assisted the remainder of the Alliance forces stationed at the Scarlet Monastery. She and her compatriots survived the grueling battle on the ramparts, aiding the siege engines astride the Undercity's walls.
Riley was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross and the Cross of Vanndar - the highest Alteraci award possible, bestowed by Zaria R. Blackmoore - on September 1st, 39 LC for her deeds and actions.Shadow in the Sands[]
The campaign designated Operation: Sandstorm, undertaken by a coalition of members from both the Alliance and the Horde alongside neutral organizations such as the Argent Crusade, was a forward strike against minions of the Old God N'zoth and the Black Empire as a whole in the occupied territories of Uldum and Tanaris. The goal of the Amathet and other insidious enemies was to gain control of the Forge of Origination, in order to wipe out all life on Azeroth and allow N'zoth to reclaim the planet for himself.
While not a member of active combat at the time of the coalition's forward movement, Riley found herself swept into the action via coordination by Zaria R. Blackmoore.
GRAVE: Syncopation
LENTO: Infestation
ANDANTE: Mar'at
Riley quickly made little friends in her time among the coalition as it moved to Mar'at, the growing bug in her head gnawing away at her mind in bits and pieces, forcing her aggression and paranoia to bring flashes of trauma to light from her capitivity in the Siege of Tirisfal. Isira Lure'mil, the student picked by Riley's former Highguard alum turned ascended Ranger Lady Lyraeni Sorrowsong, was revealed to have been infected by a mutagen during routine aqir-slaughtering operations, and Riley was enraged and threatened - both by the threat posed to the coalition by her continued presence, and, unknowingly, the hivequeen larvae in her brain seeing it as a danger to the order and plentiful resources offered. She spent several days stalking Isira and others suspected of corruption, unable to act by order of Sorrowsong.
At one point on the outskirts of Mar'at, Riley confronted a former Twilight Cultist worgen - designated Lewin - that had smuggled mutagen and other aqir parts into the camp to set up a makeshift laboratory for maddened experimentations. After having been shut down several times by anti-magic barriers in her attempts to do what she believed was setting things right, Riley sent her empowered elemental Svell to try and drown Lewin before being intercepted and restrained; Svell itself broke free from its cuffs and fled to the Planes. Lewin would hold this grudge for nearly the entire breadth of the campaign.
In nearly instance of combat in which it appeared, Riley and her partner would be noted to flee upon being targeted by any hint of Reorigination beam or nascent tol'vir weaponry, as the Light is not kind to the unliving. Whether or not this was noticed by command is unknown. The one exception to this rule is her commendable valor in staying under the command of the Stormtalon Marshal in the desert sands, scaling a cliffside, assaulting a myriad of Sun Priests, capturing a sun array and ensuring her fellow Ebon was healed as necessary before giving transportation to the injured to Mar'at.
Things only worsened when one of Riley's accused murderers, Rekfar Axefury, arrived unannounced to Mar'at in order to aid the Horde's side of the coalition near the middle of the deployment. The brain-munching queen in Riley's skull was overloaded by the emotion and blackened abjuration that flooded Riley's mindspace that it threatened to devour her from the inside out, hatching into a half-grown creature to burrow beneath Mar'at proper and begin another brooding cycle. Were it not for the timely intervention of Wey-Chung Brokenarrow, Raelor Valeclaw, C'thonia Moonveil and several well-meaning spectators slash guardsmen, Riley would have been utterly destroyed. C'thonia used lunar magics to locate the precise imprints of the insect, guiding Raelor's hand and stave to its location - while Wey maintained Riley's grasp on sanity, his manifestation of Niuzao, Bao, diffused Raelor's immensely powerful nature energy to a finely focused non-lethal beam. When pried from Riley's eyesocket, the hivequeen larvae was fried to a crisp, negating its further threat.
Riley approached Isira following this brain-surgery, apologizing for her bug-brained conduct and offering goodwill.INTERSTITIAL: DONE DIRT CHEAP
The elf sat on the edge of the river delta in Mar'at alone, surrounded by papers and parchments, ledgers and scrolls, far from the prying eyes of the living, only infrequently interfered with by her lover as he ensured she did not drain herself dry through the measures taken. Portals were opened to every corner of Azeroth and beyond, words exchanged; letters of writ were scribed; runes were sent with simple and complex messages; paperwork signed in collected blood, written in foreign languages - some common, some even outerworldly and Ethereal in nature - deals were facilitated and long-awaited favors, precious strings to be pulled on with voracity, were tugged in preparation to ensure lack of slack when necessary.
Riley was to exhaust every last act of goodwill and supply for what would - hopefully - be granted. When the negotiations were seemingly finished, she rounded up several scorpids and hyenas, performing apparent ritualistic slaughter in a circle on the stone-worked dam - careful to not let their blood taint the water, instead soaking it into her veins and storing it in vials for Tyrvarryn's own consumption. The corpses themselves rotted in the sun, encircled by rocs, but well-placed frostbolts would gently encourage their non-involvement.
She waited for hours, perched on a parapet of the delta's dam, ears twitching. A crackle of darkened magic appeared, a hole torn through the flux of reality - using the impromptu graveyard Riley had set up as a focal point for what manifested itself as a proper Ebon Death gate. Borne on armored skeletal horseback in a securely latched black lacquered box by four decorated Ebon Knights in formation, they escorted a wight which carried the casing in its meathook hands. It muttered at her in Gutterspeak and creaked open the comparatively tiny box; from which a modest blue glow that even the beaming sun of the overhead desert couldn't drown out emitted. The angle at which the monstrous creature's shoulders blocked out the case refused to allow a view of what was inside, even to the most astute prying eyes above or astride.
Riley exhaled, her frail shoulders caving inwards in relief, then saluted each Knight in turn with the gratitude of one whose life had just been spared. The wight shoved the box at her and turned back to return to the Citadel through the Gate torn open with such pomp and circumstance.PRESTO: Only to Act
Near the climax of the operation, Riley was then tasked to work alongside Lewin and other wielders of shadow magics to recover an aqir dominator head by Commander Sorrowsong for an unrevealed plan - slaughtering a fully grown hivemind queen in order to recover its corpse and brain for later commanding an entire host of risen aqir herself. Riley dutifully attended the operation, siphoning the blood for exsanguination with Tyrvarryn and transporting the brain to Acherus to be flash-frozen inside an abomination storage tank. It took many coins and her nefarious items of value to get the Unholy Host to mostly look the other way - paying off initiates to guard the brain in order to prevent hungry ghouls from feasting on it - until it could be transported back to Mar'at for Lewin and Sorrowsong to continue their otherworldly experimentation.
The box Riley had traded away all of her earthly possessions for was finally revealed to contain three intact Frost Cruxes - summoning stones, in a sense, that would generate and rip into existence three fully grown and armored risen dragons from Dragonblight, under her command. These were normally reserved for an upper echelon Ebon during the campaign against the Legion, close in rank to the Deathlord.
The runic matrix necessary to generate such power ripped through Riley's body like a downed line, the Cruxes themselves singing the flesh from her bones and the runes into the soft marrow, permanently stripping all but the bones from her right arm. Hoarwing, Vorstalon and Chillrend arose, blasting frost into the crowds of aqir and clearing the path for the coalition's combatants to summon an incredible army of unliving insects, demons and ghouls alike. Chillrend patrolled the city for threats, while its kin remained behind to keep an eye on Sorrowsong's buried army. Waiting. Watching.SFORZANDO: Die Standing
The final night of the campaign arrived at last, along with an unholy swathed sandstorm of scarabs and casters encroaching from the west onto Mar'at. Sorrowsong's contingent of casters were ordered to buy the Marshal Blackmoore's own time to evacuate who they could from the city, and they defended the stairwell leading up the plateau valiantly with Sorrowsong's creation - the hivequeen risen and enslaved, designated Sha'thra. It wasn't long before they were overrun - Vorstalon first assaulted by first a few, then several, then an innumerable amount of scarabs that ripped his wings free and dragged him to the sands where he was eaten whole; not even the bones remained when the swarm moved on. The coalition pressed on as Sorrowsong's risen army was methodically slaughtered by N'zoth's forces; Riley, in regret and agony herself, wrenched the necromantic magic from Hoarwing's shell that kept it empowered - forcing it to plummet to the earth, once again lifeless. Those blackened shadows were dispersed to the fallen aqir to raise more of a defense; it would not prove to be enough, while Hoarwing's body, too, was consumed; leaving nothing but saronite and chunks of blackened chitin behind.
A retreat was sounded as Wey fell. The majority of Chillrend's blood was siphoned from its uneven veins and into Riley's to replenish Wey's own, leaving the drake without the strength able to fly; regardless, the elf marched it back into the fray with roaring and rending swipes to defend Sha'thra while it continued its weakening assault against the unending Black Empire. Exhausted from depleting her reserves of arcane, scorching overly potent Vrykul runes into her arm to the cracking point and unable to flee, Riley was able to conjure one last basic abjured barrier that weakly splintered over her and the front half of Chillrend, resolved to fight to the last. The drake kept its tattered wing tucked closely over Riley in a feeble defense, howling in agony as the scarabs feasted on its exposed, rotten flesh, burrowing through the bone and marrow to get to her.
Were it not for a rescue through means of commanded aqir drones to snatch Riley from the literal jaws of death, her corpse would have joined Chillrend's. Her last view of the squirming sands was that of her drake's lichfire snuffing out beneath ten thousand shimmering shells, reminiscent of ten thousand glowering, slit-pupiled eyes.DIMINUENDO: Repercussions
A stark contrast from her heroic participation in the prior campaign in Tirisfal, Riley received no scavenge or salvaged treasures from the operation, lost what important stores she had available to attend markets for facilitating trades, displayed colors through cowardice and inaction, technically lost against three experienced Ebons on every warfront of her weaknesses (mainly Axefury through fear and Sorrowsong through command), exhausted every 'you owe me one' favor in her arsenal and is down one fully functional arm. Necromantic energies from the andlát rune inscribed into her right arm used in the frost crux ritual now threaten to devour her flesh whole every time she uses any hint of arcane spells with it to inadvertently empower it, straining her body against the powerful Curse of Flesh magic that Lewin wove into her just above the elbow to restrain it.
Riley was eventually awarded four additional medals for her service in Uldum; the Grand Alliance Magical Service Ribbon, the Alterac Magical Service Ribbon, and the Medallion of Alterac - and in addition, despite her apparent retiring of the Silver Covenant colors, Riley was awarded a Silver Covenant Medallion by Lyraeni Sorrowsong for her sacrifices and actions under the Ranger-Lady's command.Current Day[]
[ WIP ]
Relationships & Acquaintances[]
Wey-Chung Brokenarrow[]
"Hurry up'n sacrifice yerself again so I can turn yer pompous bird inta somethin' useful. Like a four-piece dinner an' sides." |
She nearly burnt his farm down, once. He's never forgiven her. They're pretty much bloodbound, with him bestowing upon her the nickname Fridget due to her acclimation to frost magics and her inability to stop fidgeting during their first few months of knowing each other. Riley grew out of it, giving up a focus on frost to favor abjuration; to her chagrin, the nickname stuck.
Wey served as a balance and a tether to Riley's otherwise unstable lifestyle; previously a ballast to her alcoholic tendencies and inability to control her unrequited lovesickness, Wey now acts in a reverse capacity - keeping the undead Quel'dorei above the ground, assisting in finding decency in her unlife. Despite their traded barbs, it's obvious there's a familial bond between the two, forged from an unspoken experience; one that stretches beyond mere acquaintanceship.
She assisted in saving his life during the Shadow in the Sands campaign, and happily reminds him at any opportunity that her gross stank corpse blood is now a part of him, while remaining indignant that he was awarded a higher-ranked medal for his bravery than she did while retaining a pulse.
Alectryo II[]
"... that's what the chicken has to say, anyway." |
Rilennia's beloved pet and the only officially Kirin Tor-sanctioned divination chicken; the quel'dorei used and abused him for simple matters as finding out the weather forecast and larger scale tasks such as tracking down Burning Legion holdouts and the location of higher-ranking lieutenant demons. The chicken is gifted with a supernatural cognizance, having been exposed to high levels of the Suramar Nightwell's magics while within the egg, and accompanies Riley's fortune telling as an essential accessory; many are in awe over his powers, and rightfully so, while the Quel'dorei is regulated to a translating handler.
Alectryo has, since the events of the Siege of Tirisfal, taken a considerable amount of time to re-accustom himself to his would-be master; however, with retraining, placating and plenty of snowberries, he has allowed Riley to resume her alectryomancy to the delight of enraptured crowds across Azeroth.
Taldarick Reynolds[]
Rilennia was trained in the ways of magic by the Kirin Tor arcanist Taldarick Reynolds, and served under him in their tenure in the Highguard. He instructed her in the seven schools, fostering in her a love and appreciation for all things arcane - being one of the sole teachers responsible for furthering her education to a point of graduation from the Academy.
Riley had heard of the arcanist's reputation while studying to pass exit exams, and resolved herself to have him take her on as an apprentice. She orchestrated a chance meeting with Taldarick in the parks of Stormwind, allowing him to pontificate on the importance of magic, before revealing very little of her acumen; the Quel'dorei couldn't even open a portal without his extensive training, a long-struggling feat that she, with his unorthodox tutelage, eventually mastered.
She quickly developed on-and-off reciprocated romantic feelings for him that had fallen by the wayside since his return from an expedition to one of worlds opened by the many demonic invasion portals torn open through the appearance of Argus. The magus returned from a strange world not quite himself, and chose a life of burying himself wholly in his extensively dangerous chronomancy research above the life that he, Riley and their adopted daughter Nicolette had attempted to carve out for themselves - leaving Riley alone in Dalaran for months at a time before she finally moved on.
The pair often icily acknowledged each other in passing in the Hall of the Guardian, where the former has a longstanding desk; however, once Riley was promoted to Guardianship, to where she no longer needed to serve beneath him, contact was lost. Vanishing entirely from her life a second time, either by portal or unexpected death, Taldarick has not been seen or heard of by any of their shared acquaintances since.
With Rilennia's absence from the Hall entirely in her undead state, unable to access it with a lack of arcane in her body, it has been nigh on a year since she's seen Taldarick. Following a mission to a Legion-occupied world as part of a dispatched strike team, Taldarick never returned to Azeroth before the Vindicaar made it home. True to her deeply buried and confused feelings, Riley makes a point to ask after his well-being through every newly met Kirin Tor operative of any rank; none so far have even heard of the wily arcanist.
Nearly eight years on from the scar in the sky from Argus' defeat, Riley has yet to fully accept Taldarick's loss, and refuses to give up hope that he might still be out there - the wily magus, in history, being simply too stubborn, too lucky or too angry to die to whatever Legion holdouts may yet exist.
Nicolette Rimeshard[]
Rilennia's adopted daughter with Taldarick and half-elven former orphan turned skilled protégé. 'Nico' is a child prodigy, a wunderkind of magic and mischief alike; she draws out a motherly side of the quel'dorei rarely seen - not that it matters, given Nico's penchant for disregarding with extreme prejudice anything Riley has to say.
Nico was adopted in a spur-of-the-moment decision prompted by Taldarick in one of his indiscernable, irascible moods - always wavering to and away from Riley in terms of romantic reciprocation, the Lordaeronian decided to give both Nico and Riley a better home by sharing his Dalaranian apartment and giving Nico the means to an education.
While the two may bicker, a softer side of Riley had been turned towards the teenager in an effort to better associate with her; since the siege of Antorus, Rilennia made more of an effort to reach out to those she cares for, Nico being chiefly among them. The half-elf child spends most of her time at the Academy, where she has been nearly thrown out mulitple times since her enrollment; inadvertently following in the steps of her unorthodox minn'da.
Since the events of the Burning of Teldrassil, and her mother's death, Nicolette has taken it upon herself to swiftly advance through the ranks of the Academy - far surpassing anything that her mother or father could have taught her themselves. Nicolette and Riley had a very rocky reconvene after nearly a year of separation; the former resenting Riley's unnecessary sacrifice and accidental abandonment. They sporadically worked through reestablishing a familial relationship - especially since Riley's name is still on the Dalaranian apartment Nico inhabits. As of the events of Shadowlands and beyond it, Nico and Riley have drifted apart in communication, and have yet to reconcile.
Sir Shindo Malphur[]
[[ WIP ]]
Music[]
[ Discordant Denunciation( ... for A Magi Reborn )] :
XENON II ~TOMOYUKIの野望~
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfE-ooKZMJU
[ Hey Kid, Buy Some Bone Shards ( ... for Myopic Magnate ) ] : Commix - Emily's Smile
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ikK2ZOu9Hc
[ Recollection ( ... for Lost Memories ) ] :
In Space - Royksopp
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLnFpjHArwQ
[ MAGIC FIGHT!! ( ... for Harmless Sparring ) ] :
Xenon (Beatmania Ver.) - Mr. T
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mKDujQnP3A
[ Meat Trees & Blue Jays ( ... for The Machine ) ] :
Dawn Chorus - Boards of Canada
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRJ_uZClz4Y
[ Give Unto Me ( ... for The Maid ) ] :
Scarlet - Silent Hill: Homecoming OST
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ktKG-w35kk
[ 'Cause It Ain't For Me ( ... for Nicolette ) ] :
Ochre - Infotain Me
- https://youtu.be/59mh3Bs1Msc
[ Pickin' Stones ( ... for Wey-Chung )] :
saib. - space cowboy
-https://youtu.be/vpRoV7vvkEE
[ Rebirth & Renewal( ... for Reanimation )] :
Dayvan Cowboy - Boards of Canada
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVsucS0rU3s
[ You're Fond of Me ( ... for Fanatical Fascination ) ] :
aso. - Kyoto
- https://youtu.be/WJlxHoAR4Vs
[ Arkana'anore ( ... for The Most Furious Battle ) ] :
Rchetype - Causality
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSzmyRmK8hg
[ Time is a Flat Circle ( ... for Synchronicity ) ] :
RQ - CROSSING 166
- https://youtu.be/o0_yc90FAnY
[Outdated] Art[]
Riley's art can be found consistently updated on her Carrd HERE.