Aenor Dawnblade

"I always thought that you picked the worst traits out of father's idealism and strong will and mother's fickle heart and more down-to-earth approach to things. Maybe I was a bit wrong."
--Mehlar Dawnblade''
==Physical Traits==
Aenor hardly comes off as impressive: he stands averagely tall or perhaps even slightly shorter than a male Sin'dorei (5'10"/178cm) and is thin to the point of verging unhealthy. His narrow shoulders and lack of muscles only add to the image of frailty, and combined with his delicate or even androgynous facial features, he might even seem effeminate in the eyes of some. Aenor's eyes are naturally green and emit a faint glow which leaves leaves his pupils visible, suggesting a long period of abstaining from Fel. He tends to speak with a soft, careful voice, and a scent of mixed herbs often lingers around him.
Aenor's clothes are usually loose-fitting and kept clean and tidy, and he especially likes wearing decorative robes in white, blue or purple. When travelling, however, he swaps robes for a relatively simple brown outfit consisting of tunic and trousers and often completed with tabard of New Dawn Expedition. A single earring dangles in both of his earlobes: the earrings have been made from dark metal and are shaped into the Pandaren symbol for 'peace'. He can be seen carrying a small rune-embroidered satchel most of the time, and he also keeps with him his family heirloom, an exquisite dagger called 'Dawnblade'.
==Occupation==
Aenor specialises in the Arcane spells, and his talents lie within non-offensive magic: he can shield himself with barriers, conjure portals, animate water or cast illusions with relatively much ease. His faith in the Light has also bestowed him with minor divine powers although they are quite rarely used and tend to wear him out much quicker.
In addition to Arcane arts, Aenor is also fairly adept at herbalism and tailoring. He originally took up the former to find out if any herbs could help his health, but nowadays he studies and collects them mostly for curiosity and occasional profit. He is relatively adept in making herbal drinks and infusions although alchemic concoctions of any kind elude his knowledge.
Tailoring, on the other hand, is something he practises solely for his own needs, as he prefers to either make his own clothes or modify the ones he buys to make them fit his narrow frame better. In addition, he has taught himself to embroider clothes and bags with runic patterns to partially compensate for his lack of skill in Enchanting.
Since the Shattering, Aenor has shown interest and growing skill in subjects related to the history and lore of Azeroth and even dabbled in Archaeology. While he still isn't by far an expert in the field of study, he is constantly trying to improve himself and has gained some knowledge which might not be so well-known amongst his kin.
==Family Background==
Aenor comes from a lineage of stalwart supporters of the kingdom of Quel'thalas. His father, Leanderin Dawnblade, participated both in the First and the Second War and was among the first High Elves to become a Paladin. Aenor's mother Solenna Dawnblade (née Morningray), on the other hand, apparently once studied Arcane magic in Dalaran, but she had given up her studies and turned to religion already before meeting Leanderin. The reasons for this change remain unknown - some suspect the death of her mentor, who was rumoured to have succumbed to the Arcane Corruption - as she never openly spoke of her past as a Mage afterwards, but her powers as a Priestess of Light were strong and her faith unwavering.
Aenor also has an older brother, Mehlar Dawnblade, who used to be a Knight of the Silver Hand. He grew apart from Aenor when the latter chose to study magic over holy arts, however, and their ties was all but severed after the Third War. They have reconciled since although the differences in their views (concerning the Light and the Alliance) still remain.
===Companions===
Aenor has seven pets cats, five of which are seldom seen accompanying him outside Silvermoon. Mithra, a Silver Tabby and his longest-time companion, is the only one who travels with him almost everywhere he goes.
When not opting for his enchanted flying carpet, he usually rides either Qwirne, a red-plumed (and well-fed) Hawkstrider, or Verdant, a Wyvern clad in green barding.
==Background==
Aenor was born prematurely and weak, suffering from both heart and lung problems. He avoided infant death only because of an old friend of his mother's, called Jadea Ebonrune, managed to persuade his parents and cast Nether Fortitude on Aenor. He was imbued with Arcane, Holy and Shadow energies but remained relatively weak and spent a considerable amount of his early life bed-ridden.
Aenor was originally supposed to follow his father's footsteps in becoming a Paladin, but after his parents realised he would never grow strong enough to wear metal armour or wield large weapons, his combat training lessons were dropped and he was instead encouraged and even persuaded to enter Priest training in Silvermoon. Aenor, however, had not inherited his parents' piety and instead turned to books as pastime and his solace. One day, he came across a spell book, and a small flicker of curiosity led him trying to cast one of the cantrips in the book. The attempt was successful, and he continued practicing until he was caught by his brother Mehlar.
Aenor was pressured him to drop his interest in the Arcane, but for once he remained unexpectedly determined. He insisted on getting at least tested for his magic aptitude. and much to his parents' surprise, he was found to have some innate talent. In the end, they allowed him to start studying Arcane magic at the Magisterium.
===After the Third War===
A bit before the Scourge arrived to Quel'thalas, Aenor fell ill and therefore didn't participate in the Third War. His parents were slain while defending Silvermoon, and Mehlar, upon returning from a skirmish in Lordaeron and finding out what had happened, was furious and blamed Aenor for being a useless coward and guilty of their parents' deaths.
Estranged from the only living family member he had left and the corruption of the Sunwell practically shattering his already fragile health, Aenor felt he had little alternative than to stay in Silvermoon and eventually become a Sin'dorei. He tapped into the Fel crystals a few times to keep his addiction at bay, but the demonic magic easily caused him headaches and did little to his nearly chronic cough.
Aenor continued studying compliantly at the Magisterium for some time. Then, he was approached by an acquaintance of his mentor’s,Variálen Alathor, who was looking for someone to accompany him on his travels. Aenor agreed and spent approximately a year as the other elf's assistant, journeying in both Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor and enjoying the sights and experiences of the parts of the world he had never been to. After their common travels came to an end, Aenor went on the life of a traveller, gathering knowledge and training his skills where he could.
===Joining the Argent Dawn===
Eventually, Aenor's journies brought him to the Plaguelands. The sights of the plague half shocked him and half urged him further to do what he could to help, and he soon ran into the Argent Dawn and decided to become their associate, spending the next few months fighting the undead and doing other tasks for the organisation. He gradually started feeling more and more compelled by the Argents’ ethos and goals, but their relationship with the Light reminded him of his past difficulties with his faith and made him feel uneasy. This inner conflict got only worse when he later travelled to Draenor and saw the Naaru A'dal for the first time, and Aenor found himself going through uncomfortable questions and doubting his own morals.
He didn't manage to find an answer until he was asked to join several members of the Argent Dawn on a mission to the Eastern Plaguelands. There he managed to witness not only their power of faith but also his own ability to affect and change things if he only tried hard enough, and this made Aenor's faith awaken. He started looking for ways of combining Arcane magic with Holy and found about Divine Arcanism, and soon, he started studying to become one and officially joined the Argent Dawn. This also made him leave the Magisterium, as the news of his new pursuit or reawakened faith were not much appreciated.
===Nether Fortitude===
Aenor participated in the Warsong Defensive as an assisting healer, using his newly-found faith and skills. Nevertheless, he underestimated the amount of stress the combination of divine and Arcane magic would put on his body, and he fell ill after the Defensive was over, experiencing chest pains, a hacking cough and a high fever.
During his recovery period in Silvermoon, Mehlar approached Aenor and made him finally discover one of the reasons for his ill constitution and also his body's reactions to magic - namely, the Nether Fortitude. Aenor, facing for the first time the truth about his ever-deteriorating constitution and struck by sudden fear of dying, turned his attention to finding a method to remove Nether Fortitude and spent time in the library of Dalaran and the Eco-domes of Netherstorm, testing spell theories and formulae on plants. 
Nevertheless, his attempts ultimately failed, as he wasn't able to do anything beyond temporarily strengthening plants with Arcane and Holy magic and then destroying them while trying to drain the magic from them. Discouraged and disheartened from the result, he abandoned his research and ventured to Northrend in order to have something else to put his mind and skills into.
===Back to the Argents===
In Northrend, Aenor was given mostly menial tasks, such as serving as a messenger between two Horde bases or hunting down plagued animals, until he one night encountered a member of the Wyrmrest Accord while collecting salvageable materials from the Wrathgate battlefield. The dragon, upon learning that he hadn't taken part in the battle, made him relive the events of the Wrathgate and the battle for the Undercity, claiming that it was important for him to know what had happened and what he was fighting for.
The experience shocked Aenor but also made him realise both the true scope of the Scourge threat and the bitter state between the Alliance and the Horde. He eventually decided to leave for Icecrown and request the Argent Crusade to train him, spending the first few weeks in a trial to prove his loyalty and his ability to survive in the harsh environment of Northrend together with several other Argent initiates. After successfully passing the trial, he spent several months honing his Divine Arcanism and other spell-casting and was eventually enlisted in the Argent reserves.
===End of the Scourge War===
When Isiliosis struck the Horde and the Alliance, Aenor – alongside with some other Argents – aided in gathering of the ingredients and also participated in several missions related to the research of the disease's origins and structure. He also took part in capturing the main suspect and taking him to Hammerfall for a fair trial despite the loud disagreements of many members of the Horde.
After the Isiliosis epidemic, Aenor returned to Northrend. He spent most of his time in Zul'Drak assisting in the defense of the local Argent Crusade bases, and when the Scourge War drew near to its end, he moved to Icecrown and joined the main forces. Though he didn't participate in the decisive sieges to the Icecrown Citadel, he assisted the Argent Crusade in the defence of their bases and dealing with the Scourge elsewhere in the area. His hard work was ultimately awarded with the Argents' victory over the Lich King, and he was granted the title of the Argent Champion and a ceremonial warhorse.
Aenor spent a few weeks following the end of the Scourge War in Silvermoon, freed from his duties and enjoying a long-awaited period of apparent peace. During this time, he got introduced to the Convocation of Elrendar. He also soon also joined the Convocation in the hopes he could aid in building a new, peaceful era for Quel'thalas and the inhabitant of the Azeroth in general. 
===After Shattering===
Some weeks after his introduction with the Convocation, the Kirin Tor requested Aenor to look for a spell tome in Karazhan. Aenor ventured into the tower and accidentally came across another tome dedicated to theories of enchanting and disenchanting live creatures. He realised that he might have finally found a safe solution for getting rid of Nether Fortitude, and he started to prepare for a spell removal ritual.
Soon afterwards, he joined the Convocation of Elrendar in the hunt of a Highborne artifact in the Barrens. The mission itself was more or less a success, but violent earthquakes and the crumbling of the land beneath their feet forced the Convocation to make a hasty escape to Silvermoon City - only to be captured by the Magisterium under the false claims of treachery and being spies of the Twilight Hammer. Aenor, along with the rest of the group, was imprisoned for torture and inquiry, and he spent a week in captivity before getting freed and escaping to Dalaran.
After having recovered somewhat when the imprisonment, Aenor called together a few trusted acquaintances and friends to perform the Nether Fortitude removal ritual. The ritual was carried out in Mulgore after several days and succeeded, freeing Aenor of the adverse magic energies coursing in his body, although his constitution remained fragile and he lost some spell power more or less permanently. Shortly afterwards, he also quit the Convocation of Elrendar, both due to differences in views and the feeling of having lost his "usefulness".
===New Dawn Expedition===
Aenor spent the weeks following the removal of Nether Fortitude and quitting the Convocation mostly roaming around, hapless and without a direction. After he found about the new Archaelogy boom caused by the Shattering, however, he decided to start studying it as a means to pass time. The seemingly light-hearted decision lead to a sudden sudden spark of interest, and eventually, Aenor set up a group dedicated to exploration and research with a couple of friends, naming it New Dawn Expedition.
New Dawn Expedition started making journeys to different corners of the world to search for artifacts and other objects of interest as well to study lore. This roused first the interest and then the ire of the Reliquary, as New Dawn Expedition had preferred to remain unaffiliated and did not report their findings to the group. Aenor was called into an inquiry and told to send any potential discoveries to the Reliquary, which he reluctantly agreed to do despite the protests of some members of the Expedition. The Reliquary eventually deemed the group "seemingly harmless", and New Dawn Expedition was removed from their list of immediate supervision.
===Pandaria===
When the continent of Pandaria was discovered among the mists and Horde members were sent to war, Aenor managed to avoid conscription and kept fairly much in move to avoid getting caught. He was devastated when he heard about the Purge of Dalaran, initially believing that any hope for a peace between the Alliance and the Horde had been ultimately shattered, but he eventually escaped the depths of depression with help from a few friends and a temporary stay in Hearthglen. Little by little, he started gathering information about Pandaria and its habitants, forces and history.
When the news of Darkspear Rebellion reached Aenor, he was first hesitant but soon decided that the time was ripe for an expedition to Pandaria. While he was sympathetic to the rebellion and saw Garrosh as someone who would only tear the Horde - and his dreams of hope - apart, he didn't want to make anyone from the Expedition involved in the battles unless they personally wanted to nor participate in the killing by himself, whether for a seemingly good reason or not. He set sail along with a handful of other members from Sunsail Anchorage on the Expedition's small ship, and after travelling the sea for some time, they came ashore in Sri-La Village in the Jade Forest.
==Personal Notes & Trivia==
* Aenor nowadays has a in-character blog of sorts. Feel free to drop questions or leave any other messages.
* Aenor is relatively bad at Fire magic: he can light a campfire or heat water, but he would hardly be able to use Fire magic offensively.
* Aenor is a vegetarian and dislikes sweet things (except tea with sugar). He also has very weak alcohol tolerance.
* Unlike quite many Sin'dorei, Aenor doesn't have a home in Silvermoon, as his old one was destroyed in the Scourge invasion. Whenever visiting the city, he usually sleeps at some inn or rents an apartment for a week or two.
* Aenor has had green eyes for all of his life. It remains unknown whether the Nether Fortitude spell has played a part in this, as both of his parents had blue eyes.
* Aenor's middle name Laurelda is more or less a joke: it means "blond elf" in Quenya.
* Aenor seems incapable of growing facial hair (other than his eyebrows). He never carries a razor with him, as he has never needed one.
* An approximate equivalent of Aenor's voice is Yuri Lowenthal, especially in his role as Cecil Harvey in Final Fantasy IV DS (example).
* Several TV Tropes which apply to Aenor rather well (idea taken from User:P3a):
** Apologises a Lot (especially when feeling uncomfortable or insecure)
** Bag of Holding (his satchel is practically one thanks to its runic embroidery, and it can even serve as a shelter for Mithra while travelling)
** Catch Phrase ("Don't worry. I'm bad at dying.")
** In Touch With His Feminine Side (delicate, mild-tempered, likes fancy clothes and drinking tea etc.)
** Kindhearted Cat Lover (fits to a T)
** Non Action Guy (has some tendencies towards this)
** Squishy Wizard (asthmatic, weak and frail)
** Technical Pacifist (prefers to use less lethal versions of spells in combat)
* Songs which suit Aenor from either mood or lyrics:
** Jun Maeda - Gin'iro
** Yayoi Wachi - Dearest (Strings Version)
** Stratovarius - Just Carry On
==Quotes==
"There are times when I wish I could just return to normal life: to study magic and spells without perhaps ever even using them and not having to worry about killing or getting killed in combat. Nevertheless, I can't really escape like that anymore, right?"
"I don't seek power from the Light - only the peace of mind it gives. I have spent years studying as a Mage: becoming one of the Kirin Tor was my childhood dream, and I have enjoyed discovering magic. I... I can't give up now."
"I know that arcane won't fail and divine won't leave me. I have to try – and I will try."
"Don't worry. I will keep you safe, my brave little kitty." (while talking to Mithra)
==Stories==
Musings of a Mage
This Is My Road
Snow, Flame, Darkness and Light (unfinished)
Category:Characters
Category:Blood Elf
Category:Mage
Category:Good
Category:Male