Maleva

"And mutual fear brings peace,
Till the selfish loves increase;
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care."
:: -William Blake "Human Abstract"
==Appearance==
Maleva, should anyone be unfortunate enough to glimpse her, is a remarkably tall female. Her face and body are somewhat hidden under ragged, black robes. She constanty chews something in her mouth that colors the saliva dribbling down her front to red. Her skin is like smoked silk, tight around her muscles. A nasty, deep scar runs across her belly, all the way from between her breasts to her groin, viciously slashed. It is very difficult to guess her age.
With green, cold eyes she watches the world, her yellowish nails curving at her sides and on her toes. She carries a simple troll drum on her back, ancient-looking and worn. Her ears are heavily pierced with tarnished jewelry. Faded, chipped bones and wooden beads hang around her neck, wrists and ankles. Her hair appears blackened, like from smoke. Decorative scars run down her arms and cover her whole face.
She rarely speaks, but if she does the sound consists of series of inhales and hisses. This points to that perhaps her vocal chords are damaged. She sounds like an old woman, her laughter a crow-like cackle. However, she is able to control her tone somewhat, and appear sweet, cooing at times but the effect is far from kind.
==Life==
Maleva was born in the Frostmane Hold some forty-fifty years ago. The actual date or year remains unknown. Never showing that she would be in any way gifted, Maleva was treated like any other frostmane troll. Not much is known of her early years, but at this point she was still, undoubtedly, a normal and sane person. Maleva's father (name unknown) traded her off when she was very young to a wealthy merchant who's wife had trouble giving him offspring. It is presumable that Maleva's father meant well and hoped that the family would then gain a better standing within the tribe. However, Maleva tried to defy her father and had to be forced and kept well hidden. Being locked inside a hut for months and having to listen at the merchant's wife's insults was not easy. Maleva gave birth but as the child was taken from her, she discovered her gifts to call on spirits. Using her anger and bitterness as the focusing point, she summoned several malicious spirits. The hut in which she was kept caught fire that spread rapidly on the cold winter night. The outcome was disastrous- several trolls were injured and a whole family died, suffocated by toxic fumes. Miraculously, Maleva managed to get out from the hut.
===Punishment and exile===
Bleeding but otherwise seemingly unharmed, she was dragged in front of the tribal council. She was quickly found guilty. Named a heretic, her tongue was torn out by the young Varjin (later a chieftain of the tribe) who also burned the wound, leaving her mute for the rest of her life. An eyewitness claims that when approached with the torch, it took several grown males to hold her still and the effort of a skilled hexer to stop her for calling the spirits to her aid again. The tribe punished her for Evil Words Spoken and she was driven into exile. Finding shelter on the mountains, Maleva managed to survive and lived as a hermit. She perfected her skills with the spirits, resorting to sign language and crude sounds that have been described as "brutal, bird-like, predatory and often disturbing".
Maleva never saw her firstborn again. It can be speculated that this, as well as the isolation, took a heavy toll on her and can perhaps be blamed for her later crimes. It should be noted, however, that she did manage a impressive amount of skill, seeing she had no known mentor nor any means to speech.
As the years proceeded, the tribe sometimes relayed on her skills. A superb hexer, she demanded heavy payments as well as news from the Frostmane Hold which she still considered her home. It is not known how long she lived alone, but at some point, a snowstrider male entered her life. Presumably, Maleva either fell in love with him or sought his company in order to get a child she craved. As her pregnancy proceeded, she spent more and more time meditating in a trance-like state, speaking to her unborn child, Zorita. It is also possible that she forced him to be her companion, either through threats, manipulation or other mind control.
===Career and crimes===
Despite being named a heretic and driven to exile, Maleva still managed to hold a certain status with certain circles of the tribe. It seems that during the first few years of her life as an outcast, she did do some good for the tribe. Her specialty, ironically enough, seems to have been lifting curses that caused infertility in females. It is possible that this acted as a painful reminder of the child that was taken from her and caused her to withdraw more. As the years proceeded the small cave she had inhibited started to feel more and more like a prison and punishment. She grew spiteful and resorted to blackmail, threats and demanded heavy payments for her help, collecting trophies and swapping her skills to favors. Many of the tribe shunned her completely at this point, but some recognized her power and wanted to remain on her good side out of greed or fear, sending her the occasional gift or news of the tribe. Although several severe cases of illness, avalanches and unexplained freakish changes in weather date back to her days, her connection to these events has never been confirmed and is not likely to be found, as her name has been wiped away from all tribal records.
It seems, however, that she did hold a certain fascination towards fire, using it as a tool for destruction and as a sign of her power. She seemed to care little for the lives of others and perhaps with a good reason- it was after all them who had cast her out like a leper, and forced her to live as a hermit when surely she had deserved a life so much better. It is not known to what extent her lack of empathy had developed at this point, but her personality turned more and more abnormal as the years went by. It is also possible that some of her bitterness was caused by self-hatred for having made the mistake of setting the village ablaze. Perhaps she regretted showing her colors, not being able to control her gifts in a moment of rage and losing not only her future but the possibility to be surrounded by targets for her manipulative ways. Controlling others and getting them to do the dirty work seemed to work fine for Maleva, who was suspected of dabbling with tribal politics. When she was interrogated, however, she always pretended not being able to communicate. Threats didn't go down very well on her either and the trolls responsible found themselves in embarrassing situations and soon facing blackmail. Her actions were almost always so subtle that it was difficult to catch her. Most of the tribe rather forgot about her than tried capture, which was perhaps rather unwise.
==Death==
A small warning of the content of this chapter as it is somewhat violent/ graphic.
Shortly after giving birth to Zorita, her second child, Maleva became pregnant again. She died before the child was born. It is not known as to who or whom are responsible for her death, but the act was remarkable in its cruelty. It is possible that the culprit/s were members of the tribe, seeking revenge or a scapegoat. Maleva's remains were found by the tribe's fishermen. She was found clutching her stomach which had been cut open as if in a final, desperate attempt to protect her unborn child. Her whole body had been badly burned. Her face, the fishermen said, was the worst. There is no question whether or not the murder/s had taken time in torturing her and the outcome was described as"disgusting". Maleva's male companion was found not far away with his wolf. They had been pierced to death by several arrows, but whether dwarven or trollish no one cared to investigate. The reader should remember that Maleva was not considered to be a member of the frostmane tribe and therefore, her life had no value. She received no burial rites and was left in the snow for the scavengers and the wolves. What happened to her daughter Zorita is not known, except that she did survive.
==Credits==
All illustration(s) by Zorita of the Frostmane Hold- any unauthorized copying, lending etc prohibited.
Screenshots by Zorita also.
Category:Frostmane Hold, the
Category:Death Knights
Category:Trolls
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Horde Characters