Sanara

Born Anaraati, Daughter of Adria, Daughter of Vala, and Harrid, Son of Tomin, in the city of Ver Ager upon Argus, Sanara, the Witch of the Crystal Woods, has lived a hundred lifetimes worth of experience, memories, and tragedies. Likely the oldest Draenei alive, Sanara has lived throughout the history of her people, from the peak of Eredar civilization on Argus, through the fall to the Burning Legion and every step along the way through the Exile, the Bloodlust of the Orcs, the opening of the Dark Portal, and finally her people's resettlement on Azeroth.
== Biography ==
=== Argus ===
In her youth, Anaraati, as was her birthname, was an idealist. Yet her view of the world, and life on it was naive at best. As she grew up she viewed the Eredar as the epitome of existence, and perhaps gods in their own right. In her first few hundred years of adulthood, she attempted to affirm her beliefs by exercising her talents in arts both martial and mystical, seeking to learn and master every form of expression, every trait, and every profession that there was to learn.
Eventually, her passion for learning and her frequent indulgence into new and unfamiliar experiences took a toll on her relationship to her lover, Navii, who grew increasingly impatient with her as time went by.When Sargeras came to Argus, Anaraati, while lacking the precognitions of Velen or any knowledge of the Fallen Titan's intents, distrusted the promises of the Demon Lord as he was not of Eredar birth, and could as such not possess any significant power.
With the advent of Velen's exodus from Argus and the beginnings of an Eredar Civil War, Anaraati realised the extent of her misconception, and of Sargeras' power. However, instead of embracing this potential greatness, she was struck with fear upon seeing what the Eredar were becoming as they turned upon one-another in their hunger for power. Horrified, Anaraati chose to flee Argus. To her despair, she found that her years of neglecting their relationship had jaded Navii to the extent where she was more than willing to embrace Sargeras promise of power rather than join Anaraati in exile.
Narrowly escaping Argus among those Eredar who would rename themselves Draenei, Anaraati lost herself into a depression, shaken by the loss of her home, her lover, and her beliefs in the Eredar race.It took many years of travelling the cosmos before Anaraati grew to trust the enigmatic Naaru, viewing them as opportunists taking advantage of the exiled Draenei. Only after observing how others, having fared far worse than her during the fall, turned to them for guidance, did Anaraati begin to embrace the teachings of the Light and the way the future generations of Draenei would live, detaching herself from the past.
Setting aside her beliefs in the Eredar superiority and bottling up her arcane mastery in fear of succumbing to it as so many others had, Anaraati took a new name, and a new calling. Dubbing herself Sanara - an old Eredun name meaning 'Gentle Flower' - Anaraati took up the mantle of the Priesthood of the Light, aspiring to work with the Light and earn her keep rather than expect to be pampered to as she had in life.
=== Draenor ===
As one of the eldest alive not to turn to the Burning Legion or to succumb to the myriad threats the Draenei encountered in their travels, Sanara made it her own responsibility to care for her people. Of all the things she had achieved in life on Argus, having children had not been one, only because of her choice of spouse. Determined not to let life have a similar course now, she carried and gave birth to several children over the years. By the time the Draenei reached Draenor, she had three daughters and two sons. Once upon Draenor she birthed a twin pair of daughters, Aysii and Vidii. Apart from the twins, each of her children had a different father - another result of Sanara's attempts to distance herself from her Argus life by never staying with a single partner for long - and grew up supported primarily by their mother and her close friends.
Time, however, took its toll on Sanara. Her efforts to strive away from her roots wounded her soul deeply, and the strain on her body from caring for all her children - even while some grew up, she found it impossible not to worry for them as they left to found families of their own - finally caused her to collapse. Her remaining children were adopted by her friends, or their respective fathers, and Sanara left Shattrath, and her Priesthood with it, imposing herself into self-exile.
Surviving in the wilds brought back Sanara's taste for life, as she rediscovered her martial talents and physical strengths, immersing herself in what the world offered her. Without her knowledge, she had begun along the path that would eventually lead her to Azeroth.
However, soon after her new life had begun, it was forced to an abrupt, painful end by the Orcish Bloodthirst. Finding the nearby Draenei villages sacked, Sanara attempted to return to Shattrath, but she arrived too late, in the weeks following the city's sacking. Sanara returned to the forests to hide from the Orcs, and for many years continued to live in near-complete seclusion, wandering between the different surviving colonies of Draenei.
In time, her sporadic contact with the Lost Ones and Broken - who she continued to treat as her children, as any other Draenei - caught the attention of the spirits of Draenor, who came to her in her dreams and in visions, teaching her the path of the Spirit Seer, as they had done to Nobundo and the Lost Ones before her. Fearful that her contact with the Lost Ones had corrupted her to the point where she too was Broken, Sanara brought herself further into seclusion. As the years went by, she had become like a legend to the natives of Draenor - a wandering spirit, quick to anger but benevolent when approached right - especially the Arakkoa of Terokkar, and the Ogres of Nagrand. The Arakkoa dubbed her the White Witch, for her bright clothes would often get stuck with the bright, luminescent spores of terocones, and her magic was great.
The destruction of Draenor, as it came, harmed her and the spirits she lived with greatly, but in the end, she endured, seeing it only as a natural progress of the Legion's wicked plans to destroy her and her kin. The Alliance that had come to Draenor raised her interest, and she watched them for a long time. While hiding from the Legion's forces in the aftermath of the Dark Portal closing, the unity they all shared around their faith in the Light rekindled some memories in the aging crone, and she sought to return to her people once and for all.
With the fall of Magtheridon, Sanara took the courage to herself to return to the Draenei permanently, taking up residence in the temple-city of Shattrath. With her newfound powers and wisdom, Sanara rejoined the Aldor Priesthood under Velen and later Ishanah, as Velen traveled to the new world, Azeroth. In time, Sanara's soul, now strengthened by her bond to the wounded world, would heal, and in time, she would make herself useful to the slowly rebuilding Draenei society.
=== Azeroth ===
The Sha'tar - the Naaru of Shattrath - vowed by the reopening of the Dark Portal to destroy the Legion's presence on Draenor once and for all. Sanara was one of the select elite hand-picked by Grand Anchorite Almonen to represent the Sha'tar's interests to the many races of Azeroth that sought to join them through the Dark Portal. Her experience with the Alliance Expedition stranded on Draenor and the many different native races of Draenor made Sanara an ideal ambassador, and while she was reluctant to leave her people behind, Almonen's word was final, even to her.
Her servitude as an Ambassador was long and difficult, as the Exodar-based Ambassadors were prioritized by the Alliance, and the Horde wanted very little to do with her. To pass the time, Sanara communicated with the spirits of Azeroth - a world nowhere nearly as tormented by the Legion's influence as Draenor - and, eventually, took contact with Nobundo in the Exodar to refine her crude, impracticed abilities.
With the final assault on the Sunwell and the banishment of Kil'Jaeden from Azeroth, the imminent threat of the Burning Legion had been staved off, and Sanara, like many other members of the Sha'tar, took to Azeroth as a new, unbroken home.
== Personality and traits ==
A truly ancient woman, Sanara is one of the oldest surviving Eredar outside of the Burning Legion's influence, but it hardly shows. While she gleefully reminds those around her of her condition, the powers of the Light, the Elements, and the Spirits of the Wild all continously revitalize her, making her age indeterminable by most of the lesser races. Having lived such a long life with so many undertakings has left Sanara with many talents and abilities, practiced and outdated alike. To a degree, her extensive abilities and willingness to utilize them all leaves her unfocused at many times - her almost 'senile' behaviour one of the few hints at her advanced age.
She is strong-minded and independent, but has a fundamentalist belief that the union is stronger than the individual. As such she encourages all Draenei, including herself, to embrace eachother as an extended family despite any disagreements. Her propogations for the rights of the Broken and the Lost Ones have garnered her a reputation for being a troublemaker, and rightfully so, but also shows that she is an adamantly compassionate mother-figure for her people to the end. In person she speaks with a soft voice and moves with a slow and gentle grace, and like other Draenei has little regard for - or need of - personal space when with her family and close friends.
The Draenei has had a long history of war and violence, and Sanara is a living testament to it. On the battlefield, she is a force of reckoning and vengeance, driven by purpose, belief, and passion. Even without the powers of the Elements or the Arcane at her side, her soft exterior hides a ferocious survivalist, capable of dismembering Orcs with her bare hands. With the devastating magical powers at her disposal she becomes nothing short of a storm of death when she goes to defend herself or those she cares for, and rarely does she fight under any other circumstances, too weary of death and war already at her old age.
==Appearance==
Sanara is of average height for a Draenei, with sleek horns that run backwards along her scalp that neither downplays nor exaggarates her height. Her skin is bright blue, appearing almost white in strong light, and her natural haircolour is vibrant cyan, although it is occasionally dyed white or bright brown and almost always kept at a few inches below shoulder length. Like most Draenei she carries herself with an arced back and strongly defined posture which emphasizes her voluptuous curves, and walks with long, well-balanced steps.
Category:Draenei
Category:Shamans
Category:Alliance Characters
Category:Females
Category:Alliance