Clairent Dawning

**Status**

Born to a half-dwarven blacksmith and a human peasant of Strahnbrad, Clairent was never destined to grow tall or important. However, she did grow up strong, and came of age at an important moment in Azerothian history. After the fall of her home to the Scourge, she ventured to the Scarlet Monastery and presented herself to the Hand of the Unblinded as a warrior, alongside whom she fought in skirmishes for years. She now serves in their infantry.

## Description

There is nothing soft about Clairent Dawning. That much is immediately clear.

This young woman has ripcord muscles, built working the family forges and given a hint of bulk by her Dwarven blood. A combination of an active lifestyle and malnutrition has stripped practically any fat from her body, giving her a deceptively petite build. She has honey blonde hair down to her shoulders, though she is rarely seen with it down; she far prefers it up in a ponytail and out of her face, and when down the roughshod nature of her haircut – self-inflicted, most likely – becomes infinitely more apparent. She has sharp gray-green eyes that always seem to have a spark of mischief in them, amplified by the smile that takes her lips whenever her blood is up, whether that be excitement, anger, or something else. Despite her relatively small size, she has wide feet that often require her to attempt to alter her own boots to fit comfortably, an endeavor that often leaves her with boots in a sad state of disrepair and callused or even bloody heels.

Clairent is a survivor, and a scavenger, albeit one with not-inconsequential blacksmithing ability. She tends to favor movement over heavy armor, preferring chain mail or a solitary breastplate over full plate armor, and this is the gear in which she is often seen, though whether this is a question of preference or resource scarcity is up to the observer. Beneath this, she is prone to wearing a simple linen tunic, short trousers, and heavy leather boots. She fights with a bastard sword and a large circular wooden shield reinforced with iron; she likes the greater power of being able to wield the blade two-handed, but the protection of a shield is sometimes necessary against the hordes of the dead.

Clairent bears some unusual scars from her time in the Unblinded. Some are par for the course - some light burn scarring on her chest, a thin scar on the left side of her lower lip - while some are more severe and bizarre - a massive knot of pale scar tissue in the middle of her right palm, and the word 'Friend' embroidered into the inside of her left forearm in crimson thread.

## History

### Early History

Clairent Dawning was born in the Alteraci town of Strahnbrad, though it was under Lordaeronian stewardship for the entirety of her life there. Her father, Calburn Dawning, was relatively well-known as a blacksmith in Strahnbrad, though not necessarily a favorite member of the community; being half-Dwarven (presumably of Wildhammer descent) and not a regularly attending member of the local parish, it is unlikely Calburn found many like-minded friends in the area, though his wares were popular. Calburn is described as standing just under five feet, with a trim, muscular build and a thick auburn mustache. His wife was a woman named Tyra Sorrow, an illiterate peasant who likely descended from the Agusti people of the Black Morass; Sorrow is a surname traditionally associated with noble-blooded bastards in the region, an homage to the many nobleborn warriors who left orphans behind after the Battle of the Sorrow early in Stormwindian history. Relatively few records of exist of Tyra, who like her husband was not an avid churchgoer and was part of few social circles in the Strahnbrad community.

Clairent seems to have been a troubled, if not necessarily unhappy, youth. Like her parents, there is little to suggest regular church attendance, but there are multiple accounts in the local parish's records of locals complaining to the parish father about her promiscuous behavior. Typically these accounts involved sneaking around with a neighborhood boy on some form of romantic escapade, though there were accounts of fighting and petty theft as well. Despite this, she seemed to have been at least moderately popular among her own age group in the community, given the variety of names that appear in the church accounts, and she was typically regarded as irreverent and tomboyish rather than malevolent.

    She was apprenticed to her father by the age of twelve, though it is likely she had lent a hand at the forge well before her formal apprenticeship began. She was present during the Orcish Horde's invasion of Strahnbrad at the onset of the Third War, as were her parents, both of whom survived. Following this attack, most of the Lordaeronian peacekeeping force and administrative staff were withdrawn to support the heartlands of Lordaeron, then under active invasion by the Undead Scourge. Presumably the township was still in human hands as of mid 22 LC, as it hosted a garrison of Garithos's Remnant forces prior to his siege of Capital City. During this time, there are records suggested that Clairent was taken ill and was unable to work for a time; details of this illness are difficult to come by, given the tumultuous time and the great care taken by the family to keep their child's illness out of the public eye, but the sparse records available suggest that her condition had nothing to do with the Plague and involved significant bleeding, possibly due to an injury at the forge.

The Dawning family disappears from what few records of Strahnbrad exist after 22 LC. There are brief mentions of a man matching Calburn's description in refugee caravans in the early half of 23 LC, but if Tyra and Clairent accompanied him they are not mentioned.

### Hand of the Unblinded

Clairent does not make a reappearance in historical record until August of 26 LC, at which time her name first appeared on the rolls of the elite Scarlet Crusade sect called the Hand of the Unblinded. She seems to be little more than a common foot soldier of the Crusade, and how she gained admittance to the sect is not known.