Annika Mara

**Affiliations**
 **Status**

**Annika Mara** *(née Stromvyr)* is the eldest daughter of the 14th Earl of Stromvyr and his Alteraci wife. Widow of Janos Mara, 17th Count of Myrewood, Lady Annika is now known by courtesy as the dowager Countess of Myrewood. She has two children and two grandchildren, with another on the way. She gave birth to her eldest child, Erzsibet (The present Countess of Myrewood) at the age of just sixteen and a son followed just a few years later. Now a widow at fifty and a wealthy woman in her own right, the dowager Countess resides at Myrewood House in Stormwind City.

She is known to have ties to SI:7 as both a civilian asset and later an officer in her younger days. Whether she was ever a field operative remains a mystery, but it is rumored that she still has high security clearance and receives weekly intelligence briefs from the agency. She is known to have been a close friend of Pathonia Shaw and officially retired around the same time, a decade or more ago. Her record was then sealed and made available only to those with the highest clearance.

## Appearance

Despite being a woman of fifty, Annika has aged very well, likely owing to a life of luxury and outdoor sport. Average in height, she appears to be in her mid-forties, her skin retaining the perpetual tan common to the wealthy. Unlike many women of her age and station, she uses very little makeup, her natural beauty and a small amount of mascara seem more than sufficient to keep her looking her best. Her hair is worn short and though it is beginning to grey, she will often dye it.

With regard to jewels, Annika wears the very best. Be it a necklace of moonstones, blue diamonds, Azerothian diamonds, gold, or silver, each exquisite piece of her collection is the genuine article and some are at least five centuries old.

Known to have dressed modestly while her husband was alive, she now favors the most elegant gowns and boned corsets made from the finest silks and the softest leather, each exquisitely tailored to accentuate her ample bosom and shapely hips.

Her courtly etiquette, intelligence and refined speech hint at the quality of education available only to the aristocracy. The authoritative tone of her voice reveals a distinct, Stromic accent, common to the aristocracy of the Arathi Highlands.

## Personality

Thoroughly convinced that the aristocracy are the natural leaders of the world, Annika will not shrink from using any means necessary to ensure that they remain so. She continues to make use of her late husband's political connections and still wields a fair amount of influence in the house of nobles, despite not holding a seat in her own right.

Accused by her late husband of being self-serving, secretive, and ignorant of a woman's proper place in the world, her ties to Stormwind's SI:7 and the Shaw family have made her privy to a great deal of sensitive information, which she has exploited in the past.

Known to favor men much younger than herself, she has always practiced discretion in her many affairs so as not to dishonour her husband while he was alive. Since becoming a widow, she has taken a number of lovers, most of them less than half her age and referred to by her daughter as *house pets*.

## Politics

Although she cannot hold a seat in Stormwind's house of nobles, having spent most of her life in Stormwind, Annika is well-versed in the Kingdom's politics and rumored to have written each of her late husband's speeches. Using the late Count's political connections, her own ties to SI:7 and even seduction in some cases, Annika retains a fair amount of influence and is rumored to have been behind at least half a dozen questionable political appointments.

Considered to be a conservative in many respects, Annika is a staunch supporter of the Monarchy and the supporting role of the aristocracy in maintaining order within the Kingdom.

Like her daughter, Annika hopes that the aristocracy will soon return to the power it once enjoyed before the Stonemasons debacle and the rise of the Defias Brotherhood.