Tayluur Welch

The hero the Knights don't deserve, but need

**Tayluur M. Welch** is currently an armsman of the Order of Ashfall. But through her life, she has been many things. You probably wouldn't think she was any of those things if you've met her. But it's true; she's had a long career serving in the Alliance military among other groups such as mercenary groups and has even been sailing with rag tags of pirates. As a child, she did not seem the type for these kind of adventures, but alas, here we are.

## Childhood

As a child, Tayluur's (or Tay for short), first big memory was crossing the sea to settle in Theramore with her parents who were big time archaeologists. So you could say adventuring and maritime exploring was in her blood. She would absorb any book she could get her hands on, and would go off and "dig" holes with her parents.

When she wasn't with her parents or had her nose in a book, she had a tendency to bother the other children in Theramore. She would boast about becoming the youngest member of the League of Explorers, or becoming the next big hero like those in the Silver Hand. The dwarves in the village would often humor her, but the other children just found her annoying.

 Overall, Tay had a very enjoyable childhood and did not have much, if anything, to complain about. As she grew into her teens, she began to yearn to see the world. She wanted to be explorers like her parents, but did not have the means to go join some grand and famous company. So she did the next best thing; she joined the army. Her parents were not thrilled with the idea, but there weren't major wars going on in the last couple years and had been relatively peaceful times. At most, they thought Tay may become a guard somewhere like Goldshire or Sentinel Hill. That was the case for a while, but then came Northrend.

## In the Army Now

### Northrend

Tay spent the first year of her military career patrolling Elwynn Forest. It was tough in the beginning, but she became very sturdy. She didn't plan to stay for more than a year after realizing maybe she wasn't going to be seeing the world as a guard outside Stormwind. But then the undead attacked. The world was invaded and the Lich King was back. Every soldier was sent to Northrend, and even though, Tay was finally getting to see more of the world, this is not exactly what she had in mind. If she had any ideas of leaving the Stormwind Army, it was too late now.

Northrend was tough. As a grunt, Tay didn't see many of the big battles like Wrathgate or especially anything like Ice Crown Citadel, but she was there on the front line. This time in her life transformed her. She wasn't the happy-go-lucky brat from Theramore anymore. Tay had become a shallow husk of a person; her mind barely there anymore as she went from battle to battle. Eventually, the cold didn't bother her anymore. Eventually nothing bothered her anymore. She had become used to seeing the rotten undead; their bodies indescribable and when she slept, it was all she could see.

### The Light

In her blank and dark mind, she was also woken by something. Her commanders knew the signs and told her she had the Light in her. With training, she could become a paladin. It seemed so surreal to Tayluur, some kid from the Wetlands. She was given leeway in between missions and battles to be taught by one of the army's menders how to summon the Light. As with everything in Northrend, there was too much to do and too little time to do it. She learned a basic healing spell that she would carry with throughout the rest of this war.

### Stormwind

A year or so had past, and Tayluur was on her way back to Stormwind. She was given leave, in which she would go home to Theramore where her parents would care for her. They did not recognize her anymore, but eventually, she came back around and she once again Tayluur Welch, their daughter. It had been a month and it was time to go back to work. The war in Northrend was over, and she would go back to serve as a patrolman in Elwynn Forest, and hopefully stop in Goldshire for a mug of ale. A quiet, peaceful life with a regular boring routine every day. But then came Deathwing. Stormwind was on fire, and Tay was once again thrown into the fray. The next two days would be spent running around with buckets of water, and maintaining order in the city. In the next months, Tays contract with the army was up, and she decided she had seen enough.

## From Poverty to Prospering

### On her own

Tay would find an apartment in Stormwind and try living a quiet city life, but eventually, she had to find work as living off her army earnings would not keep her afloat for long. With the destruction of Stormwind, work was hard to come by. There was only so much money to go around and with everyone rebuilding, there just wasn't many jobs. Eventually, Tay was on the streets. Weeks had gone by, and she would hear about all the things going on in the city. Warlocks were setting up shop. Cultists were living underground. Stormwind was not a very safe place to stay.

### La Rivoluzione

Trying to get passage back to Theramore, there was nothing Tay wouldn't do for a little bit of money here and there. One day, while beating a bunch of big burly men in a bar at arm wrestling, someone took notice. It was the leader of a mercenary group employed by the king at the time to help keep in the peace in Stormwind. Seeing this young, small woman beating all these big men at arm wrestling; well, he had a proposition for her. With Tay's military experience and need for money and food, Tay was a perfect fit for a mercenary group. She helped arrest people. She would go into other areas such as Redridge to capture felons on the run. It was a pleasant time.

### War on the Warlocks

A group of warlocks had been terrorizing Stormwind. WIth the bulk of the Stormwind Army all over Azeroth, La Revoluzion was put to the task of ending their seemingly excursion. This would take the mercenaries to places like the Eastern Plaguelands where Tay would get to see old Lordaeron. Cutting the warlocks off from the supplies all over north Eastern Kingdoms would bring Tay back to Stormwind where the warlocks were finally starved out and put in chains.

### Back home to Theramore

It had been an interesting year. Tay had learned to lead men in battle, and became more confident in herself as a fighter and as a person. She grew in the ranks of this mercenary group, and found all kinds of spoils for herself. Something that stuck out to her was a pair of goggles. No one knew what she was in them, and she never stopped wearing them. As the Stormwind Army began to come back home in the coming months, La Revoluzion was no longer needed in Stormwind. Tay was obviously invited and mostly expected to follow along on their next adventure, but she just wanted to go home and see her parents. Just as she about to board her ship, news came hard and fast to the city that Theramore had been nuked and that there were no survivors. Unable to believe it, fell into a dark pit and disappeared from the world.

## Back in the Army

### A pirate's life

Tay took the next ship over to the one she was supposed to board and decided to go where ever it took her. It was a merchant ship in which she would learn to clean and run a ship on the waters. It wasn't long after, this merchant ship was attacked by pirates where everyone was taken in as slaves to be sold. Tay, with her strength was given a choice of joining their group or being used and tossed around. Tay didn't care what happened to her, but when push came to shove, she eventually fought off anyone who came near her and she unofficially became a member of their group. She would spend the next year drinking herself to death, and finding small pleasures in discovering islands in the South Seas and being used as a fighter when boarding other merchant ships.

### The First Regiment.

Like most things, this rag tag group of pirates would diminish until it was no more and Tay would find herself back in Stormwind. It had been over a year since she left and now she was back with no real goal, so she figured why not join the army again. She didn't exactly want to be on the streets again, and with her tan and toned muscles, she would have an easy time getting back into the groove. Maybe she could even go back to a quiet life. As Tay was in training, she seemed to be standing out from the rest and was introduced to a higher up the First Regiment, Defenders of the Realm. She would go through interviews until she was finally placed into this seemingly group of elites. Once placed, she would spend the next few months doing drills and going out on patrols throughout the Eastern Kingdoms, familiarizing herself with the way things were done. Tay would make friends and eventually meet people that would be in her life for the coming years. She was even placed into

### Draenor

It seemed like for every half year or year of peace, there was always something else on the horizon. News came to Stormwind that the portal to Outland had opened, but it's color was different and orcs were pouring out of it. The First was, as the name implied, the First to be sent out and investigate. They were stationed in the Blasted Lands to reinforce Nethergarde Keep. It wasn't long that the main army caught up and they were rushing inside the portal like the heroes of old. It had been a long time since Tay had been this excited, and thought on he parents wishing they were alive to explore a new planet with her.

She spent the bulk of her time holding secure locations in the Tanaan Jungle with skirmishes here and there. Once time came to push into the continent proper, the First was spread about to hold new locations. It was during this time that Tayluur would find herself lost. She was on a completely different planet surrounded by animals and flora she was not familiar with. She would spend weeks on her in the jungle until she was caught by some orcs. Tay couldn't tell you how long she was their captive, but it was during this time that would snap. Something in her broke, and she would never be the same Tay anyone had met previously. Eventually, a group of Draenei had attacked the orcs and saved all of their brethren including Tay. They nursed her back to health, and after she was healthy enough, they took her to a garrison that had been built by the Alliance, Lunarfall. She would continue to be nursed back to health.

### PTSD

Tay was sent back to Stormwind and would never set foot on Draenor again until the end of the war there. Until then, she was placed in care where she would spend many sleepless nights. The undead came back to her dreams, and now the orcs alongside them. She would grow restless screaming to get back on the battlefield. But eventually, she would calm down, and out of it came someone who wasn't entirely Tayluur. She had always been a little on the odd side, but there was something entirely off about her now. After being cleared from the hospital, she would finally see Draaenor again, but was only used as a guard inside Lunarfall. She would get accumulated with a routine of drills and more drills where she continued to fail what was once mundane and muscle memory. She would continually be out of uniform trying to sneak in wearing her goggles. The First was not a place for someone like Tayluur anymore and her superiors saw it. It would be time for Tayluur to leave the army once again on an honorable discharge.

## The Knights of Ashfall

### Back on the sea

Tayluur was supposed to take a ship back to Stormwind from the Blasted Lands, but ended up on the wrong ship. She ended up on a ship with another rag tag group of pirates where she would drunkenly break many bones and was allowed to stay on the ship as an "unofficial member." PTSD and alcohol was not good for Tay's system. She fell right back into her old routine of drinking herself blind and boarding ships she wasn't allowed on. It was only a month later that this ship was being pursued by the Stormwind Army and was caught. Their ship was brought into the Stormwind Harbor. Some mates of hers were able to escape and they cut her free. Tay was on the run from the military she still technically served. It was in the Cathedral District that she ran into an old friend and superior from the First Regiment, Jeremaias Auromere[1], that she would find refuge, and regrettably use to hide from her captors.

## Writings/Artwork

Tay came across a camera on Draenor, and started to record her adventures.

* Tay's Adventure