Tanaida Malvoisin

Basic Information


Title - Vanguard Siege Engineer (retired Legion Champion)

Gender - Female

Race - Blood Elf

Faction - Horde

Status - Alive

Location - Icecrown

Alias/Nicknames: Tan to her closest friends and simply 'The Chief' to her team of siege specialists (as as assassin she was better known as 'The White Death')

Age: Ageless (178 but appears to be in her 30s)

Affiliation: The Crimson Legion, The Argent Crusade, Sylvanas Windrunner, Lady Liadrin, The Justified Ancients of Muu, The Horde

Social Status: Professional Soldier

Marital Status: Resolutely Unmarried (rumours of a husband killed during the Fall of Silvermoon and at least one child)

Birthplace: It is assumed that she was born on the mist shrouded lair of the infamous Malvoisin family. A windswept rocky island to the north of the Isle of Quel'Danas

Based: Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar & various other locales - often dealing with the petty details of logistics that keep the Horde's campaigns running smoothly

Personality
Outwardly, Tanaida is the very image of the consummate professional officer - courteous but icily assured, grimly humorous but utter determined, apparently unapproachable but a completely reliable friend... As a member of the dreaded Malvoisin Clan, she was the surgeon's blade rather than a cold hearted murderess; as a soldier of the Justified Ancients, she was the loyal friend and adviser of the inner council, as member of the Crimson Legion she is a teacher and guide... Inwardly, she retains all of the passionate capacity for both love and hatred that are the hallmarks of her infamous clan - an emotional storm she strives to control at all times... Honour, duty and friendship are the ideals that give her purpose and those that share in her chosen vocation (to protect the ordinary citizens of the horde) can expect her to stand beside them - whatever the odds.

Physical Description
Her silver white hair and otherworldly blue eyes are the only clues to her age. Otherwise she appears to be a High/Blood Elf of medium height and average build... No one would claim that she is a beauty (by Blood Elf standards) but more than one of her students has noted that one of her (rare) smiles completely transforms her appearance... Tanaida is less delicate than most Blood Elves due to her punishing training regime and her total lack of interest in magic (addiction tends to burn some Blood Elves out and make them look a little gaunt). Her equipment is always immaculately maintained and she is rarely seen out of armour or formal attire.

Brief History
The Malvoisin are one of the first Blood Elf clans to submit themselves to the magical addition that ravages the Elven population of Silvermoon... It is even suggested that they were amongst those that urged the greater use of forbidden powers... All of the family become assassins or warlocks depending on their affinity for magic and pass arcane tests to confirm their alliance with a powerful but little known triumvirate of demon-lords... Tanaida was an unusual Malvoisin from the start... Deadly with a blade but burdened with a code of honour that her infamous family at first found perplexing and then bitterly disappointing... Tanaida succeeded in every mission set by the clan masters but deliberately failed every test that offended her peculiar sense of fair play... The only client that found this eccentricity amusing was Sylvanas Windrunner and Tanaida soon became one of her favourite assassins.

Ironically, it was in training her intended successor as the Dark Lady's chosen blade that Tanaida finally made her break with her ruthless past... http://legionrocks.wowstead.com/forums/the-guild-hall/rp-litanies-of-the-legion/1048297-story-an-unlikely-partnership Assisting a human paladin rescuing horde refugees convinced her to consult with Lady Liadrin and to take up a new role as a member of the Blood Knight Order... Her daughter, Lady Kirisyn, confronted her mother and demanded to know why she had betrayed her own family - Tanaida's mysterious answer confused the young warlock and she swore to erase her sire's treachery and begin her search for the hidden demon-masters who the Malvoisin suspected were behind the war on Azeroth (a search that led to the Twilight Order and Kirisyn's rumoured involvement in the return of Deathwing)

Tanaida was sent one of Liadrin's old opponents, one she had learnt to respect and admire, Bigwind of the Justified Ancients of Muu... In her first year as a paladin, Tanaida enjoyed travelling with the wise old druid and his little sister, Littlebreeze, learning her a great deal about the real value of friendship... As the Outland campaign unfolded, Bigwind suggested that Tanaida assisted the Crimson Legion, recognising that her talent with siege weaponry might prove useful during the conventional warfare in which the Legion excelled...

Although Tanaida wasn't the most formidable warrior in the Legion, she proved a steadfast companion to others - in particular her students (including the famed paladins, Almarius, Raivanel, Ankhnaton and Keledria) and for a few brief months she found herself appointed both Champion of the Legion and the Argent Crusade... During the battles on Northrend she served as the senior siege engineer (Praefectus Fabrum) of the Legion's Vanguard Regiment and was one of the planners who orchestrated the final successful assault on the Icecrown Citadel's formidable enciente (enabling others to penetrate into the inner citadel).

Since the fall of the Lich King, Tanaida has remained loyal to Garrosh Hellscream but only because abandoning her companions would be contrary to her code of honour. Her intense dislike of Garrosh, Varion, and Tirion Fordring (who she blames for the high and unnecessarily high casualties before the final assault on Icecrown) is well known only to her closest friends as she would never allow her personal feelings erode her professionalism. On the one occasion where she was consulted on strategy by the new war-council, Garrosh found her 'caution' irritating and Sylvanas Windrunner's (mischievous) support for her erstwhile assassin made any future summons to the Horde Warchief's hall highly unlikely.

Summir is her oldest friend (how they met is a bit of a mystery) but Littlebreeze, Phanuel, Ammara, Nikitah, Bloodthunder, Hotarubi and Soterios are often seen in her company. Along with Bigwind, Ajaxxor is one of the few that Tanaida has revealed to her relationship with Kirisyn of the Twilight Dawn and the dark prophesy that describes the way in which their next (and final) encounter must end...

Marquesa, Tanaida's deadly final student, served the Dark Lady well but now follows her old teacher as one of the Legion's scouts (speculatore), bemused by her growing fondness for those she would have once thought of as sentimental fools. A true rogue, Marquesa adds a dash of style and panache to what otherwise would be an unseemly brawl.

Tanaida's daughter, Lady Kirisyn Malvoisin, now leads the Twilight faction in the Malvoisin clan (having murdered two of her aunts to ascend to the inner council) and sees the destruction of all her mother holds dear as an amusing prelude to the final triumph of her demonic allies, the true masters of Azeroth.

Known Facts
Was a feared assassin in her younger days but now an advisor to the Council of the Crimson Legion on strategy and siege warfare.

Is a skilled siege engineer and experienced battle commander, she forged a formidable reputation during the Northrend Campaign... http://legionrocks.wowstead.com/forums/the-guild-hall/rp-litanies-of-the-legion/879979-story-the-crimson-legion-at-the-siege-of-icecrown