Ruadh nic Arthuaine

=Physical Description= As penance for her past crime, Ruadh chose to mar her face with her own claws. The scar tissue is stained with flame-rendered sap from a certain tree. This does not hide the expression of abject sorrow that occasionally flits across her visage when she thinks noone is watching. Her combat armour consists of salvaged leather remnants, though no less effective for its simplicity.

=Personality= Having seen firsthand that being on the side of so-called good does not preclude failure or defeat, Ruadh is a pragmatist. She is capable of separating emotion from action and has no qualms about ruthlessness. She also believes in calling a spade a spade and will not mince words if she chooses to speak her mind. First impressions find her callous and cynical as she tends toward mistrust of strangers, especially the ones with good intentions. She is often to be found in or near water where she feels most at ease.

=History= ''Oh the werewolf, oh the werewolf

Comes stepping along

''He don't even break the branches where he's gone

Once I saw him in the moonlight when the bats were a-flying

''I saw the werewolf and the werewolf was crying

The Werewolf Song – Cat Power

Abandoned in a small fishing village near Southshore at the zenith of the Third War, she was adopted by the local midwife. Relegated to spinsterhood at an early age because of her profession, Celeste did her utmost to provide her Rurie with a normal and loving childhood despite the mistrust and bigotry shown her charge by the rest of the villagers.

In spite having to endure the surreptitious warding signs made behind her back and an occasional stone from the village boys, Ruadh did have a friend she truly treasured in Colm the tanner's son, also tormented for his clubfoot. Together, they would escape the village to hide in the branches of an oak tree far from the village, or swim in the sea where his lame foot could not encumber him.

It is the sap of this tree that stains Ruadh's scars. The night she left the only home she had ever know forever, she flame-rendered the sap from its fallen branches and rubbed it into the wounds on her face in memory of her best friend and the unfortunate circumstances that ended that friendship.

As the years passed and the boys grew into young men, Ruadh began to discover her innate druidic talents. She found she could shapeshift into any beast of her choosing, though the metamorphosis was always accompanied with some discomfort. Made wary by the suspicions of the villagers, she kept this a secret even from Colm.

On the night of the harvest festival that year, the drink flowed freely and talk soon turned cruel. Bolstered by their youthful arrogance and made lustful by the coy flirtings of the village maidens, the men began to speculate on the breeding habits of elves and other fey races. Colm was summoned and made drunk in an attempt to coax details of his relationship with Ruadh from him. Giddy with this newfound social acceptance and intoxicated, he made no protest when it was declared that they find out if Ruadh was 'green all over'.

They cornered her behind the village hall and held her down as they laughed and tore her clothes from her. A red mist descended over her vision and she heard nothing but their taunts and derisive mirth. When it lifted, she found herself covered in blood and staring at the Colm's faceless corpse, recognizable only by his clubbed foot. He had been unable to run from the ravening beast she had shifted into in her panic.

Ruadh buried her friend and dragged her claws down her face in her grief. Packing her meagre belongings and bidding a silent farewell to a sleeping Celeste, she set off towards Stormwind, travelling through the forests and avoiding even the smallest farmsteads.

(Feedback is very welcome - this is but a rough draft and I might have fudged some timeline/Lore details)