User:Galaxea
Preface
I am excited to play with the Horde and AIE. I have played Alliance my entire Warcraft career, with my main character being a Night Elf Druid named Treadwell. I have two Draenai alternates, a Mage and a Death Knight named Galaxea and Galaxia respectively. I have recently rolled my Horde Blood Elf Paladin, also named Galaxea with the intent of an interesting role play perspective described below. Please be patient as this story begins as Alliance, with a tie into the Horde at the end. This is my first Horde character above level 10 and first attempt at role playing.
Galaxea was born with her twin sister Galaxia to two loving parents on Argus and lived in peace with her fellow people. As a child she used to go out and gather fruits and berries for her family with her mother, stopping to pick the occasional flower for her friends and loved ones. She also loved to go with her friends and listen to a prominent Draenai leader named Velen speak and would cling to his every word as he told his stories. She loved his teachings about life and harmony and it filled her with light and energy that sustained her until the next time he spoke.
As she grew older her daily task of gathering food for the family “blossomed” into a hobby for picking flowers and rare herbs. At one of Velen’s sittings she offered him a bundle of very rare herbs she gathered in gratitude for his teachings. He was very appreciative and told her to pursue her passion for gathering these rare plants. Over time she was able to provide her community with many new breeds of plants previously unknown, which were used for medicinal purposes in healing diseases, and cooking new and delicious recipes. She became well known and respected among her peers through these new findings. Despite all these praises and accolades, she remained humble and very giving to those in need.
Later, as a young adult, many of her friends stopped going with her to listen to Velen, started to act differently, talking to themselves while glancing over at her. One day she asked them why they didn’t want to go with her to hear the stories any more, and they started to talk fast and eyes wide with erratic hand motions about the things Kil’jaden was offering them. Kil’jaden offered new and interesting skills that gave the wielder great power. They said Kil’jaden did not agree with the way Velen saw things. She was shocked and taken aback at the attitude change in her closest friends. She could not understand how they could be so easily swayed to this new line of thinking after going to many of the same sittings with her to listen to Velen. Her friends became more aggressive and demand that she come with them and go listen to Kil’jaden to learn of his ways. She knew deep inside this was wrong, no matter what the proposed reward was, so she refused.
Galaxea noticed that this division was not isolated to her circle of friends, many in the community were adopting Kil’jaden’s teachings and were preaching their point of view openly by whatever means. At her next sitting with Velen, the group was a fraction of its former size. Velen seemed apprehensive and warned us to be ready to move quickly if needed. He instructed us to only divulge this information to those we could trust, so that his followers would not be compromised. Many of us had questions, but Velen said that we would have to trust him, and that he was acting in the best interest for the welfare and future of his people. Many of us were scared at these words, but rushed off to tell our friends and family.
On the fateful day that Velen warned us all to come with him, Galaxea told her mother, father, and twin sister to follow her quickly and to take only what they could carry. She was sorry to leave behind her precious herbs native to Argus, but even sadder to witness her friends and community had withered away and turned so quickly and absolutely to Kil’jaden. During their escape to Velen’s meeting place, her former friends gave them chase and had savage looks in their eyes, grinning malevolently. During their desperate flight, Galaxea’s father realized he would compromise everyone else with Velen by giving away their meeting place to the followers of Kil’jaden. Suddenly, and against his family’s wishes, he stayed to hold off their pursuers, urging his family to continue. Her tearful mother grabbed Galaxea and her sister and ran on, realizing this was the only way, not wanting to make his sacrifice in vain. Galaxea cried and reached out for her father as he defeated many foes before he was brutally broken and ripped apart.
They reached the group of remaining faithful followers as Velen started to plead for the salvation of his people from this tragic turn of events. When the Naaru encircled the group and lifted them off the planet in their ship, Galaxea was torn with emotions ranging from relief at the escape of their captors and grief for her father, who died to save her family and the group entirely.
When they landed on Draenor, many had had time to grieve and accept their new life. Galaxea spent a lot of her time on the spacecraft with her family as they listened to Velen and learning of the Naaru. This new teaching about the light the Naaru provided was very different than the power Kil’jaden had offered from her former friend’s description. It was warm and nourishing, radiating a subtle power from within. The Naaru were kind enough to share this light with everyone, and we found that we could harness their power to heal our wounds and make better the sick.
On Draenor, Galaxea found comfort in gathering many new herbs and plants on her daily outings to collect food for the community. She often traveled North West to a land of open plains and grassy vegetation. This area reminded her most of her Argus when she gathered plants there. On one of her outings she ran into one of the green skinned creatures she had heard of, noticing that she too was gathering herbs. A little nervous, but very curious she approached this creature waved a greeting of friendship. The creature, also a bit reserved, smiled and approached cautiously. They clasped hands and over time, shared their herbs with each other which increased their mutual trust and friendship.
They met more and more often at common gathering places at all times of the day. Galaxea made the effort and was able to learn the creature’s language over the next few months. She learned this creature, named Gamah, was an orc, native to Draenor. She also learned from Gamah many skills, including good places to gather herbs and what the plants were used for. Gamah also shared with her the knowledge of how to mix these herbs effectively to produce elixirs and drinks that had many different uses. Gamah was gracious enough to invite her to her home where she showed her how to mix the herbs properly, teaching her all of her alchemy recipes. While there, Gamah introduced Galaxea to her family and village. The orcs were wary but not unkind, and some of the elders gave her gifts of food and animal skins to take back to her home.
Galaxea and her sister continued her study of the light from Velen and the Naaru. They were especially receptive to these teachings and became able to wield the light beyond the normal healing powers many of the Draenai possessed. They experimented and practiced with each other for months until they were able to master these powers of light. They discovered that this light could be used not just for healing, but for protection, increasing one’s natural abilities, and even had offensive capabilities as well.
And this did not come a moment too soon.
One day while gathering with friend, Gamah disclosed to her that some of the orcs were changing, willingly, becoming more aggressive, and talking of not trusting the Draenei. She heard that the Draenai were planning to destroy the orcs, which Galaxea told her was untrue, and implored her not to believe it. Gamah told her that the elders had forbidden her to go on these outings anymore. Gamah said things were moving quickly and getting out of control. Her people were sinking into a dangerous lust for battle and some had a new dark type of magic, she feared for the Draenai. They said their tearful goodbyes as they hugged and departed from their gatherings one last time, heading for home.
Galaxea warned Velen and her people of what Gamah had told her. Velen did not act as surprised as she assumed he would, and he proceeded to go out to talk with the orcs. From Gamah’s descriptions of the orcs, Galaxea got the impression this strange twist from a peaceful race to power hungry and aggressive had happened before in her lifetime. There have been reports of Draenai hunting parties being attacked by orc warriors and strange spell casters. She vividly remembered the day her father died, being unable to help him defend her people. She decided not to let this happen again. She approached the captain of the guard and offered to teach the warriors her and her sister’s new abilities they harnessed from the light. The Draenai were quick to catch on, having been taught the use of the light already by the Naaru. At times she was sad after she trained them, knowing the future holds more war and bloodshed, but she did not want to see her family suffer again.
Just as she feared the orcs kept attacking, kept coming, until finally a massive horde attacked their home city that was supposed to be hidden. Again Velen lead his people to safety, while others stayed behind to defend the rest, aware of their certain doom. The two sisters and the “warriors of light” they taught fought bravely, taking many orcs down before the Draenai warriors fell themselves, unable to overcome the endless number of the Horde. Galaxea and her sister defeated foe after foe as they ran through the falling city. Tears filled her eyes as she ran, watching areas of the city fall that held some of her fondest memories. With no one left around them and the city overrun, the Draenai defenders had served their purpose, buying time for their people to escape. They fled the city through a secret passage to meet up with the other Draenai. During this flight an orc party stumbled upon them after crashing through a wall in front of them. Outnumbered twenty to two, they instantly burst into action, with the orcs a bit surprised to find them there. They felled foe after foe, using their powers in unison, synergistically to protect and to vanquish the orc invaders. The orcs, skilled warriors themselves, were consumed with rage and able to find opportunities to strike, the sisters narrowly parrying or dodging.
Fighting three orcs at once, Galaxia was unable to dodge all of their attacks. The orc behind her struck her in the back against her plate mail, stunning her and fracturing the armor. The same orc quickly struck again breaking the armor completely and sinking the axe deep into Galaxia’s unprotected flesh. She buckled immediately and dropped her weapon, falling to her knees. The orc place his massive boot on her back and forcefully removed the axe, as she fell forward motionless, eyes wide open. Galaxea was fighting off the remaining two orcs and she glanced over her shoulder to witness this in what seemed to be slow motion. She felt her rage grow inside her suddenly, and lashed out violently in all directions at the five remaining orcs, causing them to step back. She gathered herself physically and emotionally, choosing not to rely on her rage, but rather her energy of light. She closed her eyes and tilted her head skyward, seeming not to notice the orcs charging her with weapons raised. She immediately muttered words to herself and a circle of light exploded around her, completely disintegrating her combatants. Composing herself she motioned to her sister’s body, tears flowing. That moment she heard more orc voices growing louder, closing in on her position attracted by the massive showing of light. She remembered her lesson from her father, not wanting to compromise the rest of the group by leading the enemy to them. She made the painful decision to leave her sisters body, and flee before they could track her. She narrowly escaped again with her people, having a bitter sweet reunion with her mother on the Naaru ship, telling her mother of Galaxia’s gallant defense of city and untimely death.
Later when they arrived on Azeroth, she was relieved again to be free from hateful attacks. She filled the days with herb gathering, which always gave her peace. She discovered her people made an alliance with some of the races of this planet, and she was quick to learn of their heritage and lore. Her mother found a quiet pastime as an auctioneer in the Exodar to keep her mind busy and off of the past, but eventually made many friends and enjoyed her time there.
The memories of her battle on Draenor as a “warrior of light” or Paladin as the locals call them, were very painful, and Galaxea wished to move on to something new to help her forget. One day, she ran into some humans with rather unique powers, very strange but enticing to her. They told her of their order and were eager to teach her. She eventually shed her Paladin title and became a Mage with the blessing of the teachers in Stormwind. She went on many adventures all over Azeroth exercising her new arcane powers with lethal efficiency, becoming very familiar with this land. She was able to create a vast library of herbs and stored them at banks in various Alliance cities. She also applied the teaching from her dear friend Gamah to these herbs and came up with many new elixirs to use. She was also able to learn recipes from local master alchemists.
She was in the Garden area of Stormwind one day talking to some Silverwing emissaries when she noticed a tall night elf talking to one of the local druids. His appearance caught her eye due to his lack of facial hair common to his people. She was used to this growing up, with very few of the Draenai having excessive facial hair either. His eyes were similar to her race as well, but different enough to keep her attention. He glanced over and noticed her watching him, as she quickly glanced away pretending to check her mail at the local post. She had seen night elves before, but this one was different somehow. After looking up again and observing him for a moment, she gathered that he was receiving instruction from this druid. She had heard that these druids get their power from Azeroth, drawing on its natural energies to heal, fight, and even change forms. This planet was alien to her, and she was unable to connect in the same way the druids could. She was happy to find several of her auctions had found buyers, because she needed more alchemy supplies. As she collected the last of her income from the mail, she noticed a rather large figure in leather had sidled up to her. She looked up and it was the night elf that she had seen across the garden. He smiled and she smiled back, then they started talking and walking through the streets of Stormwind.
His name was Treadwell, a druid that has seen many battles in this land, having lived here for thousands of years. He described many of his battles, and how he had to reform for the battles. Galaxea was amazed and skeptical of this shape changing, until Treadwell showed her. She was alarmed but impressed to see him reform instantly to a giant bear, but with the same eyes. And quickly again into a panther, then a cheetah, a tree-like humanoid, and many other creatures, then finally to himself again. After she regained her composure, he told her each of these forms had a specific function. She went on to tell him about her talents as a Mage. Night elves she learned were very suspicious of this type of magic, having bad experiences in the past. But eventually they learned to appreciate each other abilities, and enjoyed one another’s company. They met often in Stormwind when they found time between their duties supporting the Alliance. These meetings grew into friendship and eventually a romantic relationship.
After battling many foes in Azeroth, she and many other Alliance answered the call to travel to Draenor through the Dark Portal to battle the Burning Legion. She was appalled at the state of the planet, torn apart and a fraction of the size. She had many adventures and met many new companions in her journeys in Outland. She was even able to meet A’dal, with the feeling of his light being unusually bittersweet, as it was normally warm and inviting. The memory of her sister was too painful to overcome, and she used the light only sparingly on healing herself in desperate situations.
When the Lich King launched his attack on Shattrah City, and the cities of Azeroth, she responded to the call to Norhtrend like many of her Alliance friends. On the long voyage by boat to the frozen shores, Galaxea was surprised to see Death Knights accompanying the Alliance in their quest to defeat the Lich King. She learned that some had broken free of his grasp and were free willed now, choosing to fight against him.
Upon reaching the Borean Tundra, she strode off the boat with confidence and eagerness to defeat these new enemies. But nothing could prepare her for the next moment. She stopped in place dropping her bags suddenly and stared at what she thought was a ghost. Galaxia had come to visit her from the afterlife via this specter. Again, everything moved in slow motion, her twin sister was conversing with other Alliance members in front of a local inn. It seemed very real to her, too real, Galaxea slowly walked toward her sister. The vision of Galaxia glanced over, and quickly did a double take, a wide smile appearing on her face as she left her group and raced over to Galaxea. Galaxea was amazed to see her vision of her sister behave so genuinely, but the powerful embrace of her fully physical sister brought her to the reality of her. Galaxia spoke quickly and happily about searching all over to find her. After conversing for a while and coming to the understanding that she had been raised as a Death Knight on Draenor by the Neztherim, servants of Kil’jaden, and later brought to Azeroth to continue the conquest of the demons and the Lich King. She was ashamed of all the harm she caused as an agent of Arthas, but during these times she was not herself. On her last mission for Arthas, she was given a task to kill one of her kin, a friend she recognized from Argus, and the words he spoke to her awakened something inside her, which eventually grew into the liberation of her mind. From that time on she fought for the Alliance against the Lich King, and took this second chance on life to find her family again. The light did not totally leave her, still being able to heal herself and others occasionally, but her powers of light she used with her sister have been permanently replaced by the tools the Lich King taught her, too far entrenched in her for too long to be removed. So she chooses to use these against him as best she could.
They found joy in this reunion and quickly returned to the Exodar to inform their mother. After many days of reminiscing, the two adventurers returned to Northrend to aid the Alliance in their quest. Their travels lead them to group with many different companions, often apart from each other based on the needs of the Alliance. The still met up frequently, and shared the stories of their adventures. Eventually Treadwell learned of Galaxea’s sister, and her long hard journey to her current state.
During one quest in the Zul’drak area, Galaxea came upon a deep and dark tunnel in the snow. After observing the cave for a while, noticing the primitive tools and unusual smell, she deduced it might have belonged to a witch doctor of sorts. She noticed a crude glassy orb with many imperfections sitting on a wooden table along the back wall of the cave. It was half the size of her fist and seemed to have grey clouds swirling against one another inside of it. She reached down and upon touching it, was blasted by energies she never felt before, and lost consciousness, falling to the ground with the orb still clutched in her hand.
She found herself dreaming of her old self as a Paladin on Draenor, and her special times spent with Gamah. For reasons unknown to her, she dreamed in the Orcish language as she remembered her harnessing the power of light as a Paladin. This was the first time she remembered dreaming in this language since she was first learning it. She slowly faded out of her dreaming state into unconsciousness again.
When she awoke, she was in a land she vaguely recognized with golden trees and beautiful buildings around her. She stood up, looked down at the ground and gasped as she noticed her dainty feet. She felt for her tentacles and horns only finding a soft neck and strawberry red hair in a pony tail. She looked behind her and her tail had disappeared. She quickly realized she was no longer a Draenai, but an elf, maybe even a blood elf! She noticed blood elves standing not too far off, and naturally felt startled and prepared to defend herself. But the words to her protective arcane incantations failed to come to mind. She was also surprised to see these elves had warm smiles on their faces when they looked at her, albeit they were taken back a bit from her bewildered state.
She felt what she thought was a smooth rock in her hand, only to look down and see the same crude orb she found in the cave. Only now instead of grey smoke swirling, it had two separate interlocking but continuously moving swirls of golden yellow and deep purple. They moved in a yin-yang motion over top of one another, but the significance of these new colors escaped her.
She looked up again at the closest blood elf, to see her beckoning her closer. She spoke in a language that seemed different at first, but Galaxea recognized it as Gamah’s language in the next moment. She explained to the blood elf how she was disoriented and needed her assistance. The blood elf was happy to help and escorted her around the village. Galaxea quickly recognized this as the island area around Silvermoon City, which she had seen during some of her travels here as a Draenai. The escort strolled by part of the city that seemed to call to Galaxea. She thanked the elf for her assistance and walked into the room that beckoned her alone.
There were many other blood elves in this great hall with a large passageway into it. She felt a warm feeling from within grow stronger as she walked further into it, catching looks from other elves occasionally. She recognized the feeling as the light she had felt years ago, and she let it swell in her reluctantly at first, but whole heartedly after, having all the pain from the past erased by her sister’s return. She heard a voice in her head call to her softly. She stopped and focused on this voice listening intently. A’dal’s voice spoke to her again, calling her name in a soothing tone. She looked around again and felt the light permeating this area, realizing she was in the hall where the blood elf paladins resided. She heard the voice in her head explain that she had been transformed into a light-wielder again. Galaxea’s thoughts spoke to A’dal and asked why this was so and why she appeared to be an elf. A’dal answered it was the orb she carried that did this to her. He explained because she was dreaming in the orcish language, the language of the Horde, the orb interpreted this while reforming her as a paladin. He said this was a very powerful artifact, and to keep it well protected. He also said it was a serendipitous circumstance she had and to embrace her two new lives. It took her a moment to absorb his last message, two lives? Galaxea assumed this transformation was permanent, but could she return to her Draenai self? A’dal heard these thoughts and explained she could change back to her other forms, at their last locations, if she held the orb and willed it so. He explained the golden yellow represented her blood elf paladin self, and the deep purple her Draenai arcane mage self. She thanked him for this information as he slowly faded from her mind.
While in Silvermoon, she was became curious about the natural ability these blood elves had for enchanting things and decided to explore this a bit herself. She found that in this form she too had an affinity for enchanting and it came easily to her. She also quickly realized that if she was going to be a paladin, she would need the proper equipment. With no friends among the Horde yet, she decided to make her armor and weapons herself via the local blacksmith. She now felt more settled into this new side of her life and decided to test out the orb to see if she really could switch back. She hid herself in a corner of the city and held the orb tightly in her hand and thought of her former self, and felt a slight tingling sensation. She also felt the air around her go ice cold; she opened her eyes and found herself in the same cave in Northrend. She looked down at Draenai self and relaxed a bit, taking in a deep breath. She quickly opened a portal to Dalaran to find Treadwell, Galaxia, and eventually her mother to share with them her experience, with all of them finding this news wonderful. She was excited about her future, and hoped one day to serve as an ambassador for peace between these two factions.