User:Joshmaul/Ceraxia Bloodwake

"'I do say, you look almost green with envy... oh, is that my doing? Oh dear, you're on fire. My apologies.'"
 * - Baroness Ceraxia Bloodwake

Baroness Ceraxia Bloodwake is a Magistrix of Quel'Thalas who took up the warlock's arts following the Third War.

Biography
Born some three centuries prior to the opening of the Dark Portal, Ceraxia was the heir to House Bloodwake, a noble family that had been among the first houses to sit on the Council of Silvermoon; like most of Quel'Thalas' aristocracy, the Bloodwakes tended to be mages, and Ceraxia was a particularly reckless one - a dangerous thing to be, given that (like most of her bloodline) she favored fire magics. When Silvermoon fell to the Scourge, Ceraxia was in Dalaran, being "trained properly" (which she considered an insult, given that her "teacher" was human); by the time Dalaran was attacked, Ceraxia had left with Kael'thas' resistance forces to rejoin what remained of the Alliance in Lordaeron. The pangs of magical withdrawal caused by the loss of the Sunwell, combined with the conditions in which they operated in the Plaguelands and the sneering racism of "Grand Marshal" Garithos, would lead Ceraxia to a place that would change her life forever: Outland.

Seeing the former orcish homeworld opened up to the Nether led Ceraxia to "experiment" with power sources to fuel her spells, particularly with fel crystals. Thus it was no surprise to her that they became one of the power sources that were sent back to the survivors in Silvermoon, ordered by Kael'thas to rebuild their shattered land. Despite her interest in this new world she found herself on, Ceraxia was drawn back to her homeland, and returned with Kael'thas' emissaries to Silvermoon. There, she joined the fight against the Scourge forces in Quel'Thalas alongside the Forsaken, with whom she developed a surprisingly friendly connection.

After the home front was secured with the fall of Deatholme, Ceraxia returned to Outland, where she discovered that Kael'thas had gone mad and turned to the Legion. Enraged, Ceraxia joined the Scryers - other elven magisters who had left Kael's service after his treachery was revealed - and fought against those of her people who had sided with the traitor prince. She would remain there for years, even after Kael'thas himself was long dead. When she returned to her home city after years spent in the broken world, she discovered she had visitors - an orc and a dusk-skinned elf she was surprised to learn came from Suramar, a place she had thought long lost.

The orc explained they belonged to the Council of the Black Harvest, Azeroth's warlock conclave. They had heard of her as a particularly skilled sorceress, wielding the potent fire fueled by demonic rituals, and offered her a place in the Council. As he made his offer, the orc also held out a rune-inscribed book which he said would enhance her fire spells. Ceraxia asked if her declining the offer of joining would preclude her from using the book, as she was not one for councils and conclaves, which made her think of the "snooty nitwits" in the Kirin Tor. The orc, amused, replied that if that was her choice, he would respect it, but he would indeed give her the book anyway. It was a copy of the Codex of Xerrath, a text that had made the rounds among a number of powerful warlocks, and Ceraxia set herself to learning more from it in her rune-warded study at her home in Silvermoon...