User:Joshmaul/Chaiya Greenacre

"'Umm...oops.'"
 * - Chaiya Swiftpaw, usually after a somewhat embarrassing incident

Chaiya Greenacre is a pyromancer and explorer belonging to the Huojin, the faction of pandaren from the Wandering Isle aligned with the Horde.

Biography
Born in the farming village of Dai-Lo on the Wandering Isle, Chaiya is the daughter of Lazhna Trueflight, an expert huntress, and Chaoyen Greenacre, a farmer who lived next door to Lazhna in Dai-Lo. She was raised almost entirely by her father, who often said her mother was "bitten by the exploration bug". Chaiya was partly inspired by Lazhna's elder brother, Yatiri Stormwatcher. However, Chaiya did not take to it quite as easily as he did; though she possessed considerable speed and strength, she lacked the inherent grace - or patience - that seemed to come naturally to Yatiri. Nonetheless, he encouraged her to keep at it; eventually, she was enrolled at Shang Xi's Academy, which continued operating even after the venerable Master passed into the Wood of Staves.

Much to her surprise, Chaiya proved to have magical talents rather than combat skills. But she was impatient and sometimes reckless, leading to occasional accidents - though none that resulted in anyone getting hurt. In time, she too would be "bitten by the exploration bug", but only after the world found its way to them. She was too young to go with her mother and uncle when the Alliance and the Horde crashed onto the Wandering Isle, and told to keep up her training at the Academy. By that time, the monks of the Peak of Serenity in Pandaria rallied at the Temple of Five Dawns, renaming themselves the "Order of the Broken Temple", and served as the organization under which all monks served. Chaiya kept wondering why her uncle Yatiri was not among them, but believed he was out in the field somewhere fighting monsters and helping people.

Three years after she had left, Lazhna returned, having fought in the war against the Burning Legion. Not wanting to become involved in another pointless race war, Lazhna decided to come home for good, and ultimately settled down with Chaoyen at their home in Dai-Lo. But Chaiya, knowing there was a whole world out there, wanted to go out and see it for herself. Far from being supportive, however, Lazhna was horrified; she had seen the "real world", and she believed it to be nothing more than a pit of death and suffering. She wanted nothing to do with it, nor did she want to lose her only child like she had her only brother. She revealed that Yatiri had been killed not long after the siege of Orgrimmar that had ended the conflict in Pandaria, and she had secretly brought him home to the Wandering Isle and buried him in the cemetery just outside the farmstead. Chaiya was stunned, but was undeterred in her decision. She wanted to explore.

Surprisingly, given how he had remained on the farm, Chaoyen supported his daughter's desire. There was only so much she could learn on the Wandering Isle, and at any rate, he reasoned, the world had already come to them; why not send her out to the world? Reluctantly, Lazhna gave in, but warned her about the growing tension in the Horde under Sylvanas' rule. In a stroke of luck (whether good or bad depends on the beholder), she encountered Kelty Sparkleblast, a powerful and eccentric Kirin Tor archmage. Despite the goblin being (to her own admission) "mad as a hatter", Chaiya found much in common with Kelty - particularly, her love of exploration. For her own safety, however, Kelty had her go to Dalaran when open rebellion began against Sylvanas. After Sylvanas renounced the Horde, Kelty brought her back to Orgrimmar, where she elected to begin a "crash course" in magical instruction - because, the goblin explained, anyone who was capable would be needed for what was coming next...