User:Joshmaul/Araen Warpwalker

"'The years I spent out there taught me a few things: Worlds beyond our own do exist, orcs were murdering scum before they ever set foot on Azeroth... and most importantly, never eat anything made with olemba cones.'"
 * - Araen Warpwalker

Araen Warpwalker is a veteran Farstrider who served during the Second War, and spent nearly twenty years trapped in Outland when the Alliance Expedition severed the connection to the Dark Portal. Learning of Quel'Thalas' fall and subsequent "rebirth" as part of the Horde, she remained loyal to the Alliance, serving in the Silver Covenant as a "regular elf" for years before reuniting with her old commander, Alleria Windrunner, and going down the path of the Void.

Biography
Born in Suncrown Village in what is now the Ghostlands, Araen came from a family of Farstriders, and thus it was no surprise that she took up that calling herself, serving in Quel'Thalas' army during the Second War. She was among the elven rangers who joined the Sons of Lothar through the Dark Portal to Draenor, and was trapped in that other world - now known as Outland - for close to two decades.

Araen was stationed at the stronghold in Terokkar Forest named for her captain, Alleria Windrunner, who had disappeared along with General Turalyon when Draenor fractured. She was overjoyed when the Dark Portal was reopened and contact made once again with the Alliance, but her joy was tempered by what she had learned in the period immediately prior. During the long isolation, the high elven rangers at Allerian Stronghold encountered some of their people now calling themselves "blood elves", who had arrived with Prince Kael'thas. They learned that Quel'Thalas had fallen, that the Sunwell had been destroyed, and that the new "lord" of Outland, Illidan Stormrage, had promised them new power. To her horror, Araen later discovered that those blood elves who remained in Quel'Thalas had turned to the Horde for support, a decision she condemns to this day.

Choosing to remain with the Alliance when she finally returned to Azeroth, Araen aligned with the Silver Covenant - led by Alleria's sister Vereesa - during the war for Northrend, and later against Quel'Thalas' ancient foes, the Amani trolls, helping end the Zandalari-aided resurgence in Zul'Aman during the Cataclysm. She returned to Dalaran afterwards and remained there until it shifted to the Broken Isles, at which point she served in the ranks of the Unseen Path, Azeroth's order of hunters.

To her surprise, when the forces of Azeroth took the fight to Argus, Araen discovered that Alleria and Turalyon were alive... and that Alleria had been changed by the power of the Void during her time in the Nether, which for her had been close to a thousand years. Having followed her to hell and back, Araen ultimately decided to follow in Alleria's footsteps after the Argus campaign, and made her way to the Telogrus Rift to become a ren'dorei.