Blathering about Azeroth

Character Art of Meadhbh Dhommnail

Matojo, over at Troll Bouquet, has been doing extended character profiles for all of his characters, and I am quite unashamedly stealing her idea, because it’s a good one.  I’ve written a great deal about roleplaying in my “Zen and the Art of Roleplay” series, but have yet to really introduce my characters to you, beyond the little blurbs over on the “About Me” page.  So here goes.

I’m beginning with my oldest character, Meadhbh inean Dhommnail, who is actually a pre-wow character who was originally created under another name when I was about 14 and entering into my first D&D campaign.  I have now been roleplaying this character, in various forms, through various games, for sixteen years.  As such, her backstory is both elaborate and largely organic, built through events that were actually roleplayed out rather than something written before the character was ever played.  In each game, I changed only what was absolutely necessary to fit the character into the lore of game I was playing her in.

Throughout those years, no matter what game, she has always been whatever class equivalent there was to a “witch,” but for a short-lived experiment shortly after Burning Crusade came out, where I played her as a rogue to about level ten before she started complaining that this rogue business wasn’t for her at all.  In WoW, Meadhbh began as human, but is now a blood elf. Again, all that has changed of her history is what was necessary to make it fit the lore of the blood elves, though little was indeed needed, since they had been allied with the alliance, and switched sides.

She is also the character I have the least control over. When roleplaying Meadhbh, Meadhbh does what she wants to do, and I am just along for the ride.  It’s one of those odd things that the best roleplayers (and writers) will all nod their heads to, but it tends to make other folks blink and go “What, are you crazy are something?”  – Meadhbh is my creation, yes, but once she took on life and really started breathing, she began telling me what to do, rather than the other way around.

The English Major in me would call Meadhbh a “Lilith” or “Fury” archetype – a disobedient, strong-willed, lusty, and often profane, female, secure in herself and unwilling to take Any Crap from Any Man. She is capable of cruelty that, however justified it may be, is so savage and brutal that, at times, she leaves me trembling.  At the same time, she is in some ways the most vulnerable of my characters, the one with the biggest heart and the quickest to love.

I’ve decided that perhaps the best way to do these profiles would be in interview style, rather as a journalist (or perhaps a psychiatrist) would proceed to find out everything they could about a person.  The interviewer, for this purpose, will be Miss Barb Waterlight, a journalist for the Silvermoon City branch of the Azerothian Times.  Interview is after the break.

Today, we are interviewing the star performer at Deepchasm’s Cabaret and Pub, and Diplomat of the Refuge, Meadhbh Dhommnail.  The young lady is a youthful Sin’dorei woman with rather sallow skin, a rather disappointing lack of a figure for a tavern girl, and a large, rather aquiline nose that she credits with giving her that deep, husky voice of hers.  Modesty, also, does not seem to be something she bothers with, as she has appeared for her interview in a deep crimson dress that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, and shows more skin than it covers.

Barb: So, what’s your full name?

Meadhbh: Meadhbh inean Dhommnail.  That’s M-E-A-D-H-B-H.  Means “Intoxicatin’”

Barb: That’s a weird spelling! How do you get something pronounced “Maeve” out of that?

Meadhbh: Me Da was fond of the Dwarvish ((read: Gaelic)) language. That “dhbh” makes a “V” sound in Dwarvish.  I know, it confuses lots of people.

Barb: Your dad?  He was a warlock too?

Meadhbh: Yep. Caused a lot of trouble when he met me mum, too.  She was a priest, see, all white light and goodness, and the folks in charge thought me da was a “corruptin’ influence.”  Not to mention, he was old enough to be her daddy…and then Mum was up the spout, so they ran away to get hitched ’cause she wasn’t gonna have a baby when she wasn’t properly married.

Barb: So, they left Quel’thelas to escape your mother’s overbearing parents and the church superiors? Sounds like a real pair of star-crossed lovers.

Meadhbh: Dunno about star-crossed. Just the usual bad luck. Mum has a bit of a rebellious streak in her, even though she won’t admit it.  Wears her piety like a cloak…but she’s loved at least two warlocks, with me and me Da.  They settled down outside of Darrowshire, with Da sellin’ potions to the humans to make ends meet.

Barb: So that’s where you grew up? What was your childhood like?

Meadhbh: Oh, the usual. I grew up pretty happy. Mum and Da is both bookish sorts, so they read stories to me.  I helped me Mum with her garden, sometimes, but mostly I was let to run around and do as I liked.  It was a real good time, ’til we got separated.

Barb: What happened? How did you get separated?

Meadhbh: War happened.  En’t that the usual way of it? Came home one day and the house was burned down and me parents gone with no word of where they went to.  Still don’t really know the hows and wheres of what happened and where they went. Neither one seems willin’ to talk about it…I went lookin’ for ‘em in Dalaran, and found nothin’.  Ended up in Ironforge.  I was still a girl, and didn’t have anything to my name but the clothes on me back and a few of me Da’s books that made it through the fire. Didn’t speak a word of Dwarvish, either.  Ended up sleepin’ on the streets…doin’ other things, too…to make some coin.

Barb: I…see.  And that’s how you ended up….?

Meadhbh: In a bar, singin’ and dancin’ in naught but a pair of lacy knickers?  Well, Rosa Deepchasm did me a good turn. Saved me life, she did.  Best dwarf the world has ever seen, though the high-and-mighty folks will never admit it of her, bein’ what she is.  Found me beaten up and half dead in a gutter, and gave me a job.  Not the kind of job any good little girl wants to write home to her mum and da about, sure, but it was safe, at least. Safer’n livin’ on the streets.

Barb: And what happened after that?

Meadhbh: I ended up payin’ off me debt to Rosa after a while, and wanted to get out and see things.  First, I wandered around for a while with this group of folks called the Imperial Assassins, with this real nice lady named Elentarri.  Unfortunately, after a while, my friends there, Elen and a bloke named Drayth, had to go off to do other things, so I moved on to greener pastures, so to speak.

Eventually I met up with this bloke named Auric, aKal’dorei, but he was alright. Introduced me with this group of folks called the Farstriders.  Now…they wasn’t the same Farstriders as them rangers in Quel’Thelas, they just called themselves that ’cause they lived in Farstrider Lodge in Loch Modan. Good people…some of the best people I ever known, and the first real family I ever had.

Barb: But you left them too?  What happened?

Meadhbh: I got knocked up, is what happened. Though I gotta admit I tend to have a touch of wanderlust at the best of times, and en’t really one to stay in one place for a long time.  I loved those folks, I really did.  I went on this trip to see the world, and I intended to go back, I always did intend to go back, but I never made it. Farstrider Lodge is home, don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t go back.

Barb: You had the baby while you were gone?

Meadhbh: Yep, Ceara.  Best thing ever happened to me, and the only good thing I ever done.  It’s like the whole world turns into a better place when you have a kid, you know? And you got to make sure it stays that way for that kid.  But by the time I got back, the Prince had done switched our side to the Horde, and I couldn’t go back to Loch Modan, not without gettin’ shot.  I didn’t have no problems with the Horde, mind…I’d even dated a troll, a time or two…but I missed my folks over at the Farstriders.

Barb: So what then? You had an infant, and you were alone, and couldn’t contact your friends, what did you do?

Meadhbh: I dug up me mum. She was back in Darrowshire.

Barb: Oh, and you had to search to find her?

Meadhbh: No. I knew where she was.  I literally had to dig her up.  She likes to sleep underground.  She’s dead, see? Forsaken. Grave seems comfy to her somehow. Anyway, she introduced me to Momma Rayen, and got us a place to live over at the Refuge.  I never want for babysitters over there!

Barb: I can imagine.  So what are you up to now?  How is life for a lady that’s seen and done so much?

Meadhbh: Nobody ever calls me a lady, Miss.  But everything’s doin’ good. Ceara’s in school in Dalaran, so I got a nice little flat there so I can be close to where she’s doin’ her schoolin’.  I’m a mom now, downright domesticated. Never thought I’d see that in a million years.  Been talkin’ with Rosa – you know, the dwarf friend of mine? – she wants me to open up a new tavern under her name, gonna finance it.  Maybe I will, one day.

Barb: We’ll look forward to seeing it, Miss Dhommnail, and I don’t think anyone will ever really manage to domesticate you, mother or not!  Thanks for sitting for this interview.

Meadhbh: No problem, love, though I don’t know who would actually want to read it.

Barb: Are you kidding? Scandal, prostitution, tragedy, and children out of wedlock? My readers will be all over this one!