Ardyn Mordaine

"The mind is a fragile thing. Bend it too far in one way and it snaps back, too far in another and it breaks. The most effective expression of this art is to use what is already there to fit your own narrative, it will bring you far better results than brute force."

- Sinissa Mordaine

Ardyn Mordaine is the last scion of the devastated House Mordaine of Sorrowguard. As a mage unaffiliated with the Kirin Tor, she has branched into more unorthodox schools of magic than would normally be allowed. If the truth of her practice were known, she might be called less of a mage, and more of a shadowcaster.

Born during the reconstruction efforts following the Second War, Ardyn never saw her family's ancestral home. Lacking much of the funding to rebuild, House Mordaine committed their members to safeguarding the alliance until it dissolved, and when the Third War began, her father and elder brothers went off to fight.

With the deaths of most of the House, her mother took Ardyn into seclusion to keep her safe and tutor her in magic until she came of age. On the day of her 19th birthday, Ardyn woke to an empty tower with her mother nowhere to be found. The lone steward of the tower and the accumulated knowledge of her family line, it fell to her to decide what to do with that legacy.

Personality & Beliefs
Ardyn presents a friendly face and a warm demeanour to most everyone she meets, always willing to speak to a new face. Yet behind the kindness is a calculating and selfish intellect. While she's certainly capable and willing to convince people to give her the shirt from their back, she tends to try and be more diplomatic.

While publicly professing faith in the Church of the Holy Light and following their traditions, Ardyn privately worships a much less accepted faith; the cult of the forgotten shadow. Where some might malign her choice of faith as evil, Ardyn believes that the cult preaches self-improvement and critical thinking; traits that were drilled into her from an early age as the hallmarks of a good mage, a good noble, and a good person.

Description
Standing at five feet and six inches in height, Ardyn is by no means an imposing figure. Her frame is thin and her muscles lightly defined if at all, it's clear that she rarely spends her time doing manual labour. A head of luxurious, straightened black hair falls down to her shoulders, framing her angular features with a striking backdrop.

Angular cheekbones, thin arched eyebrows, and a small nose with a slightly curved inward bridge frame her mischievous green eyes. Her sharp jaw complements well a narrow, angular chin that frames a dimpled smile with thin lips. What little makeup adorns her is usually applied to colour her lips and shade her eyes in a slightly darker tone to match well with her hair colour and fair skin.

Heiress of Isteraad March
Ardyn Mordaine is the last living heir to the March of Isteraad, a border territory of the Kingdom of Stormwind that was ruined during the First War and has been unoccupied ever since.

House
Ardyn Mordaine is a member of House Mordaine, known for a long lineage of female mages and male knights dating back hundreds of years.

Relationships
WIP