Margonerys "Margo" Swiftshade

"I'm on a last chance I don't deserve, thanks to a Goddess who I abandoned, chosen over someone more worthy of it. Sometimes life is a bitch and you don't get to die".

-Margonerys Swiftshade

Margo Swiftshade, a Kaldorei female, is a former pirate and smuggler, a pugilist arena fighter, trained Priestess of the Moon and now Agent of The Lamplighters. After abandoning her life in the Sisterhood of Elune, Margo fell through several unorthodox careers and illegal enterprises before a mercenary job in Darkshore during the Fourth War brought her wild, directionless life of hedonism to a halt. The mercenary company she was partnered with came under attack by the Forsaken and she was brought close to death, when the ritual of the Night Warrior interrupted the battle. The energy from the ritual killed everyone in the melee save Margo herself, but she was branded forever with the Night Warrior's markings.

Now believing that Elune is watching her actions personally, this motivated Margo to seek out her elder estranged sister who had all but cut ties with her years ago, Vyrona "Robes" Swiftshade, and begged her for a position as a Lamplighter. Though she struggles every day with old habits, a fierce temper, and the fight between her desires for herself and her impulsive nature, Margo is determined to try and become a better person. Whether she succeeds in such a task remains to be seen.

Description
A stand-offish posture and strong, jutting chin both exemplify the bellicose Kaldorei that is Margo Swiftshade. Her upper body is toned and muscular and she a clear patchwork of scar tissue, healed burns and haphazardly applied field surgeries which she has collected across the years. Her legs are sinewy but they carry a lot of physical power within them, indicating she has become accustomed to travelling long journeys on foot.

The defects and decolourations across her body, the practised ease with which she carries the immense swords at her back, the comfortable gait she has whenever she is dressed in full armour and the natural defensive stance she adopts even in casual company speaks of a woman who has known centuries of combat and dangerous environments.

Personality
Aptly described as a "self loathing masochist", Margo is often a bitter, reckless and violent individual with little patience for insults or people she perceives as inept. Acting as a reckless hedonistic and adrenaline junkie for hundreds of years, she has found herself disappointed and directionless in life until very recently, and fell haphazardly through life since her departure from the Sisterhood of Elune and ordinary family life.

Despite her flaws and struggles, Margo has a caring, melancholic side to her and does not really want to hurt anybody. She has proven herself capable of working well in teams, is capable of being very insightful and learned and takes a deep interest in Engineering and mechanical craftmanship. Some examples of this are claiming her proudest achievement was working on a complex design for a dam, her quick defence of friends in both combat and peacetime situations and her knowledge of both history and artwork by being able to recognise a piece from a prized art collection by sight alone.

Despite her recent commitments to becoming a better person (part of her reason for joining The Lamplighters was to find purpose in doing so), she is plagued with overcoming her self loathing, her reckless and self destructive habits and thoughtless, death-seeking antics that usually drive away those close to her. Time will tell if Margo is truly successful.

Early Life
Margonerys was born approximately 2,500 years ago as the second daughter of Illaellorn Swiftshade and Tymirdria Everdew. The younger sister of Vyrona “Robes” Swiftshade, Margo was an unexpected and unintentional addition to the Swiftshade household, and preparations had to be made swiftly for her arrival. Though the Swiftshade’s were an older family with just as rich a history, her mother Tym hailed from a family who viewed themselves as much more prestigious, traditional and ‘old money’; House Everdew.

The Everdew family had certain expectations for their family members to uphold. All males went on to become outstanding Druids and the females all became highly esteemed, powerful and respected Priestesses within the Sisterhood of Elune...all that is, except for Robes. After trying to become a Priestess without any success, she joined the Sentinel Army soon after taking her markings, eschewing the cloistered life for good.

This shocked the Everdews and none more deeply than the matriarch of the family, Y’sena. With the accidental conception and birth of Tymirdria’s second daughter, she was utterly determined that there would be no repetition of this failure.

All of this information lay far in the background, only discovered through future interviews, correspondence and revelations, and Margo’s early upbringing was typical of a Kaldorei child growing up in rural Azshara. Robes was three hundred years older than her sister and was coming into her own in the Sentinels. As such, while she was absent for long periods of Margonerys’ formative years, her frequent returns to the family home were greatly anticipated by the doting younger sibling. Margo adored Robes, idolized her much to the mild apprehension of her mother who was concerned she would abandon her studies and follow Robes' own path through life. The pair would hunt and hike, fish and pick herbs, cook and mock-battle together..

Her father, Illaellorn was much more involved with her upbringing and helped to balance her in practical and useful techniques beyond the gentle hands of an expected Sisterhood. A man of a Winterspring family, he taught his daughter to fight, to hunt, to wield a bow and throwing knife, and as she grew older (as he had done with Robes) fashioned her a knife alike in all arrangements to the same one he wore at his side. Though far from idyllic and much further from affluent, the Swiftshade household was a happy one to grow up in.

Priesthood I
She had yet to pass into full maturity, let alone gain her facial markings when the Everdew’s decided that Margo’s time of childhood was behind her. She was taken from the family home to be housed in the largest and most prestigious Temple of Elune, within which she was to be formally educated in the ways of the Sisterhood of Elune. The Goddess was to be her life; her every action was now no longer in service to herself but to honour and worship Elune. As each year passed, Margo grew more and more frustrated with her expressing feelings of being trapped and as if her every decision was no longer her own. However, Y’sena and Tymidria got their wish: Margonerys was indeed able to expertly channel the power of Elune and became a powerful Priestess in her own right for over a century. She was seen as a bright and propitious student and rose quickly from an Initiate to a full Priestess of the Moon over the decades in her role.

It is unknown what the catalyst was for her leaving the Priesthood but Margo was noted upon several occasions to be restless, spirited and longed to see life outside of the Temple. Whether it was a spur of the moment decision or a long thought out decision, Margo left the Temple one night without leaving a word to anyone that she was departing, and signed up to become a Sentinel the following night.

Interim and Priesthood II
Sentinel life did not appear to be Margo's true calling, and the Temple life had not prepared her for the hardships she would endure during her training. Nevertheless she was committed and noted as dedicated by her superiors, if a little rambunctious and undisciplined at times when it came to matters of authority. She spent almost a full two decades as a Sentinel before she was eventually dishonourably discharged from the service due to neglect of her duties, disobeying orders and becoming argumentative with her fellow soldiers.

With nowhere else to go, Margo returned to the Temple of Elune. The Sisters were overjoyed at her return and used her on several occasions as a parable of a wayward Sister finding the light of Elune to be too powerful to ever truly leave. Still, this appears to have caused great outrage in Margonerys and her attitude took a severe downturn for many years afterward. She continued her duties but her behaviour grew worse as time wore on.

Eventually, it was to be too much for her. In a statement made by the Agent, Margo shed herself of all her Temple belongings, gathered them together in a pile during the Lunar Festival and set fire to them, attempting to make a statement and finally leave the Sisterhood forever. However, the flames caught onto the Temple belongings and soon began to ignite the whole structure. She ran for help but by the time the response came, it was too late and the Temple of the Moon burned to all but its stone foundations. Margo explained her actions thoroughly and at length to many of the superior Sister in the organisation but they did not pass on the message to her family who saw her actions as her deliberately burning the Temple to the ground.