Winter

Name
Lady C. Winterbourne. She avoids using her first name whenever possible, and tends to introduce herself as Winter (informally) or Lady Winterbourne (formally).

For those who do the research: her first name is Chantrelle. She has loathed it all her life. Not only does it sound vapid - it's a mushroom. Add to that her maiden name, Vale, and the whole thing just becomes ridiculous.

Physical Traits
Winter has the brittle, cosmetic and unnatural look of an old woman using all means possible to look younger than she is (which is around 60). Probably quite the beauty when she was young, but these days imposing rather than naturally beautiful. She has a slight Hillsbrad accent and the calm, authoritative (though slightly cool) manner of a woman accustomed to both giving orders and fending for herself.

She wears well-tailored but inexpensive clothing and a very old wedding ring. She carries a satchel and several belt pouches at most times, containing arcane and alchemical odds and ends.

She is generally accompanied by a small Siamese cat, which prefers to sit in high places (her shoulder, lacking a better place) and stare down at people, looking far too interested. Occasionally she talks to it: she claims it's her familiar, but occasionally it may seem much more independent than that.



Race and Class
Human Mage

Occupation
Alchemist, arcanist, hedgewitch and adventurer.

Master scholar of studies into Dark Magics at University of Dalaran.

Family
Parents, deceased, natural causes.

Husband, deceased, complications of an old war wound.

The Vale family, her brother's household, a Southshore merchant family continuing her parent's trade.

An estranged mercenary son, whom she rarely speaks of.

A daughter, married into a merchant family in Theramore, with children of her own.

Background
Some things regarding her past Winter mentions freely. She says she was born to a merchant family in the Hillsbrad region. She studied for the priesthood, was even initiated: however, she gave up that calling to marry at the age of 18, as part of her family's trade arrangements. She harbours no resentment for this. In her opinion, marrying where it serves to provide for both them and their family is what grateful daughters do.

The match was with an older man, the widower Lord Winterbourne - a minor Lordaeron nobleman in need of a sensible woman young enough to give him the sons his first wife didn't manage. It was no great love affair, but thirty years of marriage genuine affection and partnership grew between husband and wife. Winter had three sons, two daughters, four of whom survived to adulthood. She managed her husband's household with practical efficiency, directing her former priestly callings instead toward medicine, alchemy and hedgewitchery. The later two would eventually lead her into arcane magic, under the casual tutelage of a Quel'dorei conjurer her husband employed.

During the Second War, Winter assisted in treating the wounded and took in refugees while her husband was away fighting. He returned from the front mortally wounded, but under his wife's care survived merely crippled for another ten years before finally dying of age and complications. That left Winter a widow and their eldest son, by then a knight of the Silver Hand, lord of the estate for the next ten years. He and his younger brother eventually died in the Third War, defending Lordaeron. Winter herself refused to be evacuated further south than her native Hillsbrad, and ran one of many field hospitals dealing with evacuees and wounded.

Winter does not speak of the years immediately following the war, but there is the sense that something changed, something besides the loss of home and status that all Lordaeron nobility have in common. Finding herself without household or responsibilities for the first time in almost four decades, Winter has since devoted her time to the magical and alchemical research she has always loved. This has involved studying alchemy in Darnassus and magic in Stormwind and Dalaran, volunteering medical services in whatever region she is in, and helping the Argent Dawn with their research on combating the Plague. The later in particular has become a priority to her, and has a way of taking her to all manner of unsavoury place in search of knowledge that is, at best, suspect. When navigating particularly hazardous regions, she occasionally employs bodyguards - one of them has been the famously drunk and disorderly Sarama.

A staple of Winter's research is her conviction that to fix what was done with necromancy, one must first understand the black arts used to cause it. So far, the the Cathedral and the Kirin Tor have allowed her to pursue this, though under the condition of public discretion, and complete private disclosure to them. She seems to have kept up her end of the bargain, and manages her studies into necromancy and Plague magic with a great deal more discretion than many of Stormwind's warlocks manage their own demonological pursuits.

Criminal Record
None. Though rumors persist, to date Winter has never been caught using necromantic magic outside carefully controlled classroom exercises.

Old Gossip
Chantrelle Vale is the second Lady Winterbourne. The first was the late Lord's great love, a fragile girl who died in childbirth only a year after they married. It's said the Lord never got over her, and that for all the facade of the good wife, Winter secretly resented his pining for a dead woman.

Winter reputedly spent the first ten years of her magic studies trying to figure out how to protect crops from cold and make foodstuffs keep better. Going from such down-to-earth stuff to keeping her looks by means both cosmetic and magical has raised some eyebrows.

Thirty-year-old rumor tells of scandal involving Winter and her Quel'dorei magic teacher -- obviously a crippled old man's young wife can only spend time with a decidedly more attractive man for one reason. If there really was an affair, Winter was draconianly efficient about covering her tracks. Her husband never batted an eye, no proof ever materialised, and the elf is long gone, presumably killed in the Third War or by magic addiction soon after.

Since Lordaeron is lost and the Winterbourne lands and estates with it, Winter considers using her title rather poor taste. In any case, should Lordaeron ever be reclaimed, hereditary right to the Winterbourne lands and titles belongs to her estranged, youngest son. He and Winter do not speak - rumor has it he makes a living as a mercenary captain under a made-up name.

Personal Notes
While generally calm and well-mannered, Winter reputedly has a tongue sharp enough to cut glass with. She never swears - profanity is the resort of those who lack the wits to offend with feeling.

In addition to scholarly pursuits, Winter has achieved fair mastery at needlepoint, household management, herbal and surgical medicine, riding, and other passtimes suitable to noble young ladies. She's also an accomplished fencer -- which is absolutely useless in a real fight, where the purpose is to kill things, not to look dashing.

Winter was never meant to be a RP character. A lot of her background was written to justify RP'ing a character who has young looks and stupid white hair. Now that we have barbers and recustomation, it's already IC. :/

Current Status
Travelling, pursuing Plague research via the notes of a certain Scholomance necromancer.

Stories
The Dead of Winter - Fragments written as play-aids to myself. Purely OOC information.