Sulien ap Gwien

Name
Sulien ap Gwien

Physical Traits
Sulien is of average height, roughly 5'9 in her socks, with grey hair cut in a functional bob. Her shoulders are wide and she is generally strong considering her age, a legacy of coming from farming stock and years spent training with weapons. Her eyes are a pale green, and surrounded by wrinkles and laughter lines and she has a broad nose (broken often). She has callused hands, and numerous small scars and nicks picked up from her army career.

Guild
Bastion of the Light

Background
Sully is Westfall born and bred, raised on a smallholding just the other side of the Dagger Hills. She had six brothers, so was always a bit of a boisterous girl when growing up, always getting into trouble and falling out of trees. As she grew up, her mother began the difficult task of reining her in, and teaching her the business of farming. Sully had always dreamed of being a paladin, clad in shining armour atop a mighty steed, but she never felt the call. Faced with a choice of staying on a farm til the end of her days, having babies and milking cows, Sully decided she wasn't having any of that, and ran away to join the Stormwind Army when she was 14. Being built like a brick outhouse, noone questioned her age and she enlisted without difficulty.

The army years will always be remembered as being the best days of her life. She learnt standard soldier drills, camp routine, formation attacking, supply line organisation, and all the other skills a soldier must know. She learnt how to use a sword and shield when in infantry, and also trained as a crossbowman and a pikeman. To this day she refuses to use any other weapons. This is where Sarge learnt her trade, and gained her famous inability to put up with morons.

She did very well in the army, being one of the few NCOs with common sense and a grasp of tactics. Stubbornly resisting promotion, she retired after thirty years at the rank of Sergeant. By this point her parents had both died of old age, and her brothers were all serving in the army, so she went to stay with the Alexstons. The small holding she was raised on had fallen into disrepair after her father died, and now there's nothing there but a few dips in the ground where the house used to be.

Living with the Alexstons was interesting for Sully to say the least. Used to an army regime, she often found herself up before dawn, throwing herself into the very same tasks she left home to avoid, just to have something to fill her days with. Although she would never admit it, she was missing the army and the camaraderie terribly. Once a week she would go up to the city, and spend a few hours in the guard post, talking and laughing with her real family - her troops.

It was while she was there that she got word of an attack on the Alexston farmstead. Although she left immediately, when she arrived there was nothing left but a burnt out shell. The Alexstons had disappeared, with the exception of young Baros, who had moved to Stormwind. Doing some investigation as to who could be responsible for this, she found a shadowy group naming themselves the 'Defias' had their hooks deep into Westfall. Deciding that enough was enough, she got her old kit out of the lockup, and came out of retirement.

Being somewhat rusty after years of not training, she headed over to Northshire to see if there was anything she could help with while she got back into the swing of things. While there, she met a young paladin named Valimar, and the two hit it off immediately. Sully looked on Valimar as a mixture of her younger brother (who had died whilst on Army duty) and the son she never had. She saw Valimar as a great hope for the future, already conscious that her time on Azeroth was coming to an end.

With Valimar, she helped to form the Bastion of the Light - an organisation dedicated not just to saying the right things, but to doing the right things. Along with Kelaya, another paladin, and several other members who have since left, she worked hard to regain her former competence with a blade and shield, so she could spread the Light in her own inimitable fashion. The Bastion has grown a lot since those fateful first days, and now numbers twenty of Azeroth's finest. She is proud of them all, and would gladly give her life for any of them.

A lot has changed since then, Sully included. Although she is still the rough, socially uncomfortable veteran she has always been, she has become more open minded about the other races of the Alliance. Always fond of dwarves for their no nonsense attitude, she has found room for gnomes, and even, begrudgingly, for the elves. She has grown close to the guild Chaplain, Aeva, and has a soft spot for young Caetlin as well, seeing something of herself in the gifted young warrior. Sully considers herself responsible for the health and wellbeing of all the Bastion members, and can often neglect her own wants and needs to make the others happy. Nothing makes Sully smile more than to see a fellow Bastion's eyes light up at a treasure she found and wishes to pass on.

Sully is well known for getting embarrassed at the slightest hint of praise. Often she can be hear telling others to 'Shurrup' or 'Gerraway' when compliments are handed out. She's a gruff old thing, but secretly, she enjoys it. She is getting old now; Sully is fifty-six, and she knows she doesn't have much time left before she gets too old and slow to fight effectively. All she wants is to make sure the Bastion are in good shape, choose a successor, and die in combat. Still, that day hasn't happened yet, and who knows what might be around the corner..........

Criminal Record
No criminal record. Sully is as straight as they come.

Current Status
Alive.