Lessia Tossington

Appearance
A rather eccentric individual usually dressed in garishly ice-blue robes (unless she is in a bad mood). Her ghastly appearance somehow manages to still hold a certain innocence to it, which is probably enhanced by her childish personality.

Her pretty face is less pretty once one notices the metal clamps in the back that hold it in place, and her mouth area leaves much to be desired. She has maintained a decent figure through undeath though, and even tries her best to look decent in the company of strangers. Which perhaps isn't really saying much.

Speaks with a high-pitched and very eccentric (there's that word again...) tone to her voice which might give one the impression that she is somewhat crazy. Or just very adventurous. Or both.

Also, her hair is somewhat fuzzy.

Background
Born near Andorhal to Catherine and David Tossington, she grew up on her parents' farm just outside the town. While her mother was an aspiring Priestess of the Light, her father was a hard-working man who worked at Andorhal's stables, and kept a small piece of land for himself. Lessia would spend the days with her little brother, keeping animals like rabbits and kittens, or chasing moths around the surrounding forests. But by the time she reached ten years old, she began suffering from terrible nightmares. She would wake up in the night screaming about horrible things and events taking place before her eyes. Loved ones dying, terrible beings rising from their graves, homes consumed in fire. It changed her, and she grew distant and jittery. Her mother, being a strong spiritual believer, took her daughter's dreams very seriously and tried her best to discern what was affecting her. However, even after having consulted with the Priesthood of Andorhal and Lordaeron, the only thing that she could conclude was that Lessia's dreams were some form of visions, little else. Some sort of far-seeing that she bore no control of. As such there was little she could do but try to ensure her daugter that they were just bad dreams.

As Lessia grew older, she began to recieve the dreams while she was awake. Images would flash in front of her eyes while she attended classes in school, and it terrified her. At one point she claimed that all of her classmates' faces began to rot away, and her teacher would wither into dust in the wind. As any twelve year old girl would, she panicked and broke down completely. With no control over her own visions and her panicked behavior towards it, she was declared too unstable to stay in school and was sent home for the duration of the year. Her mother Catherine, decided to take Lessia to Stratholme, where her fellow Priests could help her discern what was happening to her daughter. Lessia spent the following years in Stratholme, allowing the Priesthood there to help her and try to make sense of her visions. It was soon discovered that Lessia held an affinity for magic, and she was set upon the course to become a Mage. Her mother helped Lessia in applying for classes in the City of Dalaran, which she was expected to spend the next few years mastering her abilities and finally granting her some peace of mind.

By the time of her sixteenth birthday, with mere days away from being sent to Dalaran for studies, the Plague hit Eastern Lordaeron. Regular mail correspondence between her mother and her father stopped, and Lessia and her mother found themselves isolated from the rest of the family. Catherine was ordered to assist in the attempted healing of plagued farmers, and Lessia was stuck behind the quarantined barricades of Stratholme. After several days of no news about her mother, Lessia finally snuck away from the city to locate her. She packed a small sack of freshly baked bread, apples and water, and decided to head in the direction of her mother. All but a day later, Plague signs began to appear in Stratholme.

Lessia found her mother after a night's running and hiding from the newly risen dead that began to infest the lands. She had barricaded herself with a few wounded soldiers inside an abandoned schoolhouse, keeping the undead at bay. Overwhelmed by joy to see her daughter once more, Catherine vowed never to leave her side again. They decided that they would try to head towards the City of Lordaeron for help as soon as they could. That evening they shared their final meal together, as the bread Lessia had brought had been, unknown to her, baked on Plagued grain.

She never forgave herself for the mistake.

Catherine, for all her knowledge in the Light and all her magic prowess, was the first to die. She had begun to cough, and her face started to take on a pale, grey hue. She tried to heal the wounded to the best of her ability, but soon enough she lost her ability to stand. Lessia helped her mother sit down, and held her tightly. As she saw Catherine's life slip away, Lessia lost control of herself. She froze, paralyzed by the intense disbelief of what she just had witnessed, and utterly terrified at the imminent loss of her own mother. The soldiers that accompanied her chose to stay behind, perhaps out of pity for the little teenage girl who just lost her mother to the Plague. Soon enough however, Lessia began to cough as well. The process was quick, and painless. Her vision began to blur, and her eyes grew heavy. It felt cold. She leaned back, her mother still in her arms, and accepted death's embrace.

Undeath
Lessia awoke to the call of the Forsaken but a month or so later, in surprisingly decent condition. She had been discovered amidst a neatly lined up row of corpses dug out of a mass-grave of plague victims, and probably deemed suitable enough to serve. Her mother however, never awoke. Lessia is very reluctant to speak of why, but she did locate Catherine's remains and proceeded to bury them in the Brill graveyard. A tombstone with the name 'Catherine Tossington' can be found there, along with two other names strangely scratched over. They are presumably Lessia's father and brother, though she refuses to speak about them.

With little knowledge of what to do, and still bearing the heavy grief of the loss of her family, she decided to work as a servant maid at the inn in Brill. It was there that she met the Mage Heatharn, whom she became close friends with. Heatharn helped Lessia further her talents as a Mage, and taught her to control her visions to some extent. As the two grew closer, Lessia found something that she thought that she would never have again; love and care. The two Forsaken came to spend a lot of time together, and Lessia even begun to take classes in Dalaran after Heatharn had showed her how to make portals. In reality, Heatharn was a cunning and wicked woman, and managed to draw Lessia to her via the means of a special concoction called 'The Perfume', a substance of certain nastyness that for some reason drew Lessia mad with desire. It is likely that some form of manipulative magic was involved. Lessia did not seem to mind; she was happy just as long as she could be with Heatharn, and feel loved again. As such, Heatharn began to use her for her own goals. She would draw the Perfume onto a victim, and Lessia would tear into them with an insatiable bloodlust and hunger. Or she would put the Perfume on herself, and Lessia would grow mad with lust and desire, to do whatever Heatharn told her to do, regardless of consequences. The two proceeded to grow quite powerful as Mages, and also managed to create a lot of mischief and mayhem amongst the local populace.

Lessia loved Heatharn. And although Heatharn may have loved her too, Lessia did start to notice how her counterpart's love for power became a necessary evil. As months turned into years, she soon began to suspect that Heatharn had begun to prioritize the means to gain power, and not Lessia herself. Her suspicions were confirmed, when Heatharn signed up with the Church of Shadows, lead by a sinister leader figure called Déliana. Every time she tried to express her concerns about Heatharn's priorities, that lovely, delicious scent filled up her nostrils and reminded her that it was surely just because Heatharn was trying to secure their relationship a place in Forsaken society. In reality, Heatharn began to aspire towards becoming a Shadowpriest, and was already underway with being ensnared and enamored by the leader of the cult, Deliana. It was a vicious spiral, and Lessia was at the bottom of it.

Over time, Heartharn left her ways as a Mage and became a Shadow Priestess. She became a master at mind manipulation, and she would often tempt Lessia with more Perfume to do her bidding. Lessia began to notice her relationship with Deliana, and tried to win her Heatharn back. She would go to rediculous lengths involving expensive gifts, revealing clothing and completing numerous tasks to earn her Mistress' attention. And occasionally, it brought her back. Lessia saw that love in her glowing yellow eyes that she had seen when they first met, only to have it change into glowing fiery red in that evil Shadowform as Deliana grew near.

It was only a matter of time before Heatharn told Deliana about Lessia's far-seeing abilities. Together, the two manipulated her to serve the Church, and Deliana took it upon herself to look deep into Lessia's mind in a mad quest for the ultimate power. As a result, it weakened Lessia further, and while it is always her belief that she managed to develop other personalities, the truth is much worse. Deliana placed a seed of corruption inside Lessia. She saw that Lessia was weak, and needed another personality to take her place. As such, the seed grew into a conflicting presence in Lessia's mind, constantly seeking to take control. Lessia called her Aissel. Her evil alter ego, that longed for more power with her dark mistress, and expressed sadistic and often torturous methods towards her victims. She relished in the pain of others, and unnecessary bloodshed. And as Heatharn grew mad with power, she only egged Aissel on. Deliana having put another piece of her plan into place, began to seek darker methods of achieving unlimited power.

The Crimson Sun Brigade, a mercenary force hired to investigate into Deliana's sudden rise to power above her former superiors, eventually sought the Shadow Priestess Deliana out, and fought her. The battle came to a close, but not before the powerful Forsaken woman released her physical bonds, and Ascended into Shadow. Lessia became utterly terrified of this unholy creature that now seemed to rule Heatharn's mind, body and soul, and she knew that there would be no escape. No salvation. She loved her dear Heatharn so much, but to see her being shaped in Deliana's image made her long for escape. Aissel on the other hand relished in the news. Lessia manage to make secretive contact with the Crimson Sun Brigade on occasion, and even made friends with some of them. She would often plead to the mercenaries in secret to release her from the agony and to stop Deliana before she became too powerful. It was by then that Heatharn started using her Perfume on Aissel. Lessia's alter ego eventually grew so obsessed with garnering Heatharn's attention that she started to murder for her. And so she sacrificed one of her Brigade friends' souls to Deliana. That action, along with another involving an item of considerable dark power, set in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to the death and defeat of Deliana and Heatharn.

The Dark Seed within Lessia was forcibly removed with the reluctant assistance of the Crimson Sun Brigade. It had manifested itself so strongly that it had begun calling itself by the name 'Mary', and already inhibited signs of casting Shadow Magic. As soon as her mind was free, Lessia had nowhere to go. She begged for the mercenaries to accept her into their ranks as a form of conscript, both because she felt so guilty for the things that she had done, and because she was now without anyone who cared about her. She knew that if she were to return to solitude once more, she would end her life in despair. So she was accepted, on the terms that she would never advance in ranks, and that should she ever show signs of corruption, her life would be ended without mercy.

Present Time
Lessia currently tries her best to succeed as a Cryomage. She occasionally helps the Brigade with portals and other Mage-related things, and has gathered a few friends. Her misadventures with portals are a thing of legend; She has managed to successfully portal people to all sorts of odd places including atop the Dark Portal in Outland, on the highest tower of Karazhan, in the middle of the ocean and atop the World Tree. Personally, her failed teleports have ended her up inside the Stormwind Castle, atop Icecrown Citadel, inside the closet of a clothing store in Pandaria, and other random locations. She also seems to constantly mix up Thunder Bluff with Undercity. Lessia spends her days doing whatever chores the Crimson Sun Brigade ask of her, and tends to wander around Tirisfal Glades picking mushrooms and chatting up the locals. If one asks about her she can be described as 'That weird, eccentric one'.

With the coming onslaught of the Iron Horde, her best strategy to fight the armies of hostile Orcs is by hiding in a wardrobe somewhere in Undercity.