Name: Alicia Gears (Alice)
Age: Forty-six years old.
Race: High Elf
Gender: Female
Languages: Common, Orcish, Gnomish
Class: Paladin
Profession: Engineer
Faction: Neutral, with family ties to the Alliance
Personality: Alice is quick to anger, with a fiery temper and short fuse. She is merciless when enraged, but cools off quickly. She has been known to fight a duel over trifles and afterwords to buy her opponent a drink if they fought well. Despite her anger issues she has a kind heart, and will assist when needed if she feels the cause is worthy. She protects those of a less stout constitution and will shield the defenseless to the death if need be.
Likes: Alice loves tinkering with mechanics because of her upbringing as a gnome. She enjoys hearing the sounds of machinery around her, and is most comfortable in the oil and grease of a workshop. Alice also has a passion for fighting and has trained in the sword and shield to a peak of defensive skill.
Dislikes: Due to the leprosy of gnomes, Alice hates disease and cannot stand to be around decay, causing her to cleanse the ills of those around her with haste. Alice also cannot stand thieves, as her last remaining heirloom of her childhood was taken by a man she has sworn to hunt down.
Appearance: Alice is tall and willowy, a perfect example of elven grace. She has flame red hair that she keeps in a long braid down to the small of her back. She wears armor of a deep blue chased with silver, with no helm. Her armaments include many gadgets strung out on her belt, but primarily consist of a sword and shield. The hilt of the sword is carved in the shape of a bronze drake, and the blade is serrated, tapering off to a razor sharp point. The shield is two massive slabs of elementium bound together, with spikes radiating outward to discourage her foes.
Strengths: Alice has a solid defense, and is able to weather the blows of her enemies for long periods of time. She is also adept at manipulating machinery around her, and can create devastating weapons out of the simplest of materials.
Weaknesses: Though adept at defense, Alice is weak when on the offensive, and only her skill at engineering allows her any real offensive ability. Alice is also encumbered by her armor and weaponry, so she moves slowly in a fight.
History: Alice's origins are shrouded in mystery. When she was a babe, she was found abandoned on a Dun Morogh hilltop by a pair of gnomes. The gnomes took her in, and soon after had several natural children. Alice grew up the oldest among her siblings, and before her eighth birthday she was taller than both of her parents.
Alice's parents made no secret of Alice's differences; Alice grew up fully understanding that she was different. Among the gnomes she was an oddity, with her height and flaming hair. Thus, she was mercilessly bullied and abused by her peers. This caused her to gain a fuse shorter than the bombs that she created without informing her fellows. Alice, in fact, was very intrigued by what is normally the Goblin aspect of engineering; blowing things up. Alice was very good at this, as her parents and siblings soon came to know and be wary of. April Fools day was a very dangerous one for the Gears family.
At the age of 30, Alice left her family. She was determined to become help the weak and powerless. She took only one item with her, a locket of silver and gold with the images of her gnomish family inside. She could not stand the bullies that harassed her her entire childhood, and knew that beasts were much easier to deter than the real monsters; people. Alice left and studied Orcish in Stormwind for some time; that way she could travel among the Horde as just another elf, albeit a somewhat mechanically inclined one.
When Alice was 40 and she had made a name for herself and her industrial intuition, news reached her of a great tragedy. Gnomeregan had fallen to the menace of troggs and disease. Alice returned to Dun Morogh after completing her training under Tyrain, only to discover that her entire family had been killed by leprosy. Alice, crazed by her loss, struck out across the forests of Dun Morogh, slaying any enemy she could find. Finally, exhausted from both her slaughter and her grief, Alice falls to the ground in a cave not far from the town she grew up in, which was now a madhouse of decaying gnomes and destroyed innovations.
While in a state of conscious thought, but unable to move, Alice hears slow footsteps behind her. A man in black leather, from his boots to the cowl on his head, steps out of the shadows. His face is obscured in darkness, and the only thing she can see to describe him is a tattoo on his neck of an S in the shape of a serpent. The man looks down at her, his glinting eyes the only thing she can see of his face. He reaches down and yanks her locket off of her neck with a single pull, causing her to jerk and try to reach him. He stomps on her hand, shakes his head, and walks out of the cave, cloak blowing in the frigid air. Alice falls unconscious, tears running down her face.
When Alice awakens, her grief consumes her once again. She sits with her back against the cave wall, crying first in grief, but more and more in anger. Hatred burns inside her for the thief, and she runs back to the Dwarven city of Ironforge. She asks about the man with a serpent tattoo, but only receives blank stares or a hurried exodus from the conversation. She continues her search for the man by going to every capitol city methodically, asking after the man. After 3 months of exhaustive searching, she brokenly goes back to a close friend, Johnathon Brightspear. Johnathon consoled her, and advised her to take up the sword and shield of a paladin.
Alice began her apprenticeship in the ways of the Light and in combat with Johnathon. Alice learned quickly, and developed her skills so naturally that the older Elf quickly determined that a more skilled teacher was in order. Johnathon recommended her to an old friend of his, a human by the name of Tyrain. Tyrain pushed Alice to the limits of her endurance, and then some. Many times she snapped and ran away from their training area, only to return several hours later exhausted and disgruntled. On these occasions Tyrain allowed Alice to take a small break to calm herself, but these breaks were very brief.
After three years of training under Tyrain, Alicia left her tutor ready to begin again. She struck out across Azeroth, honing her skills with the shield. Alice soon decided to join a small group of adventurers going to explore the rigors of the North. The group soon disbanded after reaching Northrend - Alice was the only one among them who was prepared for the harsh conditions of the unexplored continent. She blazed a trail across Northrend, eventually ending up among a large group of dragons the likes of which she had never seen - what would be called Proto drakes by those that would soon come after her.
Alice, after attempting communication with the dragons, decided that they were not the intelligent and mostly friendly dragons of the flights. She mastered the most impressive drake with patience and a ready supply of Shoveltusk meat. She armored her new mount with plates of iron and bronze, and flew back to Dun Morogh, where she created a home for herself and her new friend among the mountaintops. Alice now continues to hone her skills, waiting for the day that her path will cross that of the thief. And when that day comes, the thief will regret his actions - Alice will ensure that.