Vertiga Valerunner - Before the Twisting Nether

VERTIGA VALERUNNER

RACE:

Night Elf

AFFILIATION:

The Sentinels

PLACE OF BIRTH:

Mount Hyjal

CLASS:

Warrior

Fury major

Protection minor

PROFESSIONS:

Master Swordsmith

Mining

First Aid

BIOGRAPHY

Vertiga was born on Mount Hyjal in the wake of the Sundering. She grew up as the night elves rebuilt their shattered society, and when she was of age, she began the process of becoming a Sentinel under the command of Tyrande Whisperwind.

Vertiga's skills as a warrior were admirable, but her true talent became apparent once she picked up bow and arrow. In conjunction with the Keepers a few centuries into the Long Vigil, the Sentinels began a program of training select soldiers to shoot from the back of a hippogryph. Vertiga was paired with the hippogryph Grapplewind and, in no small part due to their excellent rapport with each other, Vertiga was among the first of the hippogryph riders in the Sentinels.

Over the next nine thousand years, Grapplewind and Vertiga defended Ashenvale from the skies. Vertiga was frequently offered promotions but turned them down, relishing her work on the front lines and refusing to compromise it. She was partnered with the huntress Thyn'tel Bladeweaver, and they proved to be quite a team, coordinating their efforts between the ground and air. Their partnership was a stirring success, and over time, their relationship grew beyond professional and friendly into romance. This devotion to each other made them only more effective, until the day they faced Sindrathel.

Accompanied by her satyr lieutenant, Acherix, Sindrathel, driven mad from the Nightmare within the Emerald Dream, attempted to open a portal into the dreamworld and make the Nightmare manifest in Azeroth.

Though they eventually stopped her, Sindrathel killed Grapplewind in the ensuing battle, and once she saw her defeat was imminent, she retreated to the Dream, and dragged Vertiga back with her. Thyn'tel reported to her superiors, and Vertiga was presumed dead.

However, in truth, Sindrathel crafted a pocket realm within the Dream, and trapped Vertiga in a never-ending battle with an infinite horde of shadowy monsters. For nearly a thousand years Vertiga fought without reprieve. Eventually, one of the green dragons - Oneiriaz - found her, but the Nightmare was growing in power and he was unable to help her himself. Vertiga's torment sent waves of anguish through the Dream, and with Oneiriaz's guidance, these were intercepted by another dreamer. Oneiriaz hoped to help him by sending a message to the Keeper Bandalar, informing him of the druid's identity: Haiendrion. After investigating his strange dreams, Haiendrion met Vertiga, trapped in her nightmare, and she sent him to Thyn'tel. Once he was fully informed, Haiendrion, Thyn'tel, and Oneiriaz managed to rescue Vertiga from the Dream, but Sindrathel followed her back to the waking world. Though Thyn'tel killed Sindrathel, Vertiga was also killed in the exchange that followed. But by tapping into the restorative powers granted him by Norgannon's Tear to bring her back to life.

Vertiga found herself in a world deeply changed. Restless from her years of confinement, Vertiga travelled with Haiendrion, promising Thyn'tel that she would return and start a new life with her in Darnassus when she felt her work was finished.

FRIENDS AND FOES

GRAPPLEWIND

Hippogryph

Grapplewind was a mystical hippogryph born in the wilds of Feralas. At the request of the Keepers, he travelled to Ashenvale to be paired with a Sentinel. He took to his charge, Vertiga, almost immediately, and for the next nine thousand years, they worked together with great dichotomy, until they met the dryad Sindrathel. In the ferocious battle between the dryad and the Sentinels, Grapplewind was killed.

THYN'TEL BLADEWEAVER

Night Elf Warrior

Thyn'tel became a huntress over the Long Vigil, and after exemplary service, she was paired with Vertiga to patrol Ashenvale. Together they performed their duties with distinction and success, and eventually fostered a romantic relationship until Sindrathel took Vertiga into the Dream. Presuming Vertiga dead, Thyn'tel was distraught, and was returned to a Sentinel unit in Darkshore. After centuries of climbing the ranks of the Sentinels, she was chosen to command their forces in Darnassus after the city was established. She took a short leave of absence when Haiendrion found her to save Vertiga, and after Sindrathel's defeat, she avoided reprimand thanks to Oneiriaz's testimony, and resumed her duties in Darnassus. She remained there afterward, patiently awaiting the day when Vertiga would come back to her and they could finally be together.

SINDRATHEL

Dryad

Sindrathel was once in the entourage of Califax, but when he left to join the Watchers in the Barrow Deeps, Sindrathel left his side and returned to the Dream. She encountered, by chance, the growing Nightmare, and as she investigated it, it corrupted her being and drove her mad. Unable to resist the indomitable will of the Nightmare, she began work to help it grow in power, and perhaps even manifest in the waking world. Over the next thousands of years, she recruited the satyr Acherix, and created an army of spectres, slivers of the Nightmare. When they had the means finally achieved, she began the process of bringing the Nightmare into Azeroth, only to be thwarted by Vertiga and Thyn'tel, and abandoned by Acherix. Furious, she dragged Vertiga into the Dream, and trapped her in a pocket realm of Sindrathel's creation, where her ghostly servants assaulted Vertiga day and night for the next thousand years, so Sindrathel could feed off her anguish and despair. When the dragon Oneiriaz began harassing her, she became aware of his attempts to contact the druids, and in turn, of Bandalar and Haiendrion. She found Acherix again, and lured him back into servitude, then sent him against Haiendrion. Acherix was killed, however, and Haiendrion managed to free Vertiga from the Dream, cutting Sindrathel off from her source of power, Sindrathel followed them to the Waking World, where after a battle with Haiendrion and his allies, she was killed by Thyn'tel.

APPEARANCES

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