Application - Ivynne Cornwell

PLAYER INFORMATION

How long (approximately) have you been playing World of Warcraft?

I'd say four to five years. Started out on a PvP realm and moved over to the Sha'tar a couple of years ago.

How confident would you say you are with the English language?

Very confident. English is not my first language, but none-the-less I feel confident.

What experience do you have with roleplaying in the past?

Started roleplaying on instant messaging platforms as well as private chatrooms with a group of friends. Our roleplay had no guidelines nor barriers and we could roleplay whatever we wanted; including God and Satan. Done a little bit of forum RP, but can't say I like it as much as real-time text based RP. The reason I came to the Sha'tar eventually was a desire to try roleplaying out in 3D instead of just text. Lately I've also had some tabletop Forgotten Realms roleplay with my IRL friends.

What experience do you have within the World of Warcraft?

As I said, I've been playing for some years now, my interest in WoW has gone up and down. Used to raid a lot in tbc, but in wotlk I've been more interested in PvP content. In raiding, I didn't quite get to the last tbc bosses I'm afraid, but in PvP I've had a couple of arena teams (with ratings upto 1,700) and my main character has relentless/wrathful gear at this moment. Even though I never played in vanilla WoW, I enjoy retro raiding as well. When it comes to RP on the Sha'tar, I've been a member of a couple of guilds, most notable of which would be <Esoteric Illusion> and <Invicto Incarnate>. My favourite style of roleplay is usually something unique, a bit out of the ordinary. When it comes to guilds, I enjoy fanatic religious roleplay such as cults as well as criminal roleplay.

If you were to join the guild, what would you bring to the strong OOC community the guild shares?

Laughter, cookies and my drawings. I enjoy chatting in OOC and talking about everything between heaven and earth with friends and guildmates. For me the OOC community is just as important as roleplaying itself. I try to avoid useless drama whenever I can and I dislike arguments and rude people.

If you were to join the guild, how often would you be able to play?

Everyday, unless facing some unexpected IRL trouble. Sometimes I might feel like playing other games for a few days, but you'd be seeing me at least a few times a week.

If you were to join the guild what would be your priority when online?

To have fun with my guildmates, naturally. I'm a casual player when it comes to PvE and PvP so those won't get in the way too much. I do have a 2v2 team that I need to work on once a week, but that shouldn't come in the way too much.

Why do you wish to join the guild?

I missed the Apothecarium when it was last formed and active and regretted it ever since. I'm a big fan of forsaken and would like to get some like-minded company when roleplaying with my favourite character.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Name: Ivynne Amalea Cornwell
Gender: Female
Title (if applicable): None
Current Occupation: None

Age: 16 upon death, in present time would-be around 22-23

Race: Undead Human

Level: 80

In-game Class & Spec: Death Knight, Frost DPS
IC Class: Warrior/Death Knight

Hair Colour: Between a dirty blond and a light brown
Eye Colour: Light Blue
Height: 5ft 3in / 161 cm

Of the three Forsaken factions the guild represents: The Royal Apothecary Society, The Deathguard and The Deathstalkers. Which do you feel your character would fit in with best and why?

The Deathguard, because Ivynne is not the best when it comes to sneaking around. She'd rather just slice some living throats rather than sneaking around and spying on the enemy. She's a warrior after all. She has learnt of some of the most common herbs, but is by no standard a chemist, which makes her not the best candidate for the Royal Apothecary Society as anything more than a helping hand.

How does your character feel about the place of the Forsaken in the Horde? And how does he/she react to other races within the Horde?

She's alright with it and she's social when it comes to other races. She likes mingling with them and sees it as great sport watching and observing the emotional roller coasters of the living. She doesn't object to the occasional brawl however and sometimes enjoys annoying other people just for the fun of it.

How does your character feel about the Wrathgate incident?

She finds it vaguely amusing, although not very interesting. She doesn't feel the whole incident concerns her much as she's been somewhat more affiliated with the Death Knights rather than the forsaken as of late.

Family:
Father - Adamar "Adam" Cornwell / mercenary / deceased
Mother - Emily Cornwell / housewife / deceased

Character History:

The Cornwell family was a modest family of farmers that originates from around Andorhal. Ivy's father was the "black sheep" of the family, grandfather Bran's only son that didn't take up farming as the rest of the family, but who ran away to see the world at a young age. Later he returned to Andorhal and married his childhood friend Emily Miller - the daughter of a local merchant. He returned to stay and soon after they set a home at Andorhal, it became clear that Emily was pregnant. Soon after Adamar joined the town's guard, although he made it clear that he was serving as a hired mercenary rather than for the mere honor of being in the town's guard.

After Ivynne was born her mother's health turned to worse and it was clear that she would have not been able to give birth again. Adamar who had wished for a boy took up Ivy's upbringing, raising her up to his ideals of a perfect woman who would be as strong as men. In stead of the subjects Emily would've hoped to teach her daughter (knitting, cooking and table manners), Adamar taught his daughter to use a bow, to hunt and above all - to wield the sword.

Ivynne was a real tomboy and for that she was shunned by the other girls of her age. Boys on the other hand were a bit jealous of her and annoyed at the fact that she could beat them in wrestling. Despite the lack of friends, Ivy was a cheerful girl who really enjoyed life as it was - making her a dreamgirl to the said boys in the later years.

When the grain infected by the Plague of Undeath started gathering at Andorhal, Ivynne was one of those many that fell under the sickness. Almost immediately his father tried to take her to see a skilled doctor in Tirisfal Glades, unfortunately they got on but a few miles before Ivy passed away. Soon after her death, Adamar took his own life in despair over the death of his only child, which was propably only good for him - he didn't see his beloved child return as undead.

Ivy died and returned as undead, chained to the iron will of the Lich King. She was to join the undead following Arthas towards Quel'Thalas. She was used as a mere servant ghoul by a certain necromancer that out of some incomprehensible reason cut her cheeks open for discipline - although obvious to a sane mind that she didn't need it being under Lich King's will. Later on, supposedly she was one of the first forsaken free'd by Lady Sylvanas Windrunner that set home in the sewers of Lordaeron.

After she regained her freedom, Ivynne joined a certain small guild, mainly for the hell of the fun. As the first movement of the Scourge came apparent over floating Scourge Citadels travelling around Azeroth, Ivynne's close “friend” (would be safer to say a person she held curiosity for – as she doesn't truly care for her so-called friends) disappeared somewhere in Eastern Plaguelands. After no sign of the blood elf blademaster for weeks, he was presumed dead. Ivy however did not believe this, or rather, refused to. With her immature mind, she was hellbent on finding the person she felt could not be allowed to die.

In her silent determination, and with her friend's old blade the Warmonger in her hands, she left Horde lands and turned to the only party that she knew would know wether Krisom was in Eastern Plaguelands; the Scourge - after all, nothing escapes the watchful eye of the Lich King in those lands. Caring little for her soul, she turned to the Scourge, and after she was with them, the only thing left was haggling over the price of information. She agree'd to serve the Scourge as an undead Death Knight in change for information and the safety of her friend. Little did she know, that she was played for a fool.

By this time, the elf she had set out to find had been turned to a follower of the Lich King himself, serving him as his loyal Death Knight. After the events in which the Ebon Blade left the Scourge, Ivy met him again, and discovering the humour of the events they had gone through, for once she was not one bit amused. He was a dog of the Lich King, blindly loyal and under his heel. Nothing a few good kicks and smacks can't cure it seems as Ivynne managed to get him back to his senses and she got back her source of amusement, this time both of them in the cold embrace of undeath. Later they lost contact and Ivynne most likely got bored of her old friend and as such, lost interest in his affairs.

Before Varimathras's betrayal had been revealed to the Horde and Lady Sylvanas, Ivynne had found herself performing certain tasks for Varimathras to pay a debt she had harboured for Lady Sylvanas. She did not know however that she was just used to set the stage for the despicable treason and as the events occured, she knew her (un)life was in grave danger. If the Dark Lady would know of her deeds, she would certainly face a fate worse than death. Knowing this, she fled the Undercity for Northrend, as her intention to lay low for a few months until the events had cooled off, and maybe her name vanished from the Banshee Queen's mind.

Why does your character want to join the guild?

She's been rather bored of late and she does owe her service to Lady Sylvanas because of the incident with Varimathras, as described before. She figures it's time for her to return to the Undercity and perhaps, pay back her debt.

What skill set could your character bring to the guild?

Ivynne is a warrior first, and a death knight second. Her skills mainly focus on melee combat and she has trained in most two-handed and one-handed weaponry. She is a death knight however, even though she prefers melee combat over sorcery and minor necromancy, and she will use frost and ghouls when she feels the need to. She has some minor experience in herbalism, but is by no means anything more than a journeyman herbalist. Ivynne's assets in melee combat also include fast reflexes. She is not by any means a bulk of muscle mass which leads to her focusing more on dodging and turning the enemy's strength against them, instead of blindly charging into a mass of enemies.

How does your character respond to authority?

Well if it suits her current agenda. She can be... fickle, when facing a higher authority's commands, but as long as she sees something in it for herself, she'll obey with a grin and a salute. In other words – if she sees her service to the guild as something rewarding – she'll obey any and all commands.

TEST OF ABILITY
Please write a short response (300 - 600 words) discussing one of the statements below, research is allowed but copying is not, you are encouraged to add your own thoughts and theories to the answer.

This test is designed to evaluate your use of the English language, your commitment to joining and your ability to present a reasoned and clear argument, it is NOT a test of raw knowledge.

i) The Forsaken are evil. There are no good Forsaken.

The statement of 'The forsaken are evil. There are no good Forsaken' is made to look silly by the fact that there can be no true evil. Evil is but a viewpoint and a difference in opinions and morals. In the same way that an other man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, a forsaken is only evil to those he opposes. They are ready to do everything to gain power and exact revenge on those that harmed them, and would – and do – kill humans to further advance their goals. But only humans would think that evil. In a world where war is a never changing constant, death is daily and common. A human would kill a forsaken just as readily as a forsaken would kill them.

When death and war is common, and thus cannot be declared evil, it brings to mind the question; 'What about needless slaughter of “innocents”?' When thinking from the viewpoint of the morals that humans in our society are raised, everyone would deem needless slaughter as evil, regardless of who's committing it. But then again, not every forsaken (nor any human, or orc, for that matter) would do such a deed. Which leads us to the conclusion that a race cannot be evil in general. Assuming such would only be naïve, just as it would be to assume that all humans are good.

So it follows that only individuals can be regarded as evil, and saying the Forsaken as a whole are all evil, is purely a black and white illusion, reflecting the morals humans in our western society are raised upon. As such, a roleplayer – in my opinion – should aspire to be able to put themselves in their characters' shoes so to speak; to understand the causes of their behavior in the context of their respective worlds and settings. There is a certain distance to be put between the real life ideals of the western world and a fantasy-based roleplaying game. Evil and good exist in all groups, races and individuals, regardless of their race or affiliation.

Damn, see how effective the guide is?
Accepted, please contact Vraenesha in game for the next step and leave a reply below to let me see you've seen this.

Thank you, and also thank you for the guide. It really -does- help. Was a few parts where I wasn't sure what to write, but reading the guide helped me on that. I'll be contacting Vraenesha the next time I see her online at the same time as I am.