Appearance

Same fundamental resemblance as her sister, but carried entirely differently, straighter posture, a readiness in her stance even at rest, the bearing of someone who decided early that stillness was a risk she'd rather not take. Where Madelyn's presence is calming, Makenna's is bracing. Her hands bear the small burn scars and calluses of a girlhood spent around the forge, and her forearms the heavier build of someone who has swung a hammer far more often than a lady ought.

Personality

Determined, protective, and a touch quicker to anger than her sister, though her anger is almost always in defense of someone else rather than herself. Makenna took the family's losses as proof that gentleness alone hadn't been enough to save anyone, and resolved, young, that she would never again be someone who could only comfort after the fact rather than prevent the harm outright. She is fiercely loyal to the point of stubbornness, and while she and Madelyn disagree often about method, she would never hear a word against her twin from anyone else.

Raised as the eldest child of the Barony’s heir, she carries a deep and unshakable sense of noblesse oblige. She was taught from the cradle that a noble house exists to protect and provide for those who depend on it, and the fall of Lordaeron has not loosened that conviction one whit. If anything, it has sharpened it. She feels a personal obligation toward anyone who once served House Thornwood, and extends it to Lordaeron's refugees as a whole. The house may have lost its lands, but in her eyes it has not lost its duties.

That same conviction makes her a staunch traditionalist where the house itself is concerned. She believes the Thornwood line must be preserved and restored, and that Dashiel, as heir, owes it a marriage of advantage among Stormwind's nobility and a son to carry the name forward. That she herself defied every expectation of a baron's granddaughter to take up arms is a contradiction she does not see, or will not discuss.

She spent most of her life believing the Light had passed her over. She knows better now, but has not entirely shaken the habit of feeling she must earn it.

Rumors

  • They say she broke Danae Garrow’s nose in the practice yard when she was barely sixteen, and that the old soldier has never been prouder of anything.
  • Some swear she forged her own sword in the Thornwood estate smithy, and that the blade has never once been sharpened by another hand.
  • It’s whispered that the Light refused her for years, and that she only found it the night the Scourge came, standing over her sister with a smith’s hammer and nothing else.
  • Folk around the camps say she’ll take in any stray from the old Thornwood lands, whether the Company can feed them or not, and that the huntmaster is near to the end of his patience over it.
  • A rumor holds that she gave away her father’s signet ring the night after the Fall, and that she regrets it more than she’ll ever admit.
  • Some claim she’s been promised to some Stormwind lordling since she was a child, though no one can name the man, and she’s never been seen to correspond with him.
  • Others say no lordling could hold her interest for long, and that she’s been seen walking out with a handsome sellsword one week and sharing a bottle with a bold-eyed blacksmith’s daughter the next. Those who know her best say she’s never cared much what anyone thinks of it.
  • It’s said she has strong opinions about who her cousin ought to marry, and isn’t shy about sharing them.
  • The refugees whisper that she’ll stand between a camp family and a Stormwind guardsman without a second thought, and that the City Watch has learned to send someone patient when a Thornwood is involved.
  • They say she’s been seen at the Stormwind and Goldshire smithies before dawn, working iron alongside common smiths who have no idea she’s a noblewoman.

RP Hooks

  • Smithing and repairs: Anyone needing a blade mended, armor refitted, or iron fittings forged may find a skilled smith beneath the noble name, and one who’s glad of the work.
  • Refugees from Lordaeron: Displaced folk from the Thornwood lands and beyond may seek her protection, a place in the Company, or simply someone who will listen and act.
  • Joining the Company: Those looking for a place among the Thornwoods often find their surest welcome with Makenna, especially if they have ties to the old estate.
  • Fellow servants of the Light: Paladins, priests, and the faithful may seek her out for prayer, fellowship, or the rare comfort of someone who struggled to find the Light before she found it.
  • Training and sparring: Squires and young warriors may look to her for practice in the yard, or for advice from someone who earned her knighthood the hard way.
  • Women in arms: Young women hoping to take up the sword or hammer may find in her a living example that a lady need not stay out of the forge or the fight.
  • Seeking a champion: Those wronged or threatened, especially the poor and displaced, may find her quick to take up their cause.
  • Noble business: Lords, ladies, and their agents may approach her in matters of House Thornwood, particularly those with an interest in the family’s marriage prospects.
  • Matters of Madelyn: Anyone with concerns, offers, or questions about her twin sister will soon learn that Makenna stands firmly in the way.

Everything on this page is readable out of character. It isn't something other characters know in character.