Aerinea Nightsong was born to Solaera Nightsong, current head of the Nightsong Clan, Kal’dorei Nobility. The Nightsong Clan was, and still is, very matriarchal. After giving birth to a son, Alistaire, two years prior, Aerinea was welcomed into the Nightsong Clan with open arms and delight. Females were the natural heirs to ruling the Nightsong, as the males were trained as soldiers to ultimately die for the clan, and would never see a position of power. The Nightsong were very diplomatic, and moved around a lot as a result, never really settling in one place. Aerinea wasn’t fond of this kind of lifestyle, but with each new location came more opportunities for play with her brother. The two would play games together, relying heavily on their imaginations combined, stirring up mischief and forming a close bond with the other in the process. However, with Aerinea’s future in mind, Solaera brought Aerinea along to any diplomatic meetings or events that occurred while in an area. Not particularly interesting to Aerinea[ yet, she endured the outings politely and quietly, only to return home and hear of Alistaire’s day, which typically contained some interesting story about the locals. Aerinea found more fascination in the cultures of the area, as opposed to the politics.

Around the time that Aerinea was 20, the Nightsong built itself a permanent residence in the area of Darkshore. It was large and luxurious, but the scenery of Darkshore wasn’t entirely pleasing to Aerinea. Solaera continued to take Aerinea along to bond with any group that could prove itself useful to the Nightsong, and Aerinea appreciated the change of scenery, frequently traveling to Alliance capital cities. This gave Aerinea plenty of opportunity to venture outside the city walls, and explore the surrounding areas and learn more of the residents there. She felt much more comfortable communicating with those who were not exactly “upper class”, and doing her best to help them solve their issues. She felt that these choices would not be as criticized as ones made on “official” business. Solaera encouraged this kind of activity, as she felt that it would help Aerinea prepare for making more serious choices in the future, and get her daughter comfortable with her own decisions instead of doubting them. Aerinea’s kindness and desire to please kept her at the will of her mother, who gave her daughter nothing but adoration and encouragement, ignorant to any flaws Aerinea’s agreeable personality presented.

Despite Aerinea’s near constant time away from her home in Darkshore, she continued to have a good relationship with her brother. He was overjoyed and in love with a young Kal’dorei, Mariana, and his happiness in turn made Aerinea happy, who still did not find solace in training to be an ambassador for the Nightsong. Occasionally, Aerinea would alert her mother to her disinterest towards her work, resulting in Solaera brushing it off and telling her only daughter that she was destined to do this, and would eventually serve as the head of the Nightsong Clan. This intrigued Aerinea slightly, a position of power. The thought of making final decisions both excited and scared her, and she began to work harder on her ambassador qualities, although her quiet nature hindered this a bit.

As time passed, Aerinea grew used to the emissary work, finally viewing it was more of a duty and calling she was born to do for her clan, as opposed to something Solaera had her do just for the company. She delved deeper into Nightsong history, pulling out old journals and documents to learn of past mistakes and achievements. She used this knowledge to make current judgments, applying successful old tactics to new situations. Solaera was increasingly pleased with her daughter’s success, and would often ask Aerinea for advice on a decision she had to make. Whether or not Solaera was merely humoring her daughter by doing this is unknown.

When Aerinea was about 60, her relationship with Alistaire took a toll with the death of his lover, Mariana. Alistaire grew more closed off and uncaring, much to the horror and sadness of Aerinea. She tried with futility to get her brother back to normal, invoking games they had played when they were children, talking about the latest diplomatic task, asking him about his day. She persistently tried to get some kind of response from the old Alistaire, but to no avail. Slowly, Aerinea began to give up. She took it as a personal issue, something Alistaire didn’t like about her that kept him from acting like himself. She tried less and less to help her brother and instead chose to dedicate her time more and more to her work as an envoy. She still did not feel too comfortable working with authority figures, and most of her notable work occurred within local towns and families. Solaera continued to encourage Aerinea in anything she did, her daughter was like a dream come true. 6 years after Mariana’s death, after 6 years of Aerinea slowly distancing herself from her brother, Alistaire disappeared. Solaera was the one to inform her daughter that he had died running, inexperienced, onto the field of battle. Aerinea could hardly believe it. She never would have pictured her only brother doing something like that, but she did not question her mother’s statement. Devastated and more than a little guilty at not finding the proper help for Alistaire after Mariana’s death, Aerinea grieved the loss of her brother.

One night, after returning home from a 2 week trip to the Exodar, Aerinea sat in the courtyard of the Nightsong manor in Darkshore, admiring it. She gazed around at the foliage lovingly, having taken a liking to nature in the first several years of her life. Her eyes scanned the dark courtyard, at the ferns, the trees, the flowers, the statues, the… what? A shadow – two shadows—moved in the corner. She stood up cautiously from the stone bench she had been sitting on, her heart beginning to race. The shadows were moving closer, any moment now they would be revealed, and Aerinea readied a scream. Guards, guards, where were the guards? Her eyes darted to the nearest exit, just 10 feet away. Wide-eyed, Aerinea watched as a human stepped out of the shadows, along with, was that her brother? Aerinea was overjoyed to see Alistaire after 4 years, always under the impression that he was dead and gone for good. She learned that Alistaire had not in fact been dead, but he had been imprisoned within a room of the manor, forced to read and train himself for war. Feeling betrayed that her mother would lie to her about this; she began to realize that something was going on between Solaera and Alistaire. Aerinea warned her brother that if he tried escaping, he would surely be hunted down by Solaera’s personal soldiers. Alistaire could see the logic in that, and he arranged to meet Aerinea again in the courtyard, a week from then. This went on for 8 years, Alistaire, Aerinea, and the human Romenauv, sneaking in the courtyard once a week, given Aerinea was home. They taught her about what they had read in their prison cell, teaching her combat techniques and blade skills.

After 8 years of these weekly meetings, Aerinea wouldn’t tolerate it any longer. She confronted Solaera Nightsong about it, arguing that Solaera’s judgment was horrible, and that Alistaire should be released immediately. Infuriated by this confrontation, Solaera went to Alistaire, having not seen him in 12 years, and accused him of corrupting Aerinea’s mind to get Aerinea to act like this towards Solaera, something Solaera was not familiar with. Alistaire was banished from the Clan, and Aerinea did not see her brother for another 2 years. During this time she grew to completely resent Solaera, though she did not show it. Her hate towards her mother only deepened one day, when Aerinea was headed into Solaera’s office to ask her a question. Aerinea heard her mother speaking with somebody, so she stopped short of the entrance, out of sight, not wanting to interrupt. Solaera was complaining to somebody about the loss of her son, which Aerinea found touching. This feeling quickly evaporated as Solaera continued speaking, complaining only of the loss of a good warrior. Solaera spoke of what a waste it had been, murdering the young Kal’dorei, Mariana, in an effort to stop emotions in Alistaire’s body. Aerinea continued to listen, horrified, about the assassination that had been planned out to destroy Mariana, to keep Alistaire from feeling any emotion, and to make him a mindless killing machine and warrior to the Nightsong Clan. Aerinea couldn’t listen any longer, and she fled the manor altogether. She took the next boat from Auberdine to Stormwind City, trying to get as far away as possible from the monster that was her mentor, her guide, her mother.

Surprisingly enough, Aerinea stumbled across Alistaire while in Stormwind. Still reeling from the startling realization of Solaera’s terror, Aerinea fumbled through small talk of the Clan moving to Darnassus and other news. Aerinea had no intention of telling Alistaire about Mariana, fearing that he would return to his state of mind after Mariana’s death. She would do whatever she could to keep from losing her brother again, even if it meant keeping this truth from him. Aerinea, Alistaire, and Romenauv, whom Alistaire had found again when he had been banished, all lived together in undisturbed peace for the next two months. It was then that they heard news of a group known as the Twilight Empire. Intrigued, Aerinea and Alistaire both joined the ranks of the Empire. Aerinea’s immediate interest in the Citizens Branch kept her with work slightly similar to what she did with Solaera, although not nearly as extensive. Aerinea has yet to return to the Nightsong manor, or even hear of Solaera. Her mind can be easily distracted and focused on something else, though it cannot get rid of the constant anxiety Aerinea feels as she waits for somebody to recognize her, or for her mother to find her again. As the next heir to the Nightsong Clan, she knows that she will end up returning to the Nightsong again, but until then, she enjoys the company given by the Twilight Empire and her brother. From here, Aerinea’s story continues to develop.